IIBF of the block- Capacity Building in Banks and AIFIs

          Reserve Bank of India vide its Letter No:-RBI/2016-17/36 DBR.No.BP.BC.4/21.03.009/2016-17 dt.August 11, 2016 advised All Commercial Banks and All India Financial Institutions (Exim Bank, NABARD, NHB and SIDBI), to identify specialised areas for certification of the staff manning key responsibilities.

As a pointer, Reserve Bank of India has made the beginning and advised Banks to make acquiring of a certificate course mandatory for the following areas:

Treasury operations – Dealers, mid-office operations

Risk management – credit risk, market risk, operational risk, enterprise-wide risk, information security, liquidity risk

Accounting – Preparation of financial results, audit function

Credit management – credit appraisal, rating, monitoring, credit administration

At the same time, Banks are free to require certification for other areas of work also. The employees working in the aforementioned areas should be asked to acquire certifications within a specified period, say, 6 months. This period can be extended depending on the time required for the certification. Banks should have a specific policy in place for this purpose.

In the long run, a full fledged accreditation agency for assuring and accrediting learning initiatives within the banking industry, etc., will be set up. The matter is being examined by Reserve Bank of India. 

In the interim, Reserve Bank of India has requested IBA to identify in consultation with RBI and provide to its members, by end December 2016, a list of institutions and courses that will meet the certification requirements for different work areas mentioned above.

To assist IBA in this exercise, IBA may, form an expert group comprising such agencies, institutions at it deems necessary.

W.E.F from April 1, 2018 only those employees who have obtained the necessary certification, can be posted to the above mentioned functional areas.

Hence, banks should ensure that by end-March 2017, the employees in relevant areas have commenced the process of obtaining necessary certifications.

As the dead-line has been fixed, Banks and other All India Financial Institutions have approached IBA for clarity to kick-start the certification process.

          IBA released its first circular on this subject on 26^th April, 2017. In this circular IBA has identified 11 institutions which can provide certification in the areas identified by RBI namely, Treasury Operations, Risk Management, Accounting and Credit Management.

          IIBF  is one of the 11 institutions who can offers courses in the above areas. As the queries received by IBA from Banks were almost similar, IBA complied and release FAQs on the same.

          The FAQs can be accessed on IIBF website. The FAQs are comprehensive and should be enough for the candidates to register for the said courses.  

          In case, there are some additional queries on which banks need clarifications, a mail may be sent to any one of the following officers. All the queries will be promptly attended.

·       S. Muralidaran, Director (Academics) Email id: smuralidaran@iibf.org.in

·       TCG Namboodiri, Director (Training) Email id: drnamboodiri@iibf.org.in

·       S P Nair, Joint Director (Examinations) Email id: spnair@iibf.org.in

·       Priti Aggarwal, Deputy Director (Academics) Email id: priti@iibf.org.in

Brief objectives of the courses identified:

·       Certified Treasury Dealer - To create a cadre of well-trained dealers to handle the front office  operations in the integrated dealing rooms in banks/financial institutions.

·       Risk In Financial Services - To enable bankers to gain expertise in the area of Risk Management in Financial Services.

·       Certified Credit Officer - To develop a cadre of credit officers in banks to perform different credit functions across banks and to inculcate advanced skills for handling credit management issues

·       (IIBF will be introducing a course shortly on “Accounting & Audit” covering preparation of financial results and audit function, which is the fourth area identified by RBI for certification.)

·       CERTIFICATE COURSE IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE -  RBI, vide its letter dated 31st May 2017, addressed to IBA and copy endorsed to IIBF had stated that the Certificate Course in Foreign Exchange offered by IIBF in association with FEDAI will be a mandatory qualification for all bank employees who are working or desirous of working in the area of Foreign Exchange Operations including treasury operations.

Wikipedia :: Capacity building (or capacity development) is the process by which individual and organizations obtain, improve, and retain the skills and knowledge needed to do their jobs competently. Capacity building and capacity development are often used interchangeably; however, some people interpret capacity building as not recognizing people's existing capacity whereas capacity development recognizes existing capacities which require improvement.