 |
Tony Elumelu |
Quintessential banker and visionary Group Managing Director of United
Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr Tony Elumelu, has been voted African
Banker of the Year 2008.
The UBA boss was pronounced African Banker of the Year on Friday at a
glittering ceremony held at the Grand Ballroom of the prestigious
Willard International Hotel, Washington DC, USA, organised by The
African Business magazine in collaboration with Business in Africa
Events alongside the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings.
Witnessed by Central Bank Governors, leading bankers and Finance
Ministers from several African countries and other parts of the world,
Elumelu emerged winner ahead of other notable bankers including Paul
Fokam, President & Board Chairman, Afriland First Bank, Arnold Ekpe,
CEO, Ecobank, Mahmoud Abdel Latif, Chairman/CEO, Bank of Alexandria,
Erastus Akingbola, CEO, Intercontinental Bank and Mamadou Igor Diarra,
CEO, Banque Internationale pour le Mali.
According to the organisers, Elumelu was voted African Banker of the
Year because he has shown "exceptional dexterity, leadership and vision,
consistently delivering strong financial results and broadening the
reach of banking services in Africa, whilst also bringing world class
practices to the industry".
He was selected by a distinguished panel of judges including; Nkosana
Moyo, Chairman of Actis Africa Advisory Board; Koosum Kalyan, Chairman
of Kgontsi Holdings, South Africa; Aissa Hidoussi, CEO of Best Lease,
Tunis and Tunisia's leading banker; Dr. Virgy Anohu, leading Nigerian
Mortgage banker and CEO MGSL, Nigeria as well as Christopher
Hartland-Peel, Head of Africa Equity Research, Exotix.
Receiving the award on behalf of Mr Elumelu, the CEO of UBA Capital, Mr.
Nandan Mer dedicated the award "to the over 20,000 employees of UBA
around the world from China to Nigeria, to the United States of America,
for serving our customers better everyday with innovative products and
services and for powering the vision to build a model global African
financial institution".
Tony Elumelu has been gaining increasing recognition as one of Africa's
leading and widely influential corporate leaders in Africa since he
conceived and managed the merger of Standard Trust Bank Plc and legacy
UBA Plc in 2005, a union that has grown to today's largest financial
services group in West, Central and East Africa.
Amongst other accolades, Elumelu was voted African Business Leader of
the Year by the Africa Investor magazine in 2006. His pursuit for
excellence is relentless as shown in the recently released third quarter
results which saw remarkable growth and improvement in all performance
indices. Analysts and investors are hoping and waiting for another
superlative performance when UBA's 2008 financial year results will be
released, any time soon.
Under Elumelu's leadership, UBA asserted an ambitious vision to be the
leading financial services institution in Africa and a respected player
in the global financial arena. Towards this end, the bank has been
rapidly expanding its operation beyond Nigeria into countries spanning
Ghana, Cameroun, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Uganda, in
addition to the international presence in New York and London.
The African Banker Awards are designed to recognise the reforms, rapid
modernization, consolidation, integration and expansion taking place in
the African Banking sector. The awards celebrate excellence in the
industry and help to establish the corporate identity of leading banks
and bankers from Africa who are increasingly playing crucial roles in
the world banking system.