The Chairman, Capital Bancorp Plc, Mr. Olutola Mobolurin, has advised the board and management of companies to take issues of risk management and corporate governance seriously.

According to him, the recent global financial crisis has highlighted the importance of effective risk management, especially in view of the harsh operating environment.

A statement from the company on Wednesday quoted Mobolurin as saying these at the 26th Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos.

Mobolurin, who said investments in risk management would go a long way in securing the growth of companies, told Capital Bancorp shareholders that the company had invested in enterprise risk management in order to ensure that it continued to uphold the best practices in corporate governance.

According to Mobolurin, the investment made in risk management is also part of the strategy to make the company competitive globally and enable it to achieve sustained growth.

He added that as part of the strategy the board, management and staff of the company had undergone intensive enterprise risk management training.

He was quoted as saying, “The board on your behalf made extensive investments in fortification of our company by the implementation of an Enterprise-wide Risk Management System.

“This project involved a holistic training of the members of the board and all members of staff. The investment was made towards making our company risk compliant and in entrenching and improving corporate governance.”

The statement added that Mobolurin lamented the security situation in the country, stressing that it might moderate projections for operators in the nations’ financial market.

The Capital Bancorp chairman, however, expressed optimism about opportunities in the other lines of businesses such as Bureau De Change and leasing.

According to him, the profits realised from these businesses will boost whatever the shortfall from the capital market is and enhance shareholder value.

Although the company did not pay any dividend for the review period, Mobolurin assured the shareholders that with the steps taken by the management, the company would resume dividend payment next year.

In addition to the investment in a new risk management system, the statement explained that the company expanded its operations in the year under review with the introduction of an e-trading platform.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Capital Bancorp, Mr. Aigboje Higo, was quoted as saying he was confident that the company would achieve better returns in the next financial year.

He said, “We have a long tradition of integrity and excellent performance. We deploy some of the latest technologies to do our business. This has made us highly competitive and we shall continue to leverage on these for global best practices.”

Punch