Zenith Bank, UBA, others win awards at IMF

Written by Omoh Gabriel, Business Editor Vanguard Nigeria

Zenith International Bank, the United Bank for Africa UBA, two prominent Nigerian Bankers and three other banks on Thursday in Washington won accolades from African business community and fellow African Bankers as they were honoured with awards. The Banker Award 2007 organised by African Business Margazine was held at the Grand Hyath Hotel in Washington at which the African Business and bank communities were well represented.

Zenith was singled out of the several banks in Africa as the most socially responsible bank in the continent while UBA was recognised as the emerging global bank in Africa. Zenith Bank Deputy Managing Director was on hand to receive the award on behalf of the bank. According to the organisers of the event Zenith’s drive is not all about customer satisfaction and technology. It emerged as one of the biggest spenders for social causes in Nigeria.

One of the outstanding social spendings done by the bank was that disturbed by the state of roads in the vicinity of its head office building in Ajose Adeogun in Victoria Island, the bank collaborated with the government of Lagos State to reconstruct the road that pass through the office at a whooping cost of N1billion. This not only brought relief to the road users but also beautified the environment.

But an area it made the most strategic intervention in its area of corporate social responsibility is in sports. Documented reports has it that it put in as much as N52.5 million into sports and N30.67 million to educational development. The Bank considers these as necessary efforts to give back to a society that has given it so much.