Category Archives: GT Bank

Large Bank Engagement Programs: Nigeria and Kenya

How do large banks engage with the public? Some have programs that go beyond the usual corporate social responsibility – and which go out to address unique national challenges or provide opportunities to large segments of the population who may also be customers of the bank

Kenya scholarships and training.

In Kenya, large banks have some education programs, offering scholarships and support to gifted primary and high school students in different counties. The largest of these has been Equity Bank, which has its “Wings to Fly” leadership program. In nine years, Wings to Fly has given over 15,000 scholarships to needy or financial challenged pupils, 8,000 of who attained the university entrance grade after secondary school.

There are also other entrepreneurship forums, training programs and business clubs.

KCB has a KCB2Jiajiri, a Kshs 50 billion program started in 2016 that aims to benefit 500,000 entrepreneurs in 5 years, thereby creating at least 2.5 million direct and indirect jobs. 

Barclays

Barclays Bank of Kenya launched Ready to Work, a free online training program to help college students and recent graduates get “job-ready” for a world of work. The bank also has a business club founded in 2003 that has supported over 9,000 companies and whose entrepreneur members have traveled to network and trade in over ten countries.

Nigerian bank do mega events:

Access Bank: In December, Access Bank had a huge year-end musical event.

The Bank also hosted a “Born In Africa Fest,” a musical event that was attended by over 25,000 guests.

Ecobank: The bank has a recurring fintech challenge to find financial technology companies with solutions and models that can scale across Africa.

GT Bank

GT Bank stages an annual fashion event called the GTBank Fashion Weekend that brings together fashion and business leaders from around the world to create the biggest fashion experience in Africa.

They also aim to showcase African art in different countries.

UBA: Unique among the banks is UBA, who in conjunction with their Chairman, and his Tony Elumelu Foundation have just launched the fifth year of a $100 million entrepreneurship challenge a philanthropic program that aims to find, train and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs. So far, over 4,470 entrepreneurs have benefited, and, through UBA in Kenya, over 350 local entrepreneurs in Kenya have received the seed capital of $5,000 for their businesses, training and mentoring, and many of them have been to Nigeria to attend an annual congress of entrepreneurs.

The number of applicants has been increasing each year. Last year there were over 150,000 applicants, and this year applications are all being done via TEFConnect, which is billed as the largest digital networking platform for African entrepreneurs.

The TEF Entrepreneurship Program is open to citizens and legal residents of all African countries, who run for-profit businesses based in Africa that are no older than three years. The deadline for applications submission is March 1, 2019.

Zenith Bank

Zenith Bank held “Style by Zenith,” a flagship Lifestyle, beauty, fashion, accessories and entertainment fair, in conjunction with Fashion One, in the last weekend of December 2018.

Nigerian Banks – Diamond and Access to merge

After weeks of speculation, Diamond and Access Banks announced a merger to create the largest bank in Nigeria.

It was reported that the Diamond Bank spurned offers to inject critical capital from US private equity firm, Carlyle that was a key shareholder in the bank and sought other deals, and the statement points to a competitive process out of which Diamond selected Access Bank.

According to an FT report, the deal values Diamond at just over $200 million and would create Nigeria’s biggest bank by both deposits and assets and that the merged entities would have 650 branches and 6,800 that would see some savings through redundancies.

Access will acquire Diamond through a combination of cash and shares with Diamond shareholders receiving Naira 3.13 per share, comprising N1.00 per share in cash and the allotment of 2 new Access Bank ordinary shares for every 7 Diamond Bank ordinary shares held.

The merger will result in the end of Diamond Bank with listings of its shares cancelled at the Nigeria Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange when the merger is completed in the first half of 2019. Access is listed in Nigeria, while Diamond was also caught up in the Nigeria vs. MTN forex case.

The Banker Magazine ranked five Nigerian banks among 1,000 top global banks with Zenith, Guaranty Trust, FirstBank, Access Bank and United Bank for Africa featuring. Another ranking of the top banks in Nigeria in 2017 listed Nigeria Zenith, Guaranty Trust, First Bank of Nigeria, Ecobank Nigeria, Access Bank, United Bank for Africa, Diamond Bank, Union Bank of Nigeria, and Fidelity Bank. The banks with a presence in Kenya are Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), Ecobank and United Bank for Africa (UBA).

edit March 2019 Approvals: The merger decision was approved by 98% of Access Bank shareholders, while at Diamond Bank it got 100% (99.98%) approval. Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission have approved for the combined businesses to start business on April 1, 2019, as a Pan-African bank operating in 12 countries, 3 continents. The combined banks (Access had 11.8% market share and Diamond 4%) will have 15.9% making it largest Nigerian bank ahead of Zenith (14.6%), FBN (13.9%) and UBA (11.7%)

Digital banking: The new bank has been hailed by the deal backers as creating Africa biggest retail bank by customer base (29 million) with 677 branches, and 3,100 ATM’s. On the digital side, Access had 3 million customers compared to Diamond’s 10 million online banking customers and Access will incorporate elements of Diamond’s banking services such as XclusivePlus, DiamondXtra and Pay Day loans. 

No new capital: Post-deal ownership of the bank will comprise 81% Access shareholders and 19% Diamond shareholders. Access was expecting to proceed to raise Naira 75 billion ($207 million) of capital and had got approval for a rights issue to happen in the first half of 2019, but they will no longer pursue this avenue as they have identified 150 billion Naira in revenue and cost synergies to be tapped over the next three years.

Credit Cards Moment: AmEx and MasterCard take on Visa in Kenya

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) statistics from the first quarter of 2018 show that there are 120,000 locally issued credit cards and 18 million debit cards/ ATM cards. With interesting patterns of credit cards usage over the last few years, for various reasons, there are some new entrants out to take on ubiquitous Visa-branded cards in Kenya.

MasterCard: GT Bank Kenya is rolling out a series of World MasterCard credit cards. The Gold and Platinum cards come with perks of travel and rewards including international airport lounge access, complimentary nights at 175 Starwood Hotels, luxury apartment discounts and Hertz Gold Plus car rentals along with enhanced insurance benefits that are easy to claim and a 24/7 concierge who offers personalized travel services. There are also tailored dining offers for Diani, Kisumu, Malindi, Mombasa, Nairobi. Ukunda and Watamu as well as towns in Nigeria.

Previously, one of the most-popular MasterCards on the market was the prepaid global card by Nakumatt that was supplied by KCB and Diamond Trust banks. They have been inactive since early this year following Nakumatt’s difficulties that started before the supermarket chain went under voluntary administration.

American Express: Also, Equity Bank and American Express have just extended their 2013 partnership. The bank which issues the American Express Green Card and Gold Card is the sole issuers of the globally accepted American Express cards in East Africa. With the signing of a now exclusive merchant acquisition agreement, Equity will be the sole merchant acquirer of American Express card transactions and will manage all aspects of merchant relationships including acquisition, statements, and marketing. Equity Bank earned Kshs 278 million in AmEx commissions last year, a 54% increase from 2016. The Bank also issues Union Pay, Diners, and JCB cards in addition to Visa and MasterCard.

GTBank showcases African Art

On Thursday, GTBank Kenya sponsored a contemporary African Art show in Nairobi that featured artwork from 12 local artists.

To give a boost to African art they recently launched Art 635 – which is an online website, created by Guaranty Trust Bank (to be filled) with amazing, diverse and important works which will exclude the filter of Eurocentrism, and still fulfill global standards with its quality. They are inviting more Kenyan artists to list on Art635 so their work can also be showcased globally. GTBank also sponsored the massive Fashion Weekend event in Nigeria last month. In addition, they have an SME market hub which they term as an eBay for Africa and support Ndani TV, an online African content TV platform.

GTBank Kenya Managing Director, Ms. Ibukun Odegbaike said, “GTBank has supported Art over the years, endeavoring to provide enabling platforms for African Art, not just to become more visible and appreciated but also be more commercially viable.”

The artists feted by GTBank were Patrick Kinuthia, Jjuuko Hoods (from Uganda), Joshua Mainga, Douglas Musyoki, Peter Elung’at, Haji Chilonga (from Tanzania), Yassir Ali (North Sudan), Emily Odongo, Michael Soi, Anne Mwiti, Michael Musyoka and Coster Ojwang. The works on display ranged in price from about Kshs 80,000  to Kshs 1.2 million.