The Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Dr. Erastus Akingbola, has emerged the 15th President/ Chairman of Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

He took over yesterday from Mrs. Juliet Madubueze, the 14th and the first female president of the institute in Lagos.
In his acceptance speech, Akingbola promised to initiate strategies to make CIBN a world-class institute comparable to any other around the world in terms of membership, facilities, influence, visibility and support.

“We must build that world class Institute which we desire; one that we are proud to associate with; one that impacts positively on our career growth; one that sets agenda for the banking industry, for business and the economy and the one that bankers from across the world, Europe, America, Asia will scramble to associate with,” he said. Akingbola also promised to turn around the institute through a 20-point agenda which he christened “the new deal”.

Top on the agenda is the plan to strengthen the acceptance of ACIB qualification in the public and private enterprises. He said the Institute would now play a leading role in promoting the acceptance of ACIB certificate within the AAIOB member countries and beyond. And most importantly, banks, he said, would be encouraged to engage ACIB holders who lost their jobs in the aftermath of the consolidation, saying it was a way of bringing experienced hands back to the industry.

Other measures he enumerated include continuous skill development and education of members, review of the Institute’s curriculum and course, as well as the certification of micro finance practitioners.