The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Sierra Leone has continued to bag more national awards for the impressive roles it is playing towards fast tracking overall development and more especially for complying with the institution’s regulations. The bank was among other corporate institutions awarded by the National Social Security and Insurance Trust(NASSIT)for being a best compliant Bank in Sierra Leone on Friday 11th December 2020 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Aberdeen in Freetown.
Presenting the Award, the President of the Employers Federation of Sierra Leone who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Limited, Kobi Walker ,said that recognizing the UBA by NASSIT demonstrates the seriousness of the bank in meeting the welfare of every employee.
He called on other financial institutions to replicate what UBA is doing as that will serve as motivation for their employees. Reading the citation, he said, the UBA is known for steadily rolling out its Corporate Social Responsibility being the first bank to donate huge sums of money to scale up the fight against the Corona virus and also being the first bank that was able to intervene in the fight against the Ebola epidemic when it breakout in the country leading to the loss of precious lives and seriously dislocating the economy.
Speaking to this Press after receiving the award from the Minister of Labour and Social Security Hon. Alpha Timbo , the new Managing Director/CEO of UBA Sierra Leone, Usman Imam Isiaka, on behalf of the bank welcomed the recognition saying it demonstrate what the bank stands for.
”UBA by our vision wants to be a role model for other institutions in Africa. This award shows that we comply with the laws of state institutions like the National Social Security and Insurance Trust. One of our focus is to ensure that we comply with every law in our area of operation,” he maintained.
The MD/CEO added that “wherever we operate as a bank, we ensure we work within the laws and regulations that govern our operations”. CEO Isiaka continued to say that the award is also a manifestation that there is a reward for compliance. “This will make us do more in the area of compliance with laws and regulations from all regulatory authorities in the country, the Central Bank of Sierra Leone, Financial Intelligence Unit and National Revenue Authority (NRA) among other agencies as a member of a global financial institution that focuses on good corporate governance across all the 23 countries where it operates in Africa, USA, UK and France”, he said.
The MD/CEO in appreciation to all staff of UBA Sierra Leone, credited the award to the Human Capital Management (HCM) Department, Financial Control (FINCON), Operations, Compliance Control and Audit saying “this award is a reflection of our strong compliance culture and corporate governance process in UBA as a role model for African businesses.”
Other corporate institutions as well as some NGOs, CSOs etc also received awards for compliance with NASSIT.
The NASSIT Director General Mr Mohamed Fuaa Daboh said this is the second edition of such awards geared towards acknowledging institutions that are compliant to NASSIT’s regulations over the year and ended up calling on other institutions to do likewise.
