Phillips Oduoza, group managing director and chief executive officer of United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), has called on the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of banks to find common ground for non-competitive collaboration to advance economic growth.
Oduoza, made this call in an address presented during the Finance Week, West Africa 2014 held in Lagos.
Speaking during a session on ‘Corporate Finance Excellence –Creating a World Class Financial Environment’ he urged the CFOs to create a platform where banks as major stakeholders would interact on a non-competitive but cooperative and collaborative basis alongside other stakeholders to promote value oriented partnership which is pivotal to economic growth and development.
The UBA boss, who was represented at the occasion by the bank’s Head of Consumer Banking, Ilesanmi Owoeye, said Nigeria remained one of Africa’s fastest growing, economies with expanding financial services, communications, technology and entertainment sectors.
He explained that all the sectors of the economy play significant role in the economic development.
Oduoza also called on all “professionals in the Banks and the CFOs across various segments of the economy, to work harmoniously for the improvement of their respective stakeholders’ fortune and ultimately the Nation’s.”
“Due to the importance of finance in the lives of organizations, the CFOs are the central figures in all the organizations, so, there is no “debating” the need for fostering value oriented partnership, which is pivotal to growth and development,” he said
He urged that the banks and the CFO organizations must work as partners. “The CFOs must drive the banking relationship by working with their bank to drive the organization’s visions. They should clearly articulate the organization’s needs and their banking requirements with a focus to create value for all stakeholders.”