Bank Of Africa (BOA) was designated, Wednesday evening in Sharm El Sheikh, best bank in North Africa during the 2023 edition of the “African Banker” trophies, which each year reward the main players in the African banking sector who have contributed significantly to the growth and development of the African financial sector over the past year.
The ceremony, held on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB), brought together in its 17th edition more than 300 bankers, regulators and decision-makers from the continent.
The Banker of the Year award went to Esther Kariuki, agricultural operations manager at the Co-operative Bank of Kenya.
The Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) won two trophies, namely “African Bank of the Year” and “Development Financial Institution of the Year”.
The youngest Governor of the Central Bank of Mauritius, Harvesh Kumar Seegolam, won the Trophy for Central Bank Governor of the Year.
The Finance Minister of the Year Trophy was awarded to Enoch Godongwana, South Africa, while Letshego, Nigeria won the inaugural Afawa Bank of the Year (Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa), which highlights banks that are advancing women’s financial inclusion on the continent.
The African Banker Icon Trophy was won by Miguel Azevedo, Head of Investment Banking for Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, at Citi, while the exemplary career was awarded to Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, former Chairman and CEO of CIB Egypt, the largest private sector bank in Egypt.
In the ‘Deals of the Year’ category, Absa and Nedbank, financial services groups based in South Africa, won Deal of the Year – Debt, while Africa Finance Corporation, Absa and Standard Bank won the Deal of the Year – Equities, Deal of the Year – Agriculture and Deal of the Year – Infrastructure trophies respectively.
The Sustainable Banking award went to Nedbank of South Africa, as MFS Africa scooped the ‘Fintech of the Year’ trophy.
The Compensation and Consignment Fund (Tunisia) won the “Bank of the Year for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME)” Trophy.
By region, the best Banks in Africa are Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zambia-South Africa), CRDB Bank (Tanzania-East Africa), and Trust Merchant Bank (Republic of Congo-Central) and Vista Bank (Guinea -West).
Organized by African Banker magazine and IC Events in cooperation with Business in Africa Events, the African Banker Awards celebrate excellence and best practice in banking and finance.
Placed under the theme “Mobilizing private sector financing for climate and green growth in Africa”, this edition of the assemblies is marked by meetings of the governors of the AfDB Group to reflect on the means of more solidly mobilizing the private investment that Africa needs to meet its urgent climate change adaptation and mitigation goals.
The Annual Meetings are the AfDB’s most important event. They bring together around 3,000 delegates and participants each year.