BUILDING ON CHARTERED BANKERS POOL

With long-term strategy, Malaysia can boast largest number of professionals in Asia

RUPA DAMODARAN

KUALA LUMPUR rupabanerji@mediaprima.com.my

MALAYSIA can boast having the largest pool of chartered bankers in Asia when it ideally has 1,000 graduates from the current 45 chartered bankers.

It would be a long-term project and Malaysian banks were supportive of developing the gold standard for banking professionals in the country, said the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB) chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim.

The numbers will steadily rise with the support of the financial industry players, he said, when met after the 20th AICB Graduation & Awards ceremony on Saturday.

Chartered Banker is jointly awarded by the AICB and the Chartered Banker Institute in the United Kingdom, the only body in the world able to confer this award.

The award involves the professional acquiring an executive banker and subsequently professional banker award before hitting the banking pinnacle.

Azman was confident the flow would step up to 100 chartered bankers per year.

“The industry must reward and recognise the qualifications and give incentives to employees who improve themselves.”

The subprime crisis in the United States contributed to a mistrust of bankers and that image needs to be corrected, said the veteran banker who has 40 years of experience in the industry.

Azman said Bank Negara Malaysia had high expectations on the numbers of chartered bankers.

Already there were expectations for reports to be signed off by chartered bankers, he added.

On rewards for those who acquire the professional award, AICB chief executive Prasad Padmanaban said it depended on individual banks.

Bank Negara Malaysia governor Datuk Seri Muhammad Ibrahim, when addressing the 1,062 graduates who were certified on Saturday, said they had elevated the profession to greater heights.

There are over 18,600 banking professionals in the country.

Compared with the medical profession, which holds true to the Hippocratic Oath, and stands high in terms of honesty and ethical standards, he said the number for bankers was a sad reflection of the state of affairs in the banking industry.

Muhammad, who is also a chartered banker, reminded financial institutions to give due recognition to the professional qualifications, which would advance the bankers’ careers.