Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has received an accreditation certificate of acceptance in line with Sustainability Standards and Certification Initiatives (SSCI) by the World Development Finance Forum in Germany.
The DBN confirmed its SSCI accreditation in a statement released to the media on Tuesday.
The SSCI is a global initiative which delivers a holistic, robust, evolving, and locally-sensitive set of standards to make value-driven financial institutions more resilient and profitable.
The Initiative enables those institutions to create new income streams and thrive for the long-term in an ever more volatile world, while providing new opportunities for mobilizing funds to finance businesses and projects creating high social and environmental impact.
DBN Managing Director, Tony Okpanachi stated that the certification will spur the bank to do more, including deepening its investments in the area of sustainability.
“The award shows that we are doing something right and the international community has acknowledged that,” Okpanachi stated, while appreciating the World Development Finance Forum for the accreditation.
“As part of our strategy to deepen the impact on the Nigerian economy, we have equipped our Bank with additional expertise and structures in the area of sustainability.
“We recognize the benefits of acceptance into an elite accreditation forum such as the Sustainability Standards and Certification Initiative (SSCI) and we do not take it for granted,” he added.
The certificate was received on behalf of the Bank by Nigeria’s Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, who was represented by Mobolaji Sakirat Ogundaro, Deputy Chief of Mission of Nigeria to Germany.
According to Tuggar, “This accreditation demonstrates the level of commitment by the Development Bank of Nigeria in integrating sustainability standards in its operations and also advocating for the adoption of principles of sustainability in the financial ecosystem in Nigeria,” Ogundaro, said while receiving the certificate.”
Appreciating Ogundaro and the Nigerian Mission in Germany, the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Nigeria International, Nigeria representative of EOSD (European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development), Jide Akintunde, said: “Please I would like to offer my deep appreciation to your Excellency, for graciously representing the country and the two Nigerian financial institutions, Development Bank of Nigeria Plc and Access Bank Plc, to receive the certificates and awards on their behalf”.
The Development Bank of Nigeria was conceived by the Federal Government of Nigeria in collaboration with global development partners to address major financing challenges facing Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Since inception, DBN has impacted the economy through the provision of access to finance, capacity building initiatives for PFIs, and MSMEs, as well as de-risking facilities through a credit guarantee scheme to facilitate sustainable socio-economic development of the underserved, but critical sub-sector.
Comments are closed.