Standard Bank Group (SBG) has scooped a series of accolades, including African Bank of the Year, in the current financial sector awards season that coincided with the annual meetings of International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington DC.

A series of awards functions saw Standard Bank Group named in the African Banker journal's awards with African Bank of the Year and Deal of the Year.

The judges awarded African Bank of the Year to the bank which demonstrated high performance across various metrics. The award criteria included the extent to which the winner has changed the banking landscape by reaching out to new customers, offering new services, adopting inclusiveness by bringing the unbanked into the banking space, made use of new technologies and helped drive growth through a stronger financial sector.

African Banker's Deal of the Year award went to Standard Bank Group's business in Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Bank for its Dangote Golden Sugar Refinery Project.

The transaction involved the construction of a state-of-the-art sugar refinery complex in Lagos which comprised of a 750 000 million tons per annum sugar refinery plant, a 65 000 ton storage facility and a 30 megawatt gas-power plant for a total project cost of US$229-million.

Stanbic IBTC Bank was the structuring and modelling bank and joint mandated lead arranger with Standard Bank South Africa. Stanbic IBTC Bank also provided carbon credit advice to the company enabling it to take advantage of carbon credit revenue that accrued to the project.

The African Banker awards event brought together around 300 key industry players and top government officials from Africa and around the world to honour the achievements of companies and individuals who have contributed significantly to the reform, modernisation and expansion of the continent's banking and financial system.

Earlier, Standard Bank Group made a clean sweep of the three treasury accolades in the 2011 awards of EMEA Finance, a journal for the financial community. The awards were for cash management, foreign exchange and treasury services.

Assessment for the EMEA Finance awards includes consideration of performance and structural factors such as market share and growth, innovation and corporate strategy.

Sim Tshabalala, Deputy Chief Executive of Standard Bank Group, says Standard Bank Group's's consistent presence at the top of measures of size, presence and performance is testimony to its commitment to sustaining its growth across Africa.

"We have been investing for growth across Africa for the best part of 20 years. Standard Bank Group is proud of the progress we've made in establishing a meaningful presence on the ground in 16 African countries outside of South Africa.

"Winning awards is always a happy occasion, but for us the real significance is in the external recognition that Standard Bank Group's Africa strategy has such strong traction. It will be a challenge for new entrants to catch up," says Mr Tshabalala.

Standard Bank Group recently opened its 500th branch in Africa outside of South Africa. The branch opening, in the Nigerian state of Osolo Lagos, was one of three significant milestones reached by Standard Bank Group's Africa operations in September. Standard Bank Group also has 2.5-million signed-up customers and 3-milllion active accounts on its books from its operations in 16 countries around the continent excluding South Africa.

"We are especially pleased to be recognised in this way at this time. These accolades reflect the strength and depth of Standard Bank's on-the-ground presence in Africa," says Mr Tshabalala.