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Other Governing Bodies
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Bodies

BANK OF AFRICA – BMCE Group corporate governance system is also assured by twelve internal committees which ensure that decisions taken by the Board of Directors are implemented as part of the company's day-to-day running

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CHAIRMAN’S COMMITTEE

The Chairman’s Committee is responsible for steering the Group’s strategy. It must prioritise between transversal or critical issues reported by the Group Executive Committee.

In 2022, the cross-functional issues for which the Chairman’s Committee is responsible were dealt with by the Strategy Task Force Committee, attended by the Chairman and Executive General Managers.

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GROUP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The Group Executive Committee is responsible for implementing strategy and development plans based on the Board of Directors’ guidelines. It is also responsible for managing and steering performance on a consolidated basis within the remit of the powers delegated to it.
In addition, it must prioritise, at an operating level, between transversal or critical issues reported to it within the remit of its delegated powers. It ensures that a Group-wide approach is fostered by steering the Group’s constituent entities, managing risk, generating synergies and pooling skills to ensure a more efficient commercial approach and to enhance value creation.

In 2022, the work of the Group Executive Committee focused on potential levers for optimising the balance sheet, on following up on discussions with Bank Al- Maghrib following a meeting with the College of Supervisors, reviewing BOA Holding’s exposure to government bonds, BOA Luxembourg’s acquisition-led growth strategy and BMCE EuroServices’ cash clearing services.

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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE – MOROCCO AND INTERNATIONAL

The Executive Committee – Morocco and International is the decision-making body responsible for translating the Group’s strategy into operational initiatives and measures and monitoring them for Moroccan operations and those of the Group’s international subsidiaries outside sub-Saharan Africa within the remit of the powers delegated to it. It ensures that day-to-day operations and activities are managed effectively and that annual commercial and budgetary goals are achieved, taking the necessary corrective measures if required. It reviews individual performance by business unit and function and actions taken, including capital allocation, expenditure and operations.

In 2022, the Committee’s work focused on issues identified as presenting major strategic challenges for the Bank and for the Group. These included, more specifically, (i) the sustainability of the Group’s activities at the commercial and financial levels (ii) risk profile optimisation at the parent and consolidated levels and (iii) structuring the supervisory framework for the new Strategic Development Plan while taking into account project implementation aimed at improving operational efficiency. Other issues which the Committee addressed included closely monitoring the situation surrounding a number of Group subsidiaries, implementation of the Compliance roadmap 2022-2024, head office’s contribution to a REIT at end-2022, reviewing Group Permanent Control’s Transformation Action Plan and ongoing monitoring of employee health and safety risk during first half 2022.

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GROUP INTERNAL CONTROL COORDINATION COMMITTEE

The Group Internal Control Coordination Committee’s role is to effectively manage and monitor, at an operating level, Group-wide control systems. 2022 saw ‘Vision 2030’ implemented under the supervision of the Strategy Task Force. One of the major drivers of this strategic development plan is to bolster Group integration, a process which began with the Convergence Programme, particularly in relation to ad hoc control, permanent control, risk management and compliance.
In this respect, in 2022, work focused on reviewing the systems of the above-mentioned vital functions, as adressed by the Chairman himself in his notes aimed at bolstering the internal control framework, managing the latter’s performance and developing synergies.

Responsibility for this important business driver had been assumed by the Strategy Task Force and the Group CACI, while in 2023, the baton was handed over to the Group Internal Control Coordination Committee, a body responsible for monitoring implementation of the Risk, Permanent Control and Compliance systems, as well as the Finance and HR systems.

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GROUP ALM-TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

The Group ALM-Technical Committee is the body responsible for drawing up and implementing the Group’s asset-liability management strategy in line with the strategy approved by the Board of Directors. The Technical Committee is a consultative committee which helps the Group Executive Committee manage the Group’s financial balances on a medium- and long-term basis as well as the appetite for liquidity and interest rate risk for each entity within BANK OF AFRICA Group.

In 2022, the work of the Group ALM-Technical Committee focused on bolstering interest rate and liquidity risk management at both the parent and consolidated levels in terms of the risk management system, governance, risk-mapping, IT and steering tools. The Committee also reviewed the interest rate, liquidity and foreign exchange risk profile in addition to focusing on BOA Africa’s government bond exposure.
Other issues addressed by the Committee included trends in BOA Morocco’s bank intermediation margin on customer activity, projected funding costs, the economic and financial situation in Ghana and the impact of the crisis on BOA Ghana.

 

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GROUP RISK STEERING AND MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The Group Risk Steering and Management Committee assists the Executive Committee – Morocco & International in effectively managing and monitoring, at an operating level, the risk management system of the Group – BANK OF AFRICA S.A and its direct and indirect subsidiaries – and ensures that its operations are consistent with the risk policies and limits set.

The Committee also ensures that the Group’s risk steering policy relating to credit, market, country and operational risk is effective and consistent with its level of risk appetite. In 2022, the Group Risk Steering and Management Committee met as an offshoot of the Executive Committee – Morocco & International, as preparation for the Group Risks Committee. The main issues dealt with at its meetings included reviewing trends in credit risk indicators at the parent and consolidated levels at end-2021, parent and consolidated prudential ratios in 2021, adherence to sector limits in 2021, proposing risk limits by business sector and country and exposure to government bonds for 2022, general guidelines relating to the credit approval process for Large Enterprises, SMEs and Personal Banking customers for 2022. In addition, the Committee reviewed a number of other major issues including projected bond issuance for the period 2022-24, actual capital adequacy ratios at end-2022 and subsidiaries’ prudential ratios.

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OPERATING COMMITTEE

The Operating Committee is responsible for reporting, sharing information and ruling on any issue relating to the Bank’s operations. It therefore provides business line as well as technical expertise and makes recommendations to the Executive Committee – Morocco & International to assist with decision-making relating to these aspects.
In 2022, the main projects dealt with included the process for delivering mortgage releases, optimising the branch and business centre network, introducing key risk indicators and alert thresholds and revamping processes for handling mortgage discharges on customer mortgage guarantees.

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ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE

The Environmental and Social Sustainability Committee aims to bolster CSR governance within the Group, thereby ensuring that sustainability is fully embedded within its organisational structure. Its responsibilities consist of (i) monitoring implementation of the Environmental, Social and Gender action plan across the Group (ii) ensuring that Environmental and Social risk management practices within the Group are effective (iii) developing and supervising Impact Finance performance indicators and (iv) overseeing sustainable development and CSR global undertakings.

In 2022, the work of the ESS Committee focused on (i) bolstering BANK OF AFRICA’s blended finance offering (ii) partnerships promoting sustainable finance, with the Bank endeavouring to gain accreditation to the Green Climate Fund and (iii) bolstering financial inclusion with the ongoing implementation of the Disability Accessibility action plan in terms of staff recruitment and physical and digital accessibility, as well as (iv) the Diversity & Inclusion action plan. In addition, initiatives to raise awareness about sustainable development and CSR issues were shared within the Group.