Liberia: Bankers Association President Commends Banking Institute

 

 

The President of the Liberia Bankers Association, George Mensah - Asante says the investment climate in Liberia has improved steadily over the years, thus making the financial services sector an effective vehicle and legitimate force to drive the economy.  

He said the progress made, so far, has resulted in the licensing of nine commercial banks, twelve rural finance institutions, many microfinance institutions, credit unions and insurance companies in the country.

George Mensah – Asante, who is also the Managing Director of Ecobank Liberia, said this when speaking at the recent graduation ceremony of the Liberia Bankers Institute, which was held at the University of Liberia. 

He further intimated that “notwithstanding the great prospects for incessant growth, the banking sector faces challenges with having professionally trained personnel. Many newly employed at banking institutions are often given on-the-job training, as they do not have the requisite education and skills to operate effectively as Bankers”. 

Mensah-Asante noted that training provides the ability of employees to foresee or visualize challenges in an organization, making it imperative for banks to build the capacities of employees in the banking sector to enable them to find lasting solutions to problems that confront their respective institutions.

He lauded the Central Bank of Liberia and the Liberia Bankers Association for the creation of a specialized entity, the Banking Institute of Liberia, to build the capacity of employees in the sector. 

Mensah – Asante congratulated the graduates and urged them to begin providing guidance and advice to the public on the importance of savings, investment, wealth creation and the use of digital services to expedite payments in the wake of rapid shifts, in consumer behavior, towards technology.

During the ceremony, 81 candidates were certificated for successful completion of twelve level I short-term bank-related courses covering the period from Monday,  August 01 to  Friday, October 28, 2022, bringing to a total of 114 participants nominated from Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) and Liberia Bankers Associations (LBA) member institutions which could not have been possible without stakeholders support.

The Banking Institute of Liberia (BIL) is a corporate training institute specialized in banking financial management and non-financial related disciplines in Liberia. 

The BIL was established in March 2014 by the Liberia Bankers Association (LBA) and the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) to provide capacity-building and cutting-edge training support to stakeholders in the banking, other corporate, and financial sectors.