Business News of Friday, 30 January 2015
Source: myjoyonline.com
The GTBank group, represented by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, has been awarded ‘Best Corporate Governance, Africa 2015’ for the Financial services category by the Ethical Boardroom Magazine UK.
The ‘Corporate Governance Award’ organized by Ethical Boardroom magazine recognizes outstanding companies who have exhibited exceptional leadership in the area of governance and professional ethics to ensure protection and long-term value for all their stakeholders.
The award is an acknowledgement of the Bank’s strong corporate governance practices, commitment to high standards of ethical leadership and compliance with regulatory standards.
According to the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank plc, Mr. Segun Agbaje, “GTBank has built a reputable institution which consistently adopts, implements and applies international best practices in corporate governance, service delivery and value creation for all its stakeholders”.
“We are delighted to receive this award which affirms GTBank’s position as one of the leading Banks in Africa whilst also reiterating and confirming our commitment to ethics, professionalism, integrity, quality service delivery, innovation and internationally accepted corporate governance standards”, added Mr Agbaje.
The Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Limited, Mr. Lekan Sanusi, re-echoing comments made by Mr. Agbaje stated that, “This recognition is an attestation to all customers and other stakeholders that they are dealing with a strong financial institution that is widely respected for its business practices and values internationally”.
GTBank Plc was the first Nigerian Bank to be awarded an ISO 9001: 2000 certification by the International Standards Organization and the first to adopt the IFRS reporting format. The Bank has the best risk category rating assigned to any Nigerian Bank by both local and international rating agencies (BB- by Standard & Poor’s and B+ by Fitch Rating), which is extremely compliant with International best practice and standards.
Similarly, GTBank Ghana is ISO 9001:2008 certified and adopts the IFRS reporting format.
The parent company, GTBank Plc, ensures compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance for Public Companies issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (‘the SEC Code’), the Code of Corporate Governance for Banks in Nigeria, Post
Consolidation issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (‘the CBN Code’), as well as disclosure requirements under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the United Kingdom, which are applicable to non-UK companies with GDRs listed on the London Stock Exchange. In addition to the Code of Corporate Governance, GTBank promotes the company’s core values to its employees through its Code of Professional Conduct and an Ethics Policy which regulates employee relations with internal and external parties across all subsidiaries.
GTBank has received several international and national awards from reputable organizations for its exceptional financial performance, innovation and excellent customer service delivery. Some of the awards received in 2014 include; the 2014 African Bank of the Year by African Banker, the 2014 Best Bank in Africa and Best Bank in Nigeria by Euromoney Magazine, 2014 Best Bank in Nigeria award by The Banker, 2014 Best Commercial Bank and Best Corporate Bank in Nigeria by International Finance Magazine and 2014 Bank of the Year award by BusinessDay.
In Ghana it was named Best Bank, Product Innovation; 1st Runner-up, Most Active Ezwich Bank and 2nd Runner-up, Best Bank in Competitive Pricing – Enterprise Banking during the 2014 Ghana Banking Awards ceremony.
The parent company, Guaranty Trust Bank was established in 1990 and presently operates from over 240 offices in Nigeria and has banking subsidiaries in Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and the United Kingdom.