By Goddy Egene
The Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Sarah Alade has said corporate treasurers hold the key to financial stability in 2017.
Speaking at the maiden breakfast meeting of the Association of Corporate Treasurers of Nigeria (ACTN) in Lagos, Alade said that the survival of the financial system rests squarely on the shoulders of corporate treasurers.
She therefore, called on the corporate treasurers to avoid destructive cut-throat competition and oligopolistic dominance that could lead to failure of our banking institutions.
Alade, who spoke on “The Economic Outlook for 2017 and its impact on the Corporate Sector,” through Director, Monetary Policy, CBN, Moses Tule, urged corporate treasurers to collectively begin to take measures to fine-tune the effectiveness of the monetary policy transmission mechanism to ensure increased financial intermediation.
“As Treasurers, you are in a vintage position to know where the shoes pinches and you can collectively address the nuances in the system. The weather ahead is not so friendly but dogged determination by your good selves would help ride the stormy headwinds,” she said.
The CBN deputy governor noted that dwindling credit to private sector in spite of the liquidity surfeit in the banking system remains a puzzle contrary to conventional wisdom. “The headwinds I see tells me that only when you act together would you survive the tsunami. Thus, while transparency, professionalism, corporate governance and ethics draw you closer to each other, destructive cut-throat competition and oligopolistic dominance sure prepares a nesting place for failure of our banking institutions as was the case in our recent past,” Alade said.
She stated that achieving appropriate macroeconomic policies has continued to be a great challenge to the monetary authorities, stressing that “the monetary authorities are currently faced with very difficult choices in the tradeoff between tackling inflation, supporting growth and exchange rate stability.”
Also speaking at the meeting, Managing Director/CEO, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, Bola Onadele.Koko, urged corporate treasurers to always articulate their problems and think of solutions to them from the investment bankers perspective.
“In 2017, private company bond rules will be published by FMDQ. This will enable the private companies tap from the debt capital market,” he said.
Another speaker and Chief Executive Officer of Citi Bank Nigeria, Mr. Akin Dawodu, said “2017 is really just another year that corporate treasurers must be concerned about the liquidity situation of their institutions.
“That is an important factor they must all be concerned about. For Medium to Small sized Corporates, they should expect to see liquidity challenges within a tight monetary policy environment. They have to keep a focus on liquidity of their corporates,” he said.
