Banks in Ghana have faced a difficult couple of years thanks to the government of Ghana’s debt default and domestic debt exchange programme announced in November 2022.

No African lender can match Ecobank Transnational’s reach. The Togo-based financial institution is a worthy winner of this year’s award for Africa’s best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises – the second year in a row it has received the title.

Ecobank Transnational brands itself as a pan-African lender – and such it is. Founded in 1985, it now serves millions of customers across 33 sub-Saharan African markets. And with so many multinational banks having made their excuses and departed, it is now arguably more important and integral to the region’s smaller businesses than ever before.

Ecobank Transnational’s sheer weight of presence – it delivers banking services to 32 million people in 33 sub-Saharan African countries – could have been a hindrance, a geographical burden. Instead, it transformed into a positive, and the bank has done so in large part by drawing up an impressively coherent digital strategy.

Ecobank Transnational ticks a lot of boxes. The Togo-headquartered bank is undeniably a true regional lender, with a presence in 33 sub-Saharan African markets, from the big (Nigeria, South Africa) to the tiny (São Tomé & Principe, Guinea-Bissau).

Africa’s most ambitious homegrown regional bank has a problem, and it is called Nigeria. If it doesn’t solve it, the Nigerian business will hamper Ecobank’s goal of banking 100 million people across the rest of the continent.

“People think the role of a bank is giving money, but actually what a bank does is build systems,” says Carl Manlan, chief operating officer of the Ecobank Foundation.

In a sweeping interview with Euromoney Africa, Ecobank’s CEO makes the case for pan-African banking and says technological innovation will finally make that business model thrive.

Despite headwinds affecting banks in West Africa, Ecobank group’s financial results have been supported by strong CIB business in the region. Euromoney digs into the numbers.

Strong first quarter results; share price still subdued.

Nairobi is to become the location for Ecobank’s first investment banking business in east Africa and will provide a platform to access the developing capital markets in the region.

Ecobank has become the most widespread bank in Africa. Its chief executive, Arnold Ekpe, says the focus is now on revenues and efficiency. But with major acquisitions recently announced, Ecobank’s ambitions for growth have not let up. Dominic O’Neill speaks to the bank’s leadership.