The pan-African bank

History

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), a public limited liability company, was established as a bank holding company in 1985 under a private sector initiative spearheaded by the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry with the support of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In the early 1980’s foreign and state-owned banks dominated the banking industry in West Africa. Commercial banks in West Africa owned and managed by the African private sector were a rarity. Its founders created ETI with the objective of filling this vacuum.

The Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce promoted and initiated a project to create a private, regional banking institution in West Africa. In 1984, Ecopromotions S.A. was incorporated. Its founding shareholders raised seed capital for feasibility studies and the promotional activities leading to the creation of ETI.

In October 1985, ETI was incorporated with authorised capital of US$100 million. The initial paid up capital of US$32 million was raised from over 1,500 individuals and institutions from West African countries. The largest shareholder was the ECOWAS Fund for Cooperation, Compensation and Development (ECOWAS Fund), the development finance arm of ECOWAS.

Ecobank signed a Headquarters’ Agreement with the Government of Togo in 1985, which granted it the status of an international organisation. This status came with the rights and privileges necessary for ETI to operate as a regional institution, including the status of a non-resident financial institution. ETI commenced operations with its first subsidiary in Togo in March 1988.

The Group today

Today, Ecobank is the leading pan-African bank with operations in 33 countries across the continent. It has a larger African footprint than any other bank in the world. Ecobank currently operates in countries in West, Central, East and Southern Africa, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Group also has a licenced operation in Paris and representative offices in Beijing, Dubai, Johannesburg, London and Luanda.

Business Segments

The Ecobank Group is a full-service bank focused on Middle Africa. It provides wholesale, retail, investment and transactional banking services to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, local companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individuals.

Ecobank delivers its services through three customer-focused business divisions: Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking and Corporate and Investment Banking. An Integrated information technology platform operated by eProcess, the group’s Accra-based technology subsidiary, supports the three business divisions.

Corporate and Investment Banking

Corporate and Investment Banking is constantly aligned to market and growth opportunities. The focus is on transaction banking offering relevant financial solutions to global and regional corporates, public corporates, financial institutions and international organisations. Corporate and Investment Banking also leverages technology to provide strong outcomes for customers. Its offer includes the following services: Transaction Banking; Fixed Income Currencies and Commodities (FICC); Investment Banking; Security, Wealth and Asset Management; Cards, Loans and Liquidity. The bank’s Treasury and Research department supports Corporate and Investment Banking.

Commercial banking serves local medium corporates and SMEs, the public sector sharing the products of Transaction Banking, Fixed Income Currencies and Commodities, Loans and Liquidity.

Consumer Banking

The Consumer Banking division encompasses Personal Banking and Microfinance, providing convenient, accessible and reliable financial products and services to individual customers, leveraging an extensive branch and Automated Teller Machine (ATM) network and Points of Sale (POS), dipsora services as well as mobile, internet and remittances banking platforms.

Our Brand

Three key pan-African elements underpin the Ecobank brand:

• The largest banking platform in Africa
• A diverse talent pool
• Quality customer service

While Ecobank’s 20,331 employees make the group the largest employer of labour in the financial sector in Middle Africa, the bank operates as “One Bank” with common branding, standards, policies, and processes. This makes for consistent and reliable service to over 10 million customers across this unique network of 1,265 branches, 2,690 ATMs, and 13,800 POS machines. The bank runs an integrated information technology platform, with all of its operations successfully migrated onto a single core banking application: Oracle FLEXCUBE.

Sustainability

Sustainability lies at the core of the bank’s mission to build a world-class pan-African bank that contributes to the integration and socio-economic development of the continent. Ecobank’s long-term success is intertwined with the sustainable development of the economies, societies and environment in which it operates.

In 2012, the group adopted an integrated and comprehensive approach to sustainability and created a common framework. This framework depicts sustainability in the context of the operational model of the organisation ensuring effective, efficient and sustainable utilisation of economic, social, human and natural capital. This framework reflects the bank’s commitment to drive economic transformation in Africa while protecting the environment and being a socially responsible financial institution with a world-class professional perspective.

Ecobank in Nigeria

Microeconomics information

Incorporated as a public limited liability company on October 7, 1986, Ecobank Nigeria is a key subsidiary of Africa’s leading independent banking group, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI).The operations of Ecobank Nigeria are supervised and regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as well as the National Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

Following the successful acquisition of Oceanic Bank International by the Ecobank group in 2011, Ecobank Nigeria has become a top tier bank in Nigeria in terms of assets, customer base, deposits and branches. The bank currently operates a consolidated on-line, real time branch network in over 600 locations across the country.

Ecobank had previously acquired the deposit liabilities and customers of the defunct All States Trust Bank Plc, Hallmark Bank Plc and African International Bank PLC (AIB).

Mission & Vision

The dual objective of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated is to consolidate a modern pan-African bank and to contribute to the economic development and financial integration of the continent.

Ecobank offers a natural advantage with its unmatched pan-African banking competencies, built up over the last 25 years. Marshalling its impressively broad presence, its proficiency and its performance, the bank is intent on delivering sustainable returns and playing a catalytic role in the transformation of Africa. It continues to play a pivotal role as a recognised pioneer in financial integration and inclusive banking.

Ethics and transparency

The Ecobank Group has codified policies on corporate ethics, which apply to directors and employees across the group. These policies are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are in line with international practice and standards.

Code of conduct for directors

Subject to any applicable local laws and regulations, this Code of Conduct shall apply to all Group and subsidiary board and board committee members.