Dear Member,

 

My warm greetings to you and your family members.

 

The outbreak of novel Corona Virus (COVID 19) has been declared as pandemic by WHO and has affected many places / states of our country. We are indeed passing through a difficult time with our country being in locked down mode for 21 days till 14th April, 2020 to fight spreading of the Corona Virus.

 

I appeal to all of you to stay safe and follow the instructions issued by the Government agencies. This is for our own good and good for the nation.

 

I am quite positive that the dark cloud of COVID 19 will soon pass away and we will be greeted by bright sunshine of joy and happiness. My best wishes to all of you.

 

The Institute will be physically shut till 14th April, 2020 but the staff of the Institute continue to work from home. All Institute's online services will be operational, and the Institute's executives will be available on e-mail. The members can, therefore contact, the officials of the Institute through e-mail for their queries, if any.

 

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the examinations conducted by the Institute will have to be postponed. Fresh dates for holding the exams will be announced as soon as possible. I would request you to please visit the website of the Institute for the latest updates.

 

Let me now share with you some of the important developments at the Institute which happened during the financial year 2019-2020.

 

Inauguration of premises at Kolkata, meeting of Heads of HR & Training of banks and 36^th PTM Lecture 

 

The Institute has acquired its own premises at Kolkata and New Delhi. While renovation of the premises at New Delhi is in progress, the renovation of the Institute’s office at Kolkata has been completed.

 

The new office at Kolkata, besides having state-of-the-art facilities, also has a studio where classes through the virtual mode could be conducted for the different programmes of the Institute.

 

On 1^st February 2020, the Institute conducted the following three events at Kolkata.

 

1. Inauguration of its new premises
2. Meet of HR & Training Heads of banks
3. 36^th SirPurshotamdas Thakurdas Memorial Lecture

 

The new premise was inaugurated by Mr. Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, SBI and President, IIBF.

 

The meet of HR & Training Heads of banks saw a good participation from banks.

 

The 36^th Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas Memorial Lecture was delivered by Hon’ble Justice Shri S J Mukhopadhaya, Chairperson, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on the topic

 

“Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and its impact on the Economy.” The Lecture was attended by a large and appreciative audience.

 

Case Study Writing Competition

 

Case study, as a pedagogical tool, has gained prominence. The Institute had therefore taken an initiative of organising a case study writing competition for the bankers. As per the guidelines drawn up, a Case accompanied by a Teaching Note were to be developed on a theme related to Indian Banking. The list of suggested themes was segregated on the basis of specialization into Scheme I (Specialized Areas) and Scheme II (General Areas).  Attractive prizes were also announced. While the first three prizes under Scheme I were Rs. 50,000/=, Rs. 40000/= and Rs. 30,000/= respectively, the prizes under Scheme II were Rs. 30,000/=, Rs. 20,000/= and Rs. 10,000/= respectively.

 

This initiative of the Institute was appreciated by the banking fraternity and was evident from the overwhelming response received. The Institute had received a total of as many as 61 case studies accompanied by Teaching Notes.

 

The case studies were evaluated by a Committee and the following officials were the prize winners:

 

Scheme I (Specialized Areas)

 

I Prize - Rs. 50,000/-

Winner: Dr. M. S. Ali,

Case Study: Credit Appraisal in Project Loan- Estimating A Probability of Default   - A Case Study

 

II Prize - Rs. 40,000/-

Winner: Mr. Arun Kumar Pathak,

Case Study: Expansion project punctures Shyam Auto

 

III Prize - Rs. 30,000/-

Winner: Mr. Koneti Ramesh Babu,

Case Study: Trouble Taken Over

 

Scheme II (General Areas)

 

I Prize - Rs. 30,000/-

Winner: Mr. Karan Gupta,

Case Study: Doing Business less by rules more by Ethics

 

II Prize - Rs. 20,000/-

Winner: Ms. Sakuntala Sanyal,

Case Study: Learning Organization: Way to Unlock Business Agility

 

III Prize - Rs. 10,000/-

Winner: Mr. Srinivasan K,

Case Study: Inception - Tale of Many Loops

 

The other cases, which were shortlisted, were awarded a consolation prize of Rs. 2000/=.

 

10^th R K Talwar Memorial Lecture

 

The 10^th Shri R. K Talwar Memorial Lecture was organised by the Institute on 22^nd November, 2019 and was delivered by Mr. Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Advisor, Government of India and Co-chair of G20’s Framework Working Group, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The topic for the Lecture was “Beyond Risk: Policy making for an Uncertain World”. Many senior bankers and other dignitaries from various fields attended the Lecture.

 

Launching of New Certificate / Diploma Courses

 

In order to keep pace with the ever-changing banking landscape, the Institute introduces new courses for improving the skill base of the banking fraternity.

 

Some of the new certificate courses which are on the anvil are:

 A. Resolution of Stressed Assets of Banks with special emphasis on the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code.

 B. Emerging Technologies.

 C. Strategic Management & Innovations in Banking.

 

Workshops / Seminars / Webinars

 

 

A seminar for the Non-Banking Finance Companies based at Western India was organised on 17^th December 2019. The Key Speaker at the seminar was Mr. Sujit Kumar Varma, Deputy Managing Director, State Bank of India.

 

Webinar on Forensic Audit

 

As part of Institute’s Member Education Series and in order to spread a higher level of awareness amongst bankers about the important developments happening in the banking and finance domains, the Institute had organised its first Webinar on a very contemporary topic “Forensic Audit” on 10th October 2019. The webinar was delivered by Mr. Rakesh Kaushik, FCA, Faculty, IIBF.

 

Scheme for Research Fellowship in “Banking Technology”

 

The Institute had taken an initiative to announce a “Research Fellowship in Banking Technology” in collaboration with IDRBT. The research fellowship carries an award of Rs. 5 lakh and will be fully funded by IIBF.

Research proposals were invited in the following thrust areas:

 

• Cyber Security
• Analytics
• Mobile Banking
• Emerging Technologies
• Payment Systems

 

The scheme which was open from 15^th October 2019 to 14^th January 2020 has received an excellent response. The researchers whose proposals are shortlisted will be called for a presentation before the evaluation committee set up for this purpose. The date will be announced as soon as possible.

 

Call for Micro / Macro Research Proposals

 

The Institute invited micro and macro research proposals for the year 2019-20. Here again, the response has been quite good. The proposals are being examined and further details will be communicated to all concerned as soon as possible.

 

Bank Quest

 

The Institute publishes a quarterly journal called “Bank Quest”.   The themes for the next coming issues of “Bank Quest” are identified as under:

 

1. “Alternative Channels of Investments” - Sub –themes: Mutual Funds, Post-Office & Bank Deposits & others: January – March, 2020
2. “Strategic Technology Trends in Banks” – Sub – themes: Traditional lending to Digital flow based lending, Fintech landscape in India, Cyber Security, Big Data Analytics, Customer Experience: April – June, 2020
3. “NBFCs, Systemic Risk and interconnectedness amongst Financial Institutions”: July-September 2020.

 

Bank Quest included in UGC CARE List of Journals

 

IIBF’s Quarterly Journal, Bank Quest has been included in the Group B of UGC CARE list of Journals. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had established a “Cell for Journals Analysis” at the Centre for Publication Ethics (CPE), Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) to create and maintain the UGC-CARE (UGC - Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics). As per UGC’s notice, research publications only from journals indexed in UGC CARE list should be used for all academic purposes.

 

Capacity Building Courses in banks

 

The Reserve Bank of India had mandated acquiring qualifications in the areas of Credit Management, Risk Management, Treasury Management, Accounting and Foreign Exchange Operations. I am happy to state that IIBF is the only Institute which offers courses covering all the above areas identified by RBI.

 

Examination for Business Correspondents

 

RBI has identified IIBF as the sole certifying agency for certifying the Business Correspondents of both the Scheduled Commercial Banks and Payments Banks. The syllabus for the examination has been revised in consultation with RBI. The Institute has also tied up with CSC e-Governance and BFSI-SSC for certifying the BCs.

 

Virtual Classroom Solution

 

The Institute has acquired a software for conducting training through the Virtual Classroom mode. This has enabled the Institute to disseminate training inputs to a larger audience, without diluting quality. Virtual training for Certificate in Risk in Financial Services, Certified Treasury Professional and Accounting & Audit have also been introduced.

 

Mock Test facility for Examinations

 

The Institute is offering mock test facility for three of its specialized courses, viz. Certified Treasury Professional, Certified Credit Professional and Risk in Financial Services, in addition to its flagship courses viz. JAIIB & CAIIB.

 

Self-paced E-learning courses

 

With rapid progress in technology and advancement in learning systems, E-learning has been embraced by the masses, a formalised teaching system with the help of electronic resources. E-learning has been developed by the Institute for some of its subjects and is made available to the candidates registering for the examinations, as an additional pedagogical tool. To further diversify its portfolio of offerings, the Institute has developed a new mode of certification called the Self-paced e-learning cum certification courses. Two courses namely “Ethics in Banking” and “Digital Banking” have been introduced. 

 

IT Initiatives

 

All the activities undertaken by the Institute are in on-line mode. While continuing to take further initiatives in this regard, the Institute has implemented issuing Digitally Signed Certificates for all the examinations to replace the paper based manual certificates. This is a part of one of the green initiatives of the Institute.

 

Training Programmes

 

Besides trainings covering the mandared courses, the Institute conducted a good number of programmes on topics which were contemporary. Some of such programmes were on Marketing & Customer Service, Banking Compliance, IBC, 2016, AML/KYC, IT & Cyber Security, International Training Programme for Trainers of Banks etc.  

 

Bank Executive Programme

 

The Institute hosted the11th Bank Executive Programme (BEP) for the Senior Management Officials of Commercial Banks from 4.11.2019 to 8.11.2019 at the Leadership Centre of the Institute in Mumbai. BEP is being organized jointly by NIBM, IDRBT and IIBF by rotation. So far, 10 BEPs have been conducted in three campuses of the above apex Institutes. Faculty of all the three Institutions, industry experts and practicing Senior Bankers facilitated the sessions on different areas like Credit, HR, IT and Risk Management. A total of 19 participants from different banks attended this programme. The programme was highly appreciated by the participants.

 

AMP Alumni Annual conference

 

The first annual meet of IIBF AMP Alumni Association (AMPAA) was held at the Leadership

Centre of the Institute in Mumbai on 9^th November 2019. The meet was attended by a large number of the Alumni Members and IIBF Faculty.

 

MDP at IIM Calcutta for the AMP Participants

 

Participants of Advanced Management Programme (AMP VIII Batch 2019- 2020) attended a weeklong MDP Course at IIM Calcutta during 25^th to 29^th September 2019. Senior professors of IIM Calcutta facilitated the sessions. MDP is an integral part of the AMP offered by IIBF.

 

Collaboration with Chartered Banker Institute (CBI)

 

The Institute had signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with the Chartered Banker Institute (CBI). In terms of the MRA, CAIIB holders will get 100 credits out of a total of 125 credits and will have to pass only one module on Professionalism, Ethics & Regulation for becoming a Chartered Banker.

 

The Institute had approached CBI requesting them to examine the possibility of allowing the candidates who have completed JAIIB to also pursue the Chartered Banker qualification.

 

CBI has agreed to the proposal and a separate pathway for the candidates who have completed the JAIIB qualification has been arrived at. The details of this pathway will be communicated to all concerned as soon as possible.

 

Green Initiative

 

As part of green initiative, the Institute has discontinued sending hard copies of its monthly publication “IIBF Vision” with effect from October-2015 to its members. In case, you have not registered your e-mail id with the Institute, I request you to do so to enable the Institute to send copies of IIBF Vision by e-mail to you in future. You can also download issues of “IIBF Vision” and “Bank Quest” from the Institute’s website.

 

We, at the Institute are thankful to all of you for your continued support. I am also sure your unstinted cooperation will continue in the years to come.

 

I welcome suggestions and guidance from the members on various academic and training activities of the Institute.

Dr. J. N. Misra

30^th March 2020.