Polaris Bank Targets Industry’s Best Rating in Five Years

By Ademola Babalola in Ibadan

The Group Managing Director of the Polaris Bank Limited, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, over the weekend expressed optimism that the bank, formerly Skye Bank Plc, would transform into one of the best five in the industry within the next five years.

He spoke at the graduation of 61 graduate trainees of Polaris Business School, held at Polaris Bank Training School, Ibadan.

Notwithstanding the recent development, Mr. Abiru assured that under his watch, the bank’s current asset and deposit would triple in a couple of years.

Abiru premised this on the continued implementation of the July 2016 regulatory intervention to include entrenching sound corporate governance and risk management practices and transforming Polaris into full fledged retail and commercial bank with strong digital backing.

He said that Polaris Bank had a strong market share going by several transformative business initiatives and remained one of the most liquid and most capitalised banks in Nigeria.

“We are a systemically important bank and we also currently rank number nine in the banking industry, so our emphasis will be on all the improvements we have achieved in terms of corporate governance which has laid a very strong foundation for us, very robust risk management.

“What we see in the future is a bank that in the next three to five years is one of the first five banks in Nigeria; a fully fledged retail bank with strong digital backing. So our stakeholders will get more of enhanced value which are clearly different from the bank of the past.

“What we see in the next five years is a stronger retail and commercial with an underpinning for digital transformation. I see a major transformation of the bank. Part of the initiatives we continue to deliver following the July 2016 regulatory intervention include stabilising the institution, entrenching sound corporate governance and risk management practices, and the restoration of depositors’ confidence,” Abiru said.

He also tasked the graduating students on commitment to service, problem solving, economic development of the country and on the need to place high premium on ethics and corporate governance.

“We are building the foundation of our financial institution and the bedrock has to be training. We must let them know the values they should stand for and the kind of understanding that they must bring to bear when they are coming into the real world. It’s about inculcating our values in the new set of graduates that we are bringing on board.

“They have to buy into the values of the institution and topmost on that is the need to place high premium on ethics and corporate governance.”

In their remarks, two of the newly employed staff of Polaris bank, Chinonso Nwakaudu and Sandra Onachukwu, lauded the training for teaching them work-life balance, how to manage people, tolerance and resilience.