It was a trio of awards for First Bank of Nigeria Plc at the 11th Annual Global Finance Awards held at the prestigious Hyatt Regency in Istanbul, Turkey, this year's venue for the International Monetary Fund/World Bank meetings.

 The 3 awards bestowed on Nigeria's premier bank by Global Finance yesterday, are “Best Trade Finance Bank, Best Foreign Exchange Providers and the Best Domestic Bank”.  In attendance at the event were presidents, chief executive officers and directors from some of the world's best banks - HSBC, Santander, Standard Chartered, Standard Bank, Bank of New York Mellon, Credit Suisse - to name just a few. 

According to the awards organisers, winners are selected based on a poll conducted by Global Finance, the international financial publication based in New York, with input from industry analysts, corporate executives, banking consultants and technology experts in several countries. First Bank emerged winner amongst the 24 banks in Nigeria in the three different categories.    

Among the criteria for choosing the winners, which ranged from objective to informed subjective, are growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, geographical reach, new business development, product innovativeness. These are complemented by opinions of equity and credit-rating analysts, banking consultants and other influencers in the industry, as well as corporate financial executives.

President & Publisher of Global Finance, Mr. Joseph Giarraputo asserted that “The winners are not necessarily the biggest banks but rather, the best banks – those with qualities that corporations should look for when choosing a bank. These are banks with effective risk-management systems, excellent service and good corporate governance."

Celine Loader, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of First Bank, who received the award on behalf of the bank, said, "Given the current strong winds blowing through the Nigerian Banking sector, we are delighted to receive such a recognition which validates First Bank's solid reputation built over more than a century for excellence in corporate governance, risk management, strong capitalisation and partnerships with its customers."

First Bank won same awards last year during the 2008 IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington DC.