Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, has been awarded ‘Best Corporate Governance, Africa’, in the Financial services category at the 2017 Corporate Governance Awards. The event, organized by the Ethical Boardroom Magazine, recognizes outstanding companies who have exhibited exceptional leadership in the area of governance and professional ethics.
Over the years, Ethical Boardroom magazine has consistently delivered in-depth coverage and astute analysis of global governance issues. The editorial team, together with a host of distinguished contributors, tackle the most complex and pressing issues that have a positive and negative influence on boardroom leadership, committees and quorum, ethics and compliance, shareholder engagement, activism and risk management strategies.
According to Spenser Cameron, the Managing Editor of Ethical Boardroom: “Deciding upon which African financial services company had scooped the top prize for 2017 was a hard task, considering all the final nominees had excelled and over-achieved in their governance practices over the last twelve months, however, there could only be one winner and that was Nigeria’s very own Guaranty Trust Bank. The West African banking powerhouse has shown the rest of Africa how it’s done by continually placing ethics and integrity at the heart of its business, whilst creating long term value for its stakeholders”
Commenting on the award, Mr Segun Agbaje, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank plc, said; “We are delighted to be recognized as the Best Bank in Africa for Corporate Governance by a globally renowned and well respected magazine. This award is an affirmation of the Bank’s strict adherence to the values of professionalism, quality service delivery and internationally accepted corporate governance standards, which have enabled us create an oasis in the African banking industry.
Mr Agbaje further stated that, “Our ardent commitment to global best practices and standards has seen us emerge the first Nigerian Bank to fully implement all ISO certifications namely; ISO/IEC 27001- for Information Security, ISO 20000 – for IT Service Management and ISO 22301 – for Business Continuity Management and PAS 99:2012 Integrated Management System certification by the British Standard Institute (BSI). Presently, the Bank has the best credit rating assigned to any Nigerian Bank by both local and international rating agencies (B/stable by Standard & Poor’s and B+ by Fitch Rating), which further attest to our adherence to international best practices and standards.
As an institution publicly quoted both on the Nigerian and London Stock Exchange, GTBank ensures compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance for Public Companies issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (‘the SEC Code’), the Code of Corporate Governance for Banks in Nigeria Post Consolidation issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (‘the CBN Code’), as well as disclosure requirements under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the United Kingdom, which are applicable to non-UK companies with GDRs listed on the London Stock Exchange.