First Bank CEO reaffirms commitment to regulatory compliance
The CEO of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, has reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to regulatory compliance and due diligence.
Speaking at a meeting of the Association of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria (ACCOBIN), Adeduntan emphasised the importance of these principles in the bank’s corporate culture.
He stated that adherence to regulatory compliance and due diligence has played a significant role in establishing the bank’s credibility and maintaining its position as a leading financial institution for nearly 130 years.
He said: “The theme of the meeting, ‘Institutionalising Customer Due Diligence/Know Your Customer (KYC) in the Financial Services Sector’ is highly decisive in ensuring a healthy landscape for financial services providers in Nigeria, and I commend the executives of ACCOBIN and other stakeholders for their thoughtfulness in putting this together.”
Adeduntan explained that when the campaign for Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) started years back, many people saw it as an alien concept.
“But over the years, we have all come to see that it is a must-win war for the sustainability of our businesses and indeed, continuous survival of humans. Little wonder ‘Countering Proliferation Financing (PF)’ has now been added to the global onslaught against financial crimes.
“In an era marked by progressive technological advancement and an increasingly interconnected global economy, it is imperative for professionals from the regulatory and operational organisations within each sub-system to come together to adopt robust and effective measures to combat money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, fraud, and other illicit activities,” he said.
According to Adeduntan , it is in the pursuit of this common agenda to stultify financial crimes that the crucial concept of Customer Due Diligence (CDD) also known as Know Your Customer (KYC) comes into play.
He said FirstBank has continued to harness the power of technology to implement comprehensive CDD measures and we are steadfastly working towards ensuring a seamless and secure environment for our clients and other stakeholders.
Some of the steps we have taken include the relentless strides in digital automations such as development of a robust framework for UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner) identification to mitigate the risk of money laundering, fraud, and other illegal activities; utilisation of digital tools such as automated screening systems to streamline and enhance the due diligence process which efficiently screen customer information against watchlists, sanctions lists, and adverse media databases and monitoring of customer activities through the implementation of a robust monitoring system to continuously assess customer behavior and identify any suspicious transactions.
He said, “By adopting a structured and systematic approach to conducting Customer Due Diligence, banks become adequately equipped to effectively combat money laundering, terrorism and other associated activities. The benefits are manifold, with a major one being increased confidence and trust in the banking industry, ultimately leading to higher profitability.”
