The Oscars of African banking is a hyped up phrase and catchy also. Like Oscars, there is also as lot of pomp and show attached to the event being organized on the sidelines of annual meetings of the African Development Bank. This year’s awards for the best bankers of the region passed like any other past event. Two issues have dominated the event: one inclusive growth and gender representation. There was nothing special about it since in the past also there was considerable focus on these two areas. Afreximbank won Bank of the Year and the Trade and Development Bank’s (TDB) President, Admassu Tadesse, won African Banker of the Year. Lifetime achievement award was bagged by First Rand Group CEO, Sizwe Nxasana. The African Banker Icon went to Mitchell Elegbe, founder of Interswitch, the payments service provider. Egyptian Central Bank Governor, Tarek Amer won Central Bank Governor of the Year, for his work in restoring faith in Egypt’s markets and contributing to making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world and one of the best performing emerging markets. Romuald Wadagni from Benin won Finance Minister of the Year. He has managed to considerably improve the country’s macro-economic indicators as well as embarked on a number of reforms to structurally transform of the economy. In other categories, Ecobank won Retail Bank of the year; Kenya’s KCB won the prize for innovation and Equity Bank for its CSR activities. Nigeria’s Bank of Industry won the prize for Financial Inclusion.
