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25.11.2015 Business & Finance

Stanbic Bank wins PR Organisation of the Year award

By GNA
Stanbic Bank wins PR Organisation of the Year award
25.11.2015 LISTEN

Accra, Nov. 25, GNA - Stanbic Bank Ghana has been awarded the PR Organisation of the Year (Financial Sector) at the 2015 Institute of Public Relations Excellence Awards held in Accra.

The coveted prize is in recognition of an effective and well-executed communication strategy which led to a smooth transition of the bank's core banking system from BankMaster to Finacle, in 2014.

'In the bid to resolve some challenges the bank was facing when using BankMaster, the bank moved to Finacle, an infrastructure that was expected to reduce Turn Around Time, ensure quick service delivery to clients and eliminate duplication of data,' Alhassan Andani, CEO of Stanbic Bank explained.

'The sterling performance of the communications team during this period led to a 100 per cent preparedness and an in-depth understanding of the Finacle system by all stakeholders of the bank before we implemented the change.'

The Bank has received a number of communication-related awards in recent times.

A few months ago Alhassan Andani was adjudged the CIMG Marketing Man of the Year 2014.

Mawuko Afadzinu, the Head, Marketing and Communications, also won the CIMG Marketing Practitioner of the Year 2013 and has been shortlisted for the Melcrum Awards Best PR Internal Communicator of the Year.

The IPR Excellence Awards aims at honouring and generating public recognition for the achievements and positive contributions of Public Relations units to their organisations.

Speaking at this year's ceremony dubbed 'Public Relations and Peaceful Elections: Your Role, My Role,' Mr Andani tasked Public Relations officials to work hard to gain the public's trust and respect, especially during the election period.

'You don't achieve great results in Public Relations on the back of a single issue; you need to go at it consistently to gain credibility and validation,' he said.

He said a survey carried out by the United Kingdom revealed that the most trusted professionals are Pharmacists, Medical Doctors, Engineers and Dentists, while the least trusted professionals included Politicians, Bankers, Journalists and by extension, PR practictioners.

'Trust, believe and hope are sacrosanct in nation building and no nation progresses when any of these are compromised,' he said.

'Elections must be about peace, prosperity and development of the country and our personal growth would only happen when there is peace in the country.'

He called on PR practitioners to help hold politicians accountable for the utterances of their supporters through the establishment of an ownership charter by which the larger society would hold potential office holders responsible for what is said in their name.

This, he noted, could help reduce the tension that characterizes elections in Ghana.

He urged Public Relations practitioners to shape the political dialogue and use their network to serve the public in an efficient and effective manner.

GNA

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