Banking
Stanbic IBTC Anchors Sustainability Strategy on Four Pillars
**Cuts Carbon Emission by 1.67 tonnes
By Dipo Olowookere
In order to improve societies for humanity and advance sustainable development, the United Nations (UN) came up with some Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), which countries, organisations and others were advised to key into.
As a responsible corporate firm, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, a member of Standard Bank Group, came up with a strategy to achieve these goals.
The company designed its sustainability strategy and anchored it on four pillars; building environmental resilience, expanding business model and innovation, enhancing social relationships, and strengthening leadership for sustainability governance.
These sustainability pillars are aligned with the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles.
Recently, Stanbic IBTC released its 2020 Sustainability Report and it highlighted its environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices, which cut across corporate social investments (CSI), environmental and social risk management practices, and performance.
The report also highlighted the progress Stanbic IBTC had made across the four sustainability pillars, and seven Social, Environmental and Economic (SEE) impact areas wherein the group had confidence in achieving significant outcomes.
It further reflected that Stanbic IBTC made significant carbon emission savings, and reduced its total carbon emission by 1.67 tonnes in 2020. Hybrid solar systems were deployed in its branches and off-site ATMs.
Additionally, a 30 per cent reduction in paper use was achieved in its Go-Green branches initiative that contributed indirectly to a decrease in tree-felling for paper production.
Stanbic IBTC conducted waste audit exercises across three head office campuses to quantify the amount and types of waste generated at the locations for better waste management insight.
As part of the group’s sustainability governance in the year 2020, Environmental and Social Risk awareness training was conducted to educate its staff on the importance of Environmental and Social Risk management.
In the year, Stanbic IBTC and its parent brand, the Standard Bank Group, partnered with UN Women to promote women’s economic empowerment through climate-resilient agribusiness.
Over 3,000 entrepreneurs were trained in business sustainability. New School Money, an initiative on financial literacy for young people, was also shown to have impacted the lives of young people.
It was revealed in the report that a total of N109.4 million was donated under its employee volunteerism scheme and was channelled towards its three CSI pillars: health, economic empowerment, and education to help achieve qualitative healthcare and education, and sustainable economic empowerment.
Other initiatives aligned to the SDGs included a partnership with GB Foods to boost productivity and the donation of foodstuff to charitable organisations in the fight against hunger.
Stanbic IBTC also helped provide medical facilities and supplies to hospitals and community health centres in terms of health and wellness.
At the same time, efforts in curtailing the coronavirus pandemic cost the organisation over N345 million in funds and relief material donations.
Other initiatives included the donation of educational facilities to different schools and learning centres and the award of scholarships to exceptional students across the country.
In support of gender equality, Stanbic IBTC established lactoriums in its offices to help working mothers’ transition back to work after maternity leave, and thus enhanced the inclusion of females in the workplace.
Furthermore, at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown, Stanbic IBTC put a debt relief programme in place to alleviate the potential cash flow constraints its clients faced due to the pandemic. Forbearances were granted to clients on a total exposure of N78 billion as at 31 December 2020.
“The Sustainability Report has highlighted our shared values in 2020 and is expected to help our key stakeholders better appreciate our long-term priorities to ensure financial, social, and environmental sustainability in our business operations.
“Our sustainability ambition is to become the leading financial institution driving sustainable finance solutions in Nigeria, and we have defined a sustainability strategy that is anchored on four pillars to achieve this,” the CEO of Stanbic IBTC, Mr Demola Sogunle, stated.
“As the leading end-to-end financial services organisation, we have a duty to set the standard in the way we address environmental, social and governance issues.
“We are proud to report that we are making significant progress, and we will continue to build on our 2020 milestones,” he added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
First Holdco Plc has commenced a public offer to raise about N1.4 trillion (approximately $1 billion) after securing approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The offer, which opened on Monday, involves the sale of 10.4 billion ordinary shares, according to the chief executive of its banking subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mr Olusegun Alebiosu.
The capital raise follows the company’s earlier plan to transfer about a quarter of its shares to RC Investment Management Ltd., which served as a bridge holder after Barbican Capital Limited exited its investment in the lender amid a prolonged ownership and leadership dispute.
First Holdco had previously indicated that the shares would eventually be offered to the investing public once the necessary regulatory approvals were obtained.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Alebiosu said proceeds from the offer would strengthen the capital base of First Bank and support the holding company’s expansion strategy.
According to him, the group intends to diversify beyond banking by establishing an insurance underwriting business and a fintech services company.
“The sale is starting today — the reality here is that I am not sure it will stay more than one week based on the pressure we are getting,” Mr Alebiosu said, expressing confidence in strong investor demand.
Investors appeared to respond positively to the announcement, with First HoldCo’s shares climbing as much as 5.9 per cent to a record high during trading on Monday before easing to a 3.1 per cent gain at N133.60 by early afternoon in Lagos.
The lender has been one of the best-performing banking stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited over the past year, with its share price rising more than fourfold since July 2025, when Barbican Capital’s stake was transferred to RC Investment Management.
The fresh capital injection comes as its largest shareholder, Mr Femi Otedola, continues to strengthen his stake in Nigeria’s oldest bank. With the billionaire holding around a 26 per cent stake in the company, analysts say he has his eyes set on full control once his equity crosses the 30 per cent mark.
By Adedapo Adesanya
One of Nigeria’s top digital banks, PalmPay, has appointed a former executive of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Mr Samuel Oluyemi, as its chief operating officer.
In his new role, Mr Oluyemi will oversee the financial technology company’s operations in Nigeria, where it offers a broad range of digital financial services to individuals and businesses.
Mr Oluyemi will also engage with regulators to ensure the company’s expansion aligns with Nigeria’s financial, digital and social inclusion objectives.
Prior to joining the company, Mr Oluyemi spent more than two decades at NIBSS, where he served as business development lead.
During his tenure, he drove the development of several critical payment infrastructure projects, including the digital validation of Nigerian international passports, e-Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS), and the Electronic Pensions Contribution Collection System (EPCCOS).
Also, he played a key role in the introduction and early adoption of the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform, Nigeria’s first real-time interbank transfer system launched in 2011, and later supported its extension to other financial institutions.
Mr Oluyemi obtained a master’s degree in Monetary Economics from the University of Ibadan and has participated in several local and international professional training programmes.
Commenting on the appointment, Managing Director of PalmPay Nigeria, Mr Chika Nwosu, said that the company was strengthening its leadership team to support its longterm vision.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Africa’s most valuable fintech, Flutterwave, has signalled that its long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) remains firmly on the back burner as the company intensifies efforts to transform itself into a licensed financial institution across the continent.
The firm’s chief executive, Mr Olugbenga Agboola, said the firm is focused on building sustainable profitability, diversifying its revenue streams and expanding its banking footprint before considering a stock market listing.
Speaking to The Africa Report, Mr Agboola described an IPO as a future financing milestone rather than an immediate strategic objective.
“An IPO is a financing event, not a strategy,” he said. “We are not holding any pressure to go public. This gives us the flexibility to be patient and ensure when we do list, we’re doing so from a position of strength.”
The comments come as Flutterwave embarks on an acquisition-led expansion strategy aimed at securing banking licences and deeper regulatory access across Africa.
Mr Agboola revealed that the company is currently in the process of acquiring a bank in East Africa, though he declined to disclose the institution or country involved.
The planned acquisition is expected to provide Flutterwave with an established customer base, existing banking infrastructure and regulatory approvals, significantly shortening the time required to enter new financial services markets.
According to Mr Agboola, the company’s expansion priorities include Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt, while the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia remain under consideration for future growth.
Rather than building banks from scratch in every market, Flutterwave intends to adopt a mix of acquisitions, licences and strategic partnerships depending on local regulatory conditions.
“The vision is not to form a bank in every country but to ensure that every African business has access to more than financial services,” Mr Agboola said in the interview.
The banking push follows recent regulatory and corporate developments, including the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval of Flutterwave’s banking licence and the acquisition of open banking startup Mono.
Together, the moves underscore a broader strategy to expand beyond payments and establish new revenue streams in lending, liquidity management and business banking services.
Flutterwave plans to focus on institutional deposits from businesses already using its platform rather than competing aggressively for retail deposits.
The company intends to leverage transaction data from its payments network to provide short-term working capital, merchant financing, invoice discounting and trade finance products for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Mr Agboola disclosed that the bulk of the capital earmarked for banking operations will be directed toward credit support and liquidity buffers, with additional allocations for lending and banking infrastructure.
The strategy reflects a growing trend among African fintech firms seeking banking licences to reduce dependence on traditional financial institutions and gain greater control over settlement, liquidity management and product development.
Despite speculation about a near-term public listing, Mr Agboola maintained that Flutterwave’s immediate focus remains execution and growth.
He noted that the company will only consider an IPO after achieving stronger profitability and establishing scale across its payments, banking and remittance businesses.
In February 2025, he told Bloomberg that Flutterwave would only pursue a public offering after becoming profitable. He also stated in late 2024 that the company was “not in the IPO race.”
Founded in 2016, Flutterwave has processed more than one billion transactions valued at over $40 billion across 35 African countries. The company recently secured fresh funding that lifted its valuation to $3.3 billion, with American blockchain firm Ripple leading the investment round.
For now, however, Flutterwave appears more interested in building the foundations of a pan-African financial institution than rushing to the public markets, positioning banking expansion as the next phase of its growth story while keeping an eventual IPO firmly on the long-term horizon.
