Agribank scoops four awards:
AGRIBANK, which is modernising its operations, scooped four financial management excellence awards under the State enterprises and parastatals category at the end the Second Annual Public Sector Audit Conference that was held recently.
THE 2017 Public Sector Financial Management Awards were designed to recognise and celebrate public sector entities that distinguished themselves and achieved financial prudence.
The conference was organised by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
A private company, Innotec, was also involved in organising the workshop and conference, which ran under the theme, “Emerging trends in Public Sector Audit - cornerstone of socio-economic transformation”.
The idea behind the annual awards is to highlight the significance of an effective and efficient public sector, through harnessing insights arising from audit reports for public sector entities.
Agribank — which is owned 100 percent by Government, came out tops in the financial turnaround of year; revenue collection, credit and risk management; and overall best financial management categories.
It was also the first runner-up in the budgeting and financial planning category.
Agribank chief executive Mr Sam Malaba said they were “humbled” by the recognition of the progress they were making towards turnaround and profitability achieved through sustained business growth and new income generation activities.
“The bank will continue to uphold and adhere to good corporate governance practices and to strengthen its financial management systems. Going forward, the bank will continue to work closely with the relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to ensure implementation of emerging compliance requirements in the banking and financial services sector,” said Mr Malaba.
Since 2015, Agribank has embarked on several initiatives including upgrading its ICT infrastructure.
Government, through Finance and Infrastructure Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa, ordered Agribank during its recent annual general meeting to come up with an ICT infrastructure that can cope with a surge in plastic money transactions.
Minister Chinamasa said Agribank has “certain challenges”, some of them which are occasioned by the successes it has achieved recently, “while others are to do with the increased use of plastic money”.
Agribank plans to conclude the ICT infrastructure upgrade, which is expected to cost about $5 million, in December this year. Last year, the bank recorded a $4,8 million profit and is on course to achieving another profit this year after posting $1,8 million in the first five months of the year on the capitalisation of Treasury Bills.