Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, a member of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, has received a four-star rating in the maiden Lafferty Banking 500 Global Benchmarking Study.
The rating, published by the Lafferty Group which provides research and intelligence to the banking industry across the world, the group said was a validation of the quality of service it provides in the Nigerian market.
The Lafferty Banking 500 study is a survey of 500 banks worldwide, expanded from 100 surveyed in 2016 and 2017, in which banks are given star-ratings out of five with institutions from 72 markets across all global regions ranging from large global banks to small regional institutions graded.
Stanbic IBTC Bank, which is awarded four stars from a maximum five, is one out of 160 banks to achieve 4 or 5-star ratings with only eight banks out of 500 achieving the highest score of five stars.
The group uses a combination of financial and non-financial disclosures in banking groups’ latest annual reports to determine the quality of the organisations and their respective business models.
The banks are assessed across 19 metrics, including things like loans to deposits ratios, profits and assets, as well as other indicators like strategy, culture and end leadership.
A star rating is applied as part of the benchmarking of banks, with five stars for the best performers, and one star at the other extreme.
Roughly one-third of the banks in the study achieved four-star quality ratings, while two-thirds were rated three-star or lower.
“This recognition and rating affirms Stanbic IBTC’s commitment to providing peerless services and also signposts the fact that we’re heading in the right direction in our mission to become Nigeria’s leading end-to-end financial solutions provider.
“Our ongoing digitisation, innovative initiatives, customer-centricity, aggressive universal financial services organisation drive, consistency in delivering relevant solutions to our clients and value to our other stakeholders will be buoyed by this award,’’ the Executive Director, Personal and Business Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Babatunde Macaulay, said.
Macaulay expressed the company’s delight for being recognised by Lafferty Group among the best banks in the world.
He said the award demonstrated Stanbic IBTC’s strength and desire to consistently provide best-in-class financial services solutions across all market segments by leveraging on the expertise and rich heritage of the Standard Bank Group, to which Stanbic IBTC Holdings belongs.
He added that the high rating is testament of the bank’s overall quality and stability and demonstrates the bank’s capacity to consistently deliver tailored solutions that showcase the bank’s expertise and understanding of the dynamics of the retail banking sector.
The Director of Councils and Client Relations, Lafferty Group, Caroline M. Hastings, while congratulating Stanbic IBTC Bank, said the Lafferty Banking 500 Global Benchmarking Study was inaugurated to distinguish and recognise banks with exemplary characteristics of the best banks in particular regions or worldwide.
“With a deep view across the world’s leading banks we understand the winning bank quality metrics: what makes good culture, strategy and customer service,’’ Hastings said in a statement.
According to Lafferty, the survey found that `focus’ is the key to success in banking, with the best performing banks focusing on consumer and SME/business banking.
Stanbic IBTC Bank is a member of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, a full service financial services group with a clear focus on three main business pillars — Corporate and Investment Banking, Personal and Business Banking and Wealth Management.
Stanbic IBTC belongs to the Standard Bank Group, the largest African financial institution by assets and earnings.
It is rooted in Africa with strategic representation in 20 countries on the African continent.
Standard Bank has been in operation for 153 years and is focused on building first-class, on-the-ground financial services institutions in chosen countries in Africa; and connecting selected emerging markets to Africa by applying sector expertise, particularly in natural resources, power and infrastructure. (NAN)