ISLAMABAD: Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr Reza Baqir highlighted the importance of efficient and robust governance structure in the banking industry for sustainable economic growth of a country.
The central bank governor was addressing a seminar on “Emerging Trends in Good Governance of Banking Sector” in SAARC countries attended by delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Dr Baqir said that corporate governance is corner stone for the success of any business entity. However, for financial institutions, the importance of corporate governance becomes even more critical as banks are highly leveraged entities facing a wide range of risks in their day-to-day operations.
Therefore, the scope and approach to banks’ corporate governance requires a different and specific regulatory framework not only because of their leveraged business model but also due to diverse ownership and group structure.
Dr Baqir emphasised that boards of the banks with more gender diversity or female representatives and diversified experience in the fields of IT, risk management, finance and economics can play a more effective role in achieving the organization’s overall strategic objectives. He also highlighted that concentration of banks’ shareholding to a few families and their nominees on the Boards is against the good governance practices and may adversely impact the effectiveness of the Board.
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He further added that independent directors play an important role in banks by exercising their independent judgement and protect the interest of minority shareholders. He mentioned that corporate governance practices in public sector banks are generally weak and less transparent due to likely political intervention in the affairs of these banks.
Therefore, there is a need to rationalise the shareholding structure of these banks to minimise the undesirable role of governments in their affairs. Remuneration practices of Board members and compliance of AML/ CFT regime are also significantly important areas where the Boards need to assume enhanced responsibilities to meet the international best practices.
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In his closing remarks, he suggested that Terms of reference (ToRs) of SAARC FINANCE network may be revisited to align the same with emerging challenges being faced by central banks in the region.
He further added that expanding business arenas, globalization of financial activities, emergence of new financial products and increased level of competition have not only opened up opportunities but also increased the potential risks from such developments.
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