By Ebinum Samuel
Shareholders with the Nigeria Police Force Microfinance Bank have heaped encomiums on the management and board members of the bank on their working assiduously to ensure the accounts of bankers and others were never hacked.
According to one of the shareholders, bank customers’ accounts being hacked especially via the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) cards have been a daily routine amongst most financial institutions, but zero occurrences have been the lot at the NPF Microfinance bank.
This was part of the praises heaped on the management and board members on Monday 21st of October 2024, during a family interactive meeting held at the Police Officers Mess, Ikeja, Lagos State.
The bank management said that the family meeting was not just to get to know how shareholders were faring but to also explain why the AGM had been delayed, stressing that the shareholders deserved to be informed.
The Bank’s Executive Director, of Operations, Mr John Kwabr Tizhe, responding to the accolades, explained that recording such a feat was due to intentional steps taken by the management team.
He said: “We have different online channels, but none have been hacked! We’ve never been hacked because we deliberately hired specialists around cyber security to work for us.”
The Managing Director, Habeeb Yusuf, who described the Microfinance bank as a forward-thinking institution, responded that the management continually enhances their information posture in response to emerging cyber threats.
He added: “We have adopted new technological platforms and global best practices to ensure resilience and adherence to various cyber security and data protection standards and regulatory requirements.
“We emphasize the continuous improvement of our security posture while strengthening our cybersecurity measures as we digitalise operations to ensure efficient and secure business processes.”
The Chairman of, Board of Directors, Otunba Samuel Damilola Adegbuyi, a retired Commissioner of Police, who was also at the interactive parley, said that the bank was committed to delivering returns to shareholders because it strongly believes in balancing returns on investment for shareholders with the support for the bank’s future growth and survival.
Yusuf further said: “I also want to thank our esteemed shareholders that are here. We invited you and you honoured our invitation. May the good Lord continue to honour and teach every one of you.
“Our being here this afternoon is not new or special, it is an interactive session. For we to meet you and you also meet us. We need to explain to you why we’ve not had our AGM, and why it has been delayed.”
He explained that the bank initially had a challenge in tackling technology following its introduction. He stressed that since the adoption of this technology, NPF microfinance banks have not been finding it easy.
He added: “It has been from one challenge to the other. The climax is what we experienced this year. We find ourselves in a situation where our external auditors cannot access the data to work with. Extracting data for them became an issue. And then we find ourselves going forth and back.
“To that extent, at a point in time, the external auditor has to carry out a data integrity test to reaffirm the integrity of the data that has been made available to them. All this going and coming culminated in the delay that we have. But I also want to let you know that because the central bank was the one that imposed this on us, they are not unmindful of what we are going through.
“To that extent, they also came to our rescue by giving us a comfort letter to all the regulatory agencies so that the bank would not be penalized either for its delay in rendition of rate returns as well as AGM.
“I’m pleased to inform you that in all, the regulators accepted the comfort letter that was given to us by the central bank and we did not incur any form of penalty. Going forward, we hope that we will not go to experience what we had this year.
“To also let you know that a measure has been put in place by the board and management to forestall the reoccurrence of what we had in the 2023 accounts.
“As we speak, the external auditors are currently in our office to commence the nine-month audit for this year as a kind of measure. Once that audit is completed, we will only be left with the last three months of the year.”