The Association of Corporate Affairs Managers Of Nigeria (ACAMB) and stakeholders in the media industry has been called upon to strengthen collaborative strategy in reporting activities in the financial services sector in a dynamic world.
The guest speaker Mr Olufemi Awoyemi, Founder / Chairman Proshare, in his presentation on the theme “Reporting the Nigerian Financial Services Sector In a Dynamic World: What Role For The Journalist”. took overview of the financial services industry and the place of ACAMB members and the financial journalists.
Awoyemi acknowledged the innovations and heavy investment made by the banks in order to provide widespread services for customers across the country, pointing out that banks are dying while baking is alive and getting rejuvenated.
On the way forward for journalists, news media owners and corporate affairs managers of banks, Awoyemi explained that “the journalist must realize it’s a new world and therefore retool, reskill and retarin to broaden their understanding, impact and value. The news media owners must reform their business models to ensure sustainability, considering merger to scale. The corporate affairs managers must reform and aggregate their leverage to deliver on their reputational risk management mandate”
While responding to a concern of some journalists who questioned why some members of the corporate affairs managers don’t pick their calls and at times will not want perceived negative stories to be published, he said “some corporate affairs managers could be under pressure and the process of getting the feed backs which the journalist that is working under deadline seeking for information, may not be within the control of the corporate affairs manager.
In his remark, the president of ACAMB, Rasheed Bolarinwa, expressed gratitude to the media, that the parly is a platform for ACAMB to bring the media partners up to speed on current activities in the financial sector, especially as its concerns the banking business and financial journalist role as vital stakeholders. “We have had several events that have brought us together in the past, but we thought it is important to have a closer community discussion”.
On his part, Nduneche Ezurike, Group Head, Strategic Brand Management and Communication at Polaris Bank Limited, expressed gratitude to the media for participating at the discussion and declared that the association would look forward to collaborations that will further strengthen the bond between the banks, association and the media.
For Omede Odekina, ACAMB, assistant secretary-general and Head External Relations at the United Bank for Africa Plc, who moderated the program, noted that as an integral part of commitment towards enhancing relationships with its operational stakeholders, they decided to host the enlightenment and interactive event to provide media stakeholders an opportunity to discuss the latest developments within the financial services sector.
The Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB) was established in 1996. It is the umbrella body for reputation managers and public relation professionals in the Nigerian banking sector. ACAMB was founded as a response to the then negative perception of the banking industry.
The conviction of the founding fathers of the association was that the challenge of favorably positioning the social and economic contributions of the banking sector to the national economy could only be achieved through collective collaboration of all banks.
Membership was initially restricted to deposit money banks with their heads of corporate affairs as representatives in ACAMB. There were 89 deposit money banks at that time and the industry was characterized by stiff competition by all the banks for mind and voice share. ACAMB emerged as a veritable platform where communications managers of banks could speak with one voice and share knowledge and information.
ACAMB membership was later expanded to include all corporate affairs professionals in banks, to give all communication professionals in banks the opportunity to benefit from the gains of membership.
In December 2013, as part of its resolve to reposition and strengthen the capacity to deliver on stated values to stakeholders, ACAMB adopted its current name; Association of Marketing Communications Professionals in Financial Institutions. The new name better reflects the refreshed scope of its engagement.
