By Alphonsus E. W
Ecobank Group has emerged as ‘World’s Best Frontier Markets Bank’ in 2013 according to Global Finance, the world-renowned magazine that focuses on emerging market insights and intelligence.
In addition, the Group carted away the magazine’s ‘Best Bank in Africa’ award for the second successive year. Albert Essien, Ecobank’s deputy CEO and group head of corporate and investment banking, was in Washington DC to receive both awards on the Group’s behalf at a ceremony held in, at the weekend, which coincided with the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF.
These accolades were based on Ecobank’s performance over the past fiscal year, as well as other subjective criteria, which included reputation and management excellence. Global Finance made their selections after extensive consultations with financial analysts, bankers, corporate finance executives around the world.
Global Finance also named five Ecobank affiliates as “the Best Emerging Market Banks in Africa”, namely Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ghana, and Togo. The yardstick for choosing these winners included growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative products.
Ecobank, a leading pan-African bank with operations in 33 countries across the continent, more than any other bank in the world was established in 1985 under a private sector initiative initiated principally by the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry with the support of ECOWAS and since then has expanded its operations across the West African sub-region currently boasting a network of over 1,200 branches, 1,981 ATMs, and 5,249 POS machines serving more than 10 million customers.
