The Chief Executive Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan participated as a keynote speaker in the Annual FinTech & InsureTech Summit held at Sofia Event Center, Bulgaria on 27 February 2020. The FirstBank Chief delivered a keynote speech on the topic “Banks and Clients, the New Story of Empowerment, Value Creation and Technologies”
The summit served as a platform for in-depth knowledge sharing, networking, partnerships and collaborations amongst participants with a view to showcase products across various industries thereby promoting foreign investment amongst countries. The summit had over 700 global leading finance practitioners, decision-makers from the financial sector notably; banks, payment providers, insurance and pension companies, IT experts, founders of FinTech companies, government and regulatory associations from all over the world.
Deliberations in the course of the conference centred on various topical issues that would deepen financial inclusion and innovation capabilities, improve speed to market with digital innovation product and services and sustainable financial system where finance delivers positive ecosystem.
In delivering the keynote address, Dr. Adeduntan highlighted that; “FirstBank is at the forefront of banking industry innovation, making sure that it leverages innovation to deliver shareholder value and improve customer experience with the latest FinTech innovations and new trends in the Financial Services space.
“In other to deepen innovation capabilities and improve speed to market with digital innovation product and services, FirstBank established its digital innovation lab to adopt agile development approach in its operations. The Bank has also developed a robust telco-agnostic mobile money wallet to potentially defend its business from the incursion of BigTechs and FinTechs into the core banking space. I believe that there is a significant opportunity for value adding strategic cooperation and collaboration between Nigerian and the Bulgarian Banking and FinTech communities”.
About FirstBank
First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is the premier Bank in West Africa and the leading banking services solutions provider in Nigeria for over 125 years.
With over 750 business locations and 44,000 Banking Agents spread across 99% of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, FirstBank provides a comprehensive range of retail and corporate financial services to serve its over 15 million customers. The Bank has international presence through its subsidiaries, FBN Bank (UK) Limited in London and Paris, FBNBank in the Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Senegal, as well as a Representative Office in Beijing.
The Bank has been nimble at promoting digital payment in the country and has issued over 10million cards, the first bank to achieve such milestone in the country. FirstBank’s cashless transaction drive extends to having more than 8.5million people on its USSD banking service through the nationally renowned *894# banking service and over 3 million people on Firstmobile platform.
Since its establishment in 1894, FirstBank has consistently built relationships with customers focusing on the fundamentals of good corporate governance, strong liquidity, optimised risk management and leadership. Over the years, the Bank has led the financing of private investment in infrastructure development in the Nigerian economy by playing key roles in the Federal Government’s privatisation and commercialisation schemes. With its global reach, FirstBank provides prospective investors wishing to explore the vast business opportunities that are available in Nigeria, an internationally competitive world-class brand and a credible financial partner.
FirstBank has been named “Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria” six times in a row (2011 – 2016) by the globally renowned “The Banker Magazine” of the Financial Times Group; “Best Retail Bank in Nigeria” for seven consecutive years (2011 – 2017) by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards and “Best Bank in Nigeria” by Global Finance for 15 years. Our brand purpose is to always put customers, partners and stakeholders at the heart of our business, even as we standardise customer experience and excellence in financial solutions across sub-Saharan Africa, in consonance with our brand vision “To be the partner of first choice in building your future”. Our brand promise is to always deliver the ultimate “gold standard” of value and excellence. This commitment is anchored on our inherent values of passion, partnership and people, to position You First in every respect.
Folake Ani-Mumuney
Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications