FirstBank has won the Best SME Bank in Africa and Best SME Bank in Nigeria at the Asian Banker Global Excellence Retail Awards 2024.
The Excellence in Retail Finance Awards Programme, which includes the Global Excellence in Retail Finance Awards and The Annual Digital Bank Awards, is one of the most established awards of its kind, recognising exceptional innovation, leadership, management, and performance in the financial sector.
The 130-year-old institution bagged these two awards because of its full suite of solutions across its franchise to serve the needs of medium and small enterprises in regard to core financial needs and offer flexible financing options across the entire lifecycle needs of customer’s business.
In the Asian Banker’s Strategic Business Intelligence for the Financial Services Community, FirstBank demonstrated exceptional performance, notably in its SME sector, by achieving more than 100 percent revenue growth while maintaining a reduced cost-to-income ratio of 16.5 percent. Small and medium-sized enterprises contributed 26 percent of overall bank revenue.
Furthermore, the institution’s SME customer base grew by seven percent and reached a total of more than one million. For its significant growth in the SME business, the award for Best SME Bank in Nigeria and in Africa goes to FirstBank”.
FirstBank supports its customer by providing exceptional value proposition around each industry sector, digital innovation of the bank’s processes and financing options, and a strong relationship banking approach to create best-in-class customer engagement.
