In line with the ongoing reforms in the banking industry, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has vowed to restore professionalism in the banking sector, saying the move would help to reduce unhealthy competition among operators in the sector.
This is as the institute has expressed regrets over the huge number of workers that lost their jobs owing to the shake-up in the banking sector.
The decision was one of the high points of the fifth annual conference of the institute held in Abuja.
The two-day conference with theme, “The future of banking: The next fundamental steps” was convened in order to define the next phase for the banking sector.
Addressing journalists on the outcome of the conference, the President of the institute, Mr. Laoye Jaiyeola, said that it was imperative for the institute to restore discipline among its members.
The decision of the institute, it was learnt, followed the charge by President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that the era of professional banking was brought back to the industry.
Jonathan had while declaring open the conference, blamed unethical practices among bankers as a major reason for the crisis in the sector.
He had said: “Many people believe that crisis comes from outside and yes they do, but when you look at the banking crisis starting from 1990, their externalities contribute a lot.
“But the main cause of banking failure is from inside the banks, the human beings.
“I want a future banking sector that is composed of conservative people. We are running a banking system where banks don’t move together because we find out that in every five years, one or two banks will fail.”
But Jaiyeola said that the institute would nip the practice of unethical banking in the bud, adding that any banker that was found guilty of unethical conduct would be severely sanctioned.
According to him, “The issue of banking has gone beyond balance sheet, and liquidity. We want to look at the issue of trust because we need to rebuild trust and confidence in the financial system.
“We have resolved that the culture of banking would be looked at and in doing this, we will ensure that the banking industry is professionalised.
“We will make sure we continue with the culture of training and retraining because we found out that having technical skills is not enough, we have to bring back true professionalism.”
On the crisis in the banking sector, the CIBN boss expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the apex bank in reforming the sector.