Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance, on Tuesday said the lack of integrity in the financial sector has failed to promote effective leadership and eroded confidence in the institutions and systems.
"We need to recognise that the financial and economic crisis confronting the world today is in large part the failures of national and cross-border regulatory and supervisory regimes in assessing and managing the build-up of risks in financial institutions and systems".
Dr Duffuor was speaking at a Management Forum organised by the British Council in Accra on the theme: "Discovering the keys to success in the financial sector".
He said the global crisis had been caused by the failure of leadership to drive change by inspiring people, institutions and systems to do new things fast as well as the belief that the solution to the financial crisis laid in the complex mathematical permutations and secrecy.
"Integrity and competence are indispensable traits of effective leadership but integrity is at the forefront of the leadership traits because it is integrity that feeds the people whereas skills lead the people.
"Integrity is therefore required to foster growth before skills can follow to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. So integrity should be regarded as the foundation for a strong and sustainable financial sector," he said.
Dr Duffuor, therefore, called for global discussions and actions on matters such as integrity of the financial sector since countries reaped both the rewards and costs of globalization.
He urged employees of financial institutions to exhibit the highest standards of integrity noting, "Sharp awareness of integrity at all layers of the organisation, not only through rules and regulations but also through training sessions on integrity at the workplace is crucial".
Dr Duffuor said such sessions provided employees greater insight into the integrity dilemmas that might arise in their work and also offered them the opportunity to discuss integrity and what it meant for the growth and stability of the financial sector.
He said financial institutions were unable to keep abreast with the changing views in society on what integrity involves and the type of conduct that was worthy of confidence.
Mr Richard Harvey, former Chief Executive Officer of AVIVA insurance Company and a business development volunteer urged financial institutions to tackle challenges such as the climate change and food shortage instead of focusing solely on the global credit crunch.
Mr Ken Ofori Atta, Executive Chairman of Databank Financial services called for courage and self-discipline in the financial sector in order to tackle the economic challenges.
Mr Hugh Pym, BBC Chief Economic Correspondent, urged Ghanaian financial institutions to join the fight against the global credit crunch even if they did not face major challenges and risks.
Mr Moses Ananiba, Country Director of British Council Ghana said the forum was organised to share ideas among the established and emerging leaders in the financial sector.