Nigeria’s Ecobank has been named as winner of the Customer Relationship Management of the Year, Retail Risk Management Initiative of the Year and Best Business Model Execution in West Africa for 2016 at The Asian Banker’s 1st Annual West Africa Awards Ceremony held in Lagos recently.
The Best Retail Banker in Africa award went to Group Executive, Consumer Bank Ecobank Group, Patrick Akinwuntan.
The maiden Asian Banker’s West Africa Awards are acknowledged in the financial sector as a strong indicator of excellence among the financial services industry.
According to the organisers of the Awards, Ecobank was awarded for its customer relationship initiative through the commitment to provide convenient, accessible and reliable banking products and services to its customers; use of business intelligence tools and credit bureau information, to provide a secure banking environment to its customers, and its three tier business model that focuses on customer segmentation, coverage, and channels to serve each segment.
For Akinwuntan, Group Executive, Consumer Bank Ecobank Group, who won the Best Retail Banker in Africa, the organisers observed that under his leadership, the retail business has witnessed substantial transformation, innovation and growth in all its segments and dimensions – customers, products and channels, adding that the retail banking which he supervises has turned into a leader in the retail banking space across many of the countries that it operates in.
“The bank boasts a largest retail customer base in sub-Sahara Africa of about 11 million and works to promote financial inclusion through retail microfinance operations covering six countries serving over one and a half million micro-finance customers. The retail banking financial performance is impressive; revenues reached $481 million last year with balance sheet in excess of $5billion.”
They further stated that he also spearheaded the establishment of the Pan-African Technology and Shared Services Centre in order to maintain a seamless banking experience for consumers across the continent and to consolidate bank services and technology platforms for greater efficiency and cost control.
Award-winning banks attended the gala event that recognised their efforts in bringing superior products and services to their customers.
Over 50 financial institutions were evaluated across 15 different countries. A stringent two-month evaluation process based on a balanced and transparent scorecard was used to determine the winners.
Aduragbemi Omiyale