Daily Independent Online.
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Tuesday, August 24, 2004.
Prudent Bank invests in human capital
It is evidently no longer news that in
today’s world, the job of banking, which affects virtually ever other
facet of human activities, requires the engagement of well-trained, as well as
well-groomed professionals, for the industry to make a meaningful and
appreciable impact on the banking public.
As a result of this, the management and board of
Prudent Bank Plc have made quality decision, from the start, to invest heavily
in its human capital, as a way to meeting and exceeding the expectations of its
diverse customers, by ensuring that its workforce receive quality training, as
a parameter for achieving success in the practice of the profession to which
they have been called.
The bank has, over the years, called for quality
training of staff, as the
only way players in the Nigerian banking industry can convince both the
investing and banking publics that they are ready and well-qualified to provide
solutions to their banking and business needs, noting that this is hinged on
the conviction that emerging trends in the banking industry have shown that the
overall success of any banking institution will be determined by the quality of
investment in its workforce.
Managing Director and Chief Executive, Prudent Bank
Plc, Mr. Akinsola Akinfemiwa, has, at different interactions with the press,
revealed that part of the reasons for his bank’s success in the peculiar
business terrain in Nigeria could be attributed to its distinct
people-investment position in the bank.
He noted that the bank, which started as a one-shop
bank in 1990, currently operates through a network of 35 full-fledged branches,
indicative of a 3,400 per cent growth in branch network, while it has also
grown from a near ground zero to a financial institution of repute.
As a way to increase its performance drive through
training, the banker noted further that the bank, in a bid to demonstrate its
seriousness in investing in and empowering its human resources, decided to set
aside 10 per cent of its Profit Before Taxation (PBT) every year, to be
dedicated towards the training of its workers.
This huge investment, the managing director has often
been quick to point out, has over the years, catapulted the bank to great
heights in the financial sector, while the improved personnel performance has
also resulted in improved financial performance, evidenced by an impressive
growth in balance sheet size up to N25.99 billion as at March, this year, as
against N669.4 million recorded in 1999, representing approximately 3,024 per
cent growth within a period of four years.
This is because the bank’s results became even
more enhanced after it underwent a period of re-engineering process in 1999,
which has produced an attendant record growth for the bank, while it has since
been observed to have recorded the fastest average growth rate in balance sheet
size in the industry in the last four years.
Meanwhile, official sources at the training school,
known as The Competence Development Centre, in a recent interview with newsmen
in Lagos, said the bank developed an intensive training programme for drilling
the workers, as soon as it realised that quality training of staff would be the
most significant factor that would set it apart in the industry.
“Apart form this, we realised much early that people
are our greatest asset, so we dedicated resources to intensive training centre,
which we call The Competence Development Centre, which continues to churn out
well-trained staff per time”, he said, adding that “this we know,
as a bank, will yield the best result in the long run.”
Furthermore, the bank’s argument in taking such
a bold step in instituting such a well-structured training school is to help it
to be able to align its tangible and intangible assets together, as no
organisation can be successful in today’s business environment without an
appropriate strategy, execution, quality people, culture and leadership.
It is on this basis he reiterated that the bank has
been investing in people, as a key pillar of success, as it has become apparent
that in today’s competitive environment, no bank could afford to joke
with training. This will determine who will be successful in the long run.
“At Prudent Bank Plc, training has always been
a part of the system, even though it is now more structured than in the past,
because in the school, there is always one training programme, going on
everyday throughout the year and attendance is said to be compulsory for those
who have been selected, on a full time basis,” he added.
For workers in the bank, training has become a kind
of sub-culture, as each one is expected to go through forms of training,
beginning from when they receive their letters of appointment and continuing
till they leave the organisation, as this has helped improve and increase the productivity
of the bank over the years.
Facilitators are both in-house and externally
sourced, as those in the level-entry and junior officers cadres are often
taught by senior management staff of the bank, including facilitators from the
Financial Institution Training Centre (FITC) and other financial institution,
Meanwhile, senior officers have facilitators from the Chartered Institute of
Banker of Nigeria (CIBN) and from other relevant institutions.
The source revealed that the bank has also dedicated
a whole building for the purpose of training where, for every day of the week,
one form of training programme or the other is expected to be running as the
workers are being encouraged to cultivate the principles of personal
development and leadership strategies.
As a relationship-based organization, Prudent Bank
has often put this into play by teaching the staff good ethics and good
behavior, carriage and such leadership qualities that will impact positively on
output, such that has made the bank an institution to be watched in the future
as this man-investment begins to yield the desired results for the bank.
The training programme can last for weeks, months or
even years, but the most important requirement is the willingness of the one
being trained to train himself, as this will go a long way to determine which
workers is successful on the job or not.
The challenge to be dealt with regarding the training
programme of is that of continuity because as the source contended, “you
can only train a man, but it is up to him to show what he is able to do for
himself.” He added that “we have tried to and to emphasize the
benefit of reading more in their spare times as only readers become
leaders”.
