A staff of the Payment Systems Department of Bank of Ghana, Miss Enam Yawa Kodade, has won an award following the submission of an essay as part of Toronto Centre, Canada’s maiden essay competition for financial sector supervisors and regulators from Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipient countries. Miss Kodade’s entry won second place.

Toronto Centre, Canada in its maiden 2019 essay competition requested financial supervisors and regulators to submit an essay not exceeding 2000 words on the topic, “What role can financial supervisors and regulators play in promoting gender equality and the economic empowerment of women as they relate to the provision of savings, payments, and other financial services?”

Miss Kodade was awarded a scholarship worth USD 3000 (three thousand dollars) to be used towards one of Toronto Centre’s 2020 International Leadership Programmes. Her essay was published in a Toronto Centre (TC) Note, which was also promoted throughout the Centre’s social media channels and websites.

Toronto Centre indicated that it had received many high-quality submissions and selected four winners comprising a winning essay combined with excerpts from three essays that were exceptional and notable. The announced winners are as follows:

1. Dr Olufemi Oladejo: Senior Bank Examiner – Central Bank of Nigeria (overall winning essay) 2. Miss Enam Yawa Kodade: Bank of Ghana (Second Awardee) 3. Mr. Sok Heng Lay: National Bank of Cambodia (Third Awardee) 4. Miss Andrea Fernandez: Superintendence of Banking, Insurance and Private Pension Fund Administrators (SBS), Peru (Fourth Awardee)

Details of the official announcement, a copy of the TC Note, and the brief profile of the winning candidates are available on the website of the Bank of Ghana.

Toronto Centre, Canada is supported by several development agencies including the World Bank and the IMF to deliver capacity-building programmes in banking, insurance, securities, pensions, microfinance, and micro-insurance supervision.

The role of the institution also includes promotion of financial stability, access to finance and offering of practical training to financial sector regulators and supervisors, particularly in emerging markets.