Nigerian banks know position this week in Lafferty 2017 Global Bank Quality Benchmarking ratings

Ahead of the official release of a global bank quality benchmarking study by United Kingdom based Lafferty Group, a number of Nigerian banks who are believed to have made it into the 100-bank strong rating, will this week become aware of their performance in the study, Businessamlive learnt, Monday.

Lafferty Group, responsible for undertaking the research, would not comment on the Nigerian banks that made it into the rating of the world’s top 100, when Businessamlive spoke with Michael Lafferty, the Group’s chief executive officer. But he admitted that there are a number of elite Nigerian banks in this year’s rating.

An information kit made available to Businessamlive on the quality benchmarking described the Lafferty Bank Quality Benchmarking (LBQB) as a service “that rates banks for their quality – as interpreted from the information presented by banks themselves to shareholders, investors, and the public at large in their own annual reports.”

It explained that it uses what it calls a “heuristic methodology” to interpret the signals that banks are sending out in their annual reports – intentionally or otherwise – about strategy, culture, customer care, brand promise and financial performance – and brings all of these together to rate the total bank quality.

Annual reports are used, according to the group, because of their unique status as “the primary vehicle for management of a bank to communicate and account to shareholders and other stakeholders,” it added.

Apart from Nigerian banks, Businessamlive learnt that across the different continents of the world, from Europe to America, Africa, Asia and Australasia, banks are anxiously awaiting the global quality benchmarking rating, which has become a measure followed by banks to gauge how they are perceived in terms of the quality they offer as financial institutions.

With the highest rating set at 5 Star, Businessamlive intends to follow closely to see what the elite Nigerian banks, who are believed would make the list this year, are likely to score when the results are released.