African top bankers honoured at AfDB annual meetings

He was presented with his trophy by Tim Turner, director of the Private Sector Operations of the African Development Bank at Frangipani Gardens in Arusha, where the awards ceremony took place.

Ecobank beat tough competition posed by six other contestants in its category to come out on top as African Bank of the Year. The bank was given particular credit for its continued expansion throughout Middle Africa as the pan African bank. Ecobank got a strong endorsement when South Africa's Public Investment Corporation officially signed the US$250m investment agreement in the group.

Recognising Africa's diversity

The Best Regional Bank category named a winner from each of the five regions of Africa: Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco for North Africa; BGFI, Gabon for Central Africa; Bank of Kigali, Rwanda for East Africa; Access Bank, Nigeria for West Africa; and BCI, Mozambique for Southern Africa - highlighting Africa's diversity but strength as one continent.

Arnold Ekpe, a well recognised face in the African banking community, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Eleni Gabre-Mahdin, founder and managing director of the Ethiopia Commodities Exchange follows in the footsteps of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Adebayo Ogunlesi to win the African Banker Icon Award.

Hon. Mambury Njie, minister of finance for Gambia; Hon. John Rwangombwa, minister of finance for Rwanda; Dr Mustapha Kamel Nabli, central bank governor for Tunisia; Professor Njuguna Ndung'u, central bank governor for Kenya; Arunma Oteh, director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigeria; and BBC World News presenter, Zeinab Badawi were among the guests in attendance.

Commenting on the ceremony, Omar Ben Yedder, publisher of African Banker said, "We have recognised some superb individuals and institutions tonight. Africa's financial sector is a major vehicle for driving the economic growth that has become the talk of the investor community around the world. We have honoured individuals who are prepared to take the bull by the horn, to carry out well thought out visions and who have raised the bar and in some cases taken difficult decisions to deliver on their agenda. Good examples are the central bank governor of Tunisia and the finance minister of Guinea. The winners this year represent a good mix between francophone and Anglophone Africa, big and small countries. They reflect the achievements in banking and finance all over Africa."

The African Banker Awards are organised by African Banker magazine, IC Events and BusinessinAfrica Events. It is an event that celebrates excellence and best practices in African banking and finance.

Winners

The full list of winners are:

African Bank of the Year