Why FirstBank leads others at Euromoney Awards

First Bank of Nigeria Limited says its connectivity to large clients and deployment of banking technology across all its operations are attributes it considers crucial in its ongoing business exploits, recognitions, and successes from domestic and global markets.

The foremost bank which recently received the Best Corporate Bank in Nigeria Award at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2023, acknowledged the role its years of investments in technology and value addition to customers’ businesses played in its recognition by the award organisers as the Best Corporate Bank in Nigeria.

The bank’s continuous investment in technology has been crucial to its leading industry role in optimally meeting the needs of its corporate customers.

The most recent investments in technology include the development of its smart and interactive Transaction Banking Platform known as FirstDirect2.0.

The bank explained that FirstDirect2.0 provides a one-stop shop online banking platform for corporates, offering best-in-class capabilities such as Payments, Collections, and Account Services, and a locally focused phased implementation of Trade and Supply Chain Finance – a first for the Bank.

The platform offers customers various solutions for corporate cash management (Payments, Collections and Liquidity Management). It will also deliver end-to-end trade solutions for corporate clients covering L/C creation, tracking, bidding and reconciliations.

 The bank’s Corporate Banking model is focused on ensuring that its clients get the same quality of service across the Bank’s geographical locations. The execution of this approach through the deployment of the Global Account Management (GAM) Framework, implemented to enhance cross-relationship management tailored to Customers with a Pan African footprint.

Dedicating the awards to its customers, former CEO of FirstBank Group, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, said: “We are thrilled to announce that we have been recognised as the Best Corporate Bank in Nigeria at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2023.

“We say a heartfelt thank you to all our incredible customers for trusting us. This award is dedicated to YOU,” he concluded.

According to Euromoney, the “Awards for Excellence” – is the definitive annual awards programme of the global banking industry. The awards represent the highest distinction to the banks and bankers who matter most in an industry where differentiation is highly sought after and exceptionally difficult to demonstrate.”

 “For over 30 years, Euromoney has recognised the banks and that have demonstrated their differentiation, pioneering a comprehensive awards programme that today remains the industry benchmark globally, it concluded.”

 Amongst other awards, FirstBank recently added to its awards kitty, Best Corporate Bank Western Africa, 2023, by Global Banking and Finance; Best Internet Banking in Nigeria, 2023 by International Business Awards; the Most Innovative Banking Brand in Nigeria by Global Brands Awards as well as the Financial Institution of the Year 2023 by Afreximbank Pan-African Business and Development.

In a radio interview on Classic FM-FollowTheMoney with Ugo Dre monitored in Lagos, Executive Director of Corporate Banking at FirstBank, Tosin Adewuyi, explained major milestones recorded by the bank that supported its emergence as the Best Corporate Bank at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence, Nigeria 2023.

Adewuyi listed customers’ trust in the bank as a key factor in its success story.

He said: “We’re the trusted advisor. So, when you’re the trusted advisor, you come in when the strategy has been formulated. That is our unique selling point, essentially. We are more than just the bank. We are business advisers to many clients. So, when a client has a new project and is thinking about who to use, what to do, and how to finance it, we are part of all of those discussions, and more and more, we’re getting poured into those meetings. So we’re formulating strategies with the clients. It couldn’t really get better than that. And to have that kind of bank, as your primary bank, clearly is strategic.”

“So when you look at corporate needs, and by the way, there were a number of successes alongside. We won Best Corporate Bank in Nigeria in 2023, we also won Best Corporate Bank in West Africa for two years in a row. So that’s 2022 and also 2023.

“In essence, we make sure that we’re focused on making the clients’ activities a lot easier,” he said.

According to him, the bank is also leveraging technology, transforming digitally, and focusing on payments. Adewuyi said the bank will continue to grow, and refine its offerings to the benefit of customers.

He said: “We don’t get complacent. We are in dynamic times and customers need a bank that’s very nimble and thinking on its feet coming up with unique solutions to customers’ needs. Generic standard products no longer work. So, you need a product that speaks to your specific interests, and your unique needs, and I think that’s where we have thrived and will continue to do so”.

In a message to clients, stakeholders or the banking industry at large on this remarkable award, Adewuyi said: “The bank was excited at the award. It was a validation of how we cover corporate banking and Euromoney has recognised it and that keeps us moving. Our methodology is unique in the marketplace,

“It really about being a systemic adviser to the businesses that we cover. We call it a way of doing business for us. That means we’re always putting the client first. And one of our values is client centricity”.

“And we literally taking that to how we cover the clients, how we meet their needs, how we understand the business that they do, and making sure that at every point, we are relevant. Being an advisor brings us into the whole ecosystem, and allows us to do well and also allows the client to feel good about how we cover them and what we do and how we do it,” he stated.

Adewuyi said: “We’ve been around since 1894. But it just shows how that longevity speaks to how we essentially evolve, how we reinvent ourselves, how we innovate.  We will continue to innovate. And essentially, that is the way we have stayed in business. We are now 130 years in existence. And that clearly, is a major feat”.

He said the bank will continue to make sure that it does not get complacent by staying relevant and meeting the needs of clients. We are all about customers, and we cannot say that enough.

Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Folake Ani-Mumuney, explained that with over 800 business locations and over 232,000 Banking Agents spread across 99 per cent of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, FirstBank provides a comprehensive range of retail and Corporate financial services to serve its over 42 million Customers,” she said.

According to her, the bank has an international presence with subsidiaries operating in 9 other countries.

“These subsidiaries are FirstBank (UK) Limited in London and Paris, FirstBank in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Sierra Leone, The Gambia; FBNBank in Ghana and Senegal as well as a Representative Office in Beijing, China. The Bank is at the forefront of promoting digital banking in the country and has issued over 13 million cards, the first bank to achieve such a milestone,” she said.

She explained that FirstBank has continued to make significant investments in technology, innovation, and transformation, and its cashless transaction drive has been steadily accentuated with over 23 million active FirstBank customers signed up on digital channels including the USSD Quick Banking service through the nationally renowned *894# Banking code.

• The Nation Newspaper