Banking environment witnessing rapid changes – NDIC chief

Managing Director and Chief executive officer of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, says the banking environment is witnessing rapid changes, which are a challenge to bankers in the performance of their job.

Speaking at the Induction and Prize Award ceremony of 46 staff of the corporation who graduated from the Chartered Banker/Master in Business Administration (CB/MBA) Programme at Bangor University, Scotland in Lagos recently, Umaru said these rapid changes include forces of globalisation of banking; economic uncertainties; advances in information and Communication technology (ICT), such as block chain technology and virtual currency which bankers must grapple with.

Ibrahim also noted that the current economic situation which most developing countries, including Nigeria were facing underscored the need to pay greater attention to issues such as financial literacy, consumer protection, sustainability and innovative financial services solutions.

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He gave instances such as mobile money, agency banking, virtual currency, which must be harnessed and integrated into the nation’s financial services industry to enhance the role of banking system towards economic growth and development.

The NDIC boss explained that the corporation sponsored some of its staff on the CB/MBA program to upscale the skills of the staff in the lower/middle managerial cadre.

The graduates have also earned themselves triple qualifications of MBA, Bangor University; Associate, Chartered Institute of Bankers, Scotland the oldest professional banking institute in the world, and Associate, The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (ACIB).

According to him, since the beginning of the program in 2013, a total of 77 NDIC staff had been enrolled in the Chartered Banker Bangor Program, of which, 46 including the 19 that graduated last weekend had successfully completed the program while the others were at various stages of completion.

He challenged the CB/MBA graduates to embrace life-long learning and self-development in their future careers and professional endeavours.

The CIBN and NDIC had over the years been collaborating in human capacity building initiatives, including the Chartered Banker/Master in Business Administration (CB/MBA) program at Bangor University, Scotland.

The NDIC Academy was also recently accredited by the CIBN as a world class provider of training in banking supervision and deposit insurance for the African Region.