Some of Africa’s leading financial institutions will be attending the 2024 edition of the Awards Ceremony. This annual event which follows the African Development Bank Annual Meetings will be taking place at the newly launched JW Marriott Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on the 28th of May 2024.

Launched by African Banker magazine in 2007, the African Banker Awards were designed to highlight African success stories in banking as well as recognise the rapid modernisation and growth of Africa’s banking and financial system. The African Banker Awards are part of the official programme of the African Development Bank Annual Meetings, which this year are being held under the theme: “Africa’s Transformation, the African Development Bank Group and the Reform of the Global Financial Architecture.”.

Leading pan-African financial institutions 

The African Guarantee Fund have been long-time supporters of the Award and last year launched the AFAWA Award. AFAWA is a joint initiative by the African Development Bank and the African Guarantee Fund, which seeks to bridge the $42 billion financing gap facing women in Africa. The AFAWA Awards will celebrate the financial institutions bridging this gap.

This year the newly rebranded African Trade & Invest Development Insurance (ATIDI) have come on board as sponsors as have the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), whose own Annual Meetings will take place in June in the Bahamas.

Both Afreximbank and ATIDI are founding members of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), which have committed to collaborate to address Africa’s development finance needs, promote the interests of member states, advocate for Africa on global finance issues, develop innovative finance tools, and support sustainable finance strategies. These institutions are due to meet on the sidelines of the AfDB Meetings in Nairobi.

Banking giants at African Banker Awards 2024

Amongst the Awards sponsors are two titans of the African financial sector, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank), two institutions that have recently posted record results in Nigeria and who are known for their unwavering dedication to banking excellence.

Joining these titans is the burgeoning West African banking group, Vista Bank Group. With its recent acquisitions of Société Générale Burkina Faso and Banco Société Générale Moçambique, Vista Bank Group has secured a strategic position in the Southern African market. Furthermore, its mid-last-year acquisition of Oragroup catapulted it to become West Africa’s third-largest banking entity, and marks the retreat of international banks from the African landscape.