Best bank: First National Bank of Botswana
First National Bank of Botswana (FNBB) has the strongest presence across retail and corporate banking for Botswanan customers. The bank frames its ambition as becoming the world class financial solutionist of choice, with an emphasis on customer experience, digital banking excellence, innovative client solutions and robust risk management.
On the retail side, FNBB’s CashPlus model offers access, convenience and inclusion. Its network of 1,794 agents enables both FNBB and non-FNBB customers to withdraw and deposit cash, pay bills and access services through an active mobile number and one-time PIN.
The network has expanded into 146 remote villages, with a significant share of these agents located in rural areas without branch presence. FNBB has also extended outreach through Bank on Wheels, which takes services directly into remote communities where the bank has no permanent physical footprint, offering functions including account opening, general enquiries, and loan and credit card applications.
For smaller merchants and informal traders, FNBB has developed practical payments infrastructure such as Speedee, its low-cost mobile POS solution. Speedee has zero onboarding and rental fees, a capped 2.5% commission structure, mobile-enabled acceptance and paperless receipt functionality.
As of 2025, the bank had deployed 1,175 devices, with 88% supporting SMEs, and the product had processed BWP285 million ($19.9 million) in transaction value across 1.3 million transactions. FNBB’s Payment Gateway collections also support merchants, schools and the public sector, contributing to stronger account inflows and liability retention.
Finally, FNBB offers transactional flows, distribution and empowerment-linked financing for corporate customers. eWallet Pro is the bank’s critical corporate payment rail, which allows businesses to disburse petty cash and related payments securely without physical cash handling. Since launch, the bank has onboarded 899 businesses, issued 25,683 cards to beneficiaries and corporate users, and disbursed BWP54.1 million, up 28% year-on-year.
Best investment bank: Stanbic Bank Botswana
Stanbic Bank Botswana’s investment banking proposition is characterised by its breadth of product capability and effective response to local market conditions.
Through its corporate and investment banking division, the bank supports clients across sectors with bespoke debt financing, real estate finance and debt capital markets solutions, with facilities tailored to client needs and structured to support relevant SDG targets and ESG overlays.
In 2025, this helped clients to navigate local currency liquidity constraints and economic softness linked to structural changes in the diamond sector. Rather than retreating from the market, Stanbic positioned itself around innovative and sustainable financing solutions, with high transaction volumes in the review period.
The most distinctive transaction was the bank’s financing of Sinotswana Green, which was the largest, first-in-market bilateral 100 megawatt solar PV independent power producer project in Botswana, delivered with Stanbic as sole lender using its internal local balance sheet despite in-market liquidity constraints. The overall package totalled BWP1 billion ($70 million) and included BWP834 million in project finance for plant construction, BWP132 million in VAT reimbursement bridge financing during construction, and approved senior debt headroom for potential cost overruns.
Standard Bank entities acted as sole MLA and underwriter, providing certainty of underwriting and funding amid distressed market conditions. The transaction supported Botswana’s national objective of diversifying its energy mix and reducing energy imports, while the project itself will power operations linked to the world’s largest diamond mine by value.
Another strength of Stanbic’s offering is its ability to participate in complex cross-border refinancing structures while defending key client relationships in a competitive market. In 2025, the bank participated in the multi-country refinancing and upsize for Coca-Cola Beverages Africa subsidiaries, involving facilities of up to $455 million-equivalent across jurisdictions.
It also participated in a multi-currency revolving-credit facility for Massmart Botswana subsidiaries, part of a regional lender group refinancing facilities of up to ZAR200 million ($12.2 million) equivalent. These transactions display regional scale and Stanbic’s ability to retain investment-grade assets against tight competition from local tier one banks.
Best bank for corporate responsibility: Access Bank
Access Bank Botswana’s corporate responsibility strategy is built around a model designed to embed social impact across the organisation, combining group-level sustainability priorities with employee-led community engagement.
At the centre of this approach is the employee volunteering programme, which empowers staff across branches and departments to identify community needs, develop initiatives and lead implementation. The programme operates within Access Bank’s broader sustainability framework, with strategic oversight from the group sustainability office and priorities aligned around education, health and wellness, environmental support and entrepreneurship.
The model has allowed the bank to expand the reach of its social programmes while maintaining a strong connection with local communities. In 2025, Access Bank Botswana’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives reached 104,918 beneficiaries, supported by absolute CSR investment of nearly BWP649,000 ($47,600).
Education and financial inclusion remained key priorities. Through initiatives such as Global Money Week and other financial literacy programmes, employees delivered training to young people and communities, helping build stronger financial awareness and decision-making skills. Staff-led projects also supported schools through classroom improvements, learning resources and feeding programmes.
The bank also expanded initiatives focused on wider social and economic development. These included entrepreneurship and digital skills training, support for women-focused groups, community welfare projects, disability inclusion initiatives, environmental campaigns, tree planting and health awareness activities.
Access Bank Botswana has strengthened its CSR capabilities by investing in its own people, providing volunteer leadership training, project management support and recognition programmes for employees driving community initiatives.
By combining structured governance with grassroots execution, the bank has developed a scalable CSR model that increases employee participation while delivering benefits for communities across Botswana.
Best bank for ESG: First National Bank of Botswana
First National Bank of Botswana’s (FNBB) ESG strategy focuses on the values of shared prosperity and sustainable value creation. Under this model, the bank has successfully pursued financial returns alongside positive environmental, social and economic outcomes.
The strategy is operationalised through five priority pillars: sustainable finance, SME development, financial inclusion, financial literacy and awareness, and human and social development. Progress against each is tracked through a corporate scorecard that is reviewed quarterly by management and board committees.
In 2025, FNBB made BWP876 million ($61.4 million) in sustainable finance disbursements, exceeding its target of BWP765 million despite a difficult liquidity and cost of funding environment.
Capital was deployed across both green and social categories. On the green side, FNBB funded phase two of the Mmadinare Solar Cluster Project, with BWP364.1 million disbursed. When fully completed, the plant is expected to supply 15% of Botswana’s electricity requirements. The bank also disbursed BWP48 million for solar development in the tourism and mining sectors, supporting lower energy costs, better reliability in remote areas and stronger commercial viability for businesses important to employment and GDP growth.
On the social side, FNBB made BWP217.6 million in social finance disbursements to SMEs, with impacts including enterprise growth, job creation, food security support, women and youth inclusion, and rural infrastructure improvements.
FNBB has also developed a practical inclusion agenda that links access, enterprise support and gender. Firstpreneur, its two-year entrepreneur development programme was launched in July 2024, and had onboarded 150 MSMEs by the end of 2025, with priority given to women and differently abled youth entrepreneurs.
This developmental approach is complemented by products designed for smaller and more informal businesses. The Speedee POS proposition was built specifically to remove barriers for micro and informal traders, with mobile, paperless functionality aimed at reducing operating costs and widening digital payments acceptance.
Best bank for large corporates: Stanbic Bank Botswana
Stanbic Bank’s strategy for large corporate clients is tied to Botswana’s national development agenda, with one of its three strategic priorities being to maximise the Africa-China opportunity in line with rising Chinese in-market investment.
In 2025, the bank’s participation in the Sinotswana 100 megawatt solar project supported Botswana’s National Integrated Resource Plan, by helping diversify the energy mix and reduce its dependence on imports. This deal also marked the first renewable energy project financing for China Communications Construction Company in Africa, positioning Stanbic as a bank capable of connecting Chinese capital and counterparties to nationally significant infrastructure in Botswana.
A second priority for Stanbic is the acquisition of large local corporates and homegrown brands as clients through balance sheet lending and structured relationship coverage. The bank provided lending support to clients such as Sefalana Holdings, Choppies Enterprises, Wilderness Holdings and Primetime Property Holdings, reinforcing its intention to bank leading domestic names rather than relying solely on multinationals.
This is supported by a broader corporate coverage model organised into seven primary sectors aligned with national objectives, each covered by dedicated relationship managers working alongside product specialists. The coverage model aims to combine sector familiarity, product access and relationship continuity in serving large corporate customers across the domestic economy.
Finally, Stanbic has sought to unlock sovereign opportunities, such as with its leadership role in Botswana’s first domestic investor non-deal roadshow. In September 2025, Stanbic was appointed to facilitate and coordinate a multi-stakeholder working group involving the Ministry of Finance’s Debt Management Office, the Bank of Botswana, the Botswana Stock Exchange and the Botswana Bond Market Association.
The group was tasked with enhancing the framework for the government’s domestic medium term note programme and its work included presenting the 2025-26 borrowing strategy, the bond issuance schedule through March 2026, discussing local bond market conditions and investor participation, reviewing funding requirements and gathering investor feedback to inform future auctions.
