BOTSWANA INSTITUTE OF BANKERS' 2017 GRADUATION
AND AWARDS CEREMONY
Keynote Address
by
Moses D Pelaelo
Governor, Bank of Botswana
November 22, 2017
I am most delighted and wish to thank the Chairman of Council
of the Botswana Institute of Bankers and, through you Mr Jaco
Viljoen, the Managing Director of Capital Bank, and your fellow
Council Members, for the invitation to be the Keynote Speaker at
this 2017 Graduation and Awards Ceremony. At the onset, I
congratulate the 2017 Graduants and Award Winners for this
important milestone and achievement. I can imagine that there
one's
were many challenges on the way, including juggling
studies with other social obligations, such as family and job
obligations. As one motivational speaker said, "it is not your
aptitude, but your attitude that determines your altitude".
Congratulations to you all, Class of 2017!
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, banking is an evolving
industry, which provides opportunities for personal and
professional growth, while its services and products have
important and increasing linkages with other areas of economic
in the context of today's ceremony,
activity. Most significantly,
professional bankers are a key input to economic development
and wealth creation in terms of providing resources and
informed advice and guidance with respect to investment
channels and options. Membership of this esteemed profession
by knowledgeable, skilled and passionate individuals also
enables them to contribute to its growth. In this regard, therefore,
let me commend many Batswana, including these Graduants,
who continue to invest their time and resources on self-
development, and, ultimately, rise to positions of higher
responsibility, in both the banking and the broader financial
sector in Botswana. To a great extent, this ascendency to senior
management positions is a vote of confidence on the domestic
banking sector and its ability to produce quality leaders.
To you Class of 2017, I have no doubt that you too aspire to
assume key roles in the financial sector in order to better serve
your institutions at higher levels and, ultimately, serve the
country. The journey has just begun. However, this is a journey
to be continued, both in terms of continuing engagement in self-
development and, of course, career progression. Along this path,
we should always remember that banking and, more broadly,
finance is a business of trust. The bankers, in particular, have a
fiduciary responsibility and duty to protect the integrity and
reputation of the banking system, to underwrite continuing public
trust and confidence in the financial system.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bank of Botswana is
proud to be associated with the Botswana Institute of Bankers,
as its founding member. You will recall that the Institute was
established in 1991 as a not-for-profit organisation, with a
mandate to promote banking as a career and an accredited
profession in Botswana, through provision of quality and relevant
knowledge and skills in banking and finance and, I should add,
fostering ethical conduct of banking business.
Today marks the 23rd Graduation and Awards ceremony for
Associate Diploma II graduates. I am advised that since
inception, the Institute has awarded 842 Certificates and 535
Associate Diplomas. This evening, there will be awards of 18
Associate Banking Diplomas and, in total 30 outstanding
individuals recognised. This serves as a testimony to the fact
that the Institute continues to be relevant in enhancing the level
of skills and excellence, as well as promoting professionalism in
the banking sector. The contribution of the Institute to
development of human resources for the banking industry
indeed deserves commendation and recognition.
It is nevertheless important to implore the Institute to continue to
transform and align its mandate to the needs of the industry in
order to better meet the expectations of the more discerning
customer and market place. For that to happen, the Institute
needs to be dynamic and innovative, interact meaningfully with
similar institutions for benchmarking, and explore opportunities
for collaboration and strategic partnerships with other
professional organisations, academic institutions and industry
leaders. In as much as I recognise this progress, Botswana
cannot afford to continue to have banking practices and products
that are "behind the curve"
compared to regional and global
developments. The industry will need to invest in people,
systems and processes, including risk management
infrastructure to meet today's challenges.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, this is particularly
important in the context of dynamic changes in demography,
technology, competitive landscape and prolonged low global
interest rate environment, all which have had a profound impact
on business models for banking. As an example, technology is
the future of banking, and the industry needs highly skilled and
innovative staff to keep pace with financial technology, such as
Fintech, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. In the circumstances,
the need for an institution, such as the Botswana Institute of
Bankers, is all the more important. Evidently, banking has
already come a long way, and we should all prepare for the
future armed with knowledge, relevant skills and appropriate
behaviours.
It should also be a motivation that the current and prospective
banking environment is leveraged on interestingly challenging,
complex and digital banking systems. Concomitant with these
developments, both globally and here at home, digitalisation and
financial integration require that we all exercise increased
diligence, prudence and ethical conduct. This is because,
desirable as technological innovation is, it also encapsulates risk
and possibilities to contaminate the industry and profession with
bad behaviour and harmful activities. There was a time when the
main threats to banks were robberies and insider collusion
relating to stealing of the physical cash. These days, harmful
activities, fraud and theft are perpetrated through cyber-crime,
infiltration of systems and unauthorised access to information
The "thieves" are likely to be behind the
and identity records.
counter, and through the mobile phones and computer systems.
Therefore, the modern banker has to be alive to these
possibilities and also able to harness the necessary resources
and mitigation strategies to forestall such harmful activities. In
addition, bankers need to be able to respond meaningfully and
offer timely redress in the event of customers' accounts and
information being compromised through no fault of their own.
Ineptitude and failure to handle such operational risk issues
diligently could weaken public confidence in the banking system
and undermine the financial inclusion agenda and the very
essence of banking, which is to facilitate intermediation for
productive use of financial resources, as well as certainty of
payments. Furthermore, the adverse effects of such illegal
activities could impose a heavy financial burden on the public as
banks commit resources to preventive measures; and often the
costs of such are passed on to customers.
Distinguished Guests, the Bank of Botswana will continue to play
its role in encouraging and promoting professionalism, honesty,
integrity and ethics in banking. The fabric and foundation of
banking is trust and trustworthy bankers. This is important as
good governance is a key pillar for the promotion and
maintenance of a safe and sound financial system; one that is
run by fit and proper and competent leadership, management
and staff. At the same time, there is need to enhance
transparency in banking to instil confidence in the financial
system. In this context, the Financial Stability Board Working
Group on governance frameworks is working on proposals to
strengthen governance frameworks to mitigate what is called
"misconduct risk", addressing information gaps and due
diligence in employment of individuals with a history of
misconduct; and mapping responsibilities to senior personnel to
strengthen governance of misconduct risk in financial
institutions; as well as to address cultural risks that drive
misconduct. Once concluded, the tendency of
"rolling bad
apples" in the financial sector will be stopped and there will be
no place to hide for dishonest and unethical people.
Let me underscore that the success of a well-diversified
economy depends on an inclusive, well managed, prudently run
and efficient financial sector. To this end, the Bank of Botswana
continues to foster the development of policies designed to
enhance and align skills to the needs of the domestic market. It
is vital that banks, which are the bedrock of the financial sector,
fully commit to the effective implementation of the human
development strategies aimed at increasing the supply of
professional bankers. The existing and continually evolving
training opportunities should be geared towards enhancing
efficiencies in the banking sector. Needless to say, effectiveness
and development of the Institute is significant both in content
and technicality, to adequately equip bank employees and
ground them in the pre-requisites of what is required to be an
effective and professional banker.
Distinguished, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to take this
opportunity to remind all of us here, once again, of the
importance of adhering to codes of ethics and professionalism in
the delivery of banking services. This is important as banks are
invariably the principal pillars for commerce, savings mobilisation
and payments infrastructure and, in general, socio-economic
development.
In concluding, Council Chairman, Council members, Executive
Director, and Distinguished Guests once again, congratulations
to the Graduants and Award Winners on their achievement. It
takes determination to start, and commitment to finish. This
evening represents a mark of personal growth and I have every
confidence that the success in your Botswana Institute of
Bankers studies offers an opportunity for your professional
growth in the banking industry.
I thank you for your kind attention.