Ecobank Group CEO Albert Essien last night won the African Banker of the Year award at the 9th edition of the African Banker Awards in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The ceremony took place at Abidjan’s Sofitel Hotel Ivoire in the margins of the 2015 African Development Bank Annual Meetings.
The award recognizes the contribution of individuals in management positions, and best practices in African banking. It is sponsored by London-based IC publications under the patronage of the African Development Bank.
Essien was one of five contenders for the African Banker of the Year award. Others chief executives competing with the pan-African bank’s CEO were Segun Agbaje of Nigeria’s GT Bank, Paulo Alexandre Duarte de Sousa of Banco Comercial e de Investimentos of Mozambique, Charles Kimei of Tanzania’s Cooperative Rural De
velopment Bank,Bank plc and Tariq Sijilmassi of Morocco’s Groupe Credit Agricole.
Accepting the award, Essien said: “I am deeply honoured to receive this award. It comes as a surprise to me because although I have worked for Ecobank for the last 25 years, I have only been Group CEO for just over a year. I therefore accept this award on behalf of the staff of Ecobank, for they are the ones to whom I attribute the real success of our institution in its service to the people of our continent. I also want to thank our host, IC publications, the organisers of these awards, and the esteemed panel of judges for this distinction.”
The award is the second received within the group this month. On the 22nd of May
Ecobank was named African Retail Bank of the Year at the Global Retail Banking Awards ceremony in London. The bank also received a nomination in last night’s African Banker Awards in the Best Retail Bank of the Yearcategory.
Media Contact
Richard Uku
Group Head, Corporate Communications
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated
Tel (Abidjan): +225 77076075
Tel (Lome): +228 93 26 47 16
Email: ruku@ecobank.com
Web: ecobank.com
Twitter: @GroupEcobank or @richard_uku
About Ecobank
Incorporated in Lomé, Togo, in 1988 Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’) the parent company of Ecobank is the leading independent pan-¬African banking group. It currently has a presence in 36 African countries, namely: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Democratic Republic), Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea
Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Group employs over 20,000 people in 40 different countries in over 1,200 branches and offices. Ecobank is a full-¬service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organizations, medium, small and micro businesses and individuals. Additional information on Ecobank can be found at ecobank.com.
