BAFI Awards: PremiumTrust Bank Bags Double Honours

 
In yet another demonstration of the bank’s rising profile, fast-growing Nigerian lender PremiumTrust Bank received Nigeria’s Fastest Growing Bank 2022 and Bank of The Year 2022 (Sports Development) awards from the Management of BusinessDay Banks & Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards Committee. 

In a press release issued Friday, the Management of BAFI Awards noted that PremiumTrust clinched the “Nigeria’s Fastest Growing Bank 2022” award in recognition of its record-breaking feat, opening seven major branches within its first five months with verifiable month-on-month growth on key measurement indices.

The bank, PremiumTrust, which commenced operations in April 2022, has complemented brick-and-mortar with digital innovations and offerings channelled at providing financial services to all its discerning customers, despite being in existence for just nine months. 

On the other hand, the BAFI Bank of the Year 2022 (Sports Development) Award to PremiumTrust Bank came on the heels of its deliberate efforts to promote Sports and Youth Development in Nigeria continuously.

Commenting on the award at the bank’s Lagos office, the MD/CEO, M Emmanuel Emefienim, expressed delight about these recognitions. He said the awards would motivate the bank to excel at the highest level.

He emphasised: “We are glad that all the good work done in the past couple of months is beginning to yield positive results.”

“The BAFI Fastest Growing Bank 2022 award will serve as a tonic to ensure we continue on the path of growth, drive branch expansion but with more emphasis on digital deployments as we strive to become one of Nigeria’s leading digital Banks in the coming years.”

According to Emefienim, BAFI Bank of The Year 2022 (Sports Development) award recognizes deliberate commitment and investment in sports and youth development. 

He highlighted their wins: “In 2022, we were Lead Sponsor/Sole Banker to the 21st National Sports Festival. PremiumTrust Bank co-sponsored and kitted Bayelsa Queens FC, who represented Nigeria at the CAF Women’s Champions League Competition in Morocco, where they returned with a Bronze Medal. 

“PremiumTrust also signed on two world-class renowned Athletes, Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume, as Brand Ambassadors; this was done to encourage them, provide training funds to enable them to compete and excel in their chosen field and do more for our Country – Nigeria.”

This is in addition to the bank’s three-year partnership with the Athletics Federation of Nigeria. “All of these put together made us stand out as worthy winners of the Bank of The Year 2022 (Sports Development) Award,” says the CEO.

He further pointed out that the bank is encouraged to do much more in sports development and youth empowerment in the years ahead.

Also commenting on the recognitions, the Managing Director BusinessDay Media Limited, Mr. Ogho Okiti, applauded the efforts of PremiumTrust Bank in delivering an impressive result across all indices despite being in existence for a few months. 

He hinted at the bank’s positive records and achievements, describing them as a testament to the hard work and efforts put in place before the Bank was established.

The BAFI Awards is supported by the BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU), and nominations for the award culminate in a rigorous review process.

BRIU and an independent panel of judges evaluate more than 250 institutions and benchmark them against their global peers using several indices in a thorough evaluation process. Nominees are assessed for their vision, execution, and market-leading propositions. They considered factors like corporate values, integrity, workplace culture, gender balance, and other human issues.

The BAFI award categories cut across banking, insurance, capital markets, investment, pension funds, trustees, registrars, stockbroking, and private equity.

Licensed as Nigeria’s 24th Commercial Bank in 2021, PremiumTrust Bank commenced business in April 2022 and is poised to become Nigeria’s Most Preferred Bank by 2027, with a leading voice in Consumer Banking in Africa by 2032.