The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria has said it is putting necessary machinery in place to deepen capacity in the banking industry to promote professionalism and competency.

The Group Head and Director of Membership, CIBN, Segun Shonubi, stated this in Lagos while addressing bankers and would-be bankers at the annual fitness exercise organised by the body.
The programme, tagged ‘’Bankers fitness walk’’ was organised by the Lagos State branch of the institute.

Besides Shonubi said it is important for every bank official to take on the institute’s exams for the purpose of value update, professionalism and certification.
He reiterated the commitment of the organisation to upscale competency and ethical standard in the financial institution in the light of global challenge.

Competency is the essence of joining a professional body. CIBN is created mainly to determine the skill and experience of people who will work as bankers. And if you work in the banking industry without passing through the Institute, writing the exams, you are simply a bank worker. In accounting, we have Chartered Accountants. And in banking, we should have chartered bankers,” Shonubi said.

He added: “We are ensuring that professionalism is entrenched not only in Nigeria but in the other parts of Africa. What we are saying is, everybody in the banking industry should register and take the examinations of the institute.”
According to him the competency framework, which was conceived in 2012, during tenure of former CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, is meant to deepen knowledge and enhance efficiency in the industry.

There are some job functions we have identified, and for everybody to perform that job function effectively, you must be certified in some areas. And among that 37 job functions, there are 6 or 7 that you participate without being a chartered member of the institute,‘’ he said.

There are some job functions we have identified, and for everybody to perform that job function effectively, you must be certified in some areas. And among that 37 job functions, there are 6 or 7 that you participate without being a chartered member of the institute.

He noted that, the departure of Sanusi adversely affected the take-off of the programme.To this end, he said the programme will take off early this year with the backing of current leadership of CBN.“What it means is that everybody working in the industry must assess some qualifications for you to be able to perform your job very well. Another thing we are looking at the era of people jumping from one bank to the other will also be a thing of the past. Everybody that aspires to get to higher levels in the industry must write those professional exams,” Shonubi said.