Members / Candidates grievance resolution system

Dear Member,

My warm greetings to you and your family members.

I hope that all of you are safe and healthy.

Let me now have the pleasure of informing you about the recent initiatives taken /which will be taken by the Institute.

Remote Proctoring Exams

The Institute has taken an initiative of introducing Remote Proctored Examinations. As a pilot, three of its certificate courses (AML/KYC, MSME and Prevention of Cyber Crimes & Fraud Management) have been taken up. Remote proctoring exams allow flexibility to candidates of appearing for the exams from the comfort of their homes while simultaneously enhancing the knowledge base. Remote proctoring will be done in combination with AI driven auto-proctoring and physical remote proctoring processes to ensure quality standards. Based on the experience gained, remote proctoring will be introduced for other examinations offered by the Institute. The salient features of this mode of exam are as under:

  • Examination shall be conducted on second and fourth Saturdays and Sundays.
  • Pass percentage for each of the certificate examinations will be 60%.
  • Examinations for the three subjects will not be held at physical centres.
  • There will be no change in the examination fee.
  • Fresh registrations can be done for the July examinations. Registrations have started from 9th June 2020.

For detailed instructions, exam schedule, rules and regulations, please click on the following link.

http://www.iibf.org.in/documents/pdf/Rules%20and%20regulation%20of%20RP%20exam_20200525.pdf

Updation of the JAIIB /DB&F courseware

The Institute has updated its books covering the JAIIB/DB & F examinations and these updated books will be available in the market shortly.

Professional Conversion Route for JAIIB holders --Agreement with Chartered Banker Institute

The Chartered Banker Institute (CBI) has accredited the JAIIB qualification awarded by IIBF and has developed a Professional Conversion Route for JAIIB holders. Under this, the JAIIB holders, by completing CBI’s reflective Ethics assignment can attain the Associate Chartered Banker qualification.

The JAIIB holders who wish to enrol for the JAIIB Professional Conversion Route to Associate Chartered Banker will have to register on IIBF’s website by paying a nominal amount of Rs. 1000/= to IIBF. Candidates will have to upload their JAIIB certificate on IIBF’s website. IIBF will verify the completion of JAIIB for ensuring eligibility for the Professional Conversion Route.

The fees required to be paid by candidates to the Chartered Banker Institute will be 195 GBP.

The details of the Professional Conversion Route will be placed on IIBF’s website shortly.

Advanced Management Program (AMP – 2020-2021) – Hybrid Mode 

The Advanced Management Programme (AMP) is a flagship course of the Institute. So far, the AMP was offered in Mumbai through the physical classroom mode. Considering the rapid digitisation of the education sector, the Institute has taken an initiative of designing the AMP during 2020-2021, in the Hybrid mode, which is a combination of virtual classroom sessions and Immersion Programmes at IIBF, Mumbai and IIM, Calcutta. This will enable candidates from all over the country to enrol for the Advanced Management Programme. The brochure for the AMP 2020-2021 is ready and has been placed on the website of the Institute.

Change in training methodology (level 2) for candidates of the blended courses on Certified Banking Compliance Professional and Certified Bank Trainer

Considering the constraints in mobility of the persons, especially due to COVID-19, it has been decided by the Institute to amend the rules as under: -

(a) The new methodology, inter-alia, will consist of Virtual Classroom Learning for 3 days.

(b) Evaluation Process of Virtual Classroom Training and Criteria for Evaluation:

Candidates who have successfully passed the online examination have to undergo Virtual Classroom Training. For this purpose, the candidate, on passing the examination should log on to IIBF website and select his/her convenient slot for virtual classroom training (3 days) from the pre-determined dates. During the virtual classroom training, candidates will be assessed (Internal assessment) for training performance for a total of 50 marks. Marks for training will be awarded to candidates by faculty for their training participation and performance in test based on MCQs. For details, please visit the website of the Institute.

Activities handled and initiatives taken by the Institute during lockdowns

The initiatives taken by the Institute during the lockdowns are as under:

  • The Institute has moved to a cloud environment. This has helped the Institute to handle critical activities even during lockdowns.
  • More than 15,000 digital certificates have been issued during the lockdown period.
  • During April 2020, on-line learning initiatives were announced. These include:
    • Video lectures covering JAIIB/CAIIB,
    • E-learning on Credit Management free of charge for a period of three months,
    • Knowledge Sessions on current banking topics free of charge.

I am happy to share that the above initiatives have elicited a good response from participants.

Other initiatives taken / important developments during the financial year 2019-20

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

The Institute has acquired its own premises at Kolkata and New Delhi. 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 1st 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. 36th Sir Purshotamdas 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 36th 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. In order to have a good repository of case studies, the Institute had 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 suggested themes were segregated on the basis of specialization into Scheme I (Specialized Areas) and Scheme II (General Areas).  Attractive prizes were also announced.

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

The case studies received were evaluated by a Committee on the basis of the laid down parameters and the winners were announced.

Revision in Syllabus for the Business Correspondent (BC) Certification – Scheduled Commercial Banks

RBI, vide their letter dated 3rd October 2018, had identified IIBF as the sole certifying authority for the BCs of the Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) as well as for the Payments Banks. Different models for certifying the BCs  were drawn up by the Institute in consultation with RBI. Separate courseware for the BCs of SCBs and Payments Banks were published.

For ensuring seamless certification of the BCs, the Institute has published the courseware into 11 languages and the examination is also held in 11 languages. In order to help the BCs to understand the subject better, video lectures, in Hindi and English, covering the courseware have been recorded and have been placed on the YouTube channel of the Institute. 

Capacity Building of Officers – Notification by RBI

IIBF is the only Institute which has been offering all the five courses identified by RBI under the capacity building programme of banks. More than 20,000 candidates had enrolled for these courses during 2019-2020.

Inclusion of Ethics in Banking under JAIIB

As ethical principles need to be followed by all the staff in an organisation, it was felt imperative by the Institute that knowledge on certain fundamental aspects of  “Ethics in Banking” is disseminated to a larger population of bankers at different levels. In this connection, the JAIIB examination offered by the Institute is taken by a large number of candidates. It was therefore decided that apart from a separate certificate course on “Ethics in Banking”, certain units from the courseware on the subject will be made part of the first paper of JAIIB namely “Principles and Practices of Banking.” The examination on this subject held in May 2019 had some questions on “Ethics in Banking”. The courseware for the subject “Principles and Practices of Banking.” has been accordingly modified and made available in the market.

 

TASK” - new periodical

A new periodical by name “TASK (Training for Attitude, Skill and Knowledge)” was started from Training Department wherein, the news items on training programmes are informed to the bankers. This publication is in e-form only.  The idea is to make this e-magazine more attractive and informative in the months to come.  So far 5 issues, have been published. 

10th R K Talwar Memorial Lecture

 The 10th Shri R. K Talwar Memorial Lecture was organised by the Institute on 22nd 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:

  1. Resolution of Stressed Assets of Banks with special emphasis on the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code
  2. Emerging Technologies
  3. Strategic Management & Innovations in Banking

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 15th October 2019 to 14th 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. “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
  2. “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.

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.

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

18th June 2020.