Bank of the Year Awards 2022 — Africa

Africa’s top lenders from 2022
Angola
Banco de Fomento Angola

Last year was a crucial one for banks in Angola, with lenders buoyed by lower impairment costs and a landmark improvement in the country’s sovereign credit rating in September 2021, with sector profits increasing nearly fourfold for the year, according to Deloitte.

Amid such an improving landscape, Banco de Fomento Angola (BFA) has been selected as the country’s Bank of the Year for 2022. Its first win in four years is in recognition of its return to profit and a series of digital improvements.

BFA, which saw its credit rating improve in line with the sovereign rating, recorded profit growth in 2021 after two difficult years. Net profit increased by 74% for the year, with return on equity hitting 36.4%, comfortably higher than its pre-pandemic level. However, its cost-to-income ratio increased, as did its non-performing loan ratio.

The bank has pressed on with its digital transformation process, driven by an internal team dedicated to the software development cycle. For example, they have developed solutions to manage and digitalise foreign currency purchase processes and credit sales. On the systems infrastructure side, the bank has established two Tier 3 compliant datacentres, enabling instant transactions and an overall availability of 99.982%.

The main digital milestone of the year was the launch of an upgraded banking app, making BFA one of the first banks in the country to offer digital onboarding with no need to visit a branch. Other features of the app include card management, the ability set spending limits, and peer-to-peer transfers to other BFA customers. Since launching in late February 2022, the new app has enjoyed more than 45,000 downloads.

Benin
Ecobank Benin

“Our focus on delivering innovative products, services and solutions across multiple channels — while ensuring the best possible customer experience — is paying off,” says Lazare Noulekou, managing director of Ecobank Benin. “It is largely thanks to this strategy that Ecobank Benin won Bank of the Year, which is a great honour.”

In addition to the bank’s strong financial performance in 2021, the judges were also impressed by a series of payment product upgrades launched amid fierce competition with regional mobile money players.

Last year saw Ecobank slash fees on its Xpress Cash mobile banking service, which enables customers to generate a withdrawal code via the bank’s mobile app enabling card-free cash withdrawals from ATMs or Xpress agents across Benin and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). Amid growing competition from regional mobile money operators including Wave and Orange Money, the bank has reduced fees for Xpress Cash to 1%, including tax, across the WAEMU region.

Other product highlights for the review period include a new distribution and pricing strategy for the bank’s CashXpress prepaid bank cards, which are now available across a wider range of retailers than the bank’s agents network. Previously exclusively available at a price of CFA Fr11,000 ($17.26), new denominations of CFA Fr1500 and CFA Fr3000 are now available. The new tariff and distribution has led to a significant increase in sales and transactions for the product.

On the financial side, Ecobank’s Benin operations saw an 8% increase in Tier 1 capital and a 12% growth in assets, with return on equity recovering in 2021 to within touching distance of 2019’s figure of 28%. Non-performing loans, meanwhile, improved from 11% to 10.2% during the year.

Botswana
Bank Gaborone

Bank Gaborone has once again been named Bank of the Year for Botswana, in recognition of its strong finances, corporate social investment (CSI) initiatives and product advances, after losing its crown to First National Bank in 2021.

Among the bank’s notable product launches during the review period was its Card-2-Card payment solution. Launched in May 2022, the service enables customers to send money using only a 16-digit Visa card number. The solution uses Visa Direct technology, enabling the transfer of funds without following the normal clearing rules of the Botswana Automated Clearing House.

Bank Gaborone has also partnered with mining companies Debswana and Morupule to finance citizen-owned companies, as part of Botswana’s Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme, in a bid to create jobs and build sustainable businesses. For the Debswana initiative, a supplier development programme established under Bank Gaborone’s wholesale banking business unit is designed to address the issue of inaccessibility to financing by citizen suppliers, increasing meaningful participation in the supply chain and subsequent ecosystem.

The bank’s CSI initiatives during the period include its commitment to diabetes relief via the Bank Gaborone Diabetes Apple Project. As well as ongoing fundraising, the bank hosted free diabetes testing at its branches for both staff and the public in 2022, as well as promoting a five-kilometre walk to encourage people to stay fit by exercising. The bank also contributed to the Down’s Syndrome Association of Botswana.

Finances for the period were solid, with a 9% increase in both assets and Tier 1 capital. After a static 2020, net profits increased by 11%, with return on equity unchanged on 2021 levels. The cost-to-income ratio worsened slightly, rising from 63% to 67% during the period, while non-performing loans improved from 6.2% to 6%.

Burkina Faso
UBA Burkina Faso

United Bank for Africa (UBA) has retained its title of Bank of the Year for Burkina Faso for the second consecutive year, with impressive financials complemented by accelerated account openings and digital service upgrades

The bank recorded a 70.4% increase in net profits in local currency terms in 2021 (during which, the West African franc depreciated by about 10% versus the US dollar), with Tier 1 capital and assets increasing by 2.6% and 17%, respectively. Non-performing loans increased from 0.5% to 2.6% during the year, but remain comfortably below their pre-pandemic level of 4.4%, while the cost-to-income ratio improved for the second consecutive year and now stands at 60.8%.

“The unprecedented rise in inflation, the high appreciation of the US dollar conversion rate, along with the political challenges in Burkina Faso, have led to a change in the strategy of the bank,” says UBA Burkina Faso’s managing director Julien Kouassi.

“We have readjusted our strategy by putting a strong focus on providing finance to the government to mitigate the inflation cost through subsidies granted to farmers, a drastic reduction of our digital products fees, and making ‘Leo’, our virtual banking assistant, available via almost all social media platforms.”

UBA has been on a customer recruitment drive in recent years, via a series of initiatives including youth banking offerings, rapid onboarding for employees and civil servants, and the promotion of mobile banking via USSD (also known as ‘quick code’) feature phones for parts of the country where internet access is unreliable and expensive. Thanks to such initiatives, the bank recorded more than 78,000 account openings during 2021 — nearly treble the number recorded in 2020.

The bank also continues to make a social impact via its TEF entrepreneurship programme — a business project competition in which the winners are coached and rewarded with funding for their project. The programme has been expanding in recent years, with around 120 Burkinabe involved in 2022.

Cameroon
Société Générale Cameroun

For the first time in four years, Société Générale Cameroun (SG Cameroun) has been named as Bank of the Year in Cameroon, in recognition of its steady financial performance, together with the launch of its new customer relationship model and its impressive performance on the environmental, social and governance front.

SG Cameroun’s Tier 1 capital increased by 19.3% during 2021, with assets growing by 14.2% during the same period. Net profit rose by just 5.2%, with return on equity slipping from 17.5% to 16.1%. Costs remain elevated, with the cost-to-income ratio rising slightly from 49.3% to 49.8%, while non-performing loans increased from 10.7% to 11.6%.

The bank launched its new relationship model programme in late 2021, with a view to develop an omnichannel distribution model via both physical and digital channels in a bid to better serve its different customer segments, especially high-income and mass market customers. Alongside the launch of the new programme came Société Générale’s group-wide decision to close its African mobile money service Yup, which had struggled to gain traction across its footprint on the continent.

As part of its ‘SogeCollet Retail’ scheme, the bank launched a self-service banking branch in the Douala Grand Mall in 2021, with a further upgrade of its facilities in 2022.

In May 2022, the bank announced a solar energy programme in conjunction with Electricité de France, in a bid to reduce its carbon emissions by around 2000 tonnes, with branches in Bali, Yaoundé, Hippodrome, Ngaoundéré, Garoua, Maroua and Foumban selected for the initial rollout. Also on the environmental front, the SG Cameroun approved a CFA Fr342m ($537,000) loan to the NaMé Recycling company, as part of the bank’s Positive Impact Finance programme.

Cape Verde
Banco Interatlântico

Banco Interatlântico (BI) has retained its title of Bank of the Year for Cape Verde, registering improvements in its financial performance in the midst of ongoing economic challenges in the west African archipelago, alongside a new partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a new digital credit workflow.

While the economy returned to growth in 2021 after a sharp recession the previous year, a slower-than-expected recovery in tourism revenues, coupled with higher commodity prices as a result of the war in Ukraine, continue to put pressure on gross domestic product growth. Nevertheless, BI has weathered the storm well, with 2021 profits largely unchanged on the previous year, compared with a 41% drop in 2020. Non-performing loans reduced sharply from 9.1% in 2020 to 4.5% in 2021, with costs also registering a slight improvement.

The bank agreed credit lines worth €10m with the EIB in December 2021, designed to benefit local corporates, thereby boosting the bank’s profile in the sector. On the consumer loans side, the bank launched a new service model for vehicle financing, directly working with car retailers in a first for Cape Verde banks. The new model has seen significant growth since its launch in December 2021.

Also on the loans front, the bank launched a fully digital credit workflow in April 2022, encompassing front-to-end automation from the clients’ credit request to the disbursement of loans. The new solution has seen time-to-cash and cost-to-serve amounts reduce significantly since its introduction, with most processes digitised ahead of an anticipated government implementation of digital signatures.

Since early 2022, BI has adopted the environmental, social and governance policies of its parent company in Portugal, which the bank hopes will further enhance its international reputation.

Chad
UBA Chad

United Bank for Africa (UBA) has dominated Chad’s banking landscape for several years, and retains its title of Bank of the Year for 2022. The country’s second-largest lender by assets enjoyed a strong financial recovery in 2021, and impressed the judges with its physical branch expansion programme and internal reorganisation.

After posting a 66% drop in net profits in 2020, UBA’s bottom line recovered strongly in 2021, increasing by 240%, with return on equity increasing to 15.8% — higher than the pre-pandemic figure of 15.1%. Cost-to-income ratio also saw an improvement for the year, even as non-performing loans rose sharply from 2.3% to 8%.

“Driven by our vision to be the undisputed leader in African services, on our continent and in the world, all our strategies are based on our unique and special attention to our customers,” says UBA Chad’s CEO Noubasra Natolban. “We are developing projects that aim to bring us closer to the population through financial education. These projects also aim to refine our technology initiatives to improve the customer experience.”

The bank’s commitment to boosting financial inclusion via both physical and digital means was on display once again during the review period, with the launch of two new physical branches, one in N’Djamena and one in Abéché, with four more branches under construction as The Banker went to press.

On the digital front, the bank continued with the development of its UBA app; among the new features recently introduced is the ability for customers to link wallets from mobile money firms to their accounts without having to visit a branch. The past year has also seen further upgrades to the Leo virtual banking assistant, available over WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Apple’s Business Chat.

Comoros
Exim Bank Comores

For the second consecutive year, Exim Bank Comores has been awarded the title of Bank of the Year for Comoros, in recognition of its steady financial improvement and its investment in its sister operations in Uganda.

Exim Bank continues to steadily rebuild its finances after returning to profit in 2019 (after posting a loss due to the implementation of IFRS 9 provisioning the previous year), posting its third consecutive annual increase in net profits. Tier 1 capital and assets increasing by 30.6% and 18%, respectively. While the cost-to-income ratio worsened, increasing from 53.7% to 59.4%, non-performing loans continued to decline.

During the review period, Exim Bank Comores invested $1.8m in the banking group’s Ugandan subsidiary via an equity participation scheme. The group entered Uganda in 2016, acquiring the Ugandan government’s majority stake in Imperial Bank Uganda before rebranding it to Exim Bank Uganda.

Back in Comoros, the bank unveiled its MyExim app, enabling customers to view account balances in real time, download statements and access their account details. The bank is set to become the first commercial bank in the country to provide an e-tax payment solution, enabling customers and clearance agencies to make customs duty payments online through an e-tax portal.

Exim Bank also continues to refine its market-leading remittance business by providing fast and reliable service which has improved the customer experience and gained new customers for the bank.

Côte d’Ivoire
Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire

For the first time in 10 years, Côte d’Ivoire’s Bank of the Year award goes to Ecobank, in recognition of advances in the digital sphere (in terms of both internal upgrades and external partnerships), as well as solid financial growth.

“The Bank of the Year award is a testament to our success in increasing the adoption of our solutions, training our talent and developing innovative technology that meets the needs of Ivorians and their businesses — and we will continue to do so,” says Paul-Harry Aithnard, managing director of Ecobank Côte d’Ivoire and the bank’s regional director of francophone west Africa.

Ecobank has been active on the digital front with the upgrade of its Xpress mobile banking offering. The service can now be opened via USSD (also known as ‘quick codes’) by Orange and MTN mobile customers, with an increase in the number of Xpress Point agents around the country. The bank’s main smartphone app, Ecobank Mobile, has also been upgraded to offer additional bill payment services for services including Canal+.

The lender also partnered with local fintech Weblogy to offer the Visa APaym app, offering an accessible payment and digital cash management for merchants in the informal sector. Other tie-ups include a strategic partnership with Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading cocoa products manufacturer, to help create an optimised and traceable payments management system, giving cacao growers banking products that are tailored to their needs.

On the financial side, Ecobank reported steady growth in 2021, with a 15.7% rise in Tier 1 capital and a 4.7% increase in its overall asset base. Net profits continued their steady growth, while return on equity increased slightly from 23.4% to 23.7%.

Democratic Republic of Congo
Rawbank

In an extremely competitive race, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest lender, Rawbank, has been named the country’s Bank of the Year for the first time since 2016. In addition to posting a strong financial recovery after plunging to a loss in 2020, the judges commended the bank for a series of key digital upgrades and product launches during the review period.

A particular milestone has been the upgrade of the bank’s Illicocash app, first launched in 2017. In 2021, the bank launched Illicocash 2.0, enabling a greater range of payment options — including bank to wallet, wallet to bank, and the ability to link a bank account to the Illicocash wallet — together with international transfers and budget management. The bank has also continued to upgrade its customer relationship management systems, which have become increasingly cloud-based.

“Digitisation is the new frontier for the banking sector and the only direction is innovation to bring the customer experience to the next level,” says Mustafa Rawji, Rawbank’s CEO. “Our commitment to innovation is to enhance our digital wallet Illicocash with new features that enlarge the digital ecosystem of our customers.”

May 2021 saw Rawbank awarded custodian bank status, enabling it to open a securities trading room facility.

Following approval from the country’s Insurance Regulatory and Control Authority in November 2021, the bank has also begun offering bancassurance products across its network, hoping to make significant strides in a country where the penetration of insurance services is less than 1%.

After posting a CnFr91.7bn ($45m) loss in 2020, the bank returned to profit in 2021, with a return on equity of 15.7%, well in excess of its pre-pandemic level of 3.3%. Tier 1 capital and assets increased by 22.7% and 47%, respectively, with non-performing loans dropping to 0.65% at year-end 2021.

Djibouti
CAC International Bank

In the face of stiff competition, CAC International has been named Djibouti’s Bank of the Year for the third consecutive year, recording solid growth in a challenging economic environment.

While Djibouti’s economy rebounded in 2021 with a growth nearly 5%, port activity in the east African state remains subdued due to the ongoing conflict in neighbouring Ethiopia and ongoing Chinese trade disruptions.

Against such a backdrop, CAC International delivered solid financial results in 2021, with Tier 1 capital and assets growing by 39% and 24%, respectively. Net profits increased by 51%, with return on equity rising from 15.7% in 2020 to 19.5% in 2021. Costs and non-performing loans both saw significant improvements during the year, as the bank’s digital investments continue to bear fruit.

“The digitalisation of banking services is no longer an option, but an experience to the customers,” says Ahmed H Al-Dheeb, CEO of CAC International. “Whether it is long or short term, the goal is to continuously improve the customer experience with our services. [We are] embracing fintech to aim for successful development in a highly competitive market.

In addition to its financial performance, the bank has upgraded its internal staff training programmes. Among the most significant areas focused on is anti-money-laundering training, with the objective of familiarising employees with money-laundering processes, together with other training regarding customer service and security awareness.

On the product side, CAC International has expanded its green loans product — initially focused on boosting the consumer market for solar panels — to improve financing options for electric vehicles in the country. The bank has also rolled out a new generation of point-of-sale machines with improved connectivity, and has expanded its ATM network, enabling customers to make withdrawals in both Djibouti francs and US dollars.

Egypt
Ahli United Bank Egypt

In one of the continent’s most competitive categories, Egypt’s Bank of the Year accolade goes to Ahli United Bank Egypt (AUBE), in recognition of the lender’s numerous partnerships with the country’s burgeoning fintech sector, together with significant technology upgrades during the review period.

“AUBE is a dynamic bank with robust product propositions, segmented offerings, technologically advanced solutions, and intelligent positioning across its target markets,” says Hala Sadek, CEO of AUBE.

She continues: “The bank has accelerated its transformation strategy via the introduction of innovative digital solutions that differentiate [us] from the competition and provide clients with near real-time service.”

AUBE has been actively screening and selectively participating in local and regional funds focused on Egyptian fintech. Commitments include a $2m subscription to a tech fund investing $120m in companies in the Middle East and Africa, a $1.6m investment in the first homegrown venture debt fund, together with a pipeline of seven venture capital funds with commitments ranging from $1m-$5m. The bank also has a $1m facility approved for a leading digital freight marketplace and is negotiating facilities with other local fintechs.

In June 2021, AUBE launched a new corporate online banking platform, B2B Avalon. In addition to having full control on managing their accounts through effective viewing and reconciliation, it provides clients with the means to process all their day-to-day transactions, including supplier payments, payroll and trade, in an efficient and live manner.

A year after launch, the bank had migrated 38% of its corporate clients to the platform. By August 2022, the monthly value of transactions processed through the online platform had reached around E£2bn ($82m) compared to E£83m in August 2021.

On the retail side, the bank launched its e-account digital onboarding platform in July 2022.

Equatorial Guinea
Banco Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial

This year’s Bank of the Year award for Equatorial Guinea goes to Banco Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial (BANGE), in recognition of the improvement in the lender’s finances, its growing digital sales, and several initiatives designed to boost local investment and start-ups.

After two years of decline, BANGE recorded a doubling of its net profits in 2021, with return on equity increasing from 6% to 13%. Asset growth also resumed, with a 21% increase for the year, even as non-performing loans ticked up from 6% to 9%. It recorded a 38% growth in digital sales in 2021 compared to growth of 12% in 2020.

In January 2021, the bank established the BANGE Sociedad de Valores, a financial management and intermediation company designed to offer modern financing tools for economic actors in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, in order to diversify alternative financing sources to the banking sector.

In 2021, the BANGE Business School created the BANGE Impulsa programme, a business incubator for early-stage small and micro-businesses. The first edition of the programme attracted more than 600 applications, of which 35 projects were shortlisted and 10 projects received financing.

On the technology front, the bank has pressed ahead with several upgrades, including the creation of an IT security department, which is in charge of the security management of the bank’s entire technological infrastructure. It has acquired top-level equipment for monitoring the bank’s information system, in the context of preventing and detecting possible risks. Such upgrades have enabled the bank to carry out the PCI-DSS security certification, required by major payment platforms ahead of integration with their systems.

Among the key products introduced by BANGE during the period were its Crédito Nomina payroll loan offering and its Banca Premier (premier banking) service for premium clients.

Ethiopia
Dashen Bank

Ethiopia’s third largest lender, Dashen Bank, has been named as the country’s Bank of the Year for 2022. The award recognises the bank’s progress in the digital sphere in particular, as the country’s national digital economy strategy ushers in unprecedented changes in the local banking and telecommunications landscape.

Such upheavals have led Dashen Bank to commit to a revised strategic initiative that has created a new business team under the purview of the chief digital banking officer. This has enabled the bank to identify and cement strategic partnerships with fintechs and with Ethio Mobile, the country’s largest telco, prompting the development of value propositions catering to both middle- and lower-income customer segments. One product of such partnerships is non-performing loan app DubePay, launched in collaboration with local fintech EagleLion System Technology.

Building on the success of its Amole omnichannel digital platform, the bank has released Amole Lite, a lighter version that offers both an enhanced user interface and greater functionality over USSD-enabled feature phones, making it more useful to non-smartphone users.

Also launched during the review period was the Amole e-commerce gateway enabling interconnection with local businesses, international card providers and major African fintechs including Flutterwave, Thunes and MFS Africa.

“We are exploring opportunities for sustained growth presented by emerging trends such as industry consolidation, foreign banks entry and establishment of capital market, and the entry of telecoms into the mobile money space, among others,” says Asfaw Alemu, Dashen Bank’s CEO.

At the back-end, the bank inaugurated its new Tier 3 ready datacentre, further enabling the development and deployment of new services.

Gabon
Orabank Gabon

For the first time ever, Orabank has emerged as the winner of the Bank of the Year award for Gabon, in recognition of an internal reorganisation giving a new prominence to digital services, together with a strong performance in the bank’s finances.

During the review period, the bank has undergone a reorganisation focused on a greater emphasis on digital services, previously handled from within its operations department, and has created a full digital banking department. The new department has made early strides by ramping up activity around the bank’s Carte Visa Prépayée Liberté, a prepaid Visa card, and deploying several new ATMs in strategic locations throughout the capital Libreville.

The new department is also reassessing its relationship with its traditional card manufacturing partners, and has experimented with the issuance of instant and personalised cards. While the personalisation has been carried out at the bank’s back office facility during the pilot phase, Orabank is planning to offer the facilities at its branches in the suburb of Oloumi.

“We will continue to improve our offering and maintain an excellent quality of products and services,” says Abdoul Younoussi, Orabank Gabon’s managing director.

Another change has been the decision to remove point-of-sale terminals that have not been fully amortised from the bank’s network, with newer terminals with greater capabilities introduced in their place.

Orabank recorded a strong financial performance during 2021, following a difficult year. Following an 11.6% contraction in 2020, the bank’s asset base grew by 54.3%, with Tier 1 capital increasing by 28.4%. Return on equity increased to 14.9% from 9%, thanks to a doubling of net profits. Non-performing loans remain elevated at 23%, although this represents a drop from 2020’s figure of 29.3%. Meanwhile, the bank’s cost-to-income ratio improved from 56.6% in 2020 to 44.7% in 2021.

Ghana
Fidelity Bank Ghana

In a hotly contested category, the Bank of the Year award for Ghana is awarded to Fidelity Bank, the country’s fifth-largest lender, in recognition of its solid financial performance and varied digital initiatives.

A key highlight for the year was the establishment of the Fidelity Transformation Office, as part of efforts to accelerate the development of the bank’s digital channels. The new office has responsibility for initiatives including straight-through processing optimisation, cost optimisation, branch transformation, risk management, and digital product development, with key channels including WhatsApp banking (including the Kukua banking assistant) and the Fidelity Mobile app.

One of the bank’s key milestones for the year was the launch of its proprietary Bancassurance Origination Portal, an online onboarding portal that forms part of the bank’s aspiration to build and promote digital service wraps on alternative channels to encourage self-service. Features of the platform include a completely paperless workflow process, two-factor authentication security and an easy-to-navigate user interface designed to reduce application completion fatigue.

As digital financial services uptake continues to soar in the country, the judges also noted Fidelity’s financial literacy initiative, in conjunction with the UN Capital Development Fund. The service, delivered via an instant voice response platform, has reached more than 38,000 customers thus far.

In response to the government’s financing needs, Fidelity arranged the issuance of 1.2bn cedis ($83m) worth of structured notes in 2021. The bank’s maiden negotiated certificate of deposit issuance was oversubscribed by 189%, with the bank raising 47m cedis against a target of 25m cedis.

After a difficult 2020, Fidelity increased its net profits by 35% in 2021, with return on equity improving to 30.5% from 26.5%. The bank’s asset base, which slipped back in 2020, grew by 44% during 2021.

Guinea
UBA Guinea

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Guinea has been awarded the country’s Bank of the Year accolade for the second year running. Facing strong competition, the lender prevailed thanks to an impressive all-round performance.

The bank continues to rebuild its finances after returning to profit in 2020, with return on equity increasing to 36% in 2021 from 31% the year previous. Assets grew by 3% for the year, while the cost-to-income ratio improved from 64% to 48%, even as non-performing loans edged higher.

UBA Guinea benefited during the year from a reorganisation of its business lines, enabling it to better meet the needs of its targeted consumer segments. The bank has replaced its standard individual current account with product offerings targeting three separate income segments. The bank credits these new packages as significantly contributing to account openings in 2021, with average monthly openings rising from 1000 to 4000, with deposits growing by $29m during the year.

In addition, the bank launched three different types of accounts, namely the Diaspora account (targeting Guineans living outside of the country), the Future account (a package of products specially designed for children under 18) and the Ambition account (a savings account from which six-monthly withdrawals are permitted).

On the digital product front, UBA Guinea introduced new features to its mobile banking app, including personal financial management tools and card management controls. The bank also upgraded its point-of-sale terminals to offer contactless payments.

“In the coming year, we will leverage on our digital platforms, revamp our digital marketing, and differentiate our product services from the competition, while remaining customer-centric and placing our customers at the centre of all business decisions,” says UBA Guinea’s CEO Antoine Cherif.

Guinea-Bissau
Orabank Guinea-Bissau

Orabank has been awarded the title of Bank of the Year for Guinea Bissau for the second consecutive year, in recognition of its stable finances and the expansion of its physical network.

After narrowly avoiding a recession during the first phase of the Covid-19 crisis, Guinea Bissau’s economy saw a strong recovery in 2021 on the back of a record cashew crop, a more stable political atmosphere and the easing of pandemic lockdowns.

Orabank Guinea-Bissau’s asset base grew by 34% during the year, with Tier 1 capital increasing by two thirds. Net profit growth was smaller at 7%, with return on equity dropping from 22% to 15% as a result. The cost-to-income ratio rose slightly during the year but remains below the pre-pandemic level, while non-performing loans edged a little higher.

On the digital front, Orabank introduced a bank-to-wallet service in conjunction with local telco Orange. The service allows customers to link their bank accounts to their Orange Money account, enabling easy transfers between the two. In terms of its physical network, Orabank opened a new branch in the eastern sector of Bula, taking its overall number of branches to eight.

“During the first half of 2023, we will continue the deployment of our digital project by launching our omnichannel platform KEAZ, together with WhatsApp banking,” says Bilaly Diarra, Orabank Guinea Bissau’s managing director.

Among the other highlights of the year for Orabank was the acquisition of a licence to locally print prepaid Visa cards, for the benefit of both its own customers and those outside its network. Prior to acquiring the licence, the bank was reliant on prepaid cards from its sister company in Togo. Being able to print its own cards has resulted in the bank managing to collect 100% of the commissions from the distribution of the cards, thereby boosting its overall profits.

Kenya
Equity Bank

In a very competitive market, Equity Bank has been named as Bank of the Year for Kenya for the first time since 2019, in recognition of its capacity building programmes for businesses in Kenya, alongside its new digital solution for local merchants.

Equity Bank in Kenya is one of the key participants in its parent Equity Group’s Eastern and Central Africa Recovery and Resilience plan, launched in March 2022, which will make a total of Ks678bn available ($5.6bn) to five million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and 25 million individual borrowers across the region during a five-year period.

Beyond this landmark initiative, the bank continues to record progress with its Young Africa Works Programme. Established in collaboration with the Kenyan government and the Mastercard Foundation, the programme aims to create 810,000 jobs over a five-year period by working with MSMEs via training and mentorship programmes, access to finance, digitisation and ecosystem banking within the wider value chain.

The number of people to benefit from the programme increase by over 60,000 in 2021, and has disbursed nearly half a million loans to MSMEs with a value of Ks172bn since its launch in 2019, improving their access to digital financial services.

On the product side, Equity Bank launched its One Equity Till Number payment channel in early 2021, enabling businesses to receive payments for goods and services from any mobile money wallet or bank account. The product contributed to a 29% rise in deposits booked in 2021 compared with the previous year, with the cost of deposits reducing from 2.4% to 2.3% during the period. The value of the bank’s digital transactions increased by 20% in 2021, to Ks6.24tn.

Liberia
UBA Liberia

United Bank for Africa (UBA) has once again been crowned as Liberia’s Bank of the Year, in recognition of its strong finances and new products in the billing and remittance space.

The bank launched a new remittances product in collaboration with US-based fintech HammerPay, offering local and cross-border remittances in both Liberian and US dollars. The service — available on both smartphones and USSD-based feature phones — also enables users to make payments via virtual cards, and allows for transfers between bank accounts and digital wallets.

Also in the digital space, UBA Liberia has enhanced its e-commerce service platform with an instant bill payment solution, enabling customers to pay bills and buy goods online both locally and internationally. Features include receipt of payments in different currencies, customised and downloadable reports, 24/7 accessibility over the internet anywhere in the world, with multiple payment channel options including USSD, mobile money, direct debit, card and QR codes.

“UBA Liberia is focusing on the development of tailor-made products and services that will serve the basic financial needs of customers at their comfort zones,” says the bank’s CEO Nkechi Joyce Arizor.

“We will continue to point our customers towards the benefit of using virtual cards, wallets and trade platforms, while ensuring that they continue to enjoy comfortable, easy, secure and flexible payment experiences at every point of their business transactions.”

UBA Liberia experienced healthy growth in 2021 amid a broad recovery in the economy, with Tier 1 capital and assets growing by 24% and 20%, respectively. Net profits increased by 75%, with return on equity rising from 17.6% to 24.9% during the year. Non-performing loans remain elevated compared with pre-pandemic levels, but decreased from 24.1% to 22.1%. Meanwhile, the cost-to-income ratio continued to improve, dropping from 60.3% in 2020 to 46.4% in 2021.

Madagascar
Société Générale Madagasikara

The first Bank of the Year award for Madagascar to be awarded in more than 10 years goes to Société Générale Madagasikara. While the country exited recession in 2021, several economic challenges remain, not least the impact of a particularly deadly cyclone season in 2022. The bank wins plaudits for its improved financial performance, green energy initiatives, and the Soafone scheme to boost internet access.

Société Générale has burnished its green credentials in Madagascar via its partnership with Bamboo Capital, the World Bank and the Malagasy government for the co-management of the country’s $40m off-grid market development fund. Since the fund’s launch, $14m of grants have been allocated, with around $1.2m distributed thus far. Société Générale’s involvement in the fund comes after it arranged the country’s first energy transition project in October 2020.

The bank’s net profits rose by 14% in 2021 after a static 2020, with return on equity increasing from 42% to 45%. Assets grew by 16% and Tier 1 capital increased by 8%, while cost efficiency and asset quality showed slight improvements.

In a bid to boost the take-up of digital financial services — and to improve internet access to the internet in a country where penetration is just 2.1% — the bank launched its Soafone phone purchasing scheme. The programme enables customers to acquire an Infinix Hot 10i Android smartphone (pre-loaded with the bank’s SG Connect app) at Société Générale branches, for 12 monthly payments of Ar 54,000 ($12.63) including tax.

The Soafone scheme runs alongside other digital initiatives within the bank, including a cheque scanning service for corporate customers, the rollout of wi-fi in Société Générale branches to encourage the usage of app-based banking, and the launch in 2021 of the Aki chatbot.

Malawi
Standard Bank Malawi

Standard Bank Malawi has been crowned as the country’s 2022 Bank of the Year in recognition of several digital initiatives, underpinned by its future-ready transformation programme.

The internal initiative has seen the bank create a single unified digital platform for service provision to its clients, via solutions that are both proprietary and delivered in partnership with others. The transformation programme has also seen a reorganisation of the bank along client segmentation lines, serving consumer and high-net-worth clients, business and commercial clients, and corporate and investment banking customers.

Among the bank’s key recent digital milestones have been the launch of its Moby customer onboarding system, which enables customers to open accounts and transact digitally at the bank’s representation points.

Another highlight has been the revamp of lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals, with a new algorithm-based product that offers unsecured loan facilities to clients based on their account turnover. The new digital loan facility product has been a success, with more than 56% of all personal loans being disbursed through digital channels over the past year, representing more than 50% of the bank’s personal lending portfolio.

Also of note is the bank’s new financial services ecosystem, Unayo, that connects people, businesses, and communities. The platform enables customers to remit money to friends, families and businesses, pay bills, receive wages and offer merchant solutions. Available on either smartphone or USSD, around 130,000 customers were onboarded to the platform in the first few months following its launch.

Standard Bank Malawi reported solid financial growth during 2021, with assets and Tier 1 capital growing by 9.4% and 30.7%, respectively. While return on equity slipped from 22% to 21%, cost to income improved from 57% in 2020 to 52% in 2021.

Mali
Ecobank Mali

Ecobank has emerged as Mali’s Bank of the Year for 2022, with the bank managing to turn its finances around in the midst of severe political challenges in the west African state.

The country has been increasingly unstable over the past 10 years, with a violent jihadist insurgency in the north of the country spreading to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso. Soldiers seized control on the state in May 2021, the second coup in nine months. After elections promised for February 2022 failed to materialise, the Economic Community of West African States imposed sanctions on the government and severed diplomatic ties.

In spite of such challenges, 2021 was a watershed year for Ecobank’s finances in Mali. After two consecutive years of falls in its asset base, the bank turned a corner with a 6% expansion in 2021. Profit, which had also fallen in the previous two years, grew by 58%, with return on equity climbing from 21% to 27%.

As was the case in Ecobank’s other markets, the bank’s Xpress mobile banking was upgraded to enable account opening via USSD, expanding the product’s reach across the population. Other upgrades include the expansion of the banks’ network of independent agents, which has grown to more than 1000 access points nationwide, the introduction of virtual cards via the bank’s smartphone app, equipping physical branches with cheque remittance terminals, and the expansion of the bank’s withdrawal and deposit ATM network.

“As Malian businesses see the immense opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area multiply, our comprehensive range of banking products and solutions firmly positions us as the bank of choice for commerce, small and medium-sized enterprise [business] and payments,” says Mamady Diakite, managing director of Ecobank Mali. “The Bank of the Year award illustrates our success.”

Mauritius
Mauritius Commercial Bank

After losing its crown in 2021, Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) has regained the Bank of the Year award this year, in recognition of its strengthening presence overseas and the development of its digital services.

September 2021 saw the bank upgrade its representative office advisory services on financial products, particularly to corporate and institutional clients as well as to arrange credit, deals in investment and custody facilities, thereby strengthening its positioning with Middle East and north Africa-based clients with interests in the continent.

The office is concerned with client acquisition and relationship management activities, while its booking centre is in Mauritius, where all accounts are handled, with clients benefitting from a dedicated point of contact in the Mauritius-based MCB head office. Out of the 40 new external asset management relationships struck in the 12 months to end-June 2022, 15 are based in the UAE.

“The bank remains intent on pursuing its strategic focus areas by tapping into new opportunities within existing growth pillars,” says MCB’s CEO Alain Law Min. “We aim to maintain a dynamic and extensive franchise locally as an innovative digital bank while we grow our international business in line with our specialised banking model approach.”

During 2021, the bank launched its ‘Punch’ collaborative ecosystem to enable Mauritian entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises to gain access to a pool of industry experts, accountants, consultants, export markets, clients and equity partners. To date, the platform has attracted more than 1600 members, with more than 125 growth partners and six institutional investors.

Another highlight of the year was the launch of MCB JuicePro, an app targeted at entrepreneurs, with features including pay and transfer options, cards management, centralised access to statements and a seamless process for a user to also become a merchant, together with lending and overdraft features.

Morocco
Attijariwafa Bank

A year after losing its crown, Attijariwafa Bank has regained the Bank of the Year award for Morocco amid stiff competition, in recognition of its work with small businesses, together with several key digital upgrades.

As part of a government-wide initiative to support the country’s small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector — which accounts for 96% of all companies in Morocco — in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the bank has continued to expand its ‘Ana Maak’ awards programme for small enterprises and its ‘Dar Al Moukawil’ network, which offers financial and non-financial assistance to entrepreneurs, regardless of whether they are bank customers or not.

The network, which in 2022 saw the opening of new centres in Oujda and Nador, has supported more than 230,000 project leaders and small businesses and more than 6000 co-operatives, with the project’s YouTube channel attracting more than 7.5 million views. Thanks in part to such programmes, Attijariwafa’s SME customer base has grown to more than 1.2 million, with a 42% market share for SME loans.

On the IT side, the bank has been pressing ahead with upgrades in the robotic process automation space, with improvements serving to decrease operational risk, significantly reduce processing times of back-office operations and free up the equivalent of 15 full-time employees for more critical tasks requiring in-depth analyses.

Of particular significance has been the roll out of fully digital client onboarding for clients, who can register for a new bank account by taking a selfie and a following a few simple steps. The process takes no more than five minutes.

The bank recorded a 66.2% growth in net profits in 2021, with return on equity recovering from 8.7% to 11.5%, while assets grew by 5%.

Mozambique
Millennium bim

Millennium bim has once again retained its crown as Bank of the Year for Mozambique, in recognition of several significant digital leaps together with its efforts in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) sphere.

In Mozambique’s rapidly digitising banking landscape, the bank signed an interoperability agreement in February 2022 with Carteira Móvel (TMcel), operator of the mKesh electronic money financial service. With this agreement, Millennium bim became the first lender to interface with the country’s three major mobile money providers, having already struck agreements with M-Pesa (provided by Vodacom) and e-Mola (Movitel Telecom). Following the mKesh agreement, transactions via the bank’s IZI platform grew to more than 17.3 million per month.

In 2021, Millennium bim launched its M-Top digital banking offering, supported by a dedicated call centre and account management. Account holders are given personal accident insurance and are able to access ‘Crédito Nova Vida TOP’ loans at subsidised rates.

In addition to its digital initiatives, the bank opened a new generation branch in the municipality of Matola, which is powered by solar energy.

Millennium bim continues to support a series of initiatives under its ‘Mais Moçambique pra Mim’ CSR programme. In March 2021, the lender offered 100 beds to the country’s Ministry of Health to strengthen the operational capacity of the Covid-19 inpatient and treatment centre of the Mavalane General Hospital in the country’s capital, Maputo. Later in the year, Millennium bim delivered a building with three fully-equipped classrooms to the Ministry of Education, in addition to kits with school supplies for 800 students in the conflict-riven province of Cabo Delgado.

The bank’s asset base decreased slightly during the year due to the divestment of shares in IT services company Seguradora Internacional de Moçambique. Profits rose by almost 40%, with return on equity increasing from 16% to 21.3%.

Namibia
First National Bank Namibia

In a competitive category, First National Bank (FNB) has been selected as Namibia’s Bank of the Year, in recognition of its Digiplus mobile banking product and the issuance of its first green bond.

Digiplus — officially launched in July 2022 — is a USSD-based product available for FNB and non-FNB customers. The service, which can be opened remotely, allows the account holder to receive and send funds from FNB and other banks, make transfers between accounts, buy prepaid electricity and airtime, and make cardless cash withdrawals and deposits at any CashPlus agent.

In addition, the bank upgraded its FNB app to enable statement downloads and divestment functionality. The bank saw an increase in e-wallet transaction volumes and values, while USSD registrations in the lower income segment grew again off a base of already high penetration. Efforts to encourage customers to swipe cards instead of using cash delivered increasingly higher usage over the period.

The bank’s first green bond issuance raised N$353m ($23.7m) across three- and five-year notes in early 2022, with the proceeds to be allocated to eligible green loans applied towards Namibian green buildings and renewable energy generation projects. The green bond auction garnered more than N$2bn in bids, resulting in the auction being 5.82 times subscribed.

Last year was a mixed one financially for FNB; while Tier 1 capital rose 11%, the bank’s overall asset base reduced by 5%. Net income rose during the year, with return on equity increasing from 17.3% from 19.2%. The cost-to-income ratio worsened slightly to 54.6% from 52.6%, while non-performing loans also worsened from 4.4% to 5.2%.

Nigeria
Zenith Bank

Nigeria’s Bank of the Year award was among the continent’s most hotly contested this year, befitting the country’s status as Africa’s largest economy. The country’s second-largest lender, Zenith Bank, is this year’s winner, in recognition of its support for small businesses and efforts to cut energy consumption.

Zenith reported a 13% growth in Tier 1 capital and an 11% rise in assets during 2021, with profits increasing by 6%. Return on equity worsened slightly from 22.4% to 20.4%.

The bank launched its small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) Grow My Business solution in late 2021 in a bid to support SME growth in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The programme — offered by the bank in collaboration with partners including Visa and Facebook — is designed to help with challenges such as technology adoption, capital growth and access to low-interest loans. It helps to reduce marketing costs and offers business advice via training, as well as provides much-needed accounting and collection solutions.

Since the launch of the scheme, the bank has disbursed more than N49bn ($110m) of loans to SMEs in general and N5bn to women-owned businesses through Z-Woman, a subset of the programme targeted at female-owned businesses.

On the digital front, the bank launched its Zenith Intelligent Virtual Assistant (Ziva) chatbot, with services including account opening, balance enquiry, money transfer, and airtime and bills payment.

“Transactions across various digital channels have grown significantly over the past year, driven by growth in our acquiring and issuing businesses on the back of innovative deployment of payment technologies,” says Ebenezer Onyeagwu, Zenith Bank’s CEO.

“We are building more robust digital capabilities and omnichannels, as well as partnering and collaborating with fintechs to reinforce our presence in the digital ecosystem and drive our retail franchise,” he adds.

Senegal
Orabank Sénégal

After being displaced as Senegal’s Bank of the Year last year, Orabank has reclaimed its title for 2022, in recognition of its strong finances and innovative deposit collection and cash management solutions.

“This award rewards the efforts of the Orabank Sénégal team, who daily dedicate themselves to our customers’ satisfaction, by implementing innovative tools and the best digital strategies,” says Kofi Dorkenoo, Orabank Sénégal’s managing director.

The bank collected CFAFr15bn ($23.6m) worth of cash in the 18 months to June 2022 via its WeCollect, a service that enables corporate customers to collect receipts via direct payments from customers from the counters of other Orabank subsidiaries across the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

The bank has also managed to optimise the cash flow of larger corporate customers including Mediterranean Shipping Company, Maersk Line and Port Autonome de Dakar via its cash pick-up service, which accounted for CFAFr79bn worth of cash pick-ups during the period.

Orabank was one of only two banks to win a partnership agreement with the country’s Caisse des dépôts et consignations, a public institution that manages deposits and securities belonging to fund organisations, including notaries. The bank has made cheque scanners available for notaries, streamlining the deposits process, with the technology also being made available to mobile operators including Orange and Free.

In 2021, the bank also entered a partnership with Orange subsidiary, Orange Finances Mobiles Senegal, and payment firms Thunes and Taptap Send to enable international money transfers to Orange mobile wallets.

Orabank recorded strong growth during 2021, with assets growing by 33.8%. Tier 1 capital and net profits more than doubled, with return on equity increasing from 25.9% to 30.5%. The cost-to-income ratio improved from 51.8% to 48.6%, while non-performing loans improved from 3.6% to 3.2%.

Sierra Leone
UBA Sierra Leone

United Bank for Africa (UBA) retains its title of Bank of the Year for Sierra Leone, thanks to a solid financial performance, improved corporate governance structure and digital registration push.

After a bumper year in 2020, growth across the bank’s financial metrics slowed in 2021, but remains at impressive levels, with Tier 1 capital and assets growing by 28.6% and 46.2%, respectively. Net profits grew by 27.8%, while return on equity fell from 42.6% to 39.3%, although this remains comfortably higher than pre-pandemic levels. Cost-to-income continued to improve, with its non-performing loan ratio is 0.23%.

“The cornerstone of our business development strategy is our determined focus on going the extra mile to delight our customers at every point of interaction, in line with our customer-first operating philosophy,” says UBA Sierra Leone’s CEO Usman Isiaka.

“This has encouraged our customers to become our sales advocates, giving testimonies on the quality of service and relationship management they receive from the bank, with [a] significant positive impact on our business growth in the country.”

One of the key strategic initiatives adopted by the bank during the review period was the strengthening of its corporate governance structure, with the appointment of three more Sierra Leoneans to the bank’s board of directors. The appointments mean that seven of the bank’s board are now Sierra Leoneans, including chairman Claudius Bart-Williams, part of the UBA Group’s strategic focus on domesticating the governance, products and services of its various subsidiaries.

On the digital front, the bank has
overhauled its mobile experience via a new app, equipped with new features including a refreshed interface, personal finance management tools and enhanced security protection.

South Africa
Standard Bank

This year Standard Bank has been crowned South Africa’s Bank of the Year for the first time since 2019. The continent’s largest lender overcame strong competition, with the judges noting a string of significant digital upgrades, together with its increased shareholding in insurer Liberty Holdings.

The acquisition of the remaining shares in Liberty — announced in 2021 and completed the following year — will see the company’s strengths in long-term insurance and asset management complement Standard Bank’s banking, private client asset management and shorter-term insurance capabilities.

“The next stage of our journey is to become a platform organisation, meeting the banking, insurance, investment and non-financial needs of our clients, in partnership with others,” says Lungisa Fuzile, Standard Bank’s South Africa CEO. “We intend to be a single convenient destination where people and firms can find the products and services they need quickly and conveniently.”

Among the bank’s most prominent product offerings of the review period was a relaunch of its Shyft foreign exchange app. First introduced in 2016, the app was relaunched in 2021 with new features and functionality, including a shares feature that allows users to invest in exchange-traded funds and a wide range of US companies. The new app has more than 100,000 users.

Also of note is the bank’s OneHub digital marketplace, launched in June 2021, offering corporate clients access to a range of digital tools and services. These include web applications and application programming interfaces, developed by the group and its trusted network of technology partners, to enhance efficiencies and streamline their own processes.

The bank’s profits rebounded in 2021 after a steep drop the year before, with return on equity recovering to 12.5% from 4.8% over the period. Tier 1 capital and assets grew by 10% and 4%, respectively in 2021, with a slight improvement in both costs and asset quality.

Tanzania
Stanbic Tanzania

Stanbic Tanzania retains its title of the country’s Bank of the Year for 2022, in recognition of its pioneering Borderless Banking scheme and its efforts in boosting financial literacy.

The bank witnessed a 9% growth in Tier 1 capital and a 22% rise in assets during 2021. However, net profits fell by 15%, with return on equity dropping from 6.1% to 5.1%.

One of Stanbic’s most significant achievements during the review period was the launch of Borderless Banking, enabling Tanzanian clients within east Africa to be served from any geographical region that has a Stanbic Branch in Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan. Since launching in 2021, close to 30% of the east African settlements in the Stanbic network have occurred over the new platform, with more than $70m of cash deposited for the trade corridor in its first six months of operation.

In a bid to advance the cause of financial literacy in Tanzania, the bank launched the Stanbic Financial Fitness Academy in February 2022, providing a structured wealth management curriculum, covering topics including entrepreneurship, budgeting, saving and investment, insurance and wills. More than 670 individuals have benefited from the curriculum thus far, including university students, corporate employees, association groups, Stanbic employees and their children.

Stanbic’s investment banking team notched up a series of key transactions during the review period. These include a $30m participation (together with Standard Bank) in a syndicated term facility of $1.3bn for the government of Tanzania in the second quarter of 2021, a TSh15bn ($6.4m) medium-term loan for local sugar estate TPC in the fourth quarter of the year, and a TSh58.5bn participation in a TSh200bn revolving credit facility for Geita Gold Mining and Samax Resources during the same quarter.

Togo
Ecobank

Togo’s Bank of the Year award for 2022 goes to Ecobank, whose highlights for the period include the development of its bancassurance product line, an upgrade to its customer relationship management capabilities, and its ongoing support for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers.

In an effort to tap into Africa’s burgeoning insurance market — which is growing faster than any region apart from Asia — Ecobank announced a partnership in December 2021 with five major insurers to provide bancassurance products for SME customers in Togo and 26 other markets across the bank’s footprint. Products already on offer include commercial asset insurance, engineering insurance, marine and cargo insurance, key person insurance, motor fleet business travel insurance, in addition to bespoke offerings such as credit insurance-leasing, credit insurance-invoice discounting without recourse and agricultural area yield insurance.

“We have proudly contributed to the development of Togolese SMEs through initiatives that go beyond banking services. These include training, digital presence, marketplaces and much more. This award recognises our efforts,” says Souleymane Toure, managing director of Ecobank Togo.

Also, within the SME space, the bank launched Ecobank Marketplace eCommerce to enable sole traders and small businesses to advertise goods and services, and also organised training for financing programmes — organised into four modules across 15 training sessions — with successful graduates eligible for working capital financing.

Ecobank posted strong results in 2021 after profitability the previous year was impacted by a one-off $338m goodwill write-down. Profits increased by 174% for the year, with return on equity increasing to 17.3%, comfortably ahead of the pre-pandemic level of 13.2%. The cost-to-income ratio decreased from 62.7% to 58.9%, while non-performing loans dropped to 6.2% from 7.6%.

Tunisia
Union Internationale de Banques – Groupe Société Générale

Union Internationale de Banques (UIB) has been selected as Tunisia’s Bank of the Year for 2022 in recognition of its strengths in both retail and business banking, as well as its sustainability efforts alongside Agence Française de Développement’s (AFD’s) Sunref programme.

One of the recent highlights on the retail front was the launch in late 2021 of a smartphone promotion in collaboration with local telco Ooredoo, enabling customers to acquire a handset worth TD300-2000 ($95-$631) through a maximum of 24 monthly repayments. While the UIB app is uploaded onto the new handset, customers are able to maintain their accounts via calls and SMS, without the need for mobile data usage.

The bank has also launched a solidarity savings product, enabling customers to transfer the interest gained via a classic savings account to one of the bank’s partner charities.

On top of its strengths in the retail market, UIB has been looking to increase its business banking penetration, looking to support Tunisian companies doing business across the wider African continent, developing trade flows, cash management and e-banking via the establishment of dedicated business expertise structures, fully integrated into the global trade and cash management lines of its parent Société Générale.

The bank has also been active in the sustainable finance realm, thanks to its participation in Sunref, a green finance initiative from AFD. Via the programme, UIB has been able to support local companies in their efforts to reduce energy consumption, transition to renewable energy sources and boost recycling.

After dipping in 2020, UIB’s profits increased by 81% in 2022, with return on equity rising from 9.4% to 11.4%. The cost-to-income ratio continued to deteriorate, from 50.3% to 53.9%, while non-performing loans remain elevated yet unchanged for the year at 8.1%.

Uganda
Equity Bank Uganda

In a very close contest, Equity Bank has been named as Uganda’s Bank of the Year for 2022, thanks to a good financial performance, as well as a series of compelling technology and product upgrades throughout the review period.

Equity recorded a 28% growth in Tier 1 capital in 2021 and a 36% increase in assets. Net profits rose by 49%, with return on equity improving from 24.4% to 27.7%. The cost-to-income ratio and non-performing loans continue to increase, however.

March 2022 saw the bank enable account opening via USSD codes, bringing digital onboarding to would-be customers without access to smartphones or mobile data. More than 50,000 accounts were opened within the first four months of the service’s launch, attracting deposits worth Ush4.2bn ($1.1m).

On the product side, Equity Bank launched a new collateral-free loans product for customers between the ages of 18 and 35, in conjunction with Mastercard’s Young Africa Works programme. The bank also launched EquiMaama, a loans facility for women, with an interest rate of 1.25% per month.

The bank launched its EazzyFX foreign exchange platform in September 2021, giving customers access to competitive quotes and prices for both emerging market and major traded currencies, with the ability to place multiple trade orders.

Also of note was the bank’s launch of its Equi Green loan programme. Developed in collaboration with Uganda Energy Credit Capitalisation Company, the scheme is designed to enable poor and middle-income households in the country to access clean energy for lighting, cooking and climate-smart agriculture. Customers can buy improved cook stoves, solar lighting systems, biomass systems, irrigation systems and water storage tanks through affordable, simplified loan products starting from as low as Ush200,000, repayable in six or 12 months.

Zambia
UBA Zambia

Zambia’s Bank of the Year award once again goes to United Bank for Africa (UBA), in recognition of its strong financial performance and improved market segmentation approach.

The bank’s Tier 1 capital base doubled during 2021, with assets increasing by 31%. Profits more than doubled, with return on equity increasing from 18% to 36%. Costs continued to improve, with the cost-to-income ratio falling from 69% to 38%. However, non-performing loans jumped to 32% from 2%, as a result of a fall in the bank’s overall loan book due to the repayment of a major facility.

“Having experienced tremendous cost reduction and growth in revenue/profitability, by leveraging digital technology over the past 12 months, our future plans are to invest in more digital banking products/innovations that will be appealing to our customers, in terms of value addition to their businesses,” says Chinedu Obeta, UBA Zambia’s managing director.

During the review period, the bank carried out a portfolio segmentation exercise to better align its organisational objectives and product offerings to market needs. The exercise prompted a restructuring of its risk asset and liabilities products, together with its small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) product offerings, leading to a 62.8% growth in its SME risk asset portfolio.

The growth was particularly notable in sub-segments such as schools, hospitals, churches, and retail traders. UBA Schools has attracted primary and secondary schools looking to access finances for equipment and renovations, while UBA Medicals allows medical centres to apply for financial support to buy or lease clinic premises, furnish and fit out the health centres, and buy medical equipment and other office supplies. UBA Divine, meanwhile, allows churches an annual turnover of $50,000 or more to finance the purchase of buildings and land