Ebong Cautions On Poor Credit Management

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The Managing Director of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Barth Ebong, has stressed the need for proper credit management by banks to quicken the country’s economic development.

Delivering a paper at the 2008 annual conference/induction of new members of the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA), held in Lagos, Ebong said that the realisation of Vision 2020 by Nigeria depends largely on how well the banking industry performed its functions.

Ebong, who was represented by Mr. Anthony Esangbedo, Executive Director, Commercial banking – North, noted that effective management of the credit function was a major determinant of the survival of a bank. “Credit plays an important role in the development of any economy and to ensure its sustenance, it is necessary to respect the credit process.

“Adherence to the credit process will go a long way in enhancing the quality of the credit portfolio and ultimately, the prospects of survival of the bank,” he said. According to Ebong, “bankers must assist in promoting its health by maintaining professionalism and high ethical standard in credit management”.

He noted that top-level intervention in lending was sometimes healthy for relationship management. He, however, cautioned that any discretion to bend the credit process must be exercised with utmost sense of responsibility. “Predicating a lending decision on a connection will assist in creating goodwill just as refusal to lend might create unnecessary bad will. “Therefore, top-level intervention in lending is sometimes healthy for relationship management,” he stated.