Agribank’s implemented initiatives positively impact different spheres of the business – climbs ranking on prudential standards
Agribank last week announced that it achieved a score of 81% on its overall weighted prudential standards rating for 2019. The bank received 77% in 2018 while it scored 65% in both 2017 and 2016 respectively.
The latest score illustrates demonstrable progress on improvements in governance, as well as operational and financial standards at the Bank.
The SADC Development Finance Resource Centre (SADC-DFRC) is spearheading and supporting Prudential Standards, Guidelines and Rating Systems (PSGRS).
According to the SADC-DFRC website, the implementation of the PSGRS is an important policy initiative that the DFRC is undertaking to enhance the governance of DFIs by ensuring that they comply with key indicators of good practice in governance, financial and operational management.
The centre compiles the ratings based on self-assessment submitted by the 32 member DFIs. These ratings are then peer-reviewed by member institutions.
For Agribank, its ratings are also annually reviewed by its external auditors as part of the annual audit cycle. A score of above 80% is considered to indicate excellent compliance with acceptable standards of DFI governance.
The results are then submitted to the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) for inclusion in their database, and to achieve a pan-African comparison of adherence to best practices by DFIs across Africa. Thus all SADC DFIs will be able to ascertain their level of performance in relation to all the other DFIs in Africa.
Commenting on this achievement, Agribank chief executive officer, Sakaria Nghikembua stated that the bank has made commendable achievements in the past few years.
“We have significantly improved the governance, financial management and operational environments. This is to ensure the sustainability of the bank so that it can continue to fulfil its mandate for generations to come. We know it has not been an easy task but to move from 65% to over 80% in three years means we have implemented initiatives that have positively impacted different spheres of the business all-round. We will continue the focus,” he concluded.
