Winners of African Banker of the Year Awards announced

African Bank of the Year, Groupe Banque Populaire Morocco

Ivorian Tidjane Thiam, the first African CEO of a FTSE100 company, and Nigerian Jim Ovia, chairman of Zenith Bank, were the winners in the African Banker Icon and Lifetime Achievement categories, respectively.

In the African Bank of the Year category, Groupe Banque Populaire beat stiff competition from four short-listed nominees to win the coveted title. Groupe Banque Populaire is one of the most important financial services groups in Morocco. It has recently taken a major stake in West African group Banque Atlantique and helped to turn around its performance significantly.
Important shareholders

Veteran banker Essien from Ghana inherited a bank in a precarious position last year, but has managed to steady the ship and bring in some important shareholders to strengthen Ecobank's capital base.

The incoming CEO of Swiss Bank, Credit Suisse, Tidjane Thiam, was honoured with this year's African Banker Icon award. Thiam is one of Africa's global leaders, the first African head of the top 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, as well as a former Minister of Finance of Côte d'Ivoire.

Alongside him, the Lifetime Achievement award was presented to the outstanding leader and entrepreneur Jim Ovia, founder and chairman of Zenith Bank in Nigeria, which is one of the country's best performing banks.

Full list of winners:

African Bank of the Year

Groupe Banque Populaire, Morocco

African Banker of the Year

Albert Essien, Group CEO Ecobank (ETI)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Jim Ovia, chairman, Zenith Bank, Nigeria

Finance Minister of the Year

Claver Gatete, Rwanda

Central Bank Governor of the Year

Prof Njuguna Ndung'u, Kenya

African Banker Icon

Tidjane Thiam, former finance minister of Cote d'Ivoire and CEO of Prudential

Best Regional Banks in Africa

Best Bank in North Africa

Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco

Best Bank in West Africa

Orabank

Best Bank in Central Africa

Groupe BGFI Bank, Gabon

Best Bank in East Africa

Bank of Kigali, Rwanda

Best Bank in Southern Africa

Banco de Comercio e Investimentos, Mozambique

Best Retail Bank in Africa

Standard Bank, South Africa

Investment Bank of the Year

Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa

Award for Innovation in Banking

Millennium BIM, Mozambique

Socially Responsible Bank of the Year

BMCE Bank, Morocco

Award for Financial Inclusion

Fondation Attawfik, Morocco

Deal of the Year - Equity

Seplat IPO (Standard Bank)

Deal of the Year - Debt

$850m Commercial and ECA Backed Financing Package for the Ethiopian Railways Corporation (Credit Suisse)

Trade Finance Deal of the Year

$1.3bn Petroleum Export Limited Syndicated Pre-export Facility, Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt

Infrastructure Deal of the Year

CENPOWER - KPONE IPP, Africa Finance Corporation, Nigeria

Best Islamic Finance Initiative

Senegal Sukuk, Citi and ICD

Abidjan was host to the African Development Bank annual meetings. This year's ceremony was hosted by MasterCard International. Speaking at the event, MasterCard's division president for sub-Saharan Africa, Daniel Monehin said: "We believe that the African Banker Awards understands precisely what excellence in banking means - one only has to consider the award winners and nominees tonight. This is why we are proud to support these awards, where we recognise and commemorate our banking colleagues who have, in the last year, provided us with outstanding examples of progress towards our shared goal of banking excellence."