Monday 20 February 2023 – Investment Times
4
Sylvia Inkoom joins First National Bank as an Executive Director First National Bank has announced the appointment of Sylvia Inkoom as Executive Director responsible for Corporate and Investment Banking. Sylvia’s appointment is aligned with the bank’s strategic intent of attracting quality talent in the financial services industry, to deepen client access across its broad range of corporate and investment banking capabilities. Prior to her appointment, Sylvia served as the deputy managing director at UBA Ghana. She is a highly motivated banking professional and a driven leader with a wealth of experience and expertise in national and international banking and finance. With 18 years of experience in the Banking Sector (primarily in Corporate Banking, Relationship Management and Treasury). She has served in senior management roles overseeing negotiations, arrangement, and execution of several landmark transactions across various sectors. She is a fellow of the Institute of Lead-
ership and Management-London, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). She also has an executive certificate in Corporate Finance from the London School of Economics and a certificate in Strategic Client Management from the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. Sylvia attained a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Ghana Business School, where she also received her MBA in Finance. Sylvia expressed delight at her new appointment at First National Bank. “I’m proud to be part of this strong brand which has just been named as the world’s strongest banking brand by Brand Finance 2022”, she said. “I have followed the bank’s approach of blending broad experience and specialist expertise in its operations and I am determined to contribute my best to unlock more value for our customers.”
FBN Bank rolls out special treat for customers on Chocolate Day FBNBank Ghana is showering gratitude on its customers by giving them a special treat as part of the National Chocolate Day celebrations which falls on 14 February 2023. In a statement released by the Bank, it stated that “FBNBank is renewing its commitment to its customers and assuring them of a great year. We first of all like to show our appreciation for the wonderful relationship throughout 2022. You have been very loyal and supportive as we walk together towards our joint objectives.” As part of the Bank’s plans, all customers who visit the branches would receive a very Ghanaian welcome and also be offered made-in-Ghana chocolate. It is expected that the Bank will engage its customers and clients across all its 23 branches and three agencies in Ghana. Customers should expect some exciting activities within the Bank’s branches according to the Bank’s statement. Speaking about the Chocolate Day
activity, Agatha Nketsia, Head, Enterprise Process Improvement (EPI) of FBNBank stated that, “over the years, FBNBank has developed a very strong relationship with its customers. We have gotten to know them better, understanding their evolving needs and challenges as we walk together. By so doing we have also been able to design products and services for them in order to address these needs. In all these we cannot help to point out how grateful we are in how supportive the customers have been and how very passionate our staff have also been in their delivery of services and products. As a Bank, FBNBank has stayed true to our promise of putting our customers first and at the heart of whatever we do. At every given opportunity, therefore, we show our appreciation to them and commit to strengthening our resolve to meet their needs in a timely fashion. This is what we mean when we say we deliver the gold standard of value and excellence. This is what FBNBank believes its customers deserve.”
in a bid to deepen interaction between the Bank and its relationship with customers, the Bank has also strengthened its digital offering with the capacity to deliver products and services on a foundation of security and convenience following ISO and PCI DSS certifications. With all these, in addition to the establishment of the Bank’s Contact Centre to tackle customer enquiries, FBNBank has developed stronger bonds with its customers necessitating the effort on the part of the Bank to deepen the relationship further on the occasion of Chocolate Day.
FBNBank has in its 26 years of operating in Ghana remained focused on putting its customers and communities first. FBNBank Ghana is a member of the First Bank of Nigeria Limited Group which is renowned for its great customer service and general stakeholder engagement garnered over its 128 years of operation. FBNBank Ghana has 23 branches and 3 agencies across the country with over 500 staff. FBNBank offers universal banking services to individuals and busiAside increasing its branch network nesses in Ghana.
Financing global survival IWe must face, and act upon, an inconvenient truth. The impact of human activities on Earth’s geology and ecosystems is threatening the foundations of life on our planet and decades of progress in human development. We are acting counter to the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a future that guarantees a decent life for all. Our survival and continued prosperity demand structural change and immediate action. Scientists warn that breaching planetary boundaries will trigger tipping points, leading to irreversible damage and a catastrophic decline of natural systems. Collapsing fish stocks, melting permafrost, rising antimicrobial resistance, and the loss of tropical rainforests are just a few examples of trends that are undermining the foundation of development. While large-scale, acute disasters tend to attract the most attention, the ongoing depletion of
valuable natural assets (including aquifers, air, and soil) does not generate headlines but has become a chronic burden for the world’s poorest communities. These global challenges are also deepening economic inequality between and within countries and exacerbating social exclusion. This not only defies the Sustainable Development Agenda’s principle of leaving no one behind; it also impedes the poverty reduction that comes from inclusive economic growth, undermines the social contract in rich and poor countries alike, and threatens global security. No country alone can tackle these transboundary problems. Moreover, they are increasingly correlated with other risks, such as massive supply-chain disruptions. All these issues are born of an economic system that has turned out to be more fragile than many thought. Whereas properly functioning systems are able to manage and absorb risks, our current system is doing the
opposite. The world needs a global system that engenders security, promotes sustainability, and absorbs shocks. To achieve it, the international community could begin by making a handful of practical changes this year, starting at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. First, as part of the World Bank’s “evolution” (which shareholders called for in October 2022), we need to modernize its mission by elevating sustainability and resilience as core institutional goals, and by strengthening its analyses and operations to address new transboundary challenges. We know that for every $1 invested in sustainability and resilience today, there are $4-7 in savings down the line. But to usher in a new paradigm of resilience and sustainability, we must incorporate these principles into operational, lending, and debt-sustainability models with appropriate incentives and accounting stan-
dards. Many reforms and invest- to boost the capital stock of inments can have positive cross-bor- ternational financial instituder spillovers. But we will need new tions. and stronger incentives – both ana- The IMF’s new Resilience and lytical and financial – to promote na- Sustainability Trust is based on tional investment in global public this premise and represents a goods, and to support countries promising first step toward with their conservation efforts. maximizing the effectiveness of We also need to explore all our op- SDR allocations. But, given the tions for boosting multilateral devel- challenges, the size of the trust opment banks’ financing capacity. is currently too small. The key, here, is to leverage existing We also call on MDBs and develcapital while preserving these insti- opment finance institutions to tutions’ AAA ratings and countercy- propose additional options – as clical lending capacity. As the G20 the African and Inter-American Capital Adequacy Review showed, Development Banks have alMDBs can increase their risk appe- ready begun to do. Either way, tite and boost financing volumes by MDBs must do far more to leverlowering their minimum equity age their balance sheets. ratios. Similarly, we welcome pro- Separately, MDBs must also use posals calling for an issuance of their balance sheets to catalyze non-voting hybrid capital to boost private investment in the transilending at still-lower concessional tion to low-carbon energy, rates – to be provided either by a transportation, and agriculture shareholder “coalition of the willing” throughout the developing or through sales to private inves- world. Without efforts to lower tors.2 the cost of capital of these inWe also need to explore our options vestments at sufficient scale, for re-channeling special drawing global warming will hurtle past rights (SDRs, the IMF’s reserve asset) 1.5° Celsius, triggering cascad-