Access Bank Plc has emerged as the winner of the maiden edition of the African Banker Magazine Awards in the “Most Innovative Bank” category. The award which is organized by IC Publication, U.K, a leading international publisher of African Business, New Africa and the African Banker, is designed to acknowledge excellence in banking and finance on the African continent. The award ceremony was held at the Grand Hyatt, Washington DC, United States of America, on October 18, 2007.

The award can be said to serve as an official endorsement of the extra - ordinary and phenomenal rate at which Access Bank has quickly risen from obscurity to continental prominence. Nominated alongside the bank were Guaranty Trust Bank (Nigeria) and Swazi Bank (Swaziland). The Bank was also nominated for awards in the “Bank of the Year” and “Gender Sensitivity” categories.

Nomination for the awards was based on a rigorous screening exercise of carefully considered and evaluated initiatives the Banks had instituted to improve product types, internal processes, service platform, turn-around time, product delivery and industry service standards in the various countries of operation.

Over the past 5 years, Access Bank’s transformation has continued to redefine the Nigerian banking landscape through many innovative introductions. These include its being the first Nigerian bank to obtain EMV international certification for its ATM services; the first Nigerian bank to achieve 100% inter- operability and convergence of switches for ATM’s multifunctional capabilities, accepting both Chip and Magnetic stripe cards. These innovations are being introduced in The Gambia.

The Bank is also the first Nigerian Bank to develop an online car leasing service branded “Access Auto online” and an “Online Shipping Documents Tracker” for its global trade business. The Bank is the first to introduce a liquid Bond Index in Nigeria.

Access Bank’s ingenuity also singled it out for partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on its Gender Entrepreneurial Market Programme for Women (GEM). This partnership has earned the Bank the reputation of being the first Nigerian Bank to implement a policy of this nature for a multilateral agency like the IFC. The Bank’s consistent pioneering of industry redefining initiatives has also earned it several laurels and awards which include the IFC Innovative Trade Structure Award”, Best Telecoms Financing Bank of the Year Award,” by the Nigeria Telecoms Award etc.

To consolidate on the monumental transformation that has taken place over the last 5 years, the Bank is painstakingly implementing a corporate strategy that will see it rank amongst the Top 3 Nigerian banking groups and the number one bank in The Gambia by 2012.