Wednesday 15 April 2009

3 Nigerian Banks Named among World’s Biggest

Three Nigerian banks – First Bank of Nigeria Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and Intercontinental Bank Plc – have made the Forbes list of top 2000 world biggest companies.
The trio, according to Forbes Magazine, are joining 248 other companies around the world to displace same number of companies that featured on the list in the 2008 ranking.
For Nigeria, the listing of these banks on the current Global 2000 is a cause for cheers. First Bank Plc is ranked at 1,375, while the UBA comes on the list at number 1,560. Intercontinental Bank Plc completes Nigeria’s showing at 1,798.
Explaining the methodology adopted in arriving at the final compilation of the 2000 biggest companies, Forbes said that companies must have a publicity traded stock in order to qualify for the Global 2000.
.... please read the rest in the news update column

This is positive. We hope more will make it next year. This is probably one of the benefits of the consolidation at least for UBA and IBPLC. I am not sure if FB merged with any bank. They have always been solid. But they all benefited from the out come of consolidation as the new generation banks gave them a run for their money which made them change their old business attitude. More products were available for sale and so on and more marketers rolled out. I once asked a first bank staff why I was no longer seeing him in the office and he told me that this new generation bank have made it impossible for them to just sit down there. They had to market their bank. I was like wow!

I want to believe that they were able to break into the list because of the effect of credit crunch on some international companies. Which means that the level of exposure of probably was less in Nigeria than it is elsewhere if the oil price did not go downhill.

What about intercontinental bank and the rumour of it going under? It appears it was all about de-marketing which is very unfortunate.

Kudos to IBPLC. I could remember it was the only bank that its shares kept rising when others were already biting the dust until it could not hold on any longer. Although they have got their on share of the panic in the market, it held its own for a long time that I ones wondered why its candlestick pattern remained green when there were blood every where around it.
Nigeria will do well. Tell Yar'Adua to face the business now! he should stop the damage he is doing to our economy.
Where are the patriots?

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