For the second year running, the international publishing group, Global Finance (GF) has announced First Bank of Nigeria Plc as one of the world’s Best Foreign Exchange Banks for year 2005. The Bank, which recently opened its South Africa Representative Office, two years after the commissioning of its UK subsidiary, FBN Bank (UK) Limited, also clinched the 2005 Best Emerging Market Bank and the Best Trade Finance Bank and Provider. This string of awards are coming on the heels of the year 2004 The Banker report, a publication of the Financial Times of London, which ranked FirstBank as the best in Nigeria and the seventh in the whole of Africa.

According to the New York – based GF, FirstBank, with Gross Earnings of over N57 billion and Shareholders’ Funds of almost N50 billion, emerged winner in a competitive survey selection process that involved over 15,000 organisations in 70 countries of the world. FirstBank and other winners are expected to be honoured in Washington D. C, United States of America, during the September 2005 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The forum is the melting pot for global economic and financial players.

The World’s Best Foreign Exchange Banks category was group into four viz: Regional Winners, Country Winners, Best Foreign Exchange Research and Best Online Foreign Exchange Trading Systems. Criteria for choosing the winners include transaction volume, market share, scope of global coverage customer service, competitive pricing and innovative technologies.

The global foreign exchange market is estimated to be nearly $2 trillion. “We have identified the banks that large global companies can rely on for their Foreign Exchange and FirstBank is one of them”, Joseph Giarraputo, President of Global Finance said in his announcement of the awards to FirstBank Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr. Jacobs Moyo Ajekigbe.

In the Best Emerging Market Banks in Middle East and Africa, FirstBank equally emerged winner based on growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationship, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative products. While transaction volume, scope of global coverage, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative technologies were the yardstick for selecting winners in the Best Trade Finance Banks and Providers in which the Bank also emerged Country Winner.

According to the18-year-old group, a leading provider of strategic information on investment and business decisions for large global companies and financial institutions in 158 countries, the winner is not necessarily the largest, the oldest or the most diversified in a given country/sector, but rather, the best with which most companies around the world would want to do business.

Listed on the floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange in March 1971, FirstBank has won the coveted President’s Merit Award eleven times. With about 365 branches, 266 of which have so far been connected on-line, real – time, FirstBank has a track record of profitability and reliability. For the financial year ended March 31, 2005, its profit before taxation was N16.9 billion while profit after taxation was N13.3 billion. As a result of this stellar performance, the Bank has approved a bonus issue of One(1) for every four(4) ordinary shares held by its shareholders.