The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has called on risk professionals in the financial industry to broaden their scope of practices, citing the advent of emerging risks as a reference.
Emefiele emphasised the need for financial institutions to adapt and evolve their risk management frameworks to effectively address emerging challenges, noting that with the rapid advancement of technology and changing dynamics in the financial industry it has become necessary for risk professionals to expand their expertise beyond traditional areas, such as credit and liquidity risk.
Also, the CBN boss formally inaugurated the Chartered Risk Management Institute of Nigeria (CRMI), which was formally known as the Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN), which the President, Dr. Ezekiel Oseni, said marked a turning point in the history of risk management in Nigeria.
“Our aim is to ensure that individuals and organisations in Nigeria adopt excellent risk management practices to achieve their strategic objectives in a secure and sustainable manner. The creation of this Institute is evidence of the commitment and dedication of our professional colleagues toward advancing the practice of risk management and providing our members the opportunities for growth and development.
“As we inaugurate this Institute, we do so with a clear vision and mission is to promote excellence, innovation, and professionalism in risk management, to advocate for the interests of our members, to contribute to national development, to add value to industries and corporates, as well as entrenching best risk management practices in the public sector, and to foster collaboration and networking among relevant professionals, institutes and association,” Oseni noted.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony in Lagos, yesterday, Emefiele who was represented by the Director of the Risk Management Department of CBN, Dr. Blaise Ijebor, added that the regulator was committed to fostering a robust risk management culture within the industry by enabling the identification, assessment and mitigation of risks at both institutional and system-wide levels.
He said: “The Central Bank of Nigeria from its inception has increasingly emphasized the need for financial institutions to build out risk and compliance teams. Initially focusing on credit, liquidity and prudential risk management, the lessons learned from previous major risk events such as the Global Financial Crisis, along with greater utilization of digital channels in the provision of financial services have increased the scope and practice of risk management in the Financial Services Industry. Today we have very mature formal structures in place for identifying, assessing, and aggregating risks to enable the formation of an enterprise-wide view of the risks that are associated with financial services and the operations of the Central Bank. We have also put in place measures to effectively manage these risks.”
He added that the evolution of risk management within the Central Bank led to the establishment of the Risk Management Department in 2010 – an attestation to our commitment and a confirmation that the management of the CBN is willing to lead the industry from the front.
“We believe that the implementation of a robust risk management framework is critical to the achievement of the Bank’s mandate and safeguarding the stability of the Nigerian financial system. As you would expect, Risk Management continues to be a major consideration in many of the key decisions and initiatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he added.
