When the Institute is celebrating corporate governance, it is something everyone should be involved in. It is their opportunity to shine. We know that Financial Institutions mainly banks, and insurance companies are one of the most highly regulated entities. If they are regulated entities, when it comes to any award that is awarding compliance, these institutions should be at the fore front.
There is a Financial Institutions Act which provides minimum benchmarks for anyone to run a bank. It also provides for the appointment of the board, and how it should run the business. The Central Bank vets board members who sit on the boards of banks. The Central Bank wants to protect the depositors’ money. Central Bank wants a sound financial system. It wants people at the top in any bank to be beyond any reproach.
That said. When we see 30 days down the road towards the deadline of registration for the Corporate Governance Awards, only 6 out of the 24 tier 1 banks have submitted their applications. We could give them a benefit of doubt maybe the form is complicated. Remember, the deadline for receiving applications was 26th March 2018 until the Council of the Institute extended it to 16th April 2018 to accommodate and give room for other organizations.
However, less than 30% of the banks have submitted applications for the awards. It gives an indication may be that’s why we are seeing banks collapse. May be there is appearance of good governance, yet it is window dressing.
This causes people to doubt whether their money is safe in the bank. You want every bank to participate, have their board evaluated and rewarded. This is bad telling. Am giving a doubt of benefit to banks to make sure that they participate in the awards.
If a bank doesn’t participate, it a vote of no confidence in the regulatory regime and an indication that there could be something not right in that particular bank. I would like anybody reading this to give reasons why an institution in a highly regulated sector would fail to participate.
If you get an opportunity to showcase how you are well managed to win public confidence, why wouldn’t you get involved?
