Governor, Mr Sheku Sambadeen Sesay provisions of section 27 of the said Act which provides that board directors shall be ultimately responsible for ensuring that the business of the bank is carried out in compliance with all applicable laws and is consistent with safe and sound banking practices. It further states that the board of directors may not delegate this ultimate responsibility, and that any actions taken by the bank will be presumed to be actions taken by the board of directors. The Act further requires every commercial bank to annually appoint professionally qualified external auditors satisfactory to the Bank of Sierra Leone. The external auditors’ duties in this regard shall be to perform audits on commercial banks in accordance with international audit standards and submit a report on same to the Bank of Sierra Leone. Moreover, the Act requires commercial banks to be fully accountable to their shareholders during their Annual General Meetings. In the area of regulations, the Bank also continues to prudently and rigorously supervise the financial sector through the following: (i) Introduction of the Prudential Guidelines for Commercial Banks in line with the Banking Act 2011 and Basel Core Principles. The Prudential Guidelines limit the tenure of Chief Executive Officers to 10 years and that of non-executive Directors to two terms of three years. This prevents the said officials from being in office in perpetuity and is in line with best practice. The Guidelines further prohibit all officials of commercial banks from engaging directly or indirectly in any business activity which conflicts with their employers’ interest. (ii) Issuance of a schedule of penalties for the enforcement of compliance with the Banking Act 2011 and Prudential Guidelines. The Bank has since been imposing penalties for non-compliance with the Prudential Guidelines by commercial banks. Armed with the aforementioned framework, the Bank of Sierra Leone has greatly enhanced the corporate governance standards of commercial banks, which in turn has boosted public confidence in the banking industry in Sierra Leone. In conclusion, the Bank of Sierra Leone has been pivotal in regulating corporate governance in the banking sector. The Bank shall continue to positively modify the said standards as and when developments within the sector so dictate. www.bsl.gov.sl ‘ It is the Bank’s autonomy that has been instrumental in allowing the Bank to implement corporate governance reforms without hindrance or interference from any external source.’
CEP template 2012
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