Since 1894, FirstBank has built solid relationships, good corporate governance and strong liquidity.
First Bank of Nigeria Limited (“FirstBank”), established in 1894, is the premier Bank in West Africa, Nigeria’s number one bank brand and the leading financial services solutions provider in Nigeria.
The Bank was founded by Sir Alfred Jones, a shipping magnate from Liverpool, England. With its head office originally in Liverpool, the Bank commenced business on a modest scale in Lagos, Nigeria under the name, Bank of British West Africa (BBWA).
History Of First Bank of Nigeria
In 1912, the Bank acquired its first competitor, the Bank of Nigeria (previously called Anglo-African Bank) which was established in 1899 by the Royal Niger Company. In 1957, the Bank changed its name from Bank of British West Africa (BBWA) to Bank of West Africa (BWA). In 1966, following its merger with Standard Bank, UK, the Bank adopted the name Standard Bank of West Africa Limited and in 1969 it was incorporated locally as the Standard Bank of Nigeria Limited in line with the Companies Decree of 1968.
Changes in the name of the Bank also occurred in 1979 and 1991 to First Bank of Nigeria Limited and First Bank of Nigeria Plc, respectively. In 2012, the Bank changed its name again to FirstBank of Nigeria Limited as part of a restructuring resulting in FBN Holdings Plc (“FBN Holdings”), having detached its commercial business from other businesses in the FirstBank Group, in compliance with the new regulation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
FirstBank had 1.3 million shareholders globally, was quoted on The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), where it was one of the most capitalised companies and also had an unlisted Global Depository Receipt (GDR) programme, all of which were transferred to its Holding Company, FBN Holdings, in December 2012.
Building on its solid foundation, the Bank has consistently broken new ground in the domestic financial sector for over a century and two decades. FirstBank is present in the United Kingdom and France through its subsidiary, FBN Bank (UK) Limited with branches in London and Paris; and in Beijing with its Representative Offices there. In October 2011, the Bank acquired a new subsidiary, Banque International de Credit (BIC), one of the leading banks in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In November 2013, FirstBank acquired ICB in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Guinea, and in 2014, the Bank acquired ICB in Senegal. These were major landmarks in its plan for growing its sub-Saharan African footprint and all the African subsidiaries now bear the FBNBank brand.
As the global operating environment evolves, FirstBank continues to keep pace, responding to the dynamic needs of its customers, investors, regulators, host communities, employees and other stakeholders. Through a balanced approach to plan execution, FirstBank has consolidated its industry leadership by maintaining transgenerational appeal. Thus, the Bank has continuously boosted its customer base, which cuts across all segments in terms of size, structure and sectors.
Leveraging experience spanning over a century of dependable services, FirstBank has continued to build relationships and alliances with key sectors of the economy that have served as strategic building blocks for the well-being, growth and development of the country. With its huge asset base and expansive branch network, as well as continuous reinvention, FirstBank is Nigeria’s strongest banking franchise, maintaining market leadership on all fronts in the nation’s financial services industry.
FirstBank is a well-diversified financial services group and the largest private-sector financial services provider in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa).
The Bank maintains the leading position in many of the markets in which it operates, market-leading distribution capability and a well-recognised brand with a large customer base.
With over 800 business locations in Nigeria, all online and real-time, the Bank has one of the largest domestic sales networks in the country. As a market leader in the financial services sector, FirstBank pioneered initiatives in international money transfer and electronic banking in the country, serving more than 36 million customer accounts.
FirstBank’s strategy has been focused on restructuring the business to take advantage of growth opportunities within the industry, pursuing business line expansion across strategic business units, continuously implementing a systematic international expansion plan, sequencing its growth initiatives across defined metrics, as well as building synergies and cross-selling across the FirstBank Group. This strategy supports the Bank’s vision of being the leading sub-Saharan African financial services group. Continued implementation of this strategy will produce long-term profitable growth as well as build great franchises and deliver value to all stakeholders. The focus of the Bank in terms of international expansion remains the financial services markets in sub-Saharan Africa.
FirstBank’s manpower development policy recognises the invaluable contribution that human resources make to the growth and development of countries.
As one of the leading private sector employers of graduate-level personnel in the country, FirstBank’s manpower development policy recognises the invaluable contribution that human resources make to the growth and development of countries successfully navigating from the third world to developed country status. Consequently, its human capital management initiatives are geared towards providing necessary support to staff, departments and the various business drivers to enable the Bank to achieve its goals and objectives.
As the Bank grows its footprint locally and internationally, contributing positively to customers’ value chains, it hires personnel with the unique skill sets needed to fully leverage its operations. The Bank’s succession planning framework ensures perpetual business continuity. FirstBank continues to replenish its workforce, especially at strategically important levels of responsibility.
FirstBank boasts a rich pool of resourceful industry experts who contribute significantly to national development through ongoing secondment to different tiers of governments and institutions across the country. The Bank’s alumni are highly sought after in both the public and private sectors. FirstBank believes strongly that by ensuring a robust employee value proposition that helps retain top performers, it will continue to improve on the outstanding performance of its people during and after their service to the Bank.
With over 128 years of uninterrupted operations, FirstBank’s outstanding services have attracted innumerable recognitions and awards.
The Bank was first listed on The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in March 1971 and won the NSE’s Annual President’s Merit Award for the best financial report in the banking industry a record thirteen times. This subsisting feat received an additional impetus when the Bank in 2011 was bestowed with the “Best Financial Reporting Company” award by Africa Investor, one of Africa’s most respected multimedia investment news and information publishers.
In the same period, FirstBank was named the “Most Innovative Bank in Africa” by African Banker Awards. This highly coveted award goes to the African bank that has demonstrated original and practical uses of technology to provide customer convenience, better and cheaper services, and greater access to the financial services industry in Africa. The award, therefore, represents a global recognition of the giant strides the Bank has made over the years in deploying technology to power its operations and services and ultimately making banking services more convenient, accessible and faster. These are major feats in the Bank’s customer-oriented and innovative financial services that confirm the Bank’s interest in promoting its customers’ lifestyles and businesses.
FirstBank has been the back-to-back winner of the “Best Bank in Nigeria” for twelve (12) years, “Best Trade Finance Bank in Nigeria”, and “Best Foreign Exchange Bank in Nigeria” for seven (7) consecutive years – all awarded by the US-based Global Finance magazine. The Bank has been the back-to-back winner of the “Best Bank in Nigeria” awarded by the EMEA Finance magazine for four (4) consecutive years. FirstBank is also the winner of the “Best Banking Group in Nigeria”, awarded by World Finance Banking Awards, the “Best Investment Bank” the “Best Private Bank” awarded by the same institution, the latter which the Bank has received five times. FirstBank received the “ICT Telecoms Deal of the Year Award” awarded by the Ai CEO Infrastructure Awards 2012, a worthy recognition of the Bank’s role in the EMTS (Etisalat) US$650Million Syndicated Term Loan, 2011 and was named “The Bank of the Year in Nigeria” in The Banker Awards 2012.
For six consecutive years, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 (as announced in February 2017), the Bank has been named “Nigeria’s Number One Banking Brand” by Brand Finance Top 500 Banking Brands and “Best Retail Bank in Nigeria”, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards. Also, in 2013, FirstBank was awarded the “Best Bank in Nigeria” in the Euromoney Awards for Excellence, “Best Bank in West Africa” in the African Banker Awards, and Best Foreign Exchange Services in Africa in the EMEA Finance Treasury Services Awards.
All these accolades attest to FirstBank’s exceptional commitments to promoting national economic growth and development through constructive engagements with the public and private sectors of the growing Nigerian economy.
Following its adoption of a holding company structure, FirstBank has unveiled a refreshed corporate identity, including that of all its subsidiaries.
As a brand of fortitude, strength and innovation in the Nigerian financial sector, following its adoption of a holding company structure, FirstBank on January 27, 2014, unveiled a refreshed corporate identity, including that of all its subsidiaries, designed to reflect the company’s strategic direction and position it to meet the future needs of the market. The African elephant which is a respected and instantly recognisable icon of its brand identity was retained. However, it was re-ignited with a number of enhancements that communicate a robust evolution relevant to today’s marketplace.
The raised head of the elephant in our refreshed identity is our promise to all customers that with us in their corner, every financial challenge they face, they can face with their head held high. The deep blue colour represents momentum, innovation and evolution. These principles ensure that we continue to develop solutions that are at the heart of all their challenges. The raised foot of the elephant is a promise that we will always put our best foot forward for each and every one of our customers. The adoption of gold into our logo, a precious metal identified with value, serves as a reminder of the inherent value and durability of our brand. This marks a renewed promise to all our stakeholders – a promise to continue to set the gold standard of value and excellence in financial solutions across Sub Saharan Africa.
The FirstBank Brand
Since launching in 1894, FirstBank has established itself as a brand of strength and dynamism with a vision to be the leading international banking group.
At FirstBank, we recognise the immutable merits of maintaining a “brand-first” mindset and culture, as a critical component of our business strategy. Our brand has evolved over the years, with strengthened brand muscles to match the constantly evolving expectations of today’s increasingly discerning stakeholders.
Since launching in 1894, FirstBank has established itself as a brand of strength and dynamism, with the vision to be the leading international banking group in Sub Saharan Africa. Our brand is at the heart of the holistic experience we seek to deliver to our stakeholders perpetually, which is essential to retaining patronage and the competitive edge that keeps us at the coveted position of the market leader.
Our brand interacts with our stakeholders and demonstrates an understanding of their busy modern lives or businesses, to support their aspirations. Hence, we have evolved over 120 years by respecting and upholding the shared heritage relevant not only to today’s modern Nigerians but also today’s modern world.
Our brand is therefore on a definitive mission to create a strong global presence in order to reinforce our position as the leading Sub Saharan banking services group. We champion our brand to constantly strive to find a better way of driving our business forward, driven by our philosophy and people – our customers, our stakeholders, our employees.
We live by our beliefs and consistently strive to Inspire Understanding, Drive Collaboration, and Build a Better Way to unify and strengthen our brand to delight all stakeholders. Consequently, we work daily to implement best practices through our culture and ultimately enable our employees to understand our customers’ lives and be driven to meet their needs appropriately.
Our brand purpose is to always put our stakeholders, customers and partners at the heart of our business, even as we are poised to standardise customer experience and excellence in financial solutions across Sub Saharan Africa, in consonance with our brand vision “To be the first partner choice in building your future”.
Our brand promise is thus to always deliver the ultimate “gold standard” of value and excellence. Our financial services knowledge and practices lead the market in ensuring that we understand our customers and surpass expectations by seeking for a better way of delivering first-class service and experience.
This dedication to delivering the gold standard is anchored on our inherent values of passion, partnership and people, to position “You First” in every respect.
To date, the iconic African elephant has been a robust symbol of strength and growth, establishing the organisation as a clear leader in the financial services industry. The elephant is the respected and instantly recognisable icon of the FirstBank brand identity and as such, we value the trust, approachability and stability that this represents.
Our new refreshed corporate identity retains the elephant and re-ignites this iconic symbol with a number of enhancements that accentuate a robust evolution relevant for today.
Our brand language is the visual and narrative look and feel of our brand. It is the essential combination of the logo, the images, the fonts, the pattern, the icons, the colours, the symbols, the identity and the words.
The new colour palette is a clear reflection of our brand personality and tone of voice whilst robustly portraying our profitability pedigree. It evolves the FirstBank trademark Blue to reflect richer and more premium equity and combines with new complementary colour partners.
In putting “You First” we promise to be:
- There for you and committed to you, our customers and stakeholders
- A financial solutions group that listens, understands and connects with you as people
- A financial solutions group that will deliver the relevant experiences that exceed your expectations
- A financial solutions group that has the products and services that meet the diverse needs of modern Sub Saharan Africa
- A financial solutions group that you can trust and rely upon
- A financial solutions group that is there as a constant financial partner throughout our customers’ lives
For the sixth time, The Banker Magazine named FirstBank as the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria, a very big deal for us and for our stakeholders. We won the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and now again for 2016 (as announced in February 2017), thanks to all our stakeholders. Also, for the sixth consecutive time, FirstBank won the Best Retail Bank by The Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards, the most recognised international awards programme in the Retail Financial Services Industry. Other awards won by the Bank include the Best Bank in Nigeria (an award which the bank has won twelve times), by Global Finance; Best Banking Brand and Best Banking Performer, both by Global Brands Awards. Winning these awards is a further affirmation of our brand promise – that we will continue to put our stakeholders and partners at the heart of our business.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE — HERE
Leave a Reply