Fitch Learning to offer training programmes for banking sector as RBI deadline nears

Professional training firm Fitch Learning (owned by Fitch Group) will provide training to individuals across the banking sector.

Under the new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy of higher standards and capacity building for financial professionals, the Indian Banks Association (IBA) has selected Fitch Learning to provide training programmes and enhance the skill level across the financial services sector.

Andreas Karaiskos, Chief Executive Officer of Fitch Learning, said that there is more demand for better quality learning among the student population.

"Our aim is to bring a better standard of financial education coupled with disruptive technology," said. Karaiskos added that there is also a very big appetite for a high standard of CFA tuitions in India.

Fitch Learning has partnered with Times Professional Learning to promote Fitch Learning products, digital learning solutions and qualifications.

"Wealth management will be in focus especially since the number of affluent clients will rise above 30 million and they will demand a higher level of services. This requires more skills and better advice and we are trying to meet that demand and fill in the gaps," he added.

As part of this, Fitch Learning has developed its first module as a training initiative that is aimed only at specific banking institutes and will comply with the specifications for certification mandates laid down by the RBI.

In August last year, RBI said that banks should identify specialised areas for certification of the staff manning key responsibilities. To begin with, RBI said that personnel in areas like treasury, risk management, accounting and credit management will have to take mandatory certification.

The banking regulator has set April 1 next year as the deadline for staff to get the requisite certification before being posted in the above mentioned functional areas.

Anish Srikrishna, President of Times Professional Learning, said that the courses will be a blend of offline and online modules with Fitch Learning faculty from across the world.

The second mode of delivery of Fitch Learning’s product offering is the open course where banks can register their staff to participate as individuals. The aim of this programme is to develop training and certification programmes across Credit Risk Management, Accounting, Treasury, and Foreign Exchange Operations.

The course will make its debut in Mumbai in November starting with Financial and Credit Risk programmes including ‘Warning Signals and Lessons Learned in Corporate Credit’.

Srikrishna said that the channels of distribution could be business to business, business to customer or even business to government depending on the needs of the market. Fitch Learning already works with a host of central banks and regulatory bodies globally to meet their learning needs.

Fitch Learning has delivered over 300 professional public courses in 21 countries worldwide and last year provided training to over 1,300 clients.