TDB racks up four nominations and two awards at the 2019 African Bankers Awards

Malabo, 12 June 2019 – The race for the 2019 African Bankers Awards came to an end on the night of the 11th of June in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, at a high profile gala dinner of bankers and financial sector stakeholders. TDB President and Chief Executive Admassu Tadesse brings home the award of ‘African Banker of the Year’, one of the top two most prestigious of the competition. The Bank also jointly received with Crédit Agricole the 2019 ‘Infrastructure Deal of the Year’, for its co-financing of the ground-breaking Coral South Floating Liquified Natural Gas (FLNG) project in Mozambique, where TDB collaborated closely with its national partner, Banco Nacional de Investimento (BNI), among others, on this strategic national investment.

The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become turning points for all players from all sectors globally to join forces and factor-in climate imperatives in their actions. To adhere to one of the Agreement’s goals to keep the global average temperature increase below 2 degrees by 2050, it is estimated that $85 trillion in low-carbon climate-resilient infrastructure will need to be built by 2030.

TDB was also nominated in the categories ‘African Bank of the Year’ and ‘Deal of the Year – Debt’ for its US$ 1.25bn syndicated sovereign loan facility to the Government of Kenya.

The ‘African Banker of the Year’ award celebrates influential and inspirational captains of Africa’s banking industry: those who demonstrate outstanding integrity, and who through their leadership and outstanding vision, are exceptionally agile in achieving a strong financial performance and playing an active role in enhancing socio-economic empowerment and development in the region they serve.

President Tadesse was recognized as this kind of a leader, building on the foundations laid by his predecessor, Dr. Gondwe who played an instrumental role in guiding the Bank through its teething years.

Working closely with a committed board and talented management team, Mr. Tadesse has elevated TDB into the world-class African development finance institution it is today.

He has successfully crafted and spearheaded ground-breaking reforms in the Bank’s governance and organizational structure, with centers of excellence in risk management, treasury, investor relations and human capital management, among others, which have enabled the Bank to multiply several fold its capital base and lending capacity, and grow a more diversified and de-risked loan portfolio. TDB is now an investment grade bank with half of its loan portfolio directly and indirectly contributing to SDGs and creating millions of jobs.

Under his leadership, he has managed to attract world class executives and talented professionals from several continents, and has fostered a positive and motivating work environment, where substance, initiative, results and excellence are the focus and basis for advancement and rewards.

With his world class team, he has mobilized unprecedented volumes of funding, at reduced cost, for its scaled-up trade and development financing. The Bank’s total assets grew from just over US$ 1bn in 2012, to close to US$ 6bn in 2019, with non-performing loans at under 3%.

TDB’s second win in the category ‘Best Infrastructure Deal of the Year’ is a testament to the latter. Its US$ 99.2M Senior Loan Facility towards Mozambique’s Coral South FLNG project – part of one of the largest subscription tickets for which Crédit Agricole was the lead arranger – is an absolute game-changer both in terms of technology used as well as for Mozambique’s economy. TDB is the only DFI among other African banks to have participated in the lending of the project.

As a result of the US$ 8bn project, the Government of Mozambique is expected to generate up to billions in income in the form of royalties, taxes and dividends during the commercial life of the project. Likewise, Coral South will help create thousands of direct and indirect jobs, enable technical and vocational skills development, knowledge and technology transfer, and boost the country’s competitiveness in the international arena.

The success of Coral South has served as catalyst for securing two additional mega onshore LNG projects led by Andarko and ExxonMobil with an aggregate capital cost of close to US$ 50bn.

The African Bankers Awards, now renown as the Oscars of African banking, is organized on a yearly basis the sidelines of the African Development Bank’s Annual Meetings. This year, TDB was among an impressive group of winners and nominees who together are taking the African banking industry to new heights.