The founder and Managing
Director, DataPro Limited, Mr. Abimbola Adeseyoju, has urged banks in the country to see compliance with laws and regulations as a necessary tool for the survival of their businesses.
He said compliance officers should see themselves as custodians of the reputation of their business institutions.
Adeseyoju, in his presentation at a meeting of the committee of Chief Compliance officers of Banks in Nigeria (CCCOBIN) said the committee had provided a very strong platform for the realisation of the much needed co-operation, collaboration and coordination in anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism compliance in the industry.
He explained that compliance could be a very frustrating job, but surely it has its rewards.
“I have come to see compliance as the needed armour against the storms of the industry”, he said.
Compliance, according to him was not only for the good times but also for when things go bad.
He highlighted reputational, business, regulatory and statutory risks as reasons for compliance.
On reputational risk, Adeseyoju said “this was one risk that cannot be quantified in naira and kobo.”  Speaking on business risks he explained that when storms come, it was difficult to properly profile customers. He said loan by customers were not serviced and the customers do not care and simply walk away.
“This is why we do all the know-your-customers, customer due diligence, record keeping, mandatory and suspicious reporting and put in place processes, procedures, policies and programmes”, he said.
Adeseyoju said there was need to insulate banks and other financial institutions against the activities of criminals, adding that this would protect economy from avoidable crises.
“To achieve this, laws and guidelines are made which have to be enforced. It is, therefore, expected that compliance practitioners should obey the laws and comply with regulations”, he said.