Dear Member,
Happy festive greetings.
On 2nd October 2019, the nation celebrated the 150th birth
anniversary of the Mahatma. It will therefore be appropriate for me to start by
giving a very apt quote by the one and only Mahatma Gandhi.
The future depends on what you do today.
You will all agree that the above quote will stand the test of time even in centuries
to come.
Let me now share with you some of the important developments in the Institute in
the recent past.
Annual General Meeting
The 92nd Annual General Meeting of the Institute held on 23rd
August 2019 was presided over by Mr. V G Kannan, Member, Governing Council, IIBF
& Chief Executive Officer, IBA.
Financial Performance
The balance sheet of IIBF as on 31st March 2019 at Rs. 509.57 crore registered
an increase of 15% over the previous year. The income of the Institute during 2018-19
at Rs. 113.31 crore witnessed an increase of around 10% over the previous year.
The Institute has made a surplus of Rs.59.22 crore, an 18% increase from the previous
year.
Membership
The number of Ordinary Members was 8,86,580 as on 31st March, 2019. During 2018-19,
46,606 new members joined the Institute.
Enrolments of candidates for examinations conducted by IIBF
I am indeed happy to state that during 2018-19, more than 5.5 lakh candidates had
enrolled for the different examinations conducted by the Institute.
Workshops/Seminars
The Institute organises seminars/workshops every year on topics of contemporary
relevance across the country as part of its “Member Education Series”.
This time during the month of September 2019, the Institute organised workshops
at the following locations:
Place
|
Topic
|
Date
|
New Delhi
|
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016
|
6th September 2019
|
Chennai
|
Banking Today : Secur-e-Banking in association with Digital Security Association
of India, Chennai
|
13th September 2019
|
Kolkata
|
Emerging Technologies
|
26th September 2019
|
There was good participation from bankers for all the above seminars.
Webinar
As part of its 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 has taken the initiative to organise a Webinar
on a very contemporary topic “Forensic Audit”.
The webinar is scheduled for 10th October between 3.00 pm to 4.00 pm,
to be delivered by an internal faculty of the Institute. The webinar is completely
free of charge and can be viewed from anywhere with suitable connectivity.
Scheme for Research Fellowship in “Banking Technology”
Adoption of technology has changed the contours of banking. The Core Banking Solutions
(CBS) opened new vistas. A customer no longer banks with a branch but with a bank.
Banks, of today, have however moved beyond CBS and have embraced newer and emerging
technologies like Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Block chain, etc.
These technologies have ushered in a metamorphosis of change in the Indian banking
landscape and are considered to be a creative force. Nevertheless, these emerging
technologies are not without their challenges. Cyber security assumes critical importance
as in an internet-based banking environment, cyber frauds can happen with global
footprints. Research covering the above emerging technologies may therefore prove
to be highly beneficial for the banks.
In the above milieu, Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF) has taken
an initiative to announce a “Research Fellowship in Banking Technology”
jointly with IDRBT. The research fellowship carries an award of Rs. 5 lakhs and
will be fully funded by IIBF.
Research proposals will be invited in the following thrust areas:
- Cyber Security
- Analytics
- Mobile Banking
- Emerging Technologies
- Payment Systems
The scheme will be open from 15th October 2019 for a period of three
months. Further details will be placed on the website of the Institute.
Case Study Writing Competition
A case study is an important pedagogical tool for enhancing learning and comprehension
of complex and multi-fold situations. IIBF has taken the initiative of organising
a case study writing competition to encourage bankers / finance professionals to
share their knowledge and experience through developing cases, accompanied by Teaching
Notes. The aim of this competition is to encourage bankers to simulate an academic
environment and develop case studies relevant to the banking & finance domains.
I am happy to inform you that the Institute received an overwhelming response from
bankers. Many of the cases were also rich in content and cogently dealt with the
practical aspects of the domain concerned. The cases were evaluated by a committee
and the prize winners have been announced.
Bank Quest
The Institute publishes a quarterly journal called “Bank Quest”.
The themes for next issues of “Bank Quest” are identified as:
- Financial Inclusion & Financial Literacy: October – December, 2019
- Alternative Channels of Investments - Sub –themes: Mutual Funds, Post-Office
& Bank Deposits & others: January – March, 2020
- 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
- NBFCs, Systemic Risk and interconnectedness amongst Financial Institutions
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:
- Emerging Technologies
- Strategic Management & Innovations in Banking
- Resolution of Stressed Assets of Banks with special emphasis on the Insolvency &
Bankruptcy Code
Capacity Building Courses for Bank Officers
In today’s competitive banking environment, it is imperative that bankers
keep themselves abreast of the latest developments in the banking and finance domains.
The Reserve Bank of India had therefore mandated acquiring qualifications in the
areas of Credit Management, Risk Management, Treasury Management, Accounting and
Foreign Exchange Operations. IIBF was one of the Institutions whose courses were
identified for this purpose. In this connection, 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 exam has been revised in consultation with RBI. The Institute has also tied
up with CSC e-Governance for certifying the BCs.
Memorial Lecture
The 10th Shri. R K Talwar Memorial Lecture will be held on 22nd
November 2019 at SBI Auditorium, Mumbai and will be delivered by Mr. Sanjeev Sanyal,
Principal Economic Advisor, Government of India. The topic of the Lecture will be
"Dealing with Uncertain World. Regulation vs. Supervision.”
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. In the first phase, two courses namely “Ethics
in Banking” and “Digital Banking” have been introduced.
Acquiring new premises
The Institute has acquired its own premises at New Delhi and Kolkata. Both these
premises are centrally located. Renovation work is on and both the premises are
expected to be inaugurated in a couple of months’ time. The premises at New
Delhi will have hostel facilities and the apex training activities of the Institute
will be at New Delhi. Besides, both the premises will have VCRT facility. Exciting
training and academic activities will be held for the benefit of the banking fraternity.
Study Tours by Foreign Bankers
A group of delegates of senior Bankers from Nepal, sponsored by National Banking
Institute, Kathmandu, visited IIBF Campus in June as a part of their visit to select
Indian Banks.
A team of 22 Egyptian Bankers visited India in a Study Tour on “Financing
of Agriculture and MSME Sectors by Banks in India” during January 2019.
The members of the team and EBI highly appreciated the efforts of the Institute
in this regard.
IT Initiatives
All the activities undertaken by the Institute are in the on-line mode. While continuing
to take further initiatives in this regard, the Institute will be implementing Digitally
Signed Certificates for all the examinations to replace the paper based manual certificates.
The Institute has been able to scale newer heights mainly due to the support received
by it from its members.
Training
The Institute, apart from conducting training under the capacity building courses,
also conducts training programmes in other niche areas. Trainings on “Insolvency
and Bankruptcy Code 2016”, "IT & Cyber Security” were conducted
recently in addition to other programmes.
Considering the requirements of the industry, the Institute also introduced new
training programmes during the year. A three-day programme for Internal Auditors
of the Banks and a programme for Law officers of banks and Financial Institutions
were also launched for specialised group of officials.
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
4th October 2019