Dear Member,

Transformation of the Institute into a full fledged professional education Institute.

I am happy to inform you that the Institute was chosen for the 20th Dewang Mehta Business School award, as the" Business School with the Best Academic Input (Syllabus) in Finance." This is the third award the Institute has received in the last two years. Last year the Institute received the World Education Congress Asia Award, Dubai for Best Educational Institute in Banking and Finance and Achiever of Excellence Award was conferred on the CEO, IIBF by the Bombay Management Association.

The Institute, as you are aware started as a certification body and over the years has positioned itself as a distance education cum certification body. In this regard the Institute is known for its initiatives in the use of technology in delivering distance education. Technology has not only helped the Institute to offer good quality professional qualifications but also in maintaining the fee at low levels. The Institute has been able to, thanks to technology and support from the banks, diversify and offer many diploma and certificate courses in addition to the Associate (JAIIB & CAIIB) exams.

The 3rd floor of the new premises of the Institute has been named as the ‘Leadership Centre’. The purpose of creating this leadership centre is to be of use to banks in their talent management and leadership development. As a first step in this direction, the Institute has decided to offer a non-residential Advanced Management Program (AMP) in Banking & Finance for middle/senior level bank officers/executives at the Institute’s Leadership Centre, Mumbai. Previously, this program was offered only in association with B-Schools at Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. This unique course will be delivered through a mix of class room learning, case studies and project work. Classes will be held on Sundays/bank holidays.

On the similar lines of AMP, the Institute has also decided to offer the Project Finance Course at its Leadership Centre, Mumbai from January 18th 2013. Until now this program was offered only in Chennai in association with IFMR, with e-learning module followed by campus based training. The programme will be delivered by faculties from IFMR and IIBF.

Apart from AMP and Project Finance Course, the Institute is also planning to shortly launch certain advanced certificate programs. These programs will be offered both full time and part time and will include Retail Banking, SME Finance, Risk Management and Trade Finance. The Institute will also offer Certified Bank Trainers program in association with NIBM and IBPS.

With these initiatives the Institute begins its journey as a full fledged professional institute in Banking & Finance offering courses ( both class room based and distance learning), training, research and consultancy. The Institute will focus on consolidating this initiatives and offer high quality service in all its products/services. The next few years, as the banks focus on talent management, the demand on the Institute for offering new courses and training will be high. The Institute will endeavor to maintain the best quality in whatever it does.

New Certificate Courses

The Institute has introduced 4 new certificate examinations/courses from December 2012. These are in the subjects of IT Security, Prevention of Cyber Crimes and Fraud Management, Foreign Exchange facilities for individuals and Rural Banking Operations for RRB staff. Members are encouraged to enroll for the specialized courses/examinations. It must be added here that the first three of the above mentioned certificate has been introduced in compliance to the recommendations made by various committees set up by RBI. In this connection in the recently concluded HR meeting with the heads of HR of banks it has been suggested that the Institute must develop certificates in the area of HR and also finance for employees who do not have financial back ground. The Institute will work on these ideas and come out with the certificate courses shortly.

On-line Payment of Fees

Last year the Institute introduced on-line payment for membership application. The then existing payment gate way for JAIIB and CAIIB examination was also improved by adding one more option through bill desk. I am happy to state that on 5th January 2013 the Institute will soft launch on-line payment for all its examinations. After this the Institute will accept payment only through on-line mode and SBI Power Jyoti. I am indeed happy that the Institute has adopted variety of technology solutions and works with a number of vendors in its endeavor to offer high quality professional examinations.

Results on the portal

Another technology related initiative is the uploading of the list of JAIIB and CAIIB passed candidates in the portal. This has been done to meet the requirement of members/banks who seek the details of candidate’s completion of the examination. Accordingly the Institute has uploaded the list of candidates who have completed various examinations in the month of May-June 2012. Banks/Candidates can access the information by visiting http://iibf.org.in/iib_PassedList.asp. The list of candidates who have completed the examination in the various previous examinations will also be uploaded shortly.

Training/Seminar/Workshops

In April, 2011, the Institute made a beginning in training activities at the Leadership Center, Mumbai. In the year 2012, the Institute has conducted 29 programs. These training programs were focused on leadership development, trainers training programs, simulation based TOPSIM programs and other core areas such as credit appraisal, financial inclusion, SME, Trade Finance etc.

International Training Program for Trainers

The Institute had conducted 1st International Training Program for Trainers in Banks, Banking Institutes and Financial Institutions in January 2012. Now, once again the Institute has announced the 2nd International Training Program for Trainers at IIBF Leadership Centre in Mumbai from 21st to 25th January 2013.

Sir PTM lecture

Every year, the Institute has been organizing a memorial lecture in honour of Sir Purushotamdas Thakurdas, a very distinguished and eminent businessman of India, who was actively associated with the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (Formerly known Indian Institute of Bankers) as its founding member and served on the Council of the Institute till his death on 4th July 1961. The Sir PTM Lecture for the year 2012 will be delivered by Saumitra Chaudhuri, Member, Planning Commission on January 28th 2013 at Y.B.Chavan Pratishthan, Mumbai.

Bank Quest

The last issue of Bank Quest was on ‘Risk Management’ and the current issue is on ‘Central Banking’. The next issue will be a special issue namely CEOs’ SPEAK IV in which CEOs/CMDs of various banks will share their views on various contemporary issues in the areas of banking & finance. I must add here that the previous three CEO SPEAKs were highly appreciated by the readers.

Consultancy work

In year 2012, the Institute has successfully completed consultancy work in the area of preparing course materials on various subjects in the area of Rural Co-operative Banking for GIZ, India. Currently, the Institute is working on a consultancy project on FLCC for GIZ, India. In addition to this, the Institute has extended its service to the banking institute in Botswana for moderation of question papers.

Research Initiatives

The Institute has been encouraging various research activities through three major initiatives viz., Macro Research, Micro Research and DJCHBOR Fellowship (Diamond Jubilee and CH Bhabha Banking Overseas Research Fellowship). Institute has been receiving number of applications/proposals for the research initiatives but there is scope for greater selectivity if more research scholars send in their proposals.

Wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year 2013

Best Wishes