Dear Member,

It gives me great pleasure in informing you that your Institute has completed 90 years of service to the banking & finance industry. The occasion was celebrated in the Institute on 27^th April, 2018. Mr. Rajeev Rishi, President IIBF and CMD of Central Bank of India delivered the keynote address in the event. In his keynote address, Mr. Rishi emphasised several milestone achievements of the Institute during its long and eventful journey. He also felicitated the successful candidates of the VI batch of the Advanced Management Programme (AMP) conducted by IIBF.

Let me now take this opportunity to share with you some of the other recent developments.

Visitors to the Institute

Mr Patrick Misana, Executive Director of Tanzanian Institute of Bankers visited IIBF in February 2018 as a part of his study tour to understand the best practices followed by IIBF.

A team of senior bankers from Nepal is expected to visit IIBF on 5^th June, 2018.

APABI Conference 2018

The Asia Pacific Association of Banking Institutes (APABI) is an informal association of Banking Institutes of the Asia-Pacific region. APABI plays an important role in bringing together specialist training institutes that share a common goal to equip banks and financial institutions with the capacity to deal with the transformational developments that are shaping the financial sector by supporting the continued renewal of its most valuable asset, human capital. The theme of the 2018 APABI Conference held during May 2018 at Taipei was “Fintalent Development in the Digital Era.” The undersigned had the privilege of delivering the keynote address on “Digital Transformation of Finance and Talent Innovation in India” at the conference.

Global Banking Education Standards Board (GBEStB)

The GBEStB is a voluntary, industry-led initiative founded by many of the world’s leading banking institutes. It aims to develop clear, internationally agreed standards for the education of Professional Bankers. IIBF is a founder member of the GBEStB and CEO, IIBF is the Vice-Chair of the Global Education Standards Committee. This Committee has already developed a standard for Ethics Education and Training for Professional Bankers.

Capacity Building in banks

RBI vide its notification dated 11^th August, 2016 had mandated that each bank should have a Board approved policy to deploy staff with adequate qualification/certification in key areas of operations - Credit Management, Treasury Management, Risk Management and Accounting & Audit. IIBF, being one of the identified institutions, offers courses covering the areas of Treasury Operations, Risk Management and Credit Management. In addition to the above courses, RBI, vide its letter dated 31st May 2017, addressed to IBA, had mentioned that the course offered by IIBF in association with FEDAI, on “Foreign Exchange Operations” will also be a mandatory qualification, for those who are working or desirous of working in the area of Foreign Exchange Operations.

The courses offered by the Institute in the areas of Treasury Operations, Risk Management and Credit Management, which have been identified by RBI under the capacity building exercise of banks, are blended in nature with an online examination followed by training for such of those candidates who successfully clear the online examination.

I am now happy to inform you the Institute will be introducing a course covering the accounting and audit functions. With this, the Institute has the full coverage of all the areas identified by RBI under the capacity building exercise of banks.

Mutual Recognition Agreement with the Chartered Banker Institute, Edinburgh, U.K

The Institute has signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement with The Chartered Banker Institute, Edinburgh. Under this agreement, “Certified Associates of the Indian Institute of Bankers” (CAIIB) from India will have their qualifications recognised by the Chartered Banker Institute, and will be able to become Chartered Bankers by studying the Institute’s Professionalism, Ethics & Regulation Module and successfully completing a reflective assignment.

Seminars and Memorial Lectures

As a part of the Member Education Initiative of the Institute, a seminar on “Professionalism & Ethics” will be organised by the Institute in association with the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, London on 22^nd June 2018 at the corporate office of the Institute.

The RK Talwar and the Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas Memorial Lecture is stated to be held in August 2018. Dr. Bibek Debroy, Member NITI Aayog, has kindly consented to deliver the lecture.

The Institute will also be organising an International Seminar during September 2018. The theme of the International Seminar will be “Banking – Stepping into the next decade.” The Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas Memorial Lecture (PTML) will be a part of this international seminar. The details on this subject will be placed on the website of the Institute shortly.

Virtual Classroom Solution

The Institute has acquired a software for conducting training through the Virtual Classroom mode. This enables the Institute to disseminate the training inputs to a larger audience without diluting quality. The trainings for Certified Credit Professionals and Certificate in Risk in Financial Services are being offered in this mode currently. Kindly visit our website www.iibf.org.in. for more details.

Mock Test facility for Examinations

The Institute is offering mock test facility for three of the capacity building courses, namely, Certified Treasury Professional, Certified Credit Professional and Risk in Financial Services, in addition to its flagship courses viz. JAIIB & CAIIB. Any candidate can now take the mock test to familiarize with the examinations.

E- learning

The Institute is providing e-learning for JAIIB, CAIIB, DB&F, Diploma in Treasury, Investment & Risk Management, Customer Service & Banking Codes & Standards, Anti-Money Laundering/Know Your Customer and Risk in Financial Services Examinations. The e-learning for the above subjects are activated within three working days after registration for the above mentioned examinations.

Video Lectures now available on YouTube

The Institute is providing the facility of video lectures for all the 3 papers of JAIIB and 2 compulsory papers of CAIIB, which is now available on the Institute's official YouTube Channel.

Training

The Institute had conducted 127 training programmes during this year in different topics at its Leadership Center at Mumbai and at Professional Development Centres (PDCs) at Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi. The programmes were well received by the participants as the feedbacks were encouraging with strong recommendations for repetition of the programmes. The Institute had also organised various customised training programs for Bankers.

Research Initiatives

The Institute had received a very good response for its research initiatives from across premium educational institutes, banks & financial institutions. The results under Micro and Macro Research Programmes have been announced.

Bank Quest

The Institute publishes a quarterly journal called “Bank Quest”. The theme for April - June 2018 issue is "International Banking". The forthcoming issues will be based on the following themes:

1. Risk Management: July – September 2018
2. Micro Research Papers 2018: October – December 2018
3. Mutual Funds: January – March 2019
4. Ethics & Corporate Governance in Banks: April – June 2019
5. Emerging technological changes in Banking: July – September 2019

We request members to contribute articles on the above themes for publication in “Bank Quest”.

Social Media

The Institute is on Face book and You Tube. The page has since got over 80,000 likes on various types of posts viz. IIBF / RBI notifications, Quote of the day, Opinion Poll, Greetings, Photos and videos of various events / seminars / conferences conducted by the Institute.

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.

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

Dr. J. N. Misra

01.06.2018