Compliance risk has been identified as threat to stakeholders’ value in the Nigeria Banking sector.

Mr. Ifie Sekibo, Managing Director of Heritage Bank, in a goodwill address to members of the Committee of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria (CCCOBIN) at the August edition of their monthly meeting hosted by the bank in Lagos said that compliance function has been elevated to play a pivotal role in the sustenance of stakeholder value in the nation’s banking sector because compliance risk has become a core risk in banking business and every time a bank pays a penalty for compliance infraction and value is destroyed.

According to him “The business, regulatory and legal landscape around the globe is increasing in complexity while the scrutiny by the banking public, law enforcement agents and regulatory bodies is intensifying.

Meanwhile, Financial Institutions now have to grapple with the rising cost of compliance breaches and the underlying risk of reputation damage. Banks in particular also have to navigate the proliferation of new regulatory requirements and address stakeholder expectations”.

Sekibo commended CCCOBIN’s past and on-going efforts at ensuring a healthy banking sector in the country through its numerous interventions and tasked the body not to relent in getting the sector off to a healthier state.

He said, “I congratulate you on the success of the 2014 Compliance Conference that Heritage Bank proudly co-sponsored. I am also not unaware of the giant strides that CCCOBIN has made in assisting to get Nigeria off the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Grey List, the introduction of Uniform Account Opening Forms in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria and other contributions to policy development especially in the area of AML/CFT; but, there are operational issues that compliance officers need to handle to get us to the promised land”.

While identifying internal stakeholder knowledge gap as a great problem besetting the banking sector, the Heritage Bank helmsman called on Compliance practitioners in the sector to re-examine their relationship with other staff within their jurisdiction who view compliance professionals and their activities as a pain rather than a value enhancer.