FirstBank, the premier {bank} in West Africa and a number one {financial} inclusion service supplier, is proud to announce the graduation of its 2025 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Week, scheduled to carry from 27 October – 1 November 2025. Now in its ninth yr, the annual occasion is a mirrored image of the Bank’s dedication to neighborhood empowerment, environmental stewardship, and the development of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Through the ‘Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness’ (SPARK) initiative, FirstBank continues to construct on its legacy of sowing seeds of kindness, with a give attention to uplifting communities and lowering environmental affect. During CR&S Week, the Bank mobilises staff throughout the FirstBank Group, together with FirstBank Nigeria, FirstBank UK, FirstBank Gambia, FirstBank Sierra Leone, FirstBank DRC, FirstBank Guinea, FirstBank Ghana, FBNBank Senegal, First Pension, and First Nominees, to dedicate their time and sources to significant causes aligned with the Bank’s sustainability technique.
Commenting on the week-long occasion, Acting Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications at FirstBank, Olayinka Ijabiyi, stated, “CR&S Week is a call to action. It is about showing up for humanity, being kind to one another, and proving that even the smallest act can ripple into lasting change. FirstBank believes that kindness is a currency that never devalues, and that is why every year since 2017, staff have gone the extra mile to give back to the communities through its SPARK initiative, while also encouraging people to perform acts of random kindness.”
The Bank plans to plant not less than 20,000 timber inside the week in partnership with the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), within the last part of its assist for the Nigeria’s 2060 decarbonisation agenda. This effort builds on the Bank’s pledge to plant 50,000 timber by 2025, with 31,000 timber efficiently planted over the previous two years.
Additionally, in keeping with FirstBank’s dedication to reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG) of ladies empowerment, the Bank will collaborate with Borno and Katsina States to boost and supply medical interventions (together with surgical procedures and post-care kits) for girls residing with Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF).
Throughout the week, FirstBank workers will probably be impressed to share messages of kindness, fostering a tradition of compassion, civility, and empathy throughout the Bank. The programme will function themed webinars centered on the SPARK initiative, in addition to faculty engagements designed to instill the values of generosity and social duty in youthful generations. The week will culminate in visits to orphanage properties, internally displaced individuals (IDP) camps, and charitable organisations throughout Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa, and the UK, demonstrating kindness and empowering these on the backside of the pyramid.
These initiatives epitomise FirstBank’s take care of the atmosphere and humanity, aligning with the Bank’s sustainability strategic pillars and assist for the Green Recovery Nigeria
Since the primary version in 2017, FirstBank’s CR&S Week has spotlighted the Bank’s company citizenship interventions driving constructive social affect, sustainability, and neighborhood engagement. Over the years, it has developed right into a platform that mobilises stakeholders and non-customers alike throughout its international community to champion causes that uplift lives, defend the atmosphere, and promote inclusive improvement. FirstBank is encouraging and galvanizing people to transcend their on a regular basis routines and carry out acts of random kindness.
About FirstBank
First Bank of Nigeria Limited “FirstBank”, established in 1894, is the premier {bank} in West Africa, a number one {financial} inclusion providers supplier in Africa, and a digital banking large.
FirstBank’s worldwide footprints lower throughout three continents ─ Africa, Europe and Asia, with FirstBank UK Limited in London and Paris; FirstBank in The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea and Sierra Leone; FBNBank in Senegal; and a FirstBank Representative Office in Beijing, China. All the subsidiary banks are absolutely registered by their respective Central Banks to supply full banking providers.
Besides offering home banking providers, the subsidiaries additionally have interaction in worldwide cross-border transactions with FirstBank’s non-Nigerian subsidiaries, and the consultant workplaces in Paris and China facilitate commerce flows from Asia and Europe into Nigeria and different African nations.
For over 13 many years, FirstBank has constructed an excellent status for strong relationships, good company governance, and a powerful liquidity place, and has been on the forefront of selling digital fee within the nation with over 13 million playing cards issued to prospects (the primary {bank} to realize such a milestone in Nigeria). FirstBank has continued to make vital investments in expertise, innovation and transformation, and its cashless transaction drive has been steadily accentuated with nearly over 25 million energetic FirstBank prospects signed up on digital channels together with the USSD Quick Banking service via the nationally famend *894# Banking code.
With over 43 million buyer accounts (together with digital wallets) unfold throughout Nigeria, UK and sub-Saharan Africa, the Bank gives a complete vary of retail and wholesale {financial} providers via greater than 820 enterprise workplaces and over 280,000 agent places unfold throughout 772 out of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria.
In addition to banking options and providers, FirstBank gives pension fund custody providers in Nigeria via First Pension Custodian Nigeria Limited and nominee and related providers via First Nominees Nigeria Limited.
FirstBank’s dedication to Diversity is proven in its insurance policies, partnerships and initiatives resembling its staff’ ratio of feminine to male (about 41%:59%; and 37% girls in administration roles) in addition to the FirstBank Women Network, an initiative that seeks to handle the gender hole and improve the participation of ladies in any respect ranges inside the organisation. In addition, the Bank’s membership of the UN Women is an affirmation of a deliberate coverage that’s in keeping with UN Women’s Women Empowerment’s Principles (WEPs) ─ Equal Opportunity, Inclusion, and Nondiscrimination.
For six consecutive years (2011 – 2016), FirstBank was named “Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria” by the globally famend The Banker Magazine of the Financial Times Group and “Best Retail Bank in Nigeria” eight instances in a row, 2011 – 2018, by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards.
Significantly, FirstBank’s Global Credit Rating was A+ with a constructive outlook whereas rankings by Fitch and Standard & Poor’s had been A (nga) and ngBBB+ respectively each with Stable outlooks as at September 2023. FirstBank maintained the identical stage of worldwide credit score rankings because the sovereign; a milestone that was achieved in 2022 for the primary time since 2015.
