AGRIBANK has been honoured with three awards for its outstanding role in upholding financial prudence.
BY BUSINESS REPORTER
The awards were awarded by the Office of the President (OPC) in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development in partnership with Innotec.
The idea behind the Annual Public Sector Audit Conference and Financial Management Awards is to bring significance towards an effective and efficient public sector, through harnessing insights arising from audit reports for public sector entities.
Agribank was awarded three awards, Financial Turnaround of the Year, the Revenue Collection, Credit and Risk Management and the Overall Best Financial Management and also was first runner up for the Budgeting and Financial Planning.
Speaking at the awards dinner in Harare last week, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said the poor performance of the public sector was attributable to poor corporate governance and financial management of State-owned enterprises worsening debts within the institutions, which were inherited by Treasury.
“I expect auditors to help the fight against bribery and corruption, which continues to negatively affect business in this country, and help our institutions to build sustainable business models, preventing an unnecessary burden on the budget,” Chinamasa said.
Commenting after receiving the awards, the Agribank chief executive officer, Sam Malaba pointed out that the bank was humbled by the recognition of its progress towards turnaround and profitability achieved through sustained business growth and new income generation initiatives that the bank has been implementing since 2015.
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He noted that the bank is making steady progress, buoyed by the positive business growth initiatives under implementation, following the restructuring and realignment in 2015. He stated that the bank is expanding support to the agricultural sector, as part of its long-term strategy to support agriculture development and food security.
“The bank will continue to uphold and adhere to good corporate governance practices and to strengthen the bank’s financial management systems. Going forward the bank will continue to work closely with the relevant authorities, including the ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to ensure implementation of emerging compliance requirements in the banking and financial services sector,” Malaba said.
The bank recorded a profit of $4,8 million for the year ended December 2016, from a loss position of $6,3m in 2015 on the back of a growth of net interest income. Net interest income for the year grew by 45,2% to $25,9m from $17,8m in 2015.
The group said positive performance marked an indication of the solid turnaround for the bank premised on the implementation of a range of turnaround initiatives following the capitalisation of the bank in 2015.
