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FIRSTBANK
SAVOURS THREE AWARDS IN THE US
At a colourful but sombre ceremony reflective of the
serious temperament of international banking, First Bank of
Nigeria Plc, lived up to its billing as West Africa's
leading financial super mart, as it, last Monday, September
26, 2005, clinched three laurels at the yearly Global
Finance, Best Banks Awards 2005 in Washington D.C. FirstBank
was the only winner from the West African sub - region.
The awards, received by the Managing Director/Chief
Executive of FirstBank, Mr Jacobs Moyo Ajekigbe , are " Best
Bank- Nigeria', 'Best Trade Finance Bank- Nigeria' and the
"Best Foreign Exchange Bank -Nigeria'. Elated by the harvest
of the awards, the second in two years,
Mr Ajekigbe ascribed the feat to the dedication of
the FirstBank management and staff . " I thank God for this
and I believe the credit should go to my colleagues and
staff of the Bank " , he told the audience which included
leading global bankers such as Mr Terrence Keeley, managing
director (Investment Bank) of UBS and his CITIGROUP
counterpart Mr Charles Berman.
Other notables at the event held during the last IMF/World
Bank meeting are Mr Harry Suppoyo, managing director , PT
Mandiri Sekuritas of Indonesia ; Mr Rene-Pierre Azria,
managing director, Rothsschild & CIE of France; Hans-Joerg
Rudloff, chairman, Barclays Capital of United Kingdom;
Minoru Kato ,vice president, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking
Corporation, Japan ; Eric Wan , president , Chinatrust
Commercial Bank of Taiwan ; Nemeh Sabbah , managing director
& CEO , Arab Bank , Saudi Arabia ; IIkka Salonen , president
, International Moscow Bank , Russia and Nick Bryan ,
executive vice president HSBC.
Also on hand were top shots of ABN AMRO, The Bank of New
York, Deutsche Bank of Germany, ICICI Bank of India and
Qatar National Bank.
Congratulating Mr Ajekigbe , who was assisted by his wife,
Adenike ; Mr Aka C. Ezeobele , Head of Corporate Planning &
Group Coordination and Jide Ogundele, Head , Image
Management Unit of the Bank, Mr Joseph D. Giarraputo,
president of Global Finance , organizers of the ceremony
said the World’s Best Foreign Exchange Banks was in four
categories viz: Regional Winners, Country Winners, Best
Foreign Exchange Research and Best Online Foreign Exchange
Trading Systems.
Criteria for choosing the winners, according to him, include
transaction volume, market share, scope of global coverage
customer service, competitive pricing and innovative
technologies.
In the Best Emerging Market Banks in the 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.
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 said.
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, 272 of which have so
far been connected on-line, real – time, FirstBank has a
track record of profitability and reliability
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