World Report

Nigeria’s longest established commercial bank is looking for partners to help it expand within West Africa


FirstBank’s headquarters in Nigeria (left) and its subsidiary bank in London

he appropriately named FirstBank of Nigeria (FBN) (INTERVIEW), has distinguished itself for more than a century as the leading Nigerian banking institution and a major contributor to the country’s economic development.
Founded in 1894 by a Liverpool shipping magnate as the first commercial bank in the country, FirstBank began as the Bank for British West Africa, a small operation in Lagos that worked with the colonial government. It became FirstBank of Nigeria in 1979 and has maintained a steady path of growth since becoming fully privatised with the divestment of the shareholdings of the Federal Government and Standard Chartered Banks.

Today, a clear leader in profitability and assets with a network of more than 360 branches, Firstbank is the largest bank in Nigeria and one of the largest in West Africa. It has diversified into a wide range of banking activities and services, ranging from corporate and retail banking, to registrarship, trusteeship and insurance brokerage.

In recent times the bank has made major advances in electronic banking, and has deployed information communication technology (ICT) in its operations across the country. With more than 260 online branches nationwide, it lays claim to the largest online real-time network in the country. As an InterSwitch member bank, its ATMs at more than 70 locations nationwide are accessible to cardholders from all member banks.

FirstBank has rung up a string of awards. In 2004, it was rated the country’s top bank and the seventh best in Africa by The Banker magazine, published by the Financial Times. Last month, it was named one of the world’s ‘Best Foreign Exchange Banks’ for the second consecutive year by the New York-based international publishing group, Global Finance. It also won the 2005 titles of ‘Best Emerging Market Bank’ and the ‘Best Trade Finance Provider’.

Two particular ways in which FirstBank has stood out in its commitment to Nigerian economic development, are it’s long history of commitment to agricultural financing and its support for the establishment and restructuring of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Recently it announced it would be setting aside more than N5 billion (£21 million) as reserve to be invested in the Small and Medium-scale Industries Equity Investment Scheme (SMIEIS), a substantial increase in its investment in the scheme of around N3.8 billion in 2004.

As part of the its strategy of progressive internationalisation, FirstBank became the first financial institution in Nigeria to establish a subsidiary bank in the UK in November 2002. More recently it opened a representative office in Sandton, Johannesburg, to take advantage of the increasing level of business between South Africa and Nigeria.

The bank has ambitions to expand within the West Africa region and is looking to partner with other banks and financial institutions to do this.

Website: www.firstbanknigeria.com