Participants at the signing ceremony
OPENING REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT/CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF PMI AT THE SIGNING CEREMONY OF THE INSTITUTIONAL COLLABORATION AGREEMENT WITH THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE FOR SECURITIES AND INVESTMENT (CISI), U.K AND THE TRAINING PROGRAMME ON “INTEGRITY MATTERS IN FINANCIAL SERVICES” HOLDING ON FRIDAY 13TH APRIL 2018 AT NECA HOUSE, ALAUSA, IKEJA, LAGOS.
The First Vice President and other Council Members, Portfolio Management Institute,
Representative of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), U.K
Certified Fellows, Fellows, Senior Members, Full Members, Associates and Graduates, of the Portfolio Management Institute
Our Guest Speaker
Special Guests and other Guests
Members of the Press
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this event and I give glory to God for the opportunity of hosting and chairing such an august gathering.
You will observe that this is our first major event since the sudden demise of our immediate past President Chief Olusola Dada, FPMI. May I therefore request that we observe a minute’s silence in honor of the departed gentleman who had made undisputed contribution towards the growth and development of our Institute………………………….. Thank you!
Today is a historic day in the life of our Institute considering the effort and time invested in rigorous discussions, planning and preparation for this institutional collaboration agreement which we are due to sign this morning. That we are today concluding this stage that will open the gateway to mutually rewarding and beneficial relationship between CISI and PMI calls for a celebration of this nature. My appreciation and gratitude first goes to God who saw us through the difficult negotiations and brought us this stage. Then I must thank our collaborators and partners, the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), U.K. For those of you meeting the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment for the first time, it is the leading professional body for securities, investment, wealth and financial planning professionals in the UK. It was founded in 1992 by practitioners on the London Stock Exchange and formally chartered by Her Majesty in October, 2009. It has a membership of over 45,000 spread in 104 countries and last year more than 40,000 CISI exams were taken in 80 countries. It is therefore a thing of joy for us at PMI that we are today joining this global professional community and availing our members the opportunity of being identified with global best practice in Investment and Portfolio Management.
I can vividly recall that at the last Council meeting we held with our late President, Chief Olusola Dada in July 2017, he emphatically stated the need to accelerate the negotiation process with CISI and ensure the collaboration arrangement was realized within shortest possible time. In this regard, I thank the Charter Status Committee of the Council under the able leadership of Barr Ugwummadu for putting in unrelenting effort at not only pursuing the negotiations but also completing the documentations for the collaboration. I also thank the Registrar and his team for their efforts at seeing to the realization of our late President’s dream and at ensuring the success of this occasion.
Professional collaboration of this nature from my personal experience if well managed and sustained promises to engender immense mutually beneficial reward for the parties. I have no doubt that considering the wealth of experience of all the parties involved this collaboration will surely not only be of great value addition to our collective members but also lift us up to higher levels of our collective goal achievements.
Professional Institutes, Colleges and universities collaborate on initiatives that individual institutions might not be able to accomplish alone. Thus, according to Marrett, 2006, “Professional Institutional Collaboration entails initiatives or arrangements of various kinds between two or more organizations working to accomplish specific goals in professional education that have institutional commitment”.
This could include infrastructure projects, course offerings, and new educational models. In many cases, collaboration results in the creation of a formal entity with its own staff, budget, and governance. Colleges and universities use collaboration to grow their influence with commercial providers and in this way, benefit the development of learning ecosystems. This is our focus of which we are optimistic that the arrangement we are consolidating today will be of immense benefits to our collective membership and other stakeholders at large.
The Business of Banking and Finance including Investment and Portfolio Management, is of utmost trust and confidence which should not be breached in whatever form, hence, the imperative of continuously sustaining professionalism and ethical behavior. It is not easy to articulate ethical expectations or standards. “Doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do” may seem simple and straightforward, but in complex transactions that are increasingly automated, considerations of ethics and integrity may be squeezed. To my mind, one of the major challenges in an industry increasingly driven by new technologies is how to ensure an adequate space for ethics in instant, automated financial transactions.
It is in furtherance of the above that our Institute arranged a free lecture on “Integrity in Financial services” to compliment this collaboration signing ceremony and to emphasize to ourselves how the issue of “integrity” has become highly critical in the effective discharge of financial services.
Financial services Industry represent the largest economic sector in the modern world and banking sector income is now measuring in trillion dollars. Financial institutions are vital factors in facilitating economic growth and development, whether in rich or poor countries. The dominance of the financial sector in the global economy means that it is even more important that the financial services industry should be guided by ethical principles and should demonstrate high standards of integrity. Indeed, ethical behaviour is an essential element for the legitimacy of wealth creation, which in turn is a definitive driver of human endeavour in the 21st century.
Ethical behaviour and integrity are fundamental in all aspects of human activity. Trust and confidence in human institutions are basic building blocks of a healthy society. Thus asks Lewis Robin: “how can a society flourish if people cannot trust their financial institutions? How can an economy grow if people cannot have confidence in their banks?” He feared that much of the financial industry had lost its ethical credibility in the wake of grave financial scandals around the world.
The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) is providing the lead speaker on the topic “Integrity Matters in Financial Services” and the discussion will also provide us with insight on the tremendous efforts being made by CISI to ensure the institution and strategic integration of integrity into the global delivery of banking and financial services.
The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) wants all of its members to undergo integrity screening as it battles to restore public faith in finance. The Institute is ensuring the placement of systematic checks on the ethics and integrity of workers across global financial services industry through its membership so as to restore and sustain trust in financial services that will engender a real change, as opined by CISI Chief Executive Simon Culhane.
Our Institute, the Portfolio Management Institute is putting in a lot of effort at re positioning and ensuring effective delivery of membership services and realization of utmost professional value to members. These efforts can however, only achieve fruition with total support of members by regular payment of subscription and participation in our programs. You are witnesses today to the realization of our collaboration with CISI. Be assured that you will soon be witnesses by the grace of God, of the realization of our charter status. You must however, play your part as members by fully identifying with the institute.
Once again, I welcome you all and wish successful deliberations.
USMAN B. SULEIMAN, FPMI
PRESIDENT/CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL.
