Bank Muscat celebrates graduation of ACCA Affiliates
Bank Muscat, the leading financial services provider in the Sultanate has announced that the first batch of Omani youth supported by the Bank have become ACCA-affiliates with excellent results in their qualifying examinations.
In line with the objective of developing national human resources, the Bank had partnered with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) in 2018 under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour to provide scholarships for a group of Bachelor’s degree holders to complete the internationally- recognised Chartered Certified Accountant course from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), a press release said.
In addition to the ACCA scholarship, Bank Muscat has offered the graduates job opportunities across its various departments. The ACCA candidates have already achieved remarkable progress and milestones towards attaining the goals of this first of its kind initiative by the Bank to develop Omani youth.
Speaking about this important achievement, Said Salim al Aufi, group deputy general manager - Human Resources, Bank Muscat, said, “Comprehensive and continuous development of Omani youth is key to achieving the goals of the landmark Oman Vision 2040 and the Renewed Renaissance of the sultanate. Aligned to its pioneering role in sustainable development, Bank Muscat has always given top priority to the development of Oman’s human resources.
“In 2018, Bank Muscat embarked on a journey partnering with Petroleum Development Oman to provide new opportunities for talented Omani youth to gain an internationallyrecognised ACCA qualification. The success of the first 3 young achievers from that path-breaking programme is a great encouragement to the strategy of promoting banking excellence and professionalism in the Sultanate.”
Aufi thanked ACCA and education specialists Kaplan for their resolute efforts to successfully continue the programme online, overcoming all challenges brought about by the global pandemic. He congratulated Fajer al Akhzami, Jumana al Qassabi and Nusaiba al Manji for their success in not only becoming ACCA Affiliates, but also for surpassing important academic benchmarks in their long journey to get there.
Fajer al Akhzami, who scored the top marks in Advanced Performance Management in the region, and is currently working in Corporate Banking, said, “We are grateful to Bank Muscat for providing us with this excellent opportunity to build our capacity and skills. Completing this programme will help us advance in our professional careers and help towards building a large pool of talented Omani youth, who will contribute to the future growth and development of the sultanate.”
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Virtual Symposium on Artificial Intelligence—Towards a Resilient and Efficient Energy Industry, which began yesterday with oil and gas industry leaders from around the world sharing their insights, concluded successfully.
Hosted by Saudi Aramco, this two-day symposium provided a platform for industry professionals to discuss the various capabilities and potential applications of AI as one of the main enablers for digital transformation, a press release said.
The event commenced with opening remarks by the symposium chairman, Abdulaziz al Sufayan, assistant to vice president, Petroleum Engineering and Development, Saudi Aramco, who said, “Our industry is well-established with data infrastructure containing over 100 years of information. The power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) unleashes unlimited opportunities for harnessing knowledge, driving decisionmaking, and revealing unexploited resources. This symposium aims to support our industry to get ahead of the curve and reap the benefits of applying AI”.
Nabil al Nuaim, vice president, Digital Transformation, Saudi Aramco, commented on the role of AI in today’s world, saying, “It is often said that data is the new oil, the most important resource of the 21st century. At Saudi Aramco, we could not agree more. Data and AI are central to our digital transformation strategy, and we have invested and continue to invest heavily in the latest digital applications.
“The AI technologies are already allowing us to manage our industry in a sustainable way and has the potential to reinvent our industry, allowing us to discover more, recover more, while leading the way to keep our environment cleaner.”
The 2022 SPE president, Kamel Ben-Naceur, CEO, Nomadia Energy Consulting, said, “Artificial Intelligence is everywhere—we also see it in all cycles of the commercialisation chain and going to the production, to the transportation, to the refining chain - all is part of the artificial intelligence. I see a lot of dynamism and I think with putting together our efforts and organizing this type of symposium, we should be better prepared in the future for the extraordinary growth of artificial intelligence applications.”
The Executive Plenary Session focused on the role of AI in digital transformation.