For staff in the banking industry to compete favourably with their peers, both local and international, banks in Nigeria need to invest more in capacity building initiatives, according to Abubakar Suleiman, executive director, finance and strategy, Sterling Bank plc.
Suleiman who gave this advice at an interactive session, where he shared the Bank’s various people led initiatives with reporters in Lagos, explained that the decision of the Bank to invest in capacity building initiatives was hinged on the need to have a pool of staff who are technically sound and equipped with latest development in the global market, to enable them compete with their peers anywhere in the world.
The Sterling Bank Director who hinged the accreditation of the Bank’s training school by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), on the quality of facility put in place and products from the school, maintained that financial institutions must continue to see the need to put in place staff oriented policies that would encourage staff to be more committed, dedicated and result oriented.
Apart from providing a robust training programme and the competitive remuneration for its employees, Suleiman disclosed that the Bank has also introduced an initiative that would provide an alternative career path and help them when they eventually leave the banking sector.
His words: “At Sterling Bank, we place value on our staff as they gracefully retire from the system. We have put a system in place to train those who are about to go on retirement on various programmes that would enable them stand on their own after retirement.
As a financial institution committed to career growth, staff fulfillment and accomplishments, Suleiman stated that the Bank has also instituted a part owner scheme through which shares are allocated to all staff, to promote a sense of ownership and belonging.
The Bank, he said further, has introduced a lot of the initiatives, which include a cooperative society that allows members make contributions and obtain loans, a robust healthcare facility and a well-equipped crèche with modern facilities.
Corroborating Suleiman’s position, the Bank’s Group Head, Human Resources Management, Olabisi Ogunwoye, assured that Sterling Bank would continue to invest in staff training and development, adding that every staff of the Bank is trained yearly.
His words: “We have invested heavily in staff training and development and this will continue. Sterling Bank is one of the banks that employ the e-learning platform to educate staff. We do this in association with an international organization and we also have various training outlets for different categories of staff. We have specialist career paths for various professions within the Bank such as IT, HR and Legal, among others”.
While assuring that the Bank would continue to invest in the development of talents and nurture them to become leaders, Ogunwoye said the Sterling Graduate Associate and the Sterling Management Associate programmes targeted at identifying, grooming and developing young talents for leadership positions in the Bank, would be sustained.
He spoke further on other initiatives in place to make Sterling Bank a great place to Work.
“We have put in place credit certification programme to enhance the skills of our staff in credit analysis; introduced culture transformation initiative to provide an environment that is stimulating and challenging and also, we have introduced the flexi time initiative to promote work life balance among staff members”.
