Aligning with the values of respect, friendship, and excellence that drive the Olympic Games, First Bank of Nigeria Plc will serve as Official Banker to the Nigerian Olympic Committee for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The Games of the 30th Olympiad scheduled to hold from July 27 to August 12, 2012 will see London play host to over 200 nations, about 10,500 athletes and millions of spectators during the most celebrated sports fiesta that comes up once every four years. The city of London emerged hosts following four rounds of voting by members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, in 2005.
FirstBank’s management says its involvement as “Official Banker to NOC” represents the Bank’s endorsement of the values of respect, friendship, and excellence espoused by the Olympic Movement.
According to Folake Ani-Mumuney, Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, First Bank and the Olympic Movement share a rich pedigree of being organisations that have been promoting excellence, social responsibility and respect for globally acclaimed ethical principles for over 100 years of existence.
Ani-Mumuney said the Olympic symbol of five interlaced rings, which represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world, is one of the most profound emblems in the world. “The quest for a united and peaceful world is a noble one that FirstBank identifies with. Our various CSR interventions in sports are borne out of our conviction that sports is a vehicle for promoting unity, youth empowerment and excellence,” she stated.
The Olympic Movement also promotes the cause of sports practised without discrimination. Ani-Mumuney said FirstBank’s stance against discrimination is evident in its policy on equality in the workplace, superior service delivery to all classes of customers, and provision of alternative channels to ensure financial inclusion the unbanked and under-banked in Nigeria.
“For a period of one month some 4 billion people across the world would through various media channels witness unusual display of determination, excellence, friendship, respect and courage by the world’s best athletes. These are values that FirstBank subscribe to; they are the very foundation for our success story after 117 years and the motivation to remain the best through continuing transformation,” she said.
The Bank’s Spokesperson said FirstBank is set to facilitate cashless transactions and provide platforms for financial various transactions during the games through its alternative banking channels. She said FirstBank would be offering seamless Internet banking services and mobile money services with its FirstMobile and FirstOnline solutions, among others. She added that the Bank’s array of cards which are accepted worldwide, will also enable different transactions across multiple channels including Automated Teller Machines, Point of Sale terminals and the Web during the event,” she added.
About FirstBank
FirstBank is Nigeria’s most diversified full-suite financial services group, providing over a century of dependable and innovative services to over five million customers. The Bank was recently adjudged the “Most Innovative Bank in Africa” at the African Banker Awards in Washington, in recognition of its creative deployment of technology in making banking services more convenient, accessible and faster. Apart from being the largest financial services group in sub-Saharan Africa which includes registrarship, trusteeship, insurance, SME financing, venture capital financing, mortgage banking, investment banking and pension’s funds management, FirstBank has one of the most expansive local branch networks of over 600 and international presence in the United Kingdom, Paris, China and South Africa.