We’ve standardised banking programmes in 58 institutions – Olowu, CIBN president

“We have designed strategies for the upskilling and reskilling of our members through the review of the existing Certification Programmes targeted at sectoral competencie.

As e-fraud and other financial crimes continue to rock the banking sector, Dr. Uche Olowu, the President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) believes that all hope is not lost as new generation of bankers with ‘high standard of professionalism, strong ethical values and integrity’ can still emerge.

At the last annual bankers’ dinner in Lagos, Olowu said the Institute would bend over backwards to ensure that, through capacity building, it fosters ethical conduct in the bankers and banking industry as a whole.

He added: “The mandate of every banker is to protect the integrity and reputation of the banking industry, to underwrite continuing public trust and confidence in the financial system. To ensure this, we will continue to work with the sub-committee on Competency and Industry Standards of the Bankers Committee to make the Ethics Compliance Certificate a reality in the first quarter of next year.”

Background

November 28 was the 55th anniversary of the convergence of 124 bankers at Randle Hall, Surulere, to pass the resolution for the establishment of the local centre of the Institute of Bankers, London, the progenitor of the present Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, as you are aware, is continuing the tradition that was established since the beginning of the Bankers’ Dinner, 53 years ago. Indeed the CIBN Annual Dinner is seen as the “CBN Governor’s Day” which affords stakeholders the rare opportunity to wine and dine with the governor and examine critical issues affecting the banking industry in a relaxed setting. I am aware that the governor had given priority to this event over several other engagements especially when we had to change the date to enable us get befitting venue and he still accommodated us in his ever busy diary.

Score card

Since May 19, 2018, when the mantle of leadership of our Institute was handed over to me, we have been able to continue with the giant strides of my predecessors, building on the foundation and momentum laid for the future of the Institute.

Ethics

We will continue to foster ethical conduct in the banking industry in furtherance of the fact that bankers have a fiduciary responsibility and duty to protect the integrity and reputation of the banking industry, to underwrite continuing public trust and confidence in the financial system. To ensure this, we will continue to work with the sub-committee on competency and industry standards of the Bankers Committee to make the Ethics Compliance Certificate a reality in the first quarter of next year. This is consistent with our belief that a high standard of professionalism with strong ethical values and integrity is the prerequisite for the creation of a new generation of bankers.

Capacity building

We are investing substantially in equipping our members with the required skills sets and knowledge needed to compete, think and innovate.

We are currently developing content for the new structure of the Syllabus of Banking Professional Examinations which our Governing Council approved last September. The syllabus has been aligned to the needs of the banking industry in order to better meet the expectations of the more discerning customers and market place.

To arrive at the structure, a Practice Analysis Survey was conducted to ascertain the skills sets the employers of labour expect the Chartered Bankers to possess. The new Syllabus will be in operation from April 2020.

Commoditisation of competencies

We have designed strategies for the upskilling and reskilling of our members through the review of the existing Certification Programmes targeted at sectoral competencies.

In the same vein, we are building Communities of Practice across the key operations of banking to allow members to interact among themselves and with subject experts on emerging trends in any of the subject area.

Lastly, we have commenced discussion with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) to run a Certification on Agriculture Finance to equip the various actors along the value chain with comprehensive knowledge of full range of activities required to expand their portfolios. By extension, it is expected that this will aid government in its economic diversification efforts.

Advocacy

We have continued with our role as the conscience of the industry by paying more attention to constructive stakeholders’ engagements for the benefit of our corporate and individual members. In view of this, we organised, through our USA branch, a conference with theme: Investing at Home , imploring Nigerian in Diapora to encourage Nigerians abroad to invest more in the Country’s economy for the good of the greater number of the populace. Also, our governing council recently introduced a quarterly discussion to examine pertinent issues affecting the banking industry and come up with Institute’s position for the benefit of the various key stakeholders.

Training programmes

As the accreditation agency for the implementation of the competency framework, we have accredited 50 Education Training Service Providers and 17 Bank Academies and entered into Linkage arrangement with 58 tertiary institutions to standardise their training programmes to foster specialisation in various areas of banking operation. The exercise had given the assurance that the Programmes of these institutions are relevant, required and have met international standard and benchmarks. Efforts are being intensified to accredit the remaining institutions in the three categories.