MANILA, PHILIPPINES, 13 October 2017 – The Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB) today entered into a collaboration agreement with the Ateneo Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) Institute of Banking (“AB-IB”) to promote regional professional development in banking education to risk management professionals in the Philippines through AICB’s Bank Risk Management Qualification (BRM Qualification).

Given the growing significance of professional education development in the banking and financial industry, there is a pressing need for banking and financial practitioners to be equipped with the right skills and values to meet the requirements of the new regulatory regimes as well as the rapidly changing banking landscape. Therefore, this partnership will further promote bankers in the Philippines to embark on their regional professional development journey as well as strengthen and broaden cooperation in the area of professional capacity building between the two organisations. This cooperation is a positive step towards the ASEAN Banking Association’s effort to standardise professional banking capacities among member countries.

 The BRM Qualification is a two-module intermediate level qualification which provides a qualitative introduction to bank risk management. It is a highly accessible guide to the practices and procedures for managing risk in banking in order to ensure banking practitioners posses an in-depth understanding of risk management principles and can practically apply themselves upon completing this qualification. The BRM Qualification focuses on a wide range of risk management issues such as regulatory, credit, market, operational and liquidity risks and is targeted to all banking practitioners at middle and supervisory levels across banking operations and management including among others, audit, risk and governance.

Banking practitioners in the Philippines who choose to take up the BRM Qualification will be required to enrol as an individual “Affiliate” member of AICB (“Member”) and will be given 3 years to complete the qualification. Upon successful completion of the BRM Qualification Module 1 and Module 2, the Candidates will be eligible to upgrade their membership to “Associate” Member provided they have at least 3 years of approved practical experience and will be able to use the professional designation “Certified Bank Risk Practitioner” or (CBRP). Members are also bound to fulfilling their continuous professional development requirements of 35 hours annually to ensure that they keep abreast of the latest developments and trends. Successful professionals from the programme will be recognised both in Malaysia and Philippines as having undergone professional certification under mutually acceptable risk management standards.

 The primary target for the BRM Qualification in the Philippines will be the banking practitioners working in the key area of risk management.

 AICB is the professional body for the banking industry in Malaysia which focuses on elevating professional and ethical standards of banking practitioners. AICB members comprise 88 corporate member banks and over 9000 individual members, while AB-IB continues to be the training arm of the Bankers Association of the Philippines, the lead organization of universal and commercial banks in the Philippines consisting of forty-one (41) member banks.

 Prasad Padmanaban, AICB Chief Executive said “The signing of the collaboration agreement between both organisations signifies the strong partnership between AICB and AB-IB in working together to promote, co-operate and further build the professional development of the banking practitioners in the Philippines.  AICB is pleased to provide the expertise and support to further elevate the professional standards of bankers in the Philippines through our professional qualifications such as the Bank Risk Management qualification, the only risk management qualification specifically for banking globally. This is in line with our commitment towards raising the bar for professional standards and capability development among bankers in Malaysia and the region”.

 Meanwhile, Asterio L. Favis, Jr., AB-IB Director expressed that, “The collaboration between AICB and AB-IB is a clear indication that banking practitioners can move expertise beyond borders. Our hope is that our future graduates will be able to practice bank risk management not only in the Philippines but also in Malaysia”.

The Collaboration Agreement was signed by Prasad Padmanaban, AICB Chief Executive and Rodolfo P. Ang Dean Ateneo Graduate School of Business.