Ecobank Group CEO Albert Essien has won the African Banker of the Year award at the 9th edition of the African Banker Awards in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The ceremony took place at Abidjan’s Sofitel Hotel Ivoire in the margins of the 2015 African Development Bank Annual Meetings.
The award recognises the contribution of individuals in management positions, and best practices in African banking. It is sponsored by London-based IC publications under the patronage of the African Development Bank.
Essien was one of five contenders for the African Banker of the Year award. Other contenders were Segun Agbaje of Nigeria’s GT Bank, Paulo Alexandre Duarte de Sousa of Banco Comerciale de Investimentos of Mozambique, Charles Kimei of Tanzania’s Cooperative Rural Development Bank plc and Tariq Sijilmassi of Morocco’s Groupe Credit Agricole.
Accepting the award, Essien said: “I am deeply honoured to receive this award. It comes as a surprise to me because although I have worked for Ecobank for the last 25 years, I have only been Group CEO for just over a year. I therefore accept this award on behalf of the staff of Ecobank, for they are the ones to whom I attribute the real success of our institution in its service to the people of our continent. I also want to thank our host, IC publications, the organisers of these awards, and the esteemed panel of judges for this distinction.”
The award is the second received within the group this month. On the 22nd of May
Ecobank was named African Retail Bank of the Year at the Global Retail Banking
Awards ceremony in London. The bank also received a nomination in African
Banker Awards in the Best Retail Bank of the Year category.
Credit: Ecobank
