Post by Trade Coach on May 3, 2017 21:13:32 GMT 1
NIGERIA DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION (NDIC)’S CONCERNS OVER INSIDERS’ LOAN DEFAULT
The high rate of non-performing insider loans in various banks and its consequences on the stability of the nation's banking system are becoming a subject of concern for the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). The development, the corporation noted, had posed credibility questions which were capable of eroding public confidence in the banking system.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NDIC, Umaru Ibrahim expressed this concern when Professor Segun Ajibola, the newly elected president/chairman of Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), and some executive members paid a courtesy call on the NDIC recently in Abuja. He called for strict compliance with the existing code of conduct and a review of the laws and regulations to provide stiffer penalties for Directors who take advantage of their positions and fail to pay back their loans.
He also identified casual staff, who currently account for about 25 percent of the banking sector workforce, as a negative development. He advised that assigning sensitive roles to casual staff would expose the banking industry to fraud.
Ibrahim however urged the banks to avoid indiscriminate sacking of staff to avert industrial unrest in the sub-sector. Staff rationalization, he cautioned, should be used to weed out bad eggs from the industry.
He assured that the NDIC would continue to collaborate with the CIBN and other professional bodies to achieve capacity development of its workforce. One area of partnership between the Corporation and the CIBN is the training of 77 members of staff of the NDIC, who are currently undergoing the Bangor/CB MBA programme which has been for three years now. The Bangor/CB MBA programme, he explained, is a joint initiative of the NDIC, the CIBN and the Bangor University, Scotland, that enables staff of the corporation to undergo up to 24 months training programme and graduate with dual certification: an MBA and Chartered Banker of Scotland. Fourteen members of the NDIC's staff have already graduated from the programme.
He urged the CIBN to fast-track the accreditation of the NDIC's Training Academy and the introduction of the Deposit Insurance System (DIS) in the institute's curriculum with a view to broadening the scope of professionalism in the banking industry.
Prof. Ajibola disclosed that the CIBN would look into the issue of casualization in the banking industry at its next meeting with banks' CEOs. He thanked the Corporation for its positive contributions to the activities of the Institute, its support towards the establishment of the CIBN Bankers House in Abuja and its effort in ensuring stability in the banking system. He said that efforts were being put in place by the CIBN to enhance the capacity of bank staff, particularly in credit administration.
Ajibola assured that the accreditation committee of the CIBN would soon visit the NDIC Academy and appealed for more collaboration between the two organisations on training and other issues of mutual interest.