Music, distinction, financial excellence take centre stage at BusinessDay BAFI Awards 2026

…Zenith Bank wins Bank of the Year as 67 awards recognise performance, innovation and institutional ambition across Nigeria’s financial services industry

The music of David Operah, the anticipation of the award presentations and the gathering of leading figures from Nigeria’s financial services industry gave the 14th BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards a distinctive rhythm on 9 October 2026 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

It was an evening in which the language of finance met the theatre of live entertainment. As guests gathered to celebrate achievement across banking, payments, insurance, pensions, investment management and capital markets, music provided a thread of continuity between the formal business of recognition and the shared pleasure of the occasion.

David Operah’s performance brought a live musical dimension to the event, lending warmth and energy to an evening built around institutional achievement. The result was a celebration that recognised the rigour of financial services while making room for the spectacle, anticipation and social connection that have become part of the BAFI experience.

Yet beneath the music and the ceremony lay a more substantive purpose. The BAFI Awards are designed to recognise institutions whose performance, innovation and leadership contribute to the development of Nigeria’s financial system. This year, 67 awards covered an industry extending well beyond conventional banking, reflecting the growing importance of digital payments, specialised lending, investment management, capital mobilisation, insurance and retirement security.

Zenith Bank takes the leading banking honours

Zenith Bank emerged as Bank of the Year, adding the Technology Bank of the Year award to its recognition. The two honours placed the bank at the intersection of broad banking performance and technology-led financial services.

Other major banking recognitions went to Providus Bank, named Future Ready Bank of the Year; Parallex Bank, which won Innovative Bank of the Year; and Fidelity, which received the Award for Excellence in Banking Leadership and Best Bank in Oil & Gas Financing awards.

Globus Bank received recognition for Best Quality Risk Assets and the Banking Innovation Leadership Award. Moniepoint won SME Microfinance Bank of the Year and SME Finance Transformation Leader of the Year, while OPay received Digital Bank of the Year and Financial Inclusion Leader of the Year.

The range of winners reflected the different ways financial institutions compete and create value. Established banks continue to be assessed on their wider performance, while technology-led institutions and specialised providers are increasingly recognised for expanding access, developing new services and serving segments that traditional financial channels have not always reached effectively.

Read also: STL Trustees wins two honours at 2026 BAFI Awards

Digital finance and the expanding reach of financial services

Digital payments and financial technology featured prominently in the 2026 awards.

PalmPay Limited was named Digital Payments Platform of the Year, while Cardtonic received the Digital Payments Disruptor of the Year and Virtual Access Card Platform of the Year awards. Maplerad won Borderless Payments Provider of the Year, and TeamApt received Financial Ecosystem Innovator of the Year.

I-invest was recognised as Capital Markets Access Innovator of the Year, while Zitra MFB received Microfinance Digital Banking Innovator of the Year. Page International Finance Company won Green Finance Innovator of the Year, alongside its recognition as Finance Company of the Year.

Other specialised finance awards recognised institutions working across different customer and business needs. Prospera Finance Ltd was named Fastest-Growing Finance Company of the Year; Rosabon Finance Ltd won Personal Salaried Loan Innovator of the Year; and Bridgecredit Limited received Salary-Linked Credit Innovator of the Year.

These categories point to an increasingly varied financial services landscape. The challenge for providers is not simply to introduce new products or extend digital access. It is to build services that customers can trust, that institutions can sustain and that respond to the needs of households and businesses.

Capital, investment and the institutions behind growth

The awards also recognised the firms that help mobilise capital, structure transactions and manage assets across the economy.

CardinalStone Partners received Best Investment Bank for M&A, while CardinalStone Asset Management was named Investment Management Firm of the Year. CardinalStone Trustees won Best in Private Trust Services, and CardinalStone Registrars received Most Innovative Registrar of the Year. CardinalStone Securities won both Investment Research Firm of the Year and Stockbroking Firm of the Year.

FirstCap Ltd received the Private Capital Mobilisation Leader of the Year and Capital Markets Deal-maker of the Year awards. First Asset Management Ltd won Wealth Creation & Capital Allocation Excellence Award and Asset Management Firm of the Year, while First Holdco received Holding Company of the Year and the Institutional Resilience Award.

RMB Nigeria was named Merchant Bank of the Year and received Deal Advisory Excellence of the Year. RMB Nigeria Asset Management won Excellence in Investment Management. PAC Capital Limited was recognised as Transactions & Capital Advisory Firm of the Year, while Pathway Advisory Ltd received Best Issuing House & Financial Advisory Firm of the Year.

The recognition extended to fiduciary and advisory institutions. STL Trustees received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Trusteeship and was named Trustees Company of the Decade. UTL Trustees won Trustees Company of the Year, while First Trustees received Fiduciary Governance Leader of the Year.

Insurance, pensions and specialised finance

Insurance and pension providers also featured in the awards.

Coronation Assurance was named Best Bancassurance Insurance Company of the Year, while Coronation Life Assurance Ltd received Best Life Assurance Company of the Year. Leadway Assurance won Insurance Company of the Year, and Leadway PFA was named Pension Company of the Year.

Access Pensions received Retirement Asset Management Leader of the Year, while Zenith Pension Custodian won Pension Custodian of the Year.

The specialised finance categories recognised institutions operating in sectors with particular economic and social significance. Bank of Agriculture was named Agriculture Finance Institution of the Year, while Bank of Industry received Development Finance Institution of the Year. First Trust Mortgage won Mortgage Finance Institution of the Year, and Jubilee Life Mortgage received Affordable Housing Finance Provider of the Year.

Aruwa Capital was named Gender-Lens Investment Leader of the Year. BAS Capital received SME Investment Bank of the Year, BAS Finance was named SME Lender of the Year, and Taj Bank won Non-interest Bank of the Year. Alert Group received Fastest-Growing Financial Services Group of the Year, while NOLT Finance Ltd was recognised as Emerging Finance Company of the Year.

An evening where business met performance
The awards ceremony brought together two forms of performance. One was the institutional kind: the ability to build trusted financial services, manage risk, innovate and sustain growth. The other was the live performance that gave the evening its character, as David Operah’s music complemented the ceremony and brought guests together beyond their professional roles.

That combination matters to the experience of an awards institution. Recognition carries weight when it is anchored in credible standards, but the occasion also creates a space for relationships, shared identity and the celebration of achievement. Music and entertainment can give that recognition a human dimension without displacing the work being honoured.

For an industry whose daily business involves capital, risk, regulation and long-term obligations, the evening offered a moment to step back from the numbers and acknowledge the institutions and people behind them.

Recognition as a measure of ambition

The 2026 BAFI Awards spanned the financial system, from payments and lending to investment management, capital markets, insurance, pensions and trusteeship. The range of categories reflected the different capabilities required to sustain a modern financial sector.

But awards are most meaningful when recognition becomes a point of accountability. A title can acknowledge achievement at a particular moment. Its longer-term value depends on whether the institution continues to deliver, strengthens governance, serves customers responsibly and contributes to the productive capacity of the wider economy.

At the Civic Centre, the music, ceremony and anticipation provided the setting for that recognition. The enduring test for the institutions honoured, however, lies beyond the evening itself: in the quality of their decisions, the reliability of their services and the value they create for the people and businesses that depend on them.

Through the BAFI Awards, BusinessDay continues to bring attention to the performance and ambition of Nigeria’s financial services industry, celebrating achievement while keeping the institutions shaping its future in public view.

BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions Awards 2026
Consolidated winners and award categories | 14th edition