Nigeria’s premier financial institution and financial inclusion services provider has bagged two awards: Best SME Bank in Africa and Best SME Bank in Nigeria at the highly converted 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.

According to 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% revenue growth while maintaining a reduced cost-to-income ratio of 16.5%. Small and medium-sized enterprises contributed 26% of overall bank revenue. Furthermore, the institution’s SME customer base grew by 7%, reaching 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 sectors, digital innovation of the bank’s processes and financing options, and a strong relationship banking approach to create best in class customer engagement. The Bank’s integrated platform not only help businesses grow and reduce operational costs but also facilitates expansion into regional and overseas markets through its Sub-Saharan Africa subsidiaries.

Expressing her delight on the recognition, the Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Ms. Folake Ani-Mumuney said: “We thank the Asian Banker Awards for the recognition and dedicate these awards to our esteemed SME customers that have progressively impacted the socio-economic growth of not just Nigeria but also the African continent given their critical role as the engine of any economy.

“For 130 years, FirstBank has continued to enable the giants in our customers including our SMEs as well as other stakeholders, and we remain committed to delivering the ultimate ‘gold standard’ of value and excellence.” she concluded.

Amongst other awards, FirstBank recently added to its awards kitty, Best Private Bank in Nigeria and Best Private Bank for Sustainable Investment in Africa by Global Finance, for its exceptional leadership in integrating sustainable practices into its banking operations

…Confirms Stable Financial Outlook for the Bank

Following its strong 2023 financial performance, Wema Bank, Nigeria’s foremost innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, has received an upgraded rating from Agusto & Co, validating the Bank as Bbb+ rated with an ESG Score of 2 and confirming a stable outlook for the Bank.

Agusto & Co is a Pan-African credit rating agency and leading provider of industry research and knowledge in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

By upgrading Wema Bank’s rating from BBB to BBB+, Agusto has confirmed that Wema Bank is of stable financial standing and more equipped than ever to keep fulfilling its duties as a commercial bank with National authorization.

This development is unsurprising as Wema Bank’s financial strength is reflected in the Bank’s FY 2023 Audited Financial Report. Among the outstanding results achieved by Wema Bank was a 196% increase in Profit Before Tax (PBT) from N14.75bn to N43.59bn translating to higher pre-tax return on average equity (ROE) and pre-tax return on average assets (ROA) from 21.5% to 43.9% and 1% to 2.1% respectively. The Bank also recorded a 220.4% increase in Profit After Tax (PAT) from N11.21bn to N33.66bn, 70.63% increase in Gross Earnings from N132.30bn to N225.75, 53.64% increase in Loans disbursed from N521.43bn to N801.10bn, a reduction in cost-to-income ratio (CIR) from 80.1% to 64.4% due to significant earnings growth despite economic fluctuations and 220.53% increase in Earnings per share from N87.2 to N279.5, among other indices.

According to Agusto & Co, “The upgrade of Wema Bank’s rating to Bbb+ is underpinned by improved profitability despite macroeconomic headwinds, lower impaired loan ratio, better deposit mix, strong shareholders’ support as reflected in the successful rights issue exercise and perpetual bond issuance. We have also attached an ESG score of ‘2’, reflecting our view that environmental, social, and governance issues have a minimal impact on Wema Bank’s rating”.

Affirming the Bank’s commitment to providing stakeholders with optimum returns, Moruf Oseni, Wema Bank’s MD/CEO, expressed the Bank’s gratitude to Agusto & Co for acknowledging the strong progress made by the Bank. “Wema Bank is on a journey to the top and we are driven by a commitment to delivering exceptional value, exceeding expectations, and providing optimum returns to every stakeholder—shareholders, customers, employees, and partners alike. It is this commitment that has reflected positively in our numbers and will propel our growth over the next decade”.

Moniepoint MFB, Africa’s fastest-growing financial institution according to the Financial Times, has relaunched its personal banking referral program to enrich its customers as they enjoy the Moniepoint experience with family and friends.

The referral program is designed to reward users every time their friends or family perform a transaction on Moniepoint after signing up with their referral link. Through this, millions of people will earn well over N100,000 from referrals alone.

Moniepoint’s technology has powered over 3 million businesses across Nigeria, and with its reliable infrastructure now in the hands of personal users, it now enables seamless payments for many across the country. With referrals linked to transfers, a leading payment method for many in Nigeria, this referral program will provide extra income for many of its users.

Commenting on this development, Babatunde Olofin, Managing Director of Moniepoint MfB, noted that the customer-centric referral program supports the bank’s focus on driving financial inclusion while helping to accelerate its vision of creating a society where everyone experiences financial happiness.

“We know how important seamless financial transactions are, and we’ve seen first-hand the power of peer to peer recommendations and how word-of-mouth referrals can grow a customer base and increase revenue. Given our strong customer obsession and the strings of commendations which we have received that validate the work we do in providing peerless financial services, we want to provide our customers with rewards even as they continue to share these positive experiences with the Moniepoint brand,” Olofin said.

Each current and new personal account holder has been provided with a unique referral code which is identical to their account username and is visible in the Referral Section on the Personal Banking app. This code/link can be shared with anyone, who, upon signing up and transacting with the Moniepoint Personal Banking app, will contribute to rewards for the referrer.

For every outward interbank transaction conducted by referred customers in the next 12 months, participants will receive a commission. This transparent and straightforward incentive structure ensures that participants reap tangible benefits for actively promoting the Moniepoint Personal Banking app. Referrers can also track the total earnings and referral history from their referral in the “Earn from Referrals” icon in the app while earnings can be transferred to the user’s main account once a minimum of N50 has been earned.

Moniepoint MFB has worked with the Central Bank of Nigeria to strengthen the security of the banking industry in the past month, pausing its onboarding. It has now resumed signing up users with a commitment to providing its users with a secure, convenient and rewarding financial experience. The referral program is just one of the many ways the company is innovating to empower Nigerians and make financial services more accessible.

It will be recalled that Moniepoint MFB has in the last few months demonstrated peerless commitment to customer focus and satisfaction as evidenced by the opening of its Lekki Admiralty Road office, as well as the roll out of a USSD code, *5573# which offer users a fast, secure, and user-friendly platform to conduct their banking activities with ease.

According to media reports, Moniepoint Inc. currently processes the majority of the Point of Sales (POS) transactions in Nigeria through its subsidiaries, processing over $182 billion in annualized TPV and as a profitable enterprise, it is Africa’s largest fintech by transaction volume.