CIBN keen on expanding Institute’s name to include finance — Opara

The President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has disclosed that the institute is keen towards expanding the Institute’s name to include ‘Finance’ to conform to the Institute’s coverage and best practice: “Chartered Institute of Banking and Financial Services”.  -Section 1 to cover institutions under the regulation of CBN, especially non-conventional banks.

He said the expansion of the Institute’s coverage will enable the Institute to foster ethics, maintain professional standards and build capacity in the ever novel/modern banking practice, e.g. FinTechs will have an enabling environment to provide financial services through the use of digital and modern technology.

Opara spoke while commending the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Sen. Adetokunbo Abiru for his role in ensuring economic growth when he led a team from the institute on a dialogue with the leadership and members of the committee.

Opara commended the committee for the support it is giving to the institute towards the review of Extant Laws in the financial sector. He said the team’s visit was meant to seek the Senator’s assistance in the passage of the proposed CIBN Act Bill and share thoughts on key issues and initiatives affecting the banking and finance industry.

He said, “We commend the Institute for being sensitive to the economic situation which necessitated your invitation of the Governor of CBN for a brief over the state of the economy. The engagements you had and the issues you raised such as Inflation, FX, IMTO and the clarification on the 43 banned items are all issues of interest to the banking public.

“We also commend you on the proactive steps taken by this Committee to comprehensively review the extant laws within the financial services sector, aimed at fostering economic sustainability and growth. We applaud the Committee for the review of the 2024 budget of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under the supervisory purview of the Committee. We also commend you for the continuous initiatives emplaced to ensure that MDAs under the supervisory purview of the Committee are properly run in line with sound Corporate Governance principles.”

The institute also commended the committee for justifying the existence of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) despite the challenges confronting the agency. This was to ensure that the objectives of setting up the AMCON by the Federal Government in 2010 were achieved.

While speaking on contributions of the Institute to the Banking Industry, Opara said the institute has embarked on several key initiatives in its effort to support the industry and the economy at large.

“Some of the initiatives include, Strategic intervention in industry related issues i.e, ‘Japa’ issue with the introduction of Human Capital Retention Fund. This has given rise to the Banking School project which will commence later,” he said.

He added that the institute also collaborated with Afreximbank to run Certification Programme in the area of Trade as well as collaboration with PAPSS.

He stressed that there is collaboration with the National Board of Technical Education  (NBTE) to review the Curriculum of Banking and Finance for Polytechnics as well as collaboration with NUC for the Universities Legacy Project across the six geo-political zones.

In order to align the CIBN Act 2007 with current day realities in the Banking and Finance landscape, the Institute embarked on a holistic review of the Act to cater to the innovations in the banking and finance industry.

“As a key stakeholder and contributor to the Institute’s success thus far, we wish to share with you the following significant improvements that have been made to the Act, for the benefit of the industry and the Nigerian Economy at large.”

The institute, he said, also has plans to introduce Microfinance Certified Members, Certified Mortgage members, and Other Certified members as part of the membership of the Institute as well as eligibility for such certification. The Microfinance and Mortgage certifications currently exist but were not codified in the Act.