Nigeria’s premier financial institution and financial inclusion services provider, FirstBank, has bagged the Best SME Bank in Africa and Best SME Bank in Nigeria at the highly coveted Asian Banker Global Excellence Retail Awards 2024.
The Excellence in Retail Finance Awards Programme, which includes the Global Excellence in Retail Finance Awards and The Annual Digital Bank Awards, is one of the most established awards of its kind, recognising exceptional innovation, leadership, management and performance in the financial sector.
The 130-year-old institution bagged the awards because of its full suite of solutions across its franchise to serve the needs of medium and small enterprises in regard to core financial needs and offer flexible financing options across the entire lifecycle needs of customer’s business.
According to The Asian Banker’s Strategic Business Intelligence for the Financial Services Community, “FirstBank demonstrated exceptional performance, notably in its SME sector, by achieving more than 100 percent revenue growth while maintaining a reduced cost-to-income ratio of 16.5 percent.
“Small and medium-sized enterprises contributed 26 percent of overall bank revenue. Furthermore, the institution’s SME customer base grew by seven percent, reaching a total of more than one million. For its significant growth in the SME business, the award for Best SME Bank in Nigeria and in Africa goes to FirstBank.”
FirstBank supports its customers by providing exceptional value proposition around each industry sectors, digital innovation of the bank’s processes and financing options and a strong relationship banking approach to create best-in-class customer engagement.
The bank’s integrated platform not only helps businesses grow and reduce operational costs but also facilitates expansion into regional and overseas markets through its Sub-Saharan Africa subsidiaries.
Expressing her delight on the recognition, the Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Ms Folake Ani-Mumuney, said, “We thank the Asian Banker Awards for the recognition and dedicate these awards to our esteemed SME customers that have progressively impacted the socioeconomic growth of not just Nigeria but also the African continent given their critical role as the engine of any economy.”
“For 130 years, FirstBank has continued to enable the giants in our customers including our SMEs as well as other stakeholders and we remain committed to delivering the ultimate ‘gold standard’ of value and excellence.”
Amongst other awards, FirstBank recently added to its awards kitty Best Private Bank in Nigeria and Best Private Bank for Sustainable Investment in Africa by Global Finance, for its exceptional leadership in integrating sustainable practices into its banking operations.
