The organisers of the awards, held on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank, said that the awards to Afreximbank were in recognition of the Bank’s growing leadership within Africa’s financial services sector.

They said that the African Bank of The Year award was going to Afreximbank for being the bank in Africa that had demonstrated a high performance across various metrics and had “considerably changed the banking landscape by reaching out to new customers, offering new services, adopting inclusiveness by bringing the unbanked into the banking space, making use of new technologies, and helping to drive growth through a stronger financial sector”.

They added that Afreximbank was picked for the DFI of the Year award because it was the development financial institution which had demonstrated a high performance across various metrics, both qualitative and quantitative, and had supported clients and projects and delivered high impact during “these unprecedented times”. It had also considerably changed the development finance landscape by investing in impact-led projects and contributed to the sustainable economic development of the continent.

By winning the African Bank of the Year and DFI of the Year awards, Afreximbank became the sole institution to win more than one award during the ceremony. A total of 20 awards were given out at the ceremony.

The African Banker Awards is organised by African Banker magazine to celebrate the achievements of individuals and institutions that have contributed significantly to the growth and development of Africa's banking sector over the preceding.