Department of Corporate Affairs

1. Mandate
The mandate of the Department of Corporate Affairs is to provide a specialised and technical advice to the Bank on legal, corporate governance, communication, compliance, strategy, and secretariat services.

2. Divisions
The Department consists of the six (6) Divisions namely; Legal and Advisory, Corporate Communication, Corporate Governance, Compliance, Strategy Management and Board Secretariat.

a) Legal And Advisory Division
The Legal and Advisory Division is charged with the primary responsibility of managing the Central Bank of Lesotho’s legal risk. This is carried out through the exercise of the responsibilities of the Legal and Advisory Counsel as a function within the Bank. The functions of the Division include the following:

• To develop and review of the Bank’s regulatory and supervisory legal framework;
• To manage the Bank’s litigation;
• To provide legal advice and counsel to the Bank; and
• To manage contracts of the Bank.

b) Corporate Communication Division
The Corporate Communication Division is charged with the responsibility of promoting effective communication with both internal and external stakeholders thus enhancing the corporate brand image and reputation of the Bank.

The functions of the Division include the following:

• To keep employees informed about work related issues;
• To foster alliances and lobby the support of stakeholders for the various programmes and activities of the Bank;
• To manage the corporate social responsibility programme of the Bank;
• To monitor and improve customer care;
• To deal with stakeholder queries and enquiries;
• To liaise with the media;
• To provide technical support to management on communication issues;
• To provide protocol services including management of events of the Bank; and
• To promote strong bilateral and multilateral relations with the Bank’s international stakeholders.

c) Corporate Governance Division
The Corporate Governance Division is charged with the responsibility of management of and ensuring that there are effective and efficient governance and ethics processes within the Bank.
The functions of the Division include the following:

• To monitor governance of Information Technology;
• To promote the culture of Business Practices and Ethics;
• To manage performance management across the entire Bank;
• To ensure the maintenance of the code of Ethics;
• To establish and monitor Ethics Management process within the Bank;
• To develop Bank-wide Fraud prevention plan;
• To conduct Fraud and Ethics risk assessment process within the Bank; and
• To conduct ethics awareness and rollout and an on-going Training on ethics management.

d) Compliance Division
The Compliance Division is responsible for oversight and monitoring of Compliance Risk Management and control systems. The Compliance Function supports Senior Management in managing the compliance risks and embedding compliance in the culture of the Bank. In this regard, the Division supports the Bank with the following:

• To embed compliance with laws, regulations, business principles, rules of conduct, customer agreements and established good business practices in every aspect of the Bank;
• To establish and maintain effective compliance risk management and control systems, including monitoring and reporting; and
• To provide timely advice to the Bank on relevant changes in the compliance environment.

The functions of the Division include the following:

• To advise the Bank on Compliance issues;
• To support the Bank to raise awareness of Compliance Risk Appetite and established best practices;
• To support the Bank by identifying, assessing and overseeing the mitigation of Compliance Risks; and
• To report on compliance matters that warrant the attention of Management and the Board. Such reports include, as a minimum, exceeded compliance risk tolerance levels and unaccepted business practices.