CIBN charges members on ethics, good corporate governance

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has charged its members to imbibe ethical standards and the principles of good corporate governance, noting that banking and finance sector plays a pivotal role in the life of the nation’s quest for economic growth and development.

The president and chairman of council, CIBN, Mrs. Debola Osibogun, maintained that as banks and bankers, the institute is a major stakeholder in the affairs of the country.

She however stated that the process of change that the entire nation is going through will no doubt sweep through the entire banking sector, said she is resolute that with the crop of members of the Institute, ethical standards and professionalism will be maintained.

Osibogun during the 3rd valedictory lecture ‎of the institute tagged:‎ “Banks, Bankers and the imperatives for Sustainable Banking” to honour the outgoing Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Stephen Onasanya, said, “The much desired change must begin with us as members of this prestigious Institute. The banks and bankers must be vanguards of this change. We must abore unethical and unprofessional practices and imbibe the culture, and principles of good corporate governance, consumer protection and enterprise risk m anagement.”
“It is only with these attributes from us and the creation of a business friendly environment, secured by the government, that we will be able to attract foreign investors and development partners that will feel comfortable doing business in Nigeria,” she added.
‎”May I also use this platform to invite all the distinguished practitioners here present, to kindly join hands with the Institute to help raise the standards and skill required of world class bankers through mentoring to produce new generation of bankers to attain greater heights.
“I must congratulate Mr Onasanya. Undoubtedly, it is a journey full of various challenges and successes. The challenges you faced alone but the successes you share with many admirers,” she stated.

Also speaking at the event, the former Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Joseph Sanusi, commended the institute in its active and positive impact on human capacity development in the country, saying that the seminars, courses and training programmes organised by the institute to develop human capacity has been yielding a lot of positive change in the country.

He urged the institute to be financially independent to carry out its activities and also charged the institute to take bold steps by being an active voice in policy making as it concerns not only the banking industry, but the entire economy as a whole.
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In his presentation, the First Bank boss said said Nigeria has to take bold steps to address the current deficits in the nation’s economy, pointing out that banks would need to be stronger to play their role in our economy by being catalysts for funding and development of the real sector of the economy rather than chasing profitability by all means even with destructive tendencies.

‎According to him, there are new dimensions in the banking industry operations, saying that these days, the language being spoken in the financial industry is totally different and with new risks.
“Now we hear of innovation and creativity, disruptive technology, digital banking, everyday banking with focus on lifestyle and social needs. These complexities in my mind even though depicting a modern age and era, portend increasing challenges for the industry and particularly in one as ours with a contracting economy,” he added.
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He note that the present ban on 42 items from the foreign market by the CBN illustrates the complexities of managing an economy such as Nigeria’s, stressing that on one hand, there is a very strong case to be made for shifting increasingly scarce resources away from spending on imports towards boosting domestic production, first for local use, and then much later for export.
“Indeed, in the case of items on the restricted list, evidence of strong local capacity to produce these items abound. On the other hand, the restrictions have seen output drop off in those sectors of the economy where these imports constitute inputs into production processes,” he said.

The CBN stance is clear on this and should be respected and accepted in the light of the full support from the government. Indeed, the resounding support for this policy from the highest organs of government has technically made this subject almost a no-go area in terms of debate,” he added. ‎