BIL Director Appeal To CBL, LBA Authorities

The Banking Institute of Liberia (BIL’s) Director General, Richard S. Panton, is appealing to the authorities of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) and the Liberia Bankers Association (LBA) to collaborate more with commercial banks to empower the Institute.
He said when this is done the Institute will play its role of providing training and capacity building, research and consulting services in the banking and financial sector to the fullest.
Panton made the appeal on Friday, October 11, in Monrovia when he addressed the Institute’s first cycle graduates of 132 since its inception in 2014.
The graduates were 58 females and 64 males. The Institute is in collaboration with the Chartered Institute Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
CIBN administered for the first time in Liberia Chartered Professional Banking Diploma Level One Examination from Tuesday, October 8 to Thursday, October 10, 2019, with four candidates from the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI) in attendance.
He stated among many things that the heads of commercial banks will in the coming weeks be submitting to the BIL 2020 training, research and consultancy programmes and a road map to transition to the conduct of Chartered Banking Certification Programmes in Liberia.
Panton then paid tribute to the participants who have benefitted from the stain bath of BIL through the sacrifices of their respective institutions.
“You are now urged to make the most and build on what you have learnt and shared. Each of you must see yourself as a proud ambassador of BIL, because our values will be mirrored through your excellent performances at your various places of work,” BIL boss noted.
Speaking on behalf of Mr. John B.S. Davies, President of the Liberia Bankers Association (LBA), Mrs. Doreen McIntosh, stated that staff training leads to peak performance of employees.
She said the Liberian Bankers Association will support the work of the Institute so as to be able to build the capacity of staff in the banking and financial sector.
McIntosh then admonished participants to use the knowledge acquired to help with productivity at their various work places. Deputizing for Central Bank of Liberia (CBL’s) Nathaniel Patray, was Armazo Bawn, Director of Financial Market, Central Bank of Liberia.
He said only 4 out of 9 banks are connected to the national switch on a voluntary basis and only three banks do digital banking (Use of ATM and/or POS).
Bawn noted that this reflects the high level of manual clearing of cheques, thereby constraining the evolution of the financial ecosystem as 14 out of the 15 counties in Liberia are unbanked.
With this, he continued: “Opportunities for increased financial inclusion exist, especially through financial technology companies (Fintees) including mobile money operations.”
BIL’s graduates are from various banks like the Guaranty Trust Bank, Global Bank, International Bank Liberia Limited and United Bank of Africa.
Others are Access Bank, Eco-Bank, Liberian Bank for Development and Investment and Diaconia MDI. The Institute offered courses in System and Control, Customs Service, Internal Audit, Bank Tellering and Introduction to Banking.
Others are Regulatory Framework and Compliance, Credit Analysis, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Bank Branch Management, Human Resource Management, Treasury Management, and Corporate Risk Management.
BIL was established in March 2014 by the Liberia Bankers Association and the Central Bank of Liberia to provide cutting edge training and capacity building support to stakeholders in the banking and financial sector.
It was not until in April 2018 that the Institute became formally operational following the appointment of its first Director General, Assistant Professor of Economics of the Ibrahim Banamasi Babangida Graduate School of the University of Liberia, Richard S. Panton.
BIL has a trained and experienced management team as well as facilitators. The Board of Directors of the Institute is made up of nine (9) institutions including the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) as Chairman, and the Institute’s Director General as Secretary General to the Board.