The winners of the 2019 African Banker Awards will be announced on June 11 at the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. 

Multiple nominees this year include Absa, the Trade & Development Bank, Equity Bank, and Standard Bank while first-time nominees include Family Bank of Kenya who partnered with Simba Pay to enable payments via WeChat to China, Kenya’s largest trading partner. There are also nominees for arranging sovereign Eurobonds and IPO’s, while UbuntuCoin, an asset-backed digital currency that was a finalist at last year’s awards, is nominated again.

The complete list of shortlisted nominees for 2019 are:

African Banker of the Year:  Admassu Tadesse (Trade and Development Bank), Brehima Amadou Haidara (La Banque de Développement du Mali), Brian Kennedy (Nedbank, South Africa), James Mwangi (Equity Bank, Kenya) and Johan Koorts (ABSA, South Africa).

Award for Financial Inclusion: 4G Capital (Kenya), Amhara (Ethiopia), Bank of Industry (Nigeria), Cofina (Senegal), Jumo (South Africa).

Best Retail Bank in Africa: Coris (Burkina Faso), Ecobank (ETI), Guarantee Trust Bank (Nigeria), KCB (Kenya), QNB AlAhli (Egypt).

Deal of the Year – Debt: Absa ($350M Old Mutual Renewable Energy IPP), Afrexim – ($500M ChinaExim Syndicated Loan), CIB ($389M Egyptian Refining Company), Rothschild ($2.2 billion Republic of Senegal Dual-Currency Eurobond), TDB ($1 billion Sovereign Loan to the Government of Kenya).

Deal of the Year – Equity:  Al Ahly (Canal Sugar Equity), EFG Hermes (ASA IPO), RenCap (CiplaQCIL IPO), Standard Bank / RMB (Vivo Energy IPO), Standard Bank IBTC (Flour Mills of Nigeria Rights Issue).

Infrastructure Deal of the Year: Absa (Enel Green Power), Afrexim (Syndicated Loan for EBOMAF/Government of Cote D’Ivoire), National Bank of Egypt (ElSewedy Electric Hydropower Project), RNB (Roggeveld Wind Power Project), TDB (Mozambique FLNG Project).

Innovation in Banking:  ABSA (South Africa), Family Bank (Kenya), KCB (Kenya), MCB Capital Markets (Mauritius), and Ubuntu Coin (Côte d’Ivoire).

Investment Bank of the Year: ABSA (South Africa), Coronation Merchant Capital (Nigeria), NedBank (South Africa), Rothschild, Standard Bank (South Africa).

Socially Responsible Bank of the Year: Access Bank (Nigeria), Bank Misr (Egypt), Equity Bank (Kenya), KCB (Kenya), Qalaa Holdings (Egypt).