- Reiterates commitment to boosting cross-border business opportunities in Africa and the world
- Says new name is to align with the parent brand
- Ghana, Senegal and Guinea to follow suit in the next phase, says bank
By Demilade Adeniyi
First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier financial services institution, on Friday, announced a phased name change for its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The name change coincidentally is coming on the 129th anniversary of bank’s corporate existence as a formidable deposit money institution in Nigeria.
The first set of subsidiaries to effect the name alignment Sunrise News gathered are; the FBNBank UK, FBNBank Sierra Leone, FBNBank Gambia and FBNBank DRC, all of which would now be known and addressed as FirstBank UK, FirstBank Sierra Leone, FirstBank Gambia and FirstBank DRC. The Ghana, Senegal and Guinea subsidiaries will be next in the phased name change implementation.
The name change is being implemented to align the subsidiaries with the parent brand and to enjoy the strong heritage and brand equity built by FirstBank Nigeria in its 129 years of banking leadership. This will further enhance the quality-of-service delivery resulting in better brand clarity, uniformity and consistency across all the markets where the Bank operates.
A leading financial inclusion services provider, FirstBank Group is committed to its nation-building goal. It has taken giant performance strides on its unique growth trajectory as it continues to build distinctive capabilities through partnerships and the constant drive to reinvent itself. This performance is evidenced in the numerous awards and recognitions bestowed on the institution. These awards include Best Private Bank for Sustainable Investing in Africa 2023 by Global Finance Awards; Best Corporate Bank in Western Africa 2022 by Global Banking & Finance; Best CSR Bank Africa by International Business Magazine in 2022; and ranked as number one in Nigeria in terms of Overall Performance; Profitability; Efficiency and Return on Risk by the Top 100 African Bank Rankings 2022 released by The Banker Magazine from the stables of Financial Times.
In addition, in Euromoney Market Leaders, an independent global assessment of the leading financial service providers conducted by Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc., the Bank was crowned: Market Leader in Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR); Market Leader in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG); Highly Regarded in Corporate Banking and Digital Solutions and Notable: in SME Banking.
Speaking on the name change, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, CEO of FirstBank Group, said ‘’ the name change which coincides with FirstBank’s 129th founding anniversary (March 31st, 2023) is indeed a milestone reflective of our resolve to continuously provide the gold standard of excellence and value as we put our customers First.
“The new identity of the subsidiaries, contributes to an enhanced brand presence. It helps our customers and stakeholders better appreciate the value of the diversified products suites, competitive pricing and extensive business networks the FirstBank Group offers. These include our commitment to boosting cross-border businesses including trade and investment opportunities essential to enhancing trade relations amongst countries, thereby strengthening the economies of host communities and reducing poverty,” he concluded.