2004 – 2013
The Supercentenarian Banking Age
2004
Launch of a new brand identity, introducing substantial changes to the entire look and feel of the FirstBank brand, transforming FirstBank’s corporate identity to reflect its rejuvenated focus and strategically positioning the Bank at the industry’s competitive edge.
FirstBank won The Nigerian Stock Exchange Annual President’s Merit Award for the 2003 Financial Year.
Established FirstBank Representative Office in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Public presentation of a documentary in honour of Khalifa Isiyaku Rabiu, OFR, to commemorate fifty years of successful business relationship with First Bank of Nigeria Plc (1952-2002); a testimony to the legendary entrepreneurial abilities and resourcefulness of this Nigerian icon, and a testament to the century-old commitment of FirstBank to adopting and promoting articulate enterprises to create wealth for the individual, community and the nation at large. Significantly, this event took place in 2004, the 110th anniversary of FirstBank.
FBN Mortgages Limited established.
2005
Acquired two banks – MBC International Bank Ltd and FBN Merchant Bank Ltd.
Maiden CEO’s Annual Merit Award, a concerted and clear effort to identify merit as a key corporate value and performance as a key measurement indicator for recognition and reward.
First Pension Custodian Nigeria Limited established.
FirstBank increased capitalisation to ₦25 billion.
2006
Commenced strategic segmented approach to marketing as far back as 2006 with the launch of U-First, a comprehensive and easily accessible suite of retail and consumer products.
FBN Capital Limited established.
2007
FBN Bureau de Change Limited established.
Floated the first-ever hybrid capital offering out of Africa (₦100bn hybrid offer), fondly called “The Big One”.
Established a global custody business, emerging as the first Nigerian owned bank to offer such services.
Paris Branch of FBN Bank (UK) was set up to serve as a marketing base to service francophone West Africa.
25th anniversary celebration of FirstBank operations in the UK, reinforcing the commitment to delivering superior service to our esteemed customers in Europe and Africa.
2008
The first Nigerian bank and indeed the first quoted company in the country to hit the ₦2 Trillion market capitalisation.
2009
Established FirstBank Representative Office in Beijing, China.
Launch of notable corporate transformation projects including FirstContact, the 24/7 multi-lingual integrated and interactive customer service contact centre, a key component of FirstBank’s service delivery transformation, which revolutionised customer feedback processes; and FirstServe, the Centralised Processing Centre, a dedicated back-end processing centre, drastically minimising transaction times and standardising service delivery.
FBN Microfinance Bank Limited established.
FBN Microfinance Bank Limited became the first microfinance bank in Nigeria to issue debit cards which can be used on all ATMs and make online purchases. The bank was also the first microfinance bank to implement use of biometric POS terminals for transactions online and real time.
Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, a former MD/CEO of FirstBank, was appointed CBN Governor.
2010
FirstBank became the first organisation in Nigeria to be granted notable international standardization certifications: The prestigious Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) – ISO/IEC27001:2005 Certification, which is the world’s highest accreditation for information protection and security and the BS25999 Business Continuity Management System Certification, both from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), following rigorous certification processes by the British Standards Institution (BSI), a leading organisation in the field of auditing management systems and processes.
2011
FBN Life Assurance Limited established.
Acquired a new subsidiary, Bank International de Credit (BIC), in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), extending the Bank’s international expansion to the central African region in line with the Bank’s strategic focus to serve markets with significant potential.
Established FirstBank Representative Office in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
FirstBank launched the first Biometric ATM in Nigeria, consistent with our Bank’s tradition of pioneering far-reaching innovations in the financial services industry.
FirstBank launched the first Cash Deposit ATM in Nigeria.
FirstBank consolidated its official presence on five (5) social media websites: Facebook (www.facebook.com/firstbankofnigeria), Twitter (www.twitter.com/firstbankngr), YouTube (www.youtube.com/firstbankngr), Flickr and Slideshare.
Launch of the “Did You Know” campaign.
Launched the FirstBank Impact Series on thought leadership, influencing policy and promoting financial inclusion.
Named “Nigeria’s Number One Banking Brand” by Brand Finance Top 500 Banking Brands by The Banker a subsidiary of Financial Times of London; and named the “Most Innovative Bank in Africa” by the African Banker, attesting to our forward-thinking approach.
FirstBank Introduced the instant card issuance.
2012
FBN Life Assurance Limited became the youngest insurance company in Nigeria (by Gross Premium Income) ever listed in the Top 10 speciality life insurance industry within two years of operation.
2013
FBN Capital launched Nigeria’s first Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which was done in collaboration with NOI Polls Limited. The PMI adds Nigeria to the list of countries which make use of this economic indicator and therefore gauges the temperature of the sector at monthly intervals.
FBN Capital became the first financial institution to achieve loan signing on the then concluded PHCN (Power sector privatization) initiative and its leading role paved the way and set a template for a range of other power deals that were subsequently closed by other institutions.
FirstBank announced the successful completion of the acquisition of ICB assets in Guinea, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Ghana in November 2013 as part of an on-going pan-African expansion programme.
FBN Microfinance Bank Limited converted from state to a national licensed microfinance bank, increased business outlets to 23 from 3 since inception and mobilised over ₦1.2B through daily savings.
FBN Life was the first insurance company in Nigeria to launch mobile insurance in partnership with the telecommunications platform through airtime purchase – (Padi4Life launched in partnership with Airtel in July 2013)
FirstBank was the first bank to issue a picture card (Expressions on Card), enabling customers to personally design their preferred images on their cards.
