Posted by This Day Online on
Intercontinental Bank Plc, the world's second fastest growing bank, has won the coveted 2007 African Commercial Bank of the Year Award, at the annual meetings of the World Bank/IMF in Washington D.C. USA.
Intercontinental Bank Plc, the world's second fastest growing bank, has won the coveted 2007 African Commercial Bank of the Year Award, at the annual meetings of the World Bank/IMF in Washington D.C. USA.
The awards, tagged Celebrating Africa's Best, conferred honours on two other high performance agents of change in Africa.
They are the winner of the 2007 African Central Bank Governor of the Year, Dr Paul Acquah, Governor of the Central Bank of Ghana and winner of 2007 African Finance Minister of the Year, Ato Sufian Ahmed, Finance Minister of Ethiopia.
Hosted by the Annual Meetings Daily, a publication of D.E.R. Limited, the Awards citation noted that Intercontinental Bank has achieved the seemingly unattainable vision it set for itself in 2003, to be the number one bank in Nigeria, among the top five banks in Africa and among the top 500 banks in the world.
The citation added that the bank is distinguished by a track record of performance with its management and staff strongly committed to a culture of excellence. It also added that the bank's credit ratings continue to reflect a strong profile with A+ rating by FitchRating, BB- by Standard & Poors, Aa by Augusto & Co and AA by Global Credit Rating.
It noted that the story of Intercontinental Bank cannot be complete without mentioning Dr Erastus Akingbola, the bank's Group Chief Executive, whose vision, resilience and robust, pragmatic and pro-active managerial acumen steered the bank through the years on the path of steady growth and rapid expansion being celebrated today.
While receiving the Award at the prestigious Grand Hyatt Hotel, in Washington D.C., Akingbola said, "my dream is that 200 years from now, Intercontinental Bank will still be here to stay. The bank is not about us. We are just care-takers.
The real owners have not come. We hope that when the next generation takes over, they will appreciate the efforts we have made in building a lasting financial institution."