The Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Ghana (CIB Ghana), Mr. Robert Dzato, says his top priority is to develop trusted, ethical and competent professionals to safeguard Ghana’s financial system and prevent a repeat of the banking sector crisis.
In an exclusive interview with Ghananewsonline, Dzato described his appointment as an opportunity to make a real difference in the financial sector from an African perspective, leveraging global best practice.
“For me, it’s about making a real difference, solving local financial sector problems from an African perspective. The financial sector is the wheel that drives the economy, and that requires trusted professionals. Trust is the currency in banking,” he said.
According to him, trust in banking rests on three pillars – Character, Competence and Conduct. Character means ethics and doing the right thing even when no one is watching, competence is the knowledge and capability to do the job well, and conduct is playing within the highly regulated rules of the industry.
Mr. Dzato, who has worked in banking in Ghana, London, Edinburgh, Nigeria and in consulting with KPMG, said the 2017-2019 financial sector cleanup, which brought untold hardships to individuals and cost the national budget heavily, underscores why the Institute must ensure bankers are ethical and competent.
Speaking on the mandate of CIB Ghana under Act 991, Act 2019, Mr. Dzato said the Institute has three clear mandates: developing trusted professionals, putting ethics, professionalism and sustainability high on the agenda of banks and bankers, and being the thought leadership and talent engine for Ghana.
On education, he disclosed that the Institute has redesigned its flagship Chartered Banker curriculum with four levels, with Level Four focusing on Strategic Leadership, Ethics, Governance, Sustainability and Risk Management.
To address senior bankers without the qualification, CIB Ghana introduced the Chartered Banker for Executive Leadership Programme. He revealed that the programme is in its 5th cohort, with participants including officials from the Bank of Ghana, universal banks, and even three CEOs from Sierra Leone and bankers from Nigeria.
He also announced a firm deadline: “By 2030, if you are not a Chartered Banker, there are key roles that you cannot play in the banking sector. Just as you wouldn’t take a surveyor to defend you in court, banking must be a profession for trained professionals.”
Beyond the Chartered Banker qualification, the Institute is rolling out new certifications including Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) certification co-created with the IFC and EPA, a Non-Interest Banking and Finance certification to support Bank of Ghana’s new licensing regime, an Ethics Certification with Bank of Ghana as part of fit-and-proper assessment, and a Fraud Awareness certification with the Ghana Association of Banks.
Mr. Dzato highlighted the Institute’s impact programmes targeting the youth. He said over 19,000 secondary school students were reached last year through its Financial Literacy programme. At the university level, the National Banking and Ethics Challenge has grown from 5 universities two years ago to 12 universities this year.
On policy influence, he said the Institute conducts a Pre-MPC Survey to gather banking sector sentiments ahead of Monetary Policy Committee decisions and organizes a Post-MPC seminar bringing together the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Ghana, AGI and GUTA to discuss policy transmission to the real economy.
He announced that this year’s National Banking and Ethics Conference will be held on November 9th and 10th at Aqua Safari, focusing on virtual assets, tokenization, crypto assets, AI, fraud and cybersecurity.
On the legacy he wants to leave, Mr. Dzato said it is three-fold.
“Banks need economic capital and regulatory capital, but the human capital, which sometimes we can’t quantify, is so important. Developing trusted professionals for the financial services sector will be a great legacy,” he noted.
Secondly, he wants to leave a strong digital infrastructure where students can write exams from anywhere in the world at any time, leveraging AI and 24/7 learning platforms.
Finally, he envisions a modern educational and business complex at the Institute’s prime location at East Legon, Trinity Avenue, to serve not just Ghana but the sub-region.
“Ghana has always led the way as the Black Star of Africa. If we can drive education and support human capital development across Africa, solving local problems from an African lens leveraging best global practice, that will be a legacy forward, not behind us,” he concluded.