BIBF Launches 9 Learning Academies for Banking and Finance

1. Investment & Capital Markets
2. Accounting & Finance
3. Audit & Internal Controls
4. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) & Compliance
5. Transaction Banking
6. Risk & Governance
7. Tax
8. Business Banking
9. Sustainable Development

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

The Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance (BIBF) has announced the launch of nine academies for banking and finance as part of the institute’s initiatives to support the government’s recent economic recovery strategy which prioritised training 3,000 Bahrainis and provided a comprehensive development path for the banking sector for the next five years to maintain economic growth and enhance financial and economic position in line with the objectives of the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030.

The nine academies were launched to provide a pathway for deep technical skills and competencies in their respective field, and include Investment & Capital Markets Academy, Accounting & Finance Academy, Audit & Internal Controls Academy, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) & Compliance Academy, Transaction Banking Academy, Risk & Governance Academy, Tax Academy, Business Banking Academy, in addition to Sustainable Development Academy – which was launched earlier this year in May.

Director of the BIBF, Dr. Ahmed Al Shaikh stated, “The BIBF has been closely diagnosing skills and training gaps in the market and filling those gaps with specialised training and development solutions in a proactive manner, leading the industry as a thought leader on the latest trends in the banking field, while anticipating future demands. The launch of these academies will further support this commitment by providing specalised training tracks for learners to select based on their sector of work and technological capabilities to be developed.”

Head of the Centre for Banking and Finance at BIBF, Ms. Zeeba Askar, said “The Banking and Finance academies are launched to centralise the programme offerings and bring in the needed specialization in the core subject areas relevant to the banking and finance sector.  With the evolving and transforming industry, it is crucial to reskill and upskill the human capital in the sector to ensure maintaining and enhancing high caliber professionals in this important sector.  As thought leaders, we do not only focus on what is currently required in the labor market, but we maintain forward thinking perspective by introducing relevant competencies that will be in demand in the future.”

She also added, “We’ve established partnerships with major institutions under each of the academies to ensure delivering high quality and timely topics.  Further, the programmes offered under each academy range from establishing the foundational core competency all the way up to professional certifications which are based on practical application.”

“To ensure the quality of the topics and their relevance to the sector, we formed Advisory Committees in each academy to advise the Centre to give feedback on the academies’ offerings, advise on the industry trends and emerging training needs.” she concluded.