Lagos, Nigeria — Ecobank has been named the Best Trade Bank in Nigeria by London-based Trade Finance magazine in their 2013 Awards for Excellence. Their annual survey ranks firms based on votes gathered from industry players and members of the magazine's editorial team. Manufacturers, exporters, importers, traders, government and multilateral agencies were consulted for their input on this survey.
This award comes amidst a growing demand for trade finance, as Nigeria continues to implement economic and structural reforms to create a stronger and a more diverse economy.
“Our pan-African orientation presents enormous opportunities for intra-African trade,” commented Foluke Aboderin, Executive Director, Corporate Bank, Ecobank Nigeria. “We have been particularly active in the oil and gas sector but we are seeing increasing demand for our innovative financing solutions, including our online corporate banking service, Ecobank Omni, from other key sectors in the Nigerian economy, such as telecoms, power, manufacturing and agriculture.”
In 2013, Ecobank Nigeria facilitated USD 1.2 billion of petroleum product import deals and over USD 450 million of trade in crude oil across the West African region. Additionally, Ecobank Nigeria structured USD 100 million of oil and gas deals on behalf of petroleum importers in Southern Africa. Ecobank Nigeria also facilitated the export of various non-oil products across Africa.
Accepting the Award on Ecobank Nigeria’s behalf, René Awambeng, Group Head of Global Corporates, at Ecobank, said: “Financing trade in Africa is a complex and risky business, and the trade financiers who will profit most from the current boom in intra-regional African trade will be those with in-depth local knowledge and expertise. Only banks like Ecobank, with a clear understanding of the risks and world-class processes for managing them, are able to offer leading regional and multinational businesses the flexibility to trade across Africa that they increasingly are demanding.”
Notes to Editors
About Ecobank:
Incorporated in Lomé, Togo, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’) is the parent company of the leading independent pan-African banking group, Ecobank. 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, Zimbabwe. The Group is also represented in France through its affiliate EBI SA in Paris. ETI also has representative offices in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), London (UK), and Beijing (China). ETI is listed on the stock exchanges in Lagos, Accra, and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) – the BRVM. The Group is owned by more than 600,000 local and international institutional and individual shareholders. The Group employs over 19,000 people in 39 different countries in over 1,250 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 may be found at: ecobank.com.
About Trade Finance Magazine
Trade Finance magazine is Euromoney Publications' flagship international trade, export, commodity and supply chain finance publication. Euromoney has been covering trends in trade finance for more than 30 years and is the longest standing global publication concentrating exclusively on the international trade finance market. The Trade Finance "Awards for Excellence" have been awarded ever since the magazine launched in 1998. For more information, visit tradefinance.com.
