Accra, Nov. 19, GNA – The Chartered Institute of Bankers, Ghana (CIB Ghana) will on Thursday December 21, 2024, hold the 28th National Banking and Ethics Conference in Accra.
The hybrid event will be on the theme: “Resilience in the Financial System: Navigating Horizon Risks.”
Mr Robert Dzato, the Chief Executive Officer of CIB Ghana, speaking ahead of the event, said the Conference formed part of a series of activities marking the Bankers Week Celebration.
He said the Institute started off with a health walk, because in the spirit of sustainability, health was important, which was followed up with financial literacy across a few secondary schools in the country.
He said through their Financial Literacy Day in Senior High Schools in Ghana, the Institute was contributing to realizing the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development Goals 1, 4, 8, and10 and their job was to ensure that they educated these students, getting them to be financially literate.
“The development of any nation depends on how financially literate the citizens are,” he added.
The CEO said the Institute had organised a thought leadership event on Climate Finance and Funding webinar, which brought together regulators and industry practitioners to discuss innovative strategies and best practices for accessing and utilizing climate finance.
He said there would be different panel discussions with one focus on regulatory shifts and policies and what should be expected going into the future with other concentration on practitioners and professionals in the industry and what must be done to continue to drive growth for the sector.
The panel will consist of representatives from the Central Bank of Ghana, National Insurance Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Pensions Regulatory Authority.
He said as part of their mandate to promote banking education and regulate the practice of the banking profession, ethics was higher on the agenda.
“We want to focus on public trust, and I think that is really very important and we want to ensure that the public is aware of what banks do and how the banks are actually containing and managing the risk,” he said.
He said overall, the financial system remained resilient, and the financial sector was the catalyst for economic development in any country.
“We believe that as an institute, we will give voice to the sector and make sure that we are developing the necessary human capacity, and capabilities that will be key for the sector and also for the nation,” he added.
He said Dr Ernest Addison will be the keynote speaker of the event and there would be a Governor’s Day in his honour to be held somewhere on December 21, 2024, with the graduation of the first cohort of the Chartered Banker for Executive Leadership Programme.
“Also, the Institute has invited Mr Kofi Adomakoh, President of the Ghana Association of Banks and the Managing Director of GCB Bank, as the guest speaker together with Mr Benjamin Amenumey, the President of the Institute with other industry experts to speak at the Conference,” he said.
He said the Institute during the year collaborated with International Finance Corporation and the Environmental Protection Agency to launch the ESG certification programme, expecting a lot more banks to enroll their staff on that.
The CEO said, “we expect to continue to deliver on our mandate, but also count on the support of all our stakeholders to help us build a very strong institute, but also a very strong financial service sector, by extension, a very strong country.”
He said the Institute was keenly investing in technology, learning management systems, and digital platforms that would accelerate learning, and make sure that the learning that they provide was democratised for growth.
Mr Dzato said the Institute had launched a digital academy with focus on AI, data analytics, cybersecurity to sure address not just the skill sets and the mindset for the current job market and for the future.
GNA