• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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CIBN certification, a commitment to providing banking services

Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN)

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) at the weekend inducted a total of 1,864 graduates from Nigeria and abroad, who have completed their professional programmes with the Institute this year.

A breakdown of the number of the inductees show 899 candidates on the flagship ACIB programme, 41 candidates on Chartered Banker MBA programme, 22 candidates on MSc/ACIB programme and 902 candidates on Microfinance Certification Programme.

Olayinka David-West, Guest Speaker and Professor of Information System, Academic Director, Lagos Business School, reminded the inductees that the certification represents – a qualification and commitment to providing banking services and not to work in a bank.

“And here you all are, gaining a banking certification in a future world where banks may no longer exist. I urge you to look around you, the dynamics have changed and my question is where will you play? Are there 2 camps – bank vs. Fintech? Will we collaborate or compete? Will we play to our strengths or duplicate,” David-West questioned.

Speaking on “Digital Economy: The Role of Professional Bankers”, at the virtual 2020 CIBN Graduates Induction and Prize Awards Day, she said digital economy was birthed alongside the Information Age and represents the levels of economic activity from digital connections between people and businesses and extending to devices, data and processes.

She said the financial services ecosystem has recorded significant progress in areas like Bank Verification Number (BVN) and Instant Payments. “The surge on bank branches after the first phase of the lockdown presented some interesting challenges to the ecosystem and the digital economy in general.

“So, when we compare financial inclusion levels with mobile telecommunications penetration or even internet usage vis-a-vis their maturity, we can see that again 100 years versus 20 years, we still have a lot of gaps to close. “The informality of the economy and the dominance of cash still requires innovation capabilities that extends beyond digitalising cash to developing financial solutions that really meet the needs of the larger population that we want to deal with,” she said.

David-West charged the inductees and bankers to reach out to 100 million adult Nigerians for introduction of the state of the financial infrastructure through digital, adding that the infrastructure has developed beyond physical branches that offer over the-counter services to digital (self-service) channels or touch points like automated teller machines (ATMs), Point of Sale (PoS) terminals and individual mobile devices.

Bayo Olugbemi, president/Chairman of Council, CIBN, urged the new inductees and bankers to take advantage of the digital economy to shape the future of banking industry.

The induction, an annual ceremony of the Institute is the forum where student members who have completed their examinations and fulfilled all other conditions set by the Governing Council, are formally admitted into full professional membership of the Institute.

“You will agree with me that COVID-19 has accelerated the space of digital evolution. “As such, it has become imperative for us to rethink our approach to digital economy which has become the new normal. “It is in the light of this, and in the recognition of important role banking and finance industry plays in the development and growth of the economy that we have decided to Xray at this event today (Saturday),” Olugbemi said.