KARACHI ( TARIQ REPORT )
Bank Alfalah, one of Pakistan’s leading banks, has announced partnering with Ethica, a leader in Islamic finance training and certification based in Dubai, to deliver its online Certified Islamic Finance Executive (CIFE) to its employees.
“At Bank Alfalah, we are committed to building the capacity of our employees so that they understand Islamic banking practices. Our partnership with Ethica enables Bank Alfalah to develop seasoned Islamic bankers in the industry,” said Atif Bajwa, President and CEO of Bank Alfalah. The Bank has previously won ‘Best Islamic Window of a Conventional Banking Group in Pakistan’ at the Global Islamic Finance Awards for the last two consecutive years and recently received “Strongest Islamic Retail Bank in Pakistan 2015” at the Islamic Retail Banking Awards.
Ethica’s spokesperson said, “E-learning is now mainstream. Classroom training is expensive and often ineffective, usually lasting only a few days, rather than the 1 year Bank Alfalah accesses the CIFE. We think the future of bank training is about recreating the classroom setting in an interactive e-learning environment. Bank Alfalah’s decision reflects this shift.” As part of the corporate training package, Bank Alfalah receives year-round, 100% online access to the CIFE program along with a back-end dashboard allowing managers to monitor learner progress each week.
Islamic banking recently regained momentum in Pakistan with the central bank’s five-year plan to promote Islamic finance with legislative changes and product incentives.
Over the last few years, Bank Alfalah has forged strategic partnerships with renowned institutions to develop learning programs to increase the knowledge base and skills of employees on Islamic banking. Almost 700 learning programmes catering to 99 percent of the Bank’s employees were offered by the Bank last year.