Akingbola advocates high ethical standards in banks

04.03.2008

The Group Chief Executive, Intercontinental Bank Plc, Dr Erastus Akingbola, has advised banks to set up internal standards that are higher than legal and regulatory requirements for them to promote ethical behaviour and engender the confidence of the banking public.

Dr Akingbola stated this in a speech entitled: “The Challenge of Being Successful and Ethical in Banking” presented at the Global Communication summit organised by Timex Communications Limited at the Le Meridian Hotel, Abuja, recently.

Such regulatory requirements to be complied with for such ethical standards, he added, included adhering to credit limits, liquidity, measure and control risk and avoiding unethical behaviours to all the bank’s publics including shareholders, customers, regulatory bodies, staff and the general public.

Dr Akingbola tasked federal legislators to embark on innovative legislation and make ethics and values a front burner issue in national personal, corporate and economic lives.

“Ethics are important not only in business, but also in all aspects of life because it is an essential part of the foundation on which a civilised society is built,” he said, pointing out that the biggest ethical challenge banks faced was the society’s celebration of values such as materialism, greed and instant gratification.

He recommended that ethics must be seen as the life blood of any organisation or economy and the basis for assured economic development, corporate success, individual enhancement, trust and safety in any society.

Bank workers, he observed, faced tremendous pressures from outside the banks with some unscrupulous customers and fraudsters who deceive or offer large sums of money to steal bank funds or obtain questionable collaterals, loans that they never intend to repay.

Dr. Akingbola said that Intercontinental Bank’s management encouraged a culture of free debate and personal initiative, adding that “we recognise that it is the commitment of staff to our values and vision that drives the sacrifice at all levels to have a successful bank.”