History has proven that crisis often births innovation. This can be observed in the African banking sector.

Over the past decade, the dampening profitability has led to unprecedented innovation being stirred up from first-time customer channels, automation, and the new back-office technologies.

The most recent crisis the world witnessed was the Covid-19 pandemic, which struck a blow to the banking industry across the globe; most specifically the African banks have seen a decline in the average return on equity (ROE) from 14% in 2019, to 7% in 2020 (McKinsley,2021). These statistics are significantly better than the average return on equity (ROE) expected from developed markets, which is estimated to dip below 1.5% in 2021, before rebounding to initial levels pre-pandemic of 9%.

McKinsey reports it may take the developed markets up to 5 years to recover from the crisis, which is longer than the 3 years estimated for African banks, this is due to them taking effective government interventions and taking measures that best tackles the virus.

So if economic recovery goes as planned, by 2022 the African banks should rebound to their pre-Covid-19 revenue levels, whilst the banks in developed markets will only rebound by 2024.

The African banks analyses in the McKinsey report belongs to four of Africa’s biggest economies – Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.

The power minds behind the resilience showed by African banks to rebound faster to pre-crisis levels, had to be implemented by well knowledgeable, and high-profile open-minded thinkers who make decisions for Banking institutions.

Leading banks have a proper and well-defined pattern of operation Model constructed by a major in-house innovative mind-a leader; these are Bank CEOs and MDs. Those in these positions are those who deploy strategies significantly to be able to respond to changes in the market. There are no fluke approaches in such attained heights and results. They not only manage new operating models but also sustain a more functional innovation program that banks retain to their advantage as fintech systems progresses.

This year, Reputation Poll International LLC, a leading global reputation-management firm finds it necessary to recognize the Banking sector, which plays a major role in our society, connecting people, linking up businesses and influencing the economy directly or indirectly.

As part of our annual ranking; the Executive Appraisal of Reputable individuals from all works of life, after extensive research on various playmakers (the CEO’s) in the African Banking sector, we choose to recognize the following 50 Most reputable Bank CEOs in Africa.

Those who have built and played an imperative role in revolutionizing the banking sector based on the following criteria; Excellence, Integrity, Reliability, Expertise, Technology, and ease of credit. They have helped their Banks attain a great height of performance.

Included in this list is the Oldest CEO by the name of Othman Benjellouna, a Moroccan banker billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder of Bank of Africa and BMCE Bank. Also serving as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2021, his net worth is estimated by Forbes to be US$1.3 billion.

More details are available on www.reputationpoll.com

Kindly note that the ranking is in alphabetical order.

1. Abdulmajid M. Nsekela Male, CRDB Bank Plc. Tanzania

2. Abena Osei-Poku || Female , Absa Bank Ltd, Ghana.

3. Ade Ayeyemi || Male, Ecobank Group, Nigeria.

4. Alain Law Min|| Male, Mauritius Commercial Bank, Mauritius.

5. Alan Pullinger|| Male, FirstRand South Africa.

6. Alice Kilonzo-Zulu|| Female, Ecobank Rwanda.

7. Baronice Hans|| Female, Bank Windhoek, Namibia.

8. Charles Mudiwa|| Male, Stanbic Bank Ltd. Kenya.

9. Daniel Mminele|| Male,Barclays Africa , South Africa.

10. Diane Karusisi|| Female, Bank of Kigali, Rwanda.

11. Ebenezer Onyeagwu|| Male, Zenith Bank, Nigeria.

12. Emeka Okonkowo|| Male, Union Bank of Nigeria.

13. Emmanuel Assiak|| Male, Afreximbank, Egypt.

14. Ekundayo Gilpin|| Male, Rokel Commercial Bank, Sierra Leone.

15. Fani Titi ||Male, Investec Bank PLC, South Africa.

16. Faustin Rukundo Byishimo|| Male, Access Bank (Rwanda) Plc. Rwanda.

17. Gerrie Fourie|| male Capitec Bank PLC, South Africa.

18. Halima Buba|| Female, SunTrust Bank. Nigeria.

19. Hussein Majid Abaza|| Male, Commercial International Bank, Egypt.

20. Hylton Kallner|| Male, Discovery Bank, South Africa.

21. Ifie Sekibo|| Male, Heritage Bank Nigeria.

22. Ireti Samuel-Ogbu|| Female, Citibank Nigeria.

23. Jacques Celliers|| Male , First National Bank, South Africa.

24. James Mwangi|| Male, Equity Bank of Kenya.

25. Jennifer Riria|| Female, Kenya Women Microfinance Bank, Kenya.

26. Joshua Nyamweya Oigara|| Male, Kenya Commercial Bank Group, Kenya.

27. Joshua Oigara|| Male, KCB Bank Kenya.

28. Julian Kingsley Opuni|| male, Fidelity Bank Ghana.

29. Kweku Bedu-Addo|| Male, Standard Chartered, South Afrca.

30. Leina Gabaraane|| Male, Stanbic Bank, Zambia.

31. Luís Roberto Gonçalves|| Male. CEO of Banco de Fomento Angola.

32. Lungisa Fuzile|| Male, Standard Bank, South Africa

33. Macfussy M Kawawa||Male, National Bank of Malawi.

34. Mansa Nettey|| Female, Standard Chartered Bank of Ghana.

35. Mareme Mbaye Ndiaye|| Female, Société Générale Cameroun.

36. Martha Murorua || Female, Nedbank Namibia

37. Mercia Geises|| Female, Standard Bank, Namibia.

38. Michael William Thomas Brown|| Male, Nedbank group, South Africa.

39. Miriam Olusanya|| Female, The Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Nigeria.

40. Mohamed El Kettani|| Male, Attijariwafa Bank. Morocco.1

41. Nasim Mohamed Devji|| Female, Diamond Trust Bank Group, Kenya.

42. Noellie Tiendrebeogo|| Female – CEO, UBA Burkina Faso.

43. Othman Benjelloun|| Male, BMCE Bank, Morocco (90 years old).

44. Rui Barros|| Male, Absa Bank Mozambique

45. Samuel Minta|| Male, Stanbic Bank, Botswana.

46. Steven Lefentse Bogatsu|| Male, First National Bank of Botswana.

47. Todd Wilcox|| Male, HSBC, Egypt.

48. Tsehay Shiferaw|| Male, Awash Bank Ethiopia.

49. William Mpinganjira|| Male, FDH Bank, Malawi.

50. Yemisi Edun|| Female, First City Monument Bank, Nigeria.

Source: Reputation Poll International