For 25 years, FBNBank has been gently and calculatedly embedding itself into the socio-economic structure of Ghana delivering good value to its stakeholders.

On 6^th November 1996, the antecedent of FBNBank, officially opened to the public with the commissioning of its first branch situated opposite the Ghana Law School in Accra which has now been moved to the current Makola branch location.

This one-branch bank in 1996 with 5 staff has metamorphosed into a household name in the market with 22 locations and over 450 staff across the country offering gold standard customer services to individuals and businesses. An exciting development that would certainly be a source of great pride to the stakeholders especially because the Bank is embracing good value systems, seeking high aspirations and contributing to society.

At 25 years, there are remarkable achievements in terms of ensuring that the institution survived multiple regulatory policy changes including recapitalisations through good corporate governance, in the area of producing and nurturing industry and opinion leaders, strong financial performances, using dynamism and innovation to meet the changing needs of our customers and business environment, and demonstration of “Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness (SPARK), a corporate social responsibility to the community.

Good Corporate Governance

The board of directors and the executive management believe that the practice of good corporate governance is the bedrock of organizational survival, growth and also the building of a solid reputation in the industry. This has been demonstrated over the years by setting the “right tone at the top” and it has been reflected in the conduct of our business over the years. As a result, the Bank has survived multiple stress tests conducted by the regulators, several recapitalisation regimes, the recent one in 2018 that culminated in the reduction of the number of commercial banks from 34 to 23.

The regulator described these 23, including FBNBank, to be sound, profitable, liquid and resilient. The Board always ensures that the Bank establishes a strong and efficient control environment in addition to a good risk management framework and system that will guarantee sustained earnings and the continued survival of the institution. This practice was recently acknowledged by the award of the “Best Bank in the year 2020” by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management Ghana (CICMG).

Producing industry leaders

The Bank contributes to the social-economic development of the country via corporate social responsibility and developing talent and industry experts who continue to contribute to society at large. FBNBank has demonstrated the importance of human capacity development thereby deserving the accolade “talent factory” by having the likes of Dr John Kofi Mensah (MD of ADB Bank), John Kwaku Asamoah (former MD of NIB Bank), Ernest Agbesi (former MD of GCB), Isaac Ashai Odamtten (MP for Tema East constituency), Michael Tetteh-Voetagbe (General Manager, Human Resource & Admin, Ghana Export-Import Bank), Mark Ofori-Kwafo, (Head, Legal & Company Secretary, First Atlantic Bank) and many others as its alumni.

Dynamism and Innovation

FBNBank’s survival and growth has been underpinned by innovation and operational dynamism in order to meet the ever-changing business environment and customers’ needs. The Bank’s digital banking strategy aims to leverage new and evolving technologies to enable customers to access everyday financial services and consummate a variety of real-time financial transactions via our various channels including Online Banking, FBNMobile, Quick Banking *894#, Agent Banking, MasterCard debit card, Visa prepaid card, Mobile Money Service, GhIPSS Instant Transfer (GIP), Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and many others. The use of these channels have quite recently been strengthened by the PCI-DSS and ISO-27001-2013 certifications, which guarantee the safety of the customers’ transactions.

Strong Financial performance

Following good corporate governance practices, innovation and dynamism, the Bank has sustained strong financial performance for the benefit of its stakeholders. FBNBank remains profitable, liquid, highly capitalised, and compliant to the various regulatory requirements. Within the last three years, FBNBank posted a stronger financial performance than the industry. While the industry was growing at 17%, 21% and 20% in total assets, customers’ deposits and shareholders’ funds, FBNBank grew by 49%, 38% and 61% respectively. In resource utilisation, FBNBank also performed significantly better than the industry.

The Bank’s gross earnings and profitability grew by a whopping 24% and 43% respectively while the industry recorded marginal growth of 9% and 27% respectively within the same period. FBNBank has also displayed consistency in compliance to various regulatory ratios including cash reserve requirement, capital adequacy ratio and net open position. Currently, the Bank’s capital adequacy and liquidity ratios are above the regulatory benchmark, which indicates adequate capitalization and strong ability to withstand unanticipated loss and readiness to meet the needs of customers.

Corporate Social Responsibility  

We believe that our world can be a better place through small acts of kindness. Our initiatives and activities in delivering benefits to the wider community have been anchored around education, health & welfare, and economic empowerment. This underscores FBNBank’s partnership with Rotary International and Ghana Health Service in the effort to eradicate polio and also provide learning amenities to some educational institutions. FBNBank remains absolutely committed to putting the interest of stakeholders at the heart of what it does by delivering a diverse range of innovative products and services while becoming more socially responsible and creating opportunities that will ensure sustainable value and an enduring future.

As FBNBank celebrates 25 years, a toast to all stakeholders is in order; so a toast to the visionary fathers who established this great institution in Ghana as a modest endeavour in 1996. A toast to our customers who have become partners in fostering a great relationship and to our regulators and other stakeholders for providing a conducive regulatory environment for our business. A toast to FBNBank’s staff for believing in the brand, pushing the frontiers and delivering the gold standard of service to our customers and a toast to our shareholder, First Bank of Nigeria, for the support to majestically advance the brand in Ghana. Happy Silver Jubilee to all of the stakeholders.

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The writer, Semiu Lamidi is the Executive Director/Chief Financial officer of FBN Bank Ghana. He can be reached on semilad@yahoo.com