Nominees for the 2018 African Banker Awards (http://AfricanBankerAwards.com) have been announced. This year's shortlist sees another strong year for banks from Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya. Ecobank, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered, which have a large footprint across the continent also feature across several categories.

The Awards, which are hosted by African Banker magazine, will be held during the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) at the end of May in Busan, South Korea. The finalists, selected by an expert judging panel of bankers and business leaders will be announced at the African Banker Awards ceremony which will take place on Wednesday 22nd May.

Chair of the Awards Committee, Omar Ben Yedder, the Group Publisher and Managing Director of IC Publications Group(www.ICPublications.com)which publishes African Banker, said that he was once again impressed by the quality and breadth of entries this year.

"We saw McKinsey earlier in the year releasing a very positive report analysing the banking landscape in Africa. The entries reaffirm their findings when they say Africa's banking market are amongst the most exciting in the world. The categories that caught my eye were innovation in banking – and this year's entries reflect the transformative role of fintech and also blockchain technology – as well as deal of the year, which is every year a very competitive category. Equity markets were a little slower in 2017, but we saw some interesting deals on the debt side and also transformative infrastructure financing structures. The quality of the entries, and sophistication of the solutions being presented, reflect a buoyant sector in continuous evolution."

The awards which are held under the high patronage of the African Development Bank and, are sponsored by The African Guarantee Fund, Banco Nacional de Investimento (BNI), Groupe Crédit Agricole du Maroc and the Bank of Industry. Ecobank will be the hosts of the African Banker Awards cocktail reception prior the awards. The Gala Dinner and Awards presentation will take place at the Paradise Hotel, Busan.

The shortlisted entries are:

African Banker of the Year:

Mohamed El Kettani - Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco James Mwangi - Equity Group Holdings Plc, Kenya Joshua Oigara - KCB, Kenya Segun Agbaje – Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria

African Bank of the Year:

Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco Equity Group Holdings, Kenya Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria The Mauritius Commercial Bank, Mauritius Standard Chartered

Best Retail Bank in Africa:

Barclays, Zambia Ecobank KCB, Kenya Millennium BIM, Mozambique SBM Holdings, Mauritius

Investment Bank of the Year:

Barclays Africa Group Exotix FNBQuest Merchant Bank, Nigeria Standard Bank Standard Chartered

Award for Financial Inclusion:

Fourth Generation Capital Limited, Kenya Groupe Crédit Agricole du Maroc, Morocco Baobab Group, France Equity Group, Kenya JUMO World, South Africa

Award for Innovation in Banking:

Agricultural Finance Corporation, Kenya Ubuntu Coin Banque Nationale pour le Développement Economique, Senegal Ecobank SBM Holdings, Mauritius

Socially Responsible Bank of the Year:

Barclays Bank, Zambia BMCE Bank of Africa, Morocco Equity Group, Kenya First Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria KCB Group, Kenya Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, Kenya

Deal of the Year – Equity:

ADES IPO - EFG Hermes, Egypt First Rand Acquisition of Aldermore PLC - Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa GAPCO sale to Total - Standard Chartered, South Africa Long4Life IPO - Standard Bank, South Africa Steinhoff Africa Retail Listing - Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa Vodacom Tanzania IPO - National Bank of Commerce and Absa CIB, Tanzania

Deal of the Year – Debt:

$300m Diaspora Bond - Standard Bank/FBNQuest Merchant Bank, Nigeria $540 First Rand Asia Focused syndication - Standard Chartered, UK Cape Town Green Bond – RMB, South Africa Dufil Prima Foods - Standard Bank, South Africa Nokeng Fluorspar – Fieldstone, South Africa Viathan – Renaissance Capital, Nigeria

Infrastructure Deal of the Year:

Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund – Chapel Hill Denham, Nigeria Nacala Railway and Port Corridor – Standard Bank SA / RMB, South Africa FIRST – Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa AEE Power Project – RMB, Namibia

Individual recognition will also be given in the categories for the Regional Bank winners, Central Bank Governor of the Year, Finance Minister of the Year and Lifetime Achievement.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of IC Publications.

For further information on the awards and for interview requests, please contact:
Hassna Benseddik - H.Benseddiq@ICPublications.com
Wafaa Charih - W.Charih@ICPublications.com