Dr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank Plc, has been named the International Banker 2024 Banking Awards’ “Best Banking CEO of the Year in Africa,” holding this honour for the second year in a row. This honour, which was announced in the United Kingdom’s International Banker Magazine’s Spring 2024 issue, comes just before Dr. Onyeagwu’s five-year term as Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer comes to an end on May 31, 2024.
Speaking on receiving the award, Dr. Onyeagwu expressed his gratitude to the publishers of International Banker for the honour. He stated, “It is indeed an honour to be recognised as the ‘Best Banking CEO of the Year in Africa’ for a second consecutive year. This award is a testament to our team’s collective efforts and our commitment to innovation, growth, and delivering value to our customers and stakeholders. It also reflects our dedication to sustainability and high ethical standards, which are integral to our overall strategy. I am immensely proud of our accomplishments and look forward to future opportunities for the bank as I hand over the baton to my successor and begin the mandatory regulatory cooling-off period.”
Dr. Onyeagwu dedicated the award to the bank’s management team and staff for their unwavering commitment over the past five years; to the bank’s customers for their loyalty; and to Dr. Jim Ovia, CFR, the founder and chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, for his mentorship, which was essential to his success as Group Managing Director/CEO.
During his illustrious career, Dr. Onyeagwu has been recognised with numerous awards: CEO of the Year (2020 and 2021) – SERAS Awards; CEO of the Year (2022) – Leadership Newspaper; Banking CEO of the Year, Africa (2023) – International Banker; and Bank CEO of the Year (2019, 2023) – Champion Newspaper.
Appointed as the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer on June 1, 2019, as part of Zenith Bank’s succession planning strategy, Dr. Onyeagwu has led the bank to achieve significant milestones in financial performance, financial inclusion, corporate governance, and sustainability. These achievements have earned the bank numerous local and international awards, including being named Best Bank in Nigeria for the fourth time in five years from 2020 to 2022 and in 2024 by the Global Finance World’s Best Banks Awards; Best Bank for Digital Solutions in Nigeria by the Euromoney Awards 2023; being listed in the World Finance Top 100 Global Companies in 2023; and being recognised as the Number One Bank in Nigeria by Tier-1 Capital for the 14th consecutive year in the 2023 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking published by The Banker Magazine.
In addition, Zenith Bank was recognised as the World Finance Banking Awards’ Best Commercial Bank in Nigeria for three years running, from 2021 to 2023; the World Finance Corporate Governance Awards’ Best Corporate Governance Bank in Nigeria for two years running, from 2022 and 2023; The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards’ Bank of the Year (Nigeria) for two years running; and Ethical Boardroom’s Best in Corporate Governance Financial Services Africa for four years running, from 2020 to 2023. Additional accolades include Best Commercial Bank in Nigeria, Most Sustainable Bank in Nigeria, and Best Innovation in Retail Banking in Nigeria at the International Banker 2022 Banking Awards.
Zenith Bank was named the Most Valuable Banking Brand in Nigeria in the Banker Magazine Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 and 2021; Bank of the Year 2023 and Retail Bank of the Year for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022 at the BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards; Bank of the Decade (People’s Choice) at the ThisDay Awards 2020; Bank of the Year 2021 by Champion Newspaper; Bank of the Year 2022 by New Telegraph Newspaper; and Most Responsible Organisation in Africa 2021 by SERAS.
In recognition of his significant contributions to the financial services sector in Nigeria and across Africa, Dr. Onyeagwu was awarded a Doctorate Degree in Business Administration by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on March 25, 2023, during the university’s 50th convocation ceremony.
The International Banker, a leading worldwide source of reputable analysis and opinion on banking, finance, and international politics, is published by Finance Publishing Limited. It has gained international acclaim due to its impact, honesty, objectivity, and veracity.
The International Banker Awards aim to honour the most deserving financial institutions worldwide—those who perform their duties not just competently but extraordinarily well, those who operate at the forefront of their profession and establish new benchmarks for performance that others will want to meet.
Providing much-needed capital for economic growth, utilising cutting-edge innovation to improve security and efficiency, adhering to sustainability and ESG principles, and making astute investments to maximise profits and shareholder value were just a few of the criteria that were the focus of the 2024 Banking Awards.
