Stanbic Bank Head of Finance, Lydia Kokugonza (left) receives the Best Presented Financial Statement award for the year 2011 from Pan African Federation of Accountants Chief Executive officer Vickson Ncube (right) at an awards ceremony organized by the National Board of Accountants and Auditors in Arusha recently. The Bank won the first prize in the Banking Sector category.
By our reporter
Stanbic bank customers have applauded the bank’s recent win of the best presented financial statements award from the National Board of Accountants and Auditors (NBAA) in Arusha.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam Ms. Mary Kimiti said, “I have been banking with Stanbic for the past 7 years and have been seeing marked improvements to their services, I am sure this win is a reflection of overall efforts to serve the Tanzanian market better.”
A veteran banker who preferred anonymity explained what it means to have well presented financial statements. “To have a quality financial statement means that it is presented to be understandable, consistent, relevant and reliable. And this is exemplified in the format, terms used, reliability of making economic decisions from it as well as being free from error.”
Stanbic Bank took the lead for commercial bank entities followed by CRDB Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. In the financial institutions category, the Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB) took the lead followed by the Dar es Salaam Community Bank (DCB).
According to NBAA, the evaluation exercise was done in accordance with international financial reporting standards.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Pan African Federation of Accounts (PAFA), Vickson Nkube handed over the prize to the Stanbic Head of Finance Ms. Lydia Kokugonza in a colorful ceremony at the Kibo Palace hotel in Arusha.
A total of 53 entities submitted their financial reports for the NBAA awards.
The win in Tanzania comes in the wake of another award presented to the Standard Bank Group which trades as Stanbic bank in Tanzania. Late November the Standard Bank Group was awarded the prestigious Global Finance award for 2013 Best Foreign Exchange Provider in Africa. According to information on the bank’s website, the Standard Bank Group was also named the Best Foreign Exchange Provider in four African countries: South Africa, Nigeria,Botswana and Zambia.
SJ Kok, Standard Bank Group's Head of Global Markets Sales in Africa, says the awards recognizes Standard Bank's position as Africa's leader in the provision of foreign exchange services. He says Africa continues to be central to the Standard Bank Group's growth strategy.
Standard Bank Group is playing a leading role in local market development on the continent. Standard Bank has a strong Africa presence with a footprint in 18 African countries and an ability to provide foreign exchange pricing in 40 of the 54 Africa countries.
"Our on the ground presence combines effectively with strong economic research to deliver a high quality foreign exchange offering to our clients. In addition, our local currency risk appetite and trading capability enable Standard Bank to provide solutions that differentiate our offering from competitors on the continent."
"As a bank, we are passionate about building out our African franchise across client segments and geographies, so the growth that we are seeing in our customer business is encouraging" says Mr Kok.
With Africa's rich mineral endowment and growing middle class having captured the attention of investors globally, the increased investment from offshore and burgeoning economic activity on the ground makes the development of local markets inevitable. Standard Bank Group is exceptionally well positioned to continue leading the way in African market development.