Annual Financial Statements 2020
2
INTRODUCTION
STANDARD BANK NAMIBIA LIMITED
Annual financial statements 2020
3
Corporate governance report
The board operates on the understanding that sound governance practices are
fundamental to earning the trust of stakeholders, which is critical to sustaining
performance and preserving shareholder value.
The company's governance framework enables the board to
balance its role of providing risk oversight and strategic counsel
and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements and risk
tolerance. The board is committed to upholding the fundamental
tenets of governance, which include discipline, independence,
responsibility, fairness, social responsibility, transparency and
accountability of directors to all stakeholders.
Standard Bank Namibia board
Board committees
The board's approach to governance is to embrace relevant local
and international best practice. The principles of the Namcode
inform the governance framework and practices of the company
and its subsidiaries.
Independent non-executive directors
The board annually reviews and confirms the classification of
non-executive directors as independent. Six non-executive
directors are independent.
Succession planning
Succession planning is a key focus and the board considers the
composition of the board and its committees on an ongoing
basis. It aims to retain retention of board members with
considerable experience to ensure that appropriate levels of
management oversight are maintained. The board is satisfied
that the current talent pool available within the company and the
work being done to strengthen it provides adequate succession
depth over the short and long term.
The board is also satisfied that there is a clearly articulated talent
strategy which focuses on creating a strong talent pool for key
roles, and that the company is building capability on core areas
to enable business strategy and ensure regulatory compliance.
The board is further pleased to note that the employee value
proposition (EVP) has now been implemented.
Skills, knowledge, experience and
attributes of directors
The board ensures that directors possess the skills, knowledge
and experience to fulfil their duties. The directors bring a
balanced mix of attributes to the board, including:
⚫ domestic and international experience
Board audit
committee
Board corporate
social investment
committee
Board human
Board credit
committee
Board
information
technology
committee
Board risk
committee
•
operational experience
°
Management committees
capital
committee
EXCO
PROJECT
EXCO
ALCO
HRC
RMC
CC
IFC
NPC
TBC
EXCO:
Executive committee
ALCO: Asset and liquidity management
committee
HRC:
High risk committee
IFC:
RMC:
Risk management committee
NPC:
CC:
Credit committee
TBC:
Internal financial control committee
New product approval committee
Tender board committee
understanding of macroeconomic and microeconomic factors
affecting the company
financial, legal, entrepreneurial and banking skills
expertise in risk management and internal financial control.
The board regularly considers board members individually and
collectively to ensure the board remains strategically,
demographically and operationally appropriate.
Access to information and resources
Executive management and the board interact regularly. This is
encouraged and the executive committee attends all board
meetings. Directors have unrestricted access to management
and company information, as well as the resources to carry out
their roles and responsibilities. This includes external legal advice
at the company's expense.
Strategy
The board is responsible for determining the company's strategic
direction. Management presents the company's strategy annually
and discusses and agrees it with the board. The board ensures
the strategy is aligned with the company's values, performance
and sustainability objectives, and addresses the associated risks.
Financial performance is monitored through quarterly
management reports. In line with banking regulations, the board.
agrees the company's corporate governance and risk
management objectives for the year ahead. The board and the
relevant risk committees monitor performance against
governance and risk objectives respectively.
Board responsibilities
The general powers of the directors are set out in the company's
articles of association. They have further unspecified powers and
authority, in respect of matters, which may be exercised and
dealt with by the company, which are not expressly reserved for
the members of the company in general meeting. The main
responsibilities of the board as set out in the board mandate are
as follows:
⚫ approval of the strategic plan and the annual business plan,
the setting of objectives and the review of key risks and
performance areas
⚫ monitoring the implementation of board plans and strategies
against a background of economic, environmental and social
issues relevant to the company and international political and
economic conditions, as well as the mitigation of risks by
management
•
•
appointment of the chief executive and maintenance of a
succession plan
appointment of directors, subject to election by the members
in general meeting
⚫ determination of overall policies and processes to ensure the
integrity of the company's management of risk and internal
control.
Delegation of authority
The board retains effective control through a well-developed
governance structure that provides a framework for delegation.
Board committees facilitate the discharge of board
responsibilities and provide in-depth focus on specific areas. The
board reviews the mandate of each committee at least annually.
The board delegates authority to the chief executive and
executive directors to manage the business and affairs of the
company. The executive committee assists the chief executive
when the board is not in session, subject to statutory parameters
and the board's limits on the delegation of authority to the chief
executive. The company secretary monitors board-delegated
authorities.
Governance framework
Codes, regulations and compliance
Complying with all applicable legislation, regulations, standards
and codes is integral to the company's culture. The board
delegates responsibility for compliance to management and
monitors this through the compliance function. Oversight of
compliance risk management is delegated to the audit
committee, which reviews and approves the compliance mandate
submitted by the head of compliance, who reports on a quarterly
basis on, among others, the status of compliance risk
management in the company, significant areas of non-
compliance, as well as feedback on interactions with regulators.
The compliance function, as well as the compliance policy and
governance standards are subject to review and audit by the
internal audit function. Material regulatory issues are escalated
to the board risk committee.
Board and directors
The board of directors is the company's highest decision-making
body and is ultimately responsible for governance. The company
has a unitary board structure and the roles of chairman and chief
executive are separate. The chairman is an independent
non-executive director, as are the majority of directors on the
board. The split of executive, non-executive and independent
directors ensures a balance of power on the board, so that no
individual or company can dominate board processes or
decision-making and ensures the appropriate level of challenge.
DIRECTOR COMPOSITION (%)
2020
Board meetings
The board meets once per quarter. Ad hoc meetings are held when necessary.
BOARD ATTENDANCE 2020
H Maier (chairperson)
N Bassingthwaighte
26 Feb
2020
8 May
2020
24 April
2020
30 June
2020
12 Aug
2020
21 Aug
2020
25 Sept
2020
26 Nov
2020
Board
Q1 Board
Q2 Board
Covid 19
Update
AGM
Special
Board
Q3 Board
Board
Strategy Q4 Board
M Dax
L Du Plessis
A Mangale*
✓
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
2020 2019
J Muadinohamba
V Mungunda
Independent non-executives
Non-executives
55
67
P Nyandoro
27
22
B Rossouw
Executive
18
11.
P Schlebusch
I Tjombonde
Appointed 9 November 2020
✓ - Attended
A - Apologies
✓View entire presentation