Our History

The Bank of Namibia has a unique organisational culture and personality. This chapter portrays the culture of the Bank by addressing topics such as the corporate charter, culture change project and organisational practices.

Culture and Personality
Evolution of a Culture
Corporate Charter
Vision
Mission
Values
Selective Recruitment

Culture and Personality of the Bank of Namibia

The Bank of Namibia endeavours to build and develop a corporate culture and a brand identity of confidence and authenticity, enabling the Bank to carry out its central banking mandate. As regulator of commercial banks in Namibia, it also participates regionally and internationally in the economic discourse of modern

financial and central banking. Through the years, the Bank has experienced many events that shaped and inflenced its current organisational structure and corporate culture. This section outlines the cultural evolution and personality of the Bank over the years. These factors have contributed to strong public confidence in the Bank as it strives towards becoming a centre of excellence. The Bank of Namibia endeavours to build and develop a corporate culture and a brand identity of confidence and authenticity, enabling the Bank to carry out its central banking mandate. As regulator of commercial banks in Namibia, it also participates regionally and internationally in the economic discourse of modern financial and central banking. Through the years, the Bank has experienced many events that shaped and influenced its current organisational structure and corporate culture. This section outlines the cultural evolution and personality of the Bank over the years. These factors have contributed to strong public confidence in the Bank as it strives towards becoming a centre of excellence.

Evolution of a Culture Mosaic

The Bank of Namibia has come a long way in its identity formation and culture and has discovered both positive and negative elements en route. Initially the Bank merely took over the activities performed by the SARB branch in the then SWA. The organisational culture of the branch reflected the political realities of the day, namely apartheid and segregation. Not only was the organisation internally divided along ethnic and racial lines, but the culture also displayed a bureaucratic, paternalistic and ethnic philosophy. A domineering attitude promoted the illusion that the more powerful always knew what was good for the less powerful, and freedom and responsibility had to be controlled by ‘well-meaning’ regulations and policies. The branch was subject to organisational rules and procedures and functioned in the socio-economic realities of a colonised Namibian society that was managed and governed by South African systems and directives. However, in 1990 Namibia gained political independence from the colonial dispensation and a transformation of society as a whole was set in motion. First of all, there was a need for radical transformation and adaptation to the new socio-economic realities of an independent Namibia,and it was realised that the new entity had to develop into a fully functional central bank in order to carry out the complete range of central banking functions in the country with its own policies and regulations. Consequently, steps were taken to create a fully-fledged central bank in Namibia.

Dr. WL Bernard

The First Governor of BON

The first Governor of the Bank of Namibia was Dr WL Bernard from the Netherlands who occupied the position from 16 July 1990 to 31 August 1991 - just over a year. His orientation was to introduce a break with the apartheid past and to assist in setting up the newly founded central bank in the more congenial environment of a politically independent Namibia.

As the first leader of the newly founded institution, his approach impacted and contributed to the cultural paradigm shift for years to come. During his tenure, the culture of the Bank developed a more positive outlook toward younger people and black Namibians, and it can be said that a generation of more uniform generalist employees populated the ranks of the establishment.

At the newly founded Bank, everybody’s opinion counted and was respected. Yet, a philosophy of individualism continued to hold sway in the organisation where a premium was placed on the values of self-identity formation amidst a loosely knit or ganisational framework.

The new Bank did not initially have a formalised corporate charter and corporate values. Employees executed their functions by a code of conduct and set of rules that required an individual ethic of compliance. The values system of the Bank then emphasised individual initiative. However, things changed fast and after thirteen months, a new Governor was appointed.

Dr J Ahmad as Governor of the Bank of Namibia from 1 January 1994 to 31 December 1996. Again, the culture of the Bank seemed to be externally focused and good external and international cooperation continued to be the claim to fame of the Bank.

However, the cultural paradigm that evolved during the tenure of Dr Ahmad was one of distance and shallow internal culture and alignment. This meant that the internal culture of the Bank stultifi ed in a tight, slow-moving bureaucratic procedural style with emphasis on hierarchy, silos, status diff erence and a power struggle.

An ‘us-versus-them’ mentality developed between subordinates and superiors, and employees complained about the absence of leadership. They referred to it as ‘leadership from a distance’. Instead of forming a cooperating chain, these silos were competing with one another. The organisational hierarchy favoured those in power to become more powerful and this was used as a tool to manage performance. Instead of eff ective performance management, employees were ‘blamed-and-shamed’ to improve their performance.

Also, it was during this period that the Bank developed a strong grapevine culture, because management was considered absent, and the grapevine was viewed by employees as the most reliable way to obtain information. However, this does not suggest that the fi rst three Governors did little to shape activities of the Bank. To the contrary, they worked hard to ensure that a strong institution which would effectively play its role in the domestic and international arena was firmly established.

Dr. J. Ahmad

Governor of BON

Corporate Charter

In its Corporate Charter, the Bank of Namibia has managed to articulate an organisational culture where a fine balance is struck between a caring culture on the one hand, and a performance driven culture on the other; a balance between achievement motivation and security motivation for employees to experience both growth and security in their place of work; and a balance between the need for continuous external adaptation and the need for internal integration and alignment.

The Corporate Charter of the Bank articulates transformation change and presents a vision, mission and values statement in becoming a centre of excellence.Whereas the vision of the Bank portrays the desired or intended future state in terms of its fundamental objective and strategic direction, the mission defines the fundamental purpose of the Bank.

It is the Bank’s vision to become a centre of excellence, while it is its mandate to carry out central banking functions effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, the Bank has adopted a set of values that articulate the beliefs and ethical standards shared among its staff and by which it strives to build its brand identity of confidence.

Vision

In its vision to be a centre of excellence, the Bank aspires to position itself as a unique, professional and credible institution - working in the public interest and supporting the achievement of national economic development goals. This means that Bank employees strive to be the best and to provide high quality service, advice and support to the satisfaction of all its stakeholders.

To this end, the Bank projects itself as a knowledge-working institution where confidence is fostered with its stakeholders through service delivery, proactive advice and hard work. Thus, not only does the Bank also contribute to a positive socio-economic climate for Namibia, but its services and advice are sought after by all its partners.

Mission

The mission of the Bank is derived from the objectives of the Bank as set out in Section 3 of the Bank of Namibia Act, 1997. In support of economic growth and development in Namibia, the mandate is to promote price stability, an efficient payment system, effective banking supervision, reserves management and economic research in order to proactively offer relevant, reliable and valid financial and fiscal advice to all stakeholders.

To accomplish its mission, the Bank uses the latest technology and harnesses the skills of staff members to enhance the efficiency of its processes, and continually revises and refreshes strategies annually to ensure that it remains effective and relevant in a fast-changing world.

Values

The Bank has adopted key values by which it builds its brand identity of confidence amongst stakeholders and by which it aspires to excellence. Ethical behaviour is highly valued and at all times the highest ethical standards of conduct are upheld. Its code of ethics is an enforceable part of its terms and conditions of employment and tender award practices. In striking a balance between transactional values and transformational-ends values, the values following hereon constitute the intangible assets of the Bank by which it builds its desired culture of excellence.

Selective Recruitment

The Bank uses rigorous recruitment processes and systems to ensure that not only the best possible candidates are employed, but the processes also ensure that the selected candidates will grow to make optimal and mature contributions to the culture of the Bank. The recruitment processes promote diversity, while at the same time protect the organisational culture of the Bank against possible undesirable external influences and negative characters, such as narcissists, sociopaths, machiavellists and others.

Furthermore, the recruitment processes are transparent and balanced. On the one hand there is a selection committee to evaluate candidates on various issues of work and performance, while on the other, there are processes and assessments that determine their potential for the job. Future contributions to creating an ideal organisation within the Bank are development and implementation skills; people skills; and problem-solving skills.

Only when the results of the various processes balance (which also include a probation period of six months, psychometric testing and a vetting process), is the best candidate permanently employed, groomed, developed and promoted in the mandated and core competencies of the Bank.

Bank of Namibia | Museum