By Rosemary Iwuala
First Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced a phased corporate name change for its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The bank disclosed this in a statement on Thursday by Folake Ani-Mumuney, the Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, First Bank, titled, ‘FirstBank announces a name change of its subsidiaries, reiterates its commitment to boosting cross-border business opportunities in Africa and the world’.
It stated that, “The nation’s premier financial services institution noted that FBNBank UK, FBNBank Sierra Leone, FBNBank Gambia and FBNBank DRC being the first set of subsidiaries effecting the name alignment are now to be addressed as FirstBank UK, FirstBank Sierra Leone, FirstBank Gambia and FirstBank DRC.
The statement added that the bank subsidiaries in Ghana, Senegal and Guinea subsidiaries will be next in the phased name change implementation.”
According to the bank, the name change was being implemented to align the subsidiaries with the parent brand and to enjoy the strong heritage and brand equity built by FirstBank Nigeria in its 129 years of banking leadership.
It stated that this would further enhance the quality-of-service delivery resulting in better brand clarity, uniformity and consistency across all the markets where the Bank operates.
Speaking on the name change, Adesola Adeduntan, the Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank Group, said, “The name change which coincides with FirstBank’s 129th founding anniversary (March 31st, 2023) is indeed a milestone reflective of our resolve to continuously provide the gold standard of excellence and value as we put our customers first.’’
“The new identity of the subsidiaries contributes to an enhanced brand presence. It helps our customers and stakeholders better appreciate the value of the diversified products suites, competitive pricing and extensive business networks the FirstBank Group offers.
“These include our commitment to boosting cross-border businesses including trade and investment opportunities essential to enhancing trade relations amongst countries, thereby strengthening the economies of host communities and reducing poverty,” he added.
