FBN Holdings Plc, the foremost financial services group in Nigeria, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of financial services in commercial banking, merchant banking, capital markets, trusteeship and insurance brokerage. Its subsidiaries offer innovative and competitive financial solutions across Africa, Europe and Asia. Its clients are serviced by dedicated personnel delivering value to over 30 million customers’ accounts from more than 818 business locations and over 3,111 ATMs. The clients benefit from an excellent corporate management structure underpinned by 126 year-long heritage.
FBN Holdings’ principal bank subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank), is a commercial bank with operations in 10 countries. Its subsidiaries include FBNBank (UK) Limited, FBNBank in the Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Senegal, and First Pension Custodian Limited. Other FBN Holdings subsidiary is FBNQuest, which is the brand name for the merchant banking and asset management businesses: FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited, FBNQuest Capital Limited, FBNQuest Securities Limited, FBNQuest Asset Management Limited, FBNQuest Trustees Limited, FBNQuest Funds Limited
With operations in 10 countries, FirstBank is the largest banking group, by assets, in sub-Saharan Africa. It offers banking services to a rich network of both individual customers and businesses. Over the years, it has been an active participant in investing in infrastructural development in the Nigerian by playing key roles in the federal government’s privatization and commercialization schemes. First Bank’s brand mission is to remain true to its name by providing the best financial services possible, and make good on its promises to its stakeholders to always deliver the ultimate “gold standard” of value and excellence anchored on its inherent values of passion, partnership and people.
First Pension Custodian Nigeria Ltd, one of the foremost pension custodians in the Nigerian pension industry, is focused on building sustainable business. Over the years, it has achieved this by leveraging on technology and competent employees, which has helped in creating long-term value for its shareholders, and supporting clients to achieve their financial objectives. First Bank is a reliable and inspirational partner that was founded on innovation, strong heritage and pioneering spirit that drives it to help its clients look beyond today and redefine tomorrow.
FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited, the investment banking and asset management business of FBN Holdings Plc, is very innovative and client-focused, with strong industry and execution expertise. FBNQuest Capital, also a subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc, leverages on developing a clear understanding of the needs of clients in order to help them realize the opportunities that lie within the dynamic business environment.
With its industry footprints spread across financial services, energy and natural resources, infrastructure, consumer markets, and communication technology, First Bank has broad transactional experience and a depth of expertise that enables it to understand the needs of its clients and add value where it truly counts.
First Bank maximizes value for all customers through its trading channels and activities, underpinned by a team of trading experts. It also provides growth capital to firms looking to finance expansion plans, and has investments that cut across several sectors including food and beverages, hospitality, travel and leisure, healthcare, leasing, telecommunications, real estate, and oil and gas.
FBN Insurance Brokers Limited is committed to supporting businesses through expert brokerage knowledge in energy/special risks, aviation and domestic insurance, like property, liability, auto and construction. The company is well positioned to ensure the best possible returns and service to its shareholders, clients and other stakeholders, and to maximize the infinite opportunities inherent in its rich century-long heritage as a consolidated one-stop financial supermarket. To continually meet the needs of its current stakeholders, First Bank goes beyond financing economic activity to ensure an inclusive, positive impact on the communities where it operates to creating long-term stakeholder value by managing the associated environmental, social and governance risks.
Designed to deliver value in a structured way along four key areas, FBNHoldings is driving sustainable finance and investments, empowering people, supporting its communities and contributing to environmental sustainability. First Bank constantly seeks ways of providing products and services to meet consumer needs, while ensuring that it manages its environmental, social and governance impacts in the process – thus, contributing to overall sustainable growth and development. It is committed to growing people, while providing opportunities, and supportive environment and culture for personal development, and also investing time and resources to enrich the communities it works and lives in.
First Bank’s CR&S journey is enhanced by enablers, such as capacity development, stakeholder engagement, partnerships and communications, as well as CR&S performance management. Equally important in meeting its sustainability goals is providing actionable performance data, producing sustainability reports and effectively managing performance. The sustainability approach is designed to deliver value in a structured way of driving sustainable finance and investments; empowering people; supporting our communities and contributing to environmental sustainability.
The group in 2020 developed an approach to manage the specific training requirements, the E-learning courses designed to ease the learning process, given the need to ensure that all employees are trained on sustainability. In pursuit of this, the group aims to partner locally and globally to embed sustainability as a way of life in building the nation and enabling the continent to take its rightful place. The current structure for First Bank consists of the sustainability committee led by the Chief Risk Officer (CRO). The committee provides oversight to the strategy and operational delivery of sustainability across First Bank.
In Nigeria and other countries where FBN Holdings Plc operates through its subsidiaries, the group did not only lend support to the local efforts to address the challenges faced by these communities, but went above and beyond public expectations to ensure that the impact of the pandemic is minimized, and that the process for rebuilding these markets is seamless. As part of the steering committee driving the private sector-led initiative, Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), mobilized people and resources to support the endeavor to protect Nigerians from the impacts of the pandemic.
Women owned businesses were advanced loans totaling N58 billion from First Bank alone. Empowerment programs were organized for both female staff and customers to increase gender participation in leadership, entrepreneurship and financial inclusion. The Agent Banking network, Firstmonie, serves the unbanked and under-banked across the nooks and crannies of the country, and is a key driver of financial inclusion. It has over 86,000 agents, scattered across all, but two, over Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas.
