Ecobank Transnational Incorporated has been named the Women in Finance Partner for Africa Financial Summit (AFIS) 2026, organizers announced. The sixth edition of the gathering will take place in Luanda, Angola, on November 3 and 4, marking the first time the event is hosted in Southern Africa.
Ecobank’s flagship Ellevate program, designed for women-led businesses, has disbursed more than $780 million in loans to approximately 100,000 customers. In 2025 the group expanded the initiative beyond entrepreneurs to include women-led businesses across its consumer and commercial banking operations.
The bank marked its 40th anniversary in 2025. Headquartered in Lomé, Togo, and listed on the stock exchanges in Lagos, Accra and the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, Ecobank operates in 35 sub-Saharan African countries, a geographic footprint unmatched by any other African banking group.
For the year ended December 31, 2025, Ecobank reported net revenue of $2.45 billion, up 17%; profit before tax of $801 million, up 21%; and profit attributable to shareholders of $407 million, up 22%. Total assets reached $34.5 billion, while the cost-to-income ratio improved to 48.3% from 52.8% the previous year.
“As Women in Finance Partner, Ecobank brings to Luanda the record of a bank that has put numbers behind the gender financing gap rather than commentary,” the announcement stated.
AFIS 2026 to Address Africa’s Financing Gap
AFIS is the continent’s premier high-level economic gathering for the financial sector. Founded by Jeune Afrique Media Group in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the summit typically draws more than 1,250 participants, including central bank governors, finance ministers, bank chief executives and fintech founders.
The 2026 theme is “Making Capital Count: Unlocking Growth Through African Finance.” Organizers highlight a key paradox: while African banks remain highly profitable, only about 30% of their total assets are directed into loans supporting productive real-economy sectors such as local infrastructure and small businesses.
Financial inclusion forms one of the summit’s six structural pillars. AFIS addresses women’s economic exclusion through several channels, including efforts to bridge the credit gap via risk-sharing guarantees, targeted local-currency financing and specialized credit frameworks for underserved female entrepreneurs.
The event also promotes institutional benchmarking so that gender-lens investing moves from public-relations metrics into core asset allocation decisions by regulators and commercial banks. A dedicated “African Woman in Finance” Award recognizes women leading institutional portfolios and reshaping financial systems across the continent.
Ecobank to Share Gender-Focused Lending Experience
As the designated Women in Finance Partner, Ecobank is positioned to serve as a practical blueprint for gender-smart commercial banking. The bank plans to share its experience scaling gender-focused lending from micro-entrepreneurs into formal consumer and commercial segments, while leveraging its pan-African network to align cross-border operations with the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) so that women-led enterprises can better access regional supply chains.
The Luanda summit is expected to combine policy discussions with deal-making opportunities aimed at increasing the flow of capital into productive and inclusive segments of African economies.