Awards

Awards and Recognition

With 13 decades 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 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 that FirstBank 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 also 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” and the “Best Private Bank” awarded by the same institution, the latter which the Bank has received five times. FirstBank was awarded the “ICT Telecoms Deal of the Year” 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.

Nigeria’s Number One Banking Brand, 2011 - 2016

For six consecutive years (2011 – 2016), FirstBank was named “Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria” by the globally renowned The Banker Magazine of the Financial Times Group and has been awarded “Best Retail Bank in Nigeria” for the ninth time in 2025 by The Asian Banker Awards .

Best Retail Bank in Nigeria, 2011 - 2016

Best Retail Bank in Nigeria”, 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards.

Best Bank in Nigeria, 2013

FirstBank was awarded the “Best Bank in Nigeria” in the Euromoney Awards for Excellence.

#Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria, 2011 - 2016

For six consecutive years (2011 – 2016), FirstBank was named “Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria” by the globally renowned The Banker Magazine of the Financial Times Group.

No.1, Top 100 Africa Bank, Nigeria, 2022

Top 100 African Bank rankings 2022 released by The Banker Magazine revealed FirstBank’s ranking as number one in Nigeria in terms of Overall Performance, Profitability, Efficiency and Return on Risk.

Market Leader, CSR & ESG

FirstBank’s international recognitions on major indices by Euromoney
Market Leaders, an independent global assessment of the leading financial service providers where FirstBank was crowned:

  • Market Leader: (tier-1 recognition) in Corporate and Social
    Responsibility CSR,
  • Market Leader: (tier 1 recognition) Environmental, Social and
    Governance ESG,
  • Highly Regarded: in Corporate Banking and Digital Solutions,
  • Notable: in SME Banking.

Fitch Rating

In 2022, the Bank took a long stride on its growth trajectory with the Bank’s Viability and Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings upgraded to ‘B’ from ‘B’ (with Outlooks Stable) by Fitch, a leading global rating agency. This is an indication of the Bank’s strong internal capital generation and corresponding recession of its risks to capitalisation. Fitch also upgraded the Bank’s National LongTerm Ratings to ‘A (nga)’ from ‘BBB (nga)’, to reflect its improved creditworthiness relative to that of other issuers.

Notably, the FirstBank Group received many awards and recognitions across its Sub-Saharan African subsidiaries: First Bank Ghana was awarded ‘’Best Commercial Banking Brand’’ and ‘’Best SME Banking Brand in Ghana’’ – 2022 by the prestigious Global Brands Awards.

They also received ‘’Award for 5-star in Service Quality 2022, Consumer Banking’’ and ‘’Award for 5-star in Service Quality, Business Banking’’ from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana, while FBNBank Senegal received the award of ‘’Fastest Growing Banking Brand in Senegal’’ from Global Brands Awards in the same year.

Other notable awards in the FirstBank Group coffers include: “Best Bank in Nigeria” by Global Finance Magazine – fifteen times in a row; “Best Private Bank in Nigeria 2022” awarded by Global Finance Magazine; “Best Internet Banking Nigeria” and ‘’Best CSR Bank Africa’’ by International Business Magazine.

FirstBank Guinea was awarded ‘’Best CSR Bank – Guinea’’ and ‘’Best Mobile Banking Brand – Guinea’’ by Global Brands Awards; First Bank Ghana also received the ‘’Banking Brand of the Year’’ Award by Ghana Business Awards and ‘’Ethical Business of the Year Award’’ by Ghana Business Integrity Awards.

Awards & Recognition – FY2025

In FY2025, FirstBank distinguished itself as a leader in banking excellence, innovation, and corporate responsibility, earning an extraordinary array of local and international honours.

From The Asian Banker, the Bank was named Best SME Bank in Nigeria, Best SME Bank in Africa, and Best Retail Bank in Nigeria, alongside recognition for Best Digital Self Service Initiative, Best Social Media Engagement Initiative, and Best Cyber Security and IT Risk Management Technology Initiative. The Euromoney Awards of Excellence further honoured FirstBank as “Nigeria’s Best Bank for ESG” for the second consecutive year and “Nigeria’s Best Bank for Large Corporates” for the third consecutive year.  From the Global Finance Awards, the Bank received Best Private Bank in Nigeria and Best Private Bank for Sustainable Investing in Africa, while World Finance named us Best Private Bank in Nigeria 2025. African Leadership Magazine recognised FirstBank with the African Leadership Award for Banking Excellence and Financial Innovation and the Special African Banking Leadership Award, underscoring our impact across the continent.

Our commitment to SMEs was further celebrated with the SME Financier of the Year – Nigeria by The Digital Banker Global SME Banking Innovation Awards, and the SME Customer Service Excellence Award by ASBON. Retail banking excellence was recognised by The Annual Global Economics Awards with Best Retail Bank – Nigeria and Best Bank for Empowering Women Entrepreneurs – Nigeria, and by International Finance Awards with Best Retail Bank – Nigeria and Most Innovative Digital Marketing Campaigns – Banking – Nigeria.

Innovation remained a hallmark of our operations, with accolades such as Best Innovation Bank of the Year (LIT App) from the West Africa Innovation Awards, Excellence in Digital Innovation (DXC) and Best Bank Marketing & PR Campaign – Nigeria 2025 from the Global Brands Frontier Awards, and Most Innovative Banking Brand Nigeria, Best CSR Bank Nigeria, Most Innovative Digital Banking Services Nigeria, and Banking CEO of the Year – Nigeria from World Business Outlook Awards. Further recognition came from Global Brands Magazine with Most Innovative CEO – Olusegun Alebiosu, Most Innovative Banking Brand Nigeria 2025, and Best Digital Banking Innovation (DXC) Nigeria 2025.

Our leadership in sustainability and corporate responsibility was reinforced by International Business Magazine Awards with Best CSR Bank Africa 2025 and Best Digital Banking Platform Nigeria 2025, and by Global Business and Finance Magazine with Best CSR Bank Nigeria 2025, Most Innovative Digital Banking Services Nigeria 2025, and Best Retail Bank Nigeria 2025. We also received the Agency Bank of the Year from Nairametrics Capital Market Choice Awards, and the Changemaker Collaboration Award from Enactus Nigeria.

FirstBank was celebrated as one of the Top 10 of Top 50 Brands in Nigeria 2025 by Top 50 Brands Nigeria, and honoured at the Marketing Edge Awards with the Legacy Bank of the Decade Award in Banking. Additional recognition came from the Brand Handlers Summit & Awards with SME Friendly Bank of the Year Award.

Our commitment to inclusion was recognised with Best Bank in Gender Inclusion Award by Women in Marketing and Communication. We were also named Dominant Force in Inclusive Digital Banking and Systemic Anchor of the Year by BusinessDay and BAFI Awards.

The Bank received the Excellence in Heritage Preservation and Historical Documentation award from PIQL, and First@arts – Theatremania of the Year (Corporate Organisation) from Theatremania Africa Festival & Awards.

FirstBank was recognised by the CFA Society Nigeria as CFA Charterholder Employer of the Year and Great Place to Work Awards honoured FirstBank with the 2025 Best Practices Award in Nigeria (Best in Promoting Culture of Innovation – Large Category, Employee Count 500+).

From the Gazet International Awards, FirstBank was recognised as West Africa’s Premier Banking Institution of the Year 2025, Best Private Bank in Nigeria 2025, Best Bank for Sustainable Finance Initiative 2025, Pioneer in Digital Banking Innovation 2025, and Best Financial Services Provider in West Africa 2025.

More Awards

All these accolades attest to the FirstBank Group’s exceptional commitments to promoting national economic growth and development through constructive engagements with the public and private sectors of the growing African economy.

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