Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS) announced the successful training of 32,317 professionals working in the banking and financial sector in 2021—marking a 7.7% increase since 2020.
A total of 701 programs and activities were delivered by EIBFS through the year including a mix of courses from the Banking Annual Training Program, the Insurance Annual Training Program, financial education conferences, learning pathways, privately held programs, professional specialized certifications as well as National Development Programs.
Commenting on this milestone, Jamal Al Jassmi, General Manager of EIBFS said: “We are pleased to witness the number of trainees completing their professional training with EIBFS this year. Every year, we curate our training programs based on the current needs of regional and global markets. This approach has worked for us well and have helped us in our quest to support the professional growth of individuals working in the banking and finance.”
Breakdown of Programs
From January to December, 2021, EIBFS delivered 316 programs in Banking Operations, Credit Management and Project Finance, Fintech/Analytics and E- Banking, Human Resources Management & Leadership, Islamic Banking, Marketing Sales & Customer Service, Quality Management, Risk Management & Compliance and Treasury & Investment Banking, among others. A total of 20,871 professionals from the banking and finance sector participated in these courses.
In the insurance space, EIBFS collaboratied with the Insurance Authority to prepare the 2021 training plan. Over 117 curated training modules have been delivered to 3,301 participants so far.
During the year, EIBFS also held several private training programs and Learning pathways at the request and need of the banking and insurance sector. 61 private training programs and 122 learning pathways were conducted via various digital platforms, which collectively drew the participation of 4200 participants.
To offer a well-rounded training experience, this year, EIBFS extended six specialized professional certification courses in collaboration with leading institutions.
Emiratization Efforts
As a step further in EIBFS’s long-standing commitment to accelerate the UAE government’s Emiratization efforts, EIBFS executed a competency driven qualifications for the various jobs in the banking sector to support them in skilling, upskilling and reskilling UAE nationals in various banking domains and assist the banks to reach their annual recruitment and training targets. The institute organized 61 programs attended by 1,540 participants.
A total 8,252 UAE Nationals underwent the banking annual training programs, whereas 643 UAE nationals took part in the insurance annual training programs and 980 UAE nationals took part in the private courses and learning pathways.
During the year, 12,550 UAE Nationals enrolled with EIBFS and successfully completed their training—marking 40 percent of the total participation.
To attract Emirati Talents, EIBFS and Tanfeeth, a subsidiary of Emirates NBD, have organized an Open Day for Emirati job seekers in the banking and finance sector. The event highlighted diverse job roles available in UAE banks and financial institutions in a wide variety of functions, such as operations, finance, transformation, customer service and collections. During the Open Day, 40 interviews were conducted, and several candidates were identified for existing vacancies as well as potential future openings.
Stakeholder Engagement
In a move to engage its participants beyond traditional training, through the year, EIBFS held a diverse set of webinars. Bringing together experts from different banking and finance verticals as well as government entities, a total of 12 session were held to cover topics including post pandemic strategies, green finance, women in banking and mental health, among others.
Moreover, for the first time ever, EIBFS conducted a learning bootcamp facilitated by learning division to all HR business partners and learning and development teams to discuss the best practices in learning domain to improve effectiveness of training, the communication strategies via daily reporting technique and town hall events and how to use EIBFS training portal for registrations and overall programs management, total of 31 HR professionals had attended the bootcamp.
ATP 2022
In line with the UAE government mandate to increase Emirati representation in the workforce, in October, EIBFS unveiled it 2022 plan. The plan aims to reskill the current Emirati workforce and expand their career pathways by improving their skills and competencies.
The 2022 ATP is based on the theme ‘Ready for the future’ and features a range of international certificates, professional certificates, Insight e-learning and learning bundles. Trainees can opt for full-fledged courses, micro-learning modules or self-paced learning options.
