Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) recently emerged the winner of the 2017 “Best Corporate Governance in Africa,” in the financial services category. Ethical Boardroom presented the award to GTBank in recognition of its outstanding and exceptional leadership in the area of governance and professional ethics.
Segun Agbaje, Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank plc, said that the bank was delighted to be honoured. “This award is an affirmation of the Bank’s strict adherence to the values of professionalism, quality service delivery and internationally accepted corporate governance standards, which have enabled us create an oasis in the African banking industry,” Agbaje said.
According to him, GTBank is the first Nigerian bank to fully implement all ISO certifications namely; ISO/IEC 27001 — for Information Security, ISO 20000 — for IT Service Management and ISO 22301 — for Business Continuity Management as well as PAS 99:2012 Integrated Management System certification by the British Standard Institute (BSI).
The bank, Agbaje added, currently has the best credit rating assigned to any Nigerian bank by both local and international rating agencies (B/stable by Standard & Poor’s and B+ by Fitch Rating), which further attest to GTBank’s adherence to international best practices and standards.
He noted that as a financial institution publicly quoted on the Nigerian and the London Stock Exchanges, GTBank 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.
By Dike Onwuamaeze