Bank of Zambia Assistant Director, Isaac Muhanga has advised commercial banks to desist from abusing their clients’ trust as business ethics are important in supporting a stable and trusted financial marketplace.
Mr. Muhanga observed that in a competitive world, financial innovation was clearly the scheme that brought enormous growth to the global financial marketplace but in a bid to make extraordinary profit, business ethics were sacrificed.
“In a competitive world, financial innovation is clearly the scheme that has brought enormous growth to the global financial market place…as such innovation assured extraordinary profit, business ethics were sacrificed,” he said.
Mr. Muhanga said this on Saturday, during the Financial Markets Association (ACI) Zambia Annual Outing at Chrisma hotel in Livingstone.
He noted that in an increasingly integrated global financial system, the scarcity of financial crises could no longer be described as rare due to the demise of ethical behaviour.
Mr. Muhunga challenged financial market practitioners to strive to build an ethically sound financial marketplace and to enhance confidence within the markets in which they operated as doing so would enable them compete favourably on a global scale.
Meanwhile, Livingstone Acting District Commissioner Godwin Sanjase said the banking sector played a key role in the Zambian economy.
Mr. Sanjase said financial markets formed the backbone of the banking industry and as such needed to be robust and have the right calibre of dealers.
He said banks had been known to collapse if dealers got to unprofessional practices like in the case of Nick Leeson who caused the fall of Barings Bank in 1995.
Mr. Sanjase said government required highly competent professionals running the financial markets and as such shared a common goal with ACI Zambia to improve technical skills and knowledge among dealers.
Some members were awarded with trophies for various achievements during the ACI Zambia Annual Outing event.
[ZANIS]
Banks, Banks, Banks.
Irish authorities let the property market and the banking system get far out of control, letting the whole country go slightly mad, leading to the current financial mess Ireland is facing.
What lessons should Zambia learn from these events taking place in the Eurozone???
TRUST BANKS AT YOUR OWN PERIL
could he be referring to the Sata-Finance Bank saga?
Mr. Muhanga is right but it appears we have not leant enough from the past collapsed banks: Chase Rust bank , United Bank of Zambia, Union Bank, Commerce Bank, African Commercial Bank, Meridian Bank etc. The list is endless. I was very disappointment with the slow pace renovations are being carried out at Stanchart Branches. Clients are clamped into small compartments especially at the main branch. Imagine at peak hours the que even snakes down the stairs. I am made to understand that this has been caused by the new banks on the market, they have introduced a relaxing environment. I hope management will not at the end of the exercise tell the public that the bank spent Hundreds of Billion kwacha on renovations yet workers get peanuts.