Standard Bank Group, the parent company of Stanbic Bank Ghana has won the best bank in South Africa for the second consecutive year in the Euromoney Awards for Excellence. The Standard Bank Group, operating in 39 countries, with 18 in Africa and 21 in five other continents, also won the best project finance house award. The competition, organized by the Euromoney Magazine is regarded as the most prestigious awards in the financial services industry. Banks around the world put in submissions for the excellence awards and those short-listed were interviewed by the editor and senior editorial team of Euromoney Magazine. A statement by the head of Corporate and Investment Banking, Stanbic Bank Ghana, Mr. Daniel Akaba said the Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Mr. Alhassan Andani welcomed the recognition of the tremendous efforts Stanbic Bank had made over the years to offer its demanding customers a truly differentiated services across the length and breath of Africa. "In receiving these accolades, we need to acknowledge the contribution of our staff and customers and recognize that it is their commitment and hard work that drive our success in Africa," he added. The statement also noted that, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Bank, Mr. Chris Newson said there had been a marked increase in interest in Africa over the past few years with strong economic growth, improved political stability, debt forgiveness, attractive assets values, international liquidity coupled with a narrowing of credit spreads. He said a commodities boom had also contributed to increasing investment flows and the growth in competition amongst both domestic and foreign financial institutions across Africa. "Driven by a critical need for significant investments in the agriculture, transport, telecommunications, ports, resources, power and energy sectors, there are a number of very large projects on the go or at the feasibility study stage.” Stanbic Bank, though its dedicated project finance team, remains actively involved in a number of these projects and seeks to ensure that, it plays in facilitating access to the necessary intellectual and financial capital to make these projects a success," said Mr. Newson. Mr Newson stressed that, foreign investment into and from Africa should continue to drive a flow and target development initiatives such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to stimulate capital deployment flows and financing activities. The Standard Bank Group has been involved in various projects, namely the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), Africa Infrastructure Investment Fund (AIIF), South Africa Infrastructure Fund (SAIF) and Public Private Partnership (PPP) standardization process run by the South African Government's National Treasury. Source:GNA