For so long, the banking sector conducted banking services in the manner of ‘business as usual.’ But the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited, Ladi Balogun said the time has come “to shift the narrative to the impact” the sector has had on the community. This was the focus of a media parley on Sustainable Banking in Nigeria: The Role of the Media. LUCAS AJANAKU reports.
Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, FCMB, Mr. Ladi Balogun, struck the nail on the head when he spoke at the forum the lender organised for the media at the Southern Sun Hotels, Ikoyi. According to him, the music has changed on the global stage as not many people are interested in the mega profit banks declare annually or their strategy to dominate the market.
He said rather, what people are interested in is the impacts the banking sector has been able to make on its host community, insisting that the narrative has to change.
He restated the commitment FCMB to continually engage and impact on the people and environment in line with its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable banking principles.
He said: ‘’Given the importance of sustainability and sustainable development, this session presents a platform to empower the media, in their role as key influencers, with the requisite knowledge to promote the values of sustainability in the society and also to hold organisations accountable to global best practices.
“As a financial institution that has sustainability as one of its core values, we believe that our success as an organisation is hinged on our ability to ensure the long term success of all our stakeholders. This also includes the protection and development of the environment in which we do business.’’ He added that considering the dynamics of the society, corporate organisations should pursue activities, products and services that would impact more on the environment and its people.
“Banks should focus and talk more about their impacts on their communities. We need to talk more about what we are doing to empower the people, we need to talk more about how we are helping small and medium enterprises, we need to talk more about financial inclusion, we need to talk about gender balancing. These would endear banks to the people, because those things that interest the people also interest banks,’’ Mr. Balogun stated.
In line with the principle of sustainability, he said the bank has developed an agenda, policy and procedures that have been incorporated in its business activities and operations. ‘’We have built robust Sustainability and Environmental Management Systems (SEMs) policy which drives the bank’s sustainability agenda. This policy covers all aspects of the operations and services of FCMB – internally and externally. In 2012, we commenced the reporting of our SEMS activities to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) using the Annual Environmental Performance Report (AEPR) template as required by the IFC,’’ Mr Balogun said.
He listed some of the activities implemented by FCMB in this regard to include; automation of the bank’s credit and account opening processes thereby reducing the paper usage, increased loan provision to businesses with an average of 200,000 annually and at least six per cent of the bank’s total loan given to the agricultural sector.
Mr. Balogun added that FCMB has equally instituted an annual community empowerment campaign across Nigeria, working with reputable non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to implement these initiatives.
He said: ‘’Noteworthy is the Babangona project in partnership with Doreo Partners, an initiative targeted at lifting over one million farmers above poverty by the year 2020. We provided subsidised funding to facilitate the achievement of this objective. We are also committed to work-life balance for our employees and encourages flexible working hours’.’
Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director, United Kingdom (UK)-based Sustainable Finance Advisory Limited, Carey Bohjanen, urged banks to make sustainability an important part of their operations.
‘“Implementing the principles will help banks to assess and manage the environmental and social risks associated with investment decisions,” she said.
She also stressed the need for lenders to embark on due diligence to against running into reputational risk. “Investments have environmental impact, which may adversely affect the banks financing them. That is why due diligence is required,” she warned.
While commending FCMB for taking sustainable banking principles as a key component of its activities, she called on the media to collaborate more with banks to ensure that, “the importance and message of sustainability is effectively passed across and understood by the public as well as other stakeholders.”
Speaking on some of the initiatives of the bank, an official of the bank said the lender has automated credit and other forms of intensive applications and invested in innovative e-products that help reduce the need for paper usage.
“Our e-savings account for example does not require customers to fill out paper forms Our electronic banking, online and mobile banking platforms also enable vast reduction in paper usage.
“We have a suite of products that are both environmentally friendly, in terms of vast reduction in paper usage, while and financially inclusive.
“The bank is focused on financial inclusion and as a helpful bank has simplified its processes to ensure more people have access to ints financial services. Some of our products in this respect include the Nairawise Account, Flashmecash and of course the Agent Banking model which in in line with the CBN’s agenda. FCMB provides over 200,000 loans annually to SMEs who would otherwise not have access to finance to grow their businesses, with Agriculture taking at least 6% of the total number.
“We explore our social media and online platforms to obtain feedback from our esteemed customers. Using the Net Promoter Score (NPS) system, we have conducted and obtained not less than a total of 200,000 responses via electronic survey this year alone. This is literarily a total of 200,000 sheets of paper and a vast number of trees saved in line with our commitment to environmental sustainability,” the bank said.
The bank said it has a well-defined CSR strategy that guides our community development initiatives with our main pillars being environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation, and economic empowerment which takes the largest portion of our budget.
It added that it had instituted an annual community empowerment campaign across Nigeria, working with reputable NGOs to carry out these initiatives, adding that it is committed to work-life balance for its employees and encourages flexible working hours.
The parley was organised to further connect with and enhance the capacity of practitioners on the issue of sustainability. It also provided an avenue for the bank to deepen its relationship with the media as well as appreciate their role in the dissemination of fair and balanced communication to the Nigerian populace and beyond.
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) is a member of FCMB Group Plc, which is one of the leading financial services institutions in Nigeria with subsidiaries that are market leaders in their respective segments. Having successfully transformed to a retail and commercial banking-led group, FCMB expects to continue to distinguish itself by delivering exceptional services, while enhancing the growth and achievement of personal and business aspirations of its customers.
