As a testament to growing international financial community’s confidence in the Nigerian banking system, a foremost Nigerian banker and past president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Dr. Olusegun Aina has been elected as the pioneer Chairman of the Global Council of Global Banking Education Standards Board (GBEStB).
The election which saw the former President of West Africa Bankers Association, Dr. Aina emerge as the chairman of GBEStB held on Tuesday 25th July, 2017. Alongside Dr. Aina, three Vice Chairs were elected from the UK, Hong Kong and Ghana to provide leadership for the strategically important body.
In his acceptance speech, Dr. Olusegun Aina noted that “It is not by accident for the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) to get this global recognition and acknowledgement. This feat is attributable to the selfless services rendered over the years by the various leaders, especially founding Fathers and all Presidents (Present and Past) of the CIBN without exception”.
He continued, “this indeed for us is a call to service as CIBN is now in the eyes of the world. By the Grace of God and the support of all, we will excel in the tasks ahead” and as expression of his gratitude, he said, “thank you for nominating me to serve on the Global Council as representative of CIBN, which provided the platform for my emergence as Chairman of the Global Council, the highest decision making organ of the GBEStB”.
Prior to his election, Dr. Aina had been representing CIBN on the 12-nation Task Force setup in 2011 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which midwifed the birth of the Global Council of Global Banking Education Standards Board, formally inaugurated on 26th April 2017.
An initiative founded by many of the world’s leading banking institutes, GBEStB comprises of 26 founding institutions from 26 countries across the continent.
Over the next five years, membership of the association saddled with the responsibility of developing clear, internationally agreed standards for the education of professional bankers and enhance ethics and professionalism in banking worldwide, is expected to spread to not less than 100 countries.
Earlier, Seye Awojobi, the Registrar/CEO of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in his congratulatory message to the Dr. Aina and current President and chairman of the CIBN, Prof. Ajibola had described the appointment “as actualization of the vision, mandate and strategic plan of the CIBN to be the global reference point for professionalism and ethics in the banking and finance industry’’,