Dubai: The Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS), an independent training centre that offers education, training and allied services in banking and finance, has witnessed a big surge in demand for their training programmes in recent years.

In an interview with Gulf News, Jamal Al Jasmi, general manager of the EIBFS, shared the institute’s plans for the year ahead and future.

Founded in 1983, EIBFS currently has three campuses for education and training services located in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The institute, last year, delivered a total of 980 educational programmes, the highest in its history.

This was an increase of 101 programmes or 11.6 per cent increase compared to 879 in 2016.

“Overall, the total number of participants [male and female] jumped to 24,016 in 2017 from 23,899 in 2016. And of the total participants in 2017, an impressive 25 per cent or 5,945 UAE nationals were trained and participated in EIBFS’ different programmes and workshops,” Al Jasmi said.

Over the last three years, from 2015 to 2017, the institute had 18,072 UAE national participants.

With more customised courses in response to the demands of the banking and finance industry as well as the job market, the institute continue to offer Annual Training Plan (ATPs) across several categories.

In terms of the programmes offered by the institute, ATP is the largest and in 2017, 586 programmes were offered to banking professionals, who totalled 14,017. Of the total participants, 3,738 (27 per cent) were UAE nationals.

The categories include Bank Science and Operations, Credit Management and Project Finance, Banking English, Treasury and Capital Market, Marketing, Sales and Customer Service, Human Resources Management and Leadership, Islamic Banking, E-Banking Applications, Risk Management and Compliance and Quality Management.

The Insurance Programme was next in terms of numbers of the programmes offered: 134 programmes in total, which saw 2,600 professionals trained, with and 396 (15 per cent) being UAE nationals.

The E-learning programme was equally popular, with a total of 118 programmes offered. The programmes were undertaken by 3,800 finance professionals and 520 (14 per cent) were UAE nationals.

Private training programmes undertaken by the institute at the request of the banking and financial sectors to cater to their specific training needs and requirements are also an important category for the institute.

From January 1st to December 31st, 2017, 70 private training programmes were conducted, which was a big jump from 2016’s 58 programmes. There were a total of 993 participants from different banks and insurance companies, and a staggering 584 were UAE nationals.

The road ahead

Given the growing demand for trained personnel in the financial services industry in the UAE and the region, the EIBF is gearing up to offer a number market leading courses in 2018.

“The target for the annual Training Plan (ATP) for 2018 is 585, about 3 per cent more than last year’s target that we set,” Al Jasmi said. “In 2017 the target was 570. But last year [in 2017], we exceeded the target and the final number of ATP programmes stood at 586. Given the trend that we have seen over the years, I can say that we will exceed our target in 2018. That’s due to the demand from the financial institutions, which work with us closely to create new programmes that would be beneficial for their employees.”

The institute finalises courses in consultation with its advisory and HR committees, which are made up of representatives of banks and insurance companies. It follows up with training needs analysis to come up with the regular and customised programs.

This year the EIBFS will offer 12 professional certificate qualifications. These programmes will offer the qualifications in collaboration with specialised international institutions.

“We have a target of 40 customised programmes and 15 Nationalisation Development Programmes. And we have plans to conduct nine workshops and seminars with industry experts from the country and abroad on topics that are relevant to the financial sector. It’s important to take our programmes to the different emirates. And we are increasingly doing so,” he said.

In addition to their main campuses of Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the institute will be conducting training programmes in Al Ain and the northern emirates. The institute has set a target of 28 programmes for Al Ain, 18 for Fujairah, and seven for Ras Al Khaimah.