Dear Member,

Happy festive greetings.

 

On 2^nd October 2019, the nation celebrated the 150^th 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 92^nd Annual General Meeting of the Institute held on 23^rd 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 31^st 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:

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 10^th 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 15^th 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:

1. Financial Inclusion & Financial Literacy: October – December, 2019
2. Alternative Channels of Investments - Sub –themes: Mutual Funds, Post-Office & Bank Deposits & others: January – March, 2020
3. 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
4. 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:

1. Emerging Technologies
2. Strategic Management & Innovations in Banking
3. 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 10^th Shri. R K Talwar Memorial Lecture will be held on 22^nd 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

4^th October 2019