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Sep 10 2011

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UAE and South Africa continue to strengthen banking industry ties

Established by the South African Department of Labour, now the Department of Higher Education and Training, BANKSETA aims to develop skill levels within the country's banking and microfinance sectors. BANKSETA has worked with the Wits Business School in South Africa and Cass Business School in the UK to develop the International Executive Development Programme (IEDP), which seeks to identify and develop high-potential future leaders of the South African financial services industry. Following a tour of the DIFC , the BANKSETA delegation heard from Kevin Birkett and Aathira Prasad, respectively Head of Financial Services and Director of Macroeconomics and Statistics at DIFCA, as well as Chris Mouchbahani, Managing Partner at M Capital Group, and Venkatesh Srikantan, Director of Consumer Banking at Barclays.

Max Makhubalo, BANKSETA CEO, said: "Prudent management of the banking sector is becoming absolutely critical as more people join formal banking and financial products become increasingly complex. This requires that those working in the sector have a broader understanding of the industry from a global perspective, making interactions and cooperations such as these a necessity."

Kevin Birkett, Head of Financial Services, DIFC Authority, said: "Being a leading financial hub, DIFC has a mandate to develop world-class financial services and solutions. This includes development and support of various educational programs that would contribute to the advancement of professional talent. Hosting the delegation from BANKSETA reinforces the economic ties between UAE and South Africa, and is a step to further encourage mutually beneficial exchange between both economies."

Ehsan Razavizadeh, Regional Director of Cass Business School , City University MENA region, said: "BANKSETA understands that international skills and experience are critical in an increasingly global market. The delegation had a chance to learn first-hand about the opportunities that exist within the UAE financial sector, which will in turn bring long-term benefits to the South African banking industry."

-Ends-

About Cass Business School :
Cass Business School , which is part of City University London, delivers innovative, relevant and forward-looking education, training, consultancy and research. Located in the heart of one of the world's leading financial centres, Cass is the business school for the City of London.

Cass MBA, specialist Masters and undergraduate degrees have a global reputation for excellence, and the School supports nearly 100 PhD students. Cass offers the widest portfolio of specialist Masters programmes in Europe and our Executive MBA is ranked tenth in the world by the Financial Times. Cass has the largest faculties of Finance and Actuarial Science and Insurance in Europe. It is ranked in the top 10 UK business schools for business, management and finance research and 90% of the research output is internationally significant.

Cass Business School in Dubai was established in 2007 in association with Dubai International Financial Centre , launching with an Executive MBA (EMBA) programme. The programme currently offers over 160 executives and professionals not only from the GCC region but also as far as Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iran, Singapore, UK, Poland and US, an opportunity to combine demanding work schedules with an internationally acclaimed EMBA nearer to their home and work environments. Cass Business School Dubai's EMBA is the world's first EMBA programme to offer specialist Islamic Finance and Energy modules in addition to other tailor-made programmes companies and public institutions of the region.

Cass is a place where students, academics, industry experts, business leaders and policy makers can enrich each other's thinking. For further information visit: www.cass.city.ac.uk.

About DIFC
The Dubai International Financial Centre ( DIFC ) is the financial and business hub connecting the region's emerging markets with the developed markets of Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Since its launch in 2004, DIFC , a purposely built financial free zone, has been committed to encouraging economic growth and development in the region through its strong financial and business infrastructure. Currently, DIFC 's client base comprises over 800 active registered firms, including 18 of the top 25 global banks, 8 of the largest global asset managers, 6 of the 10 largest insurers and 6 of the top 10 law firms in the world. More than 11 thousand employees operate in an open environment complemented by international legal and regulatory standards. DIFC offers its member companies benefits such as 100 per cent foreign ownership, zero per cent tax rate, with no restriction on capital convertibility or profit repatriation. DIFC has its own independent financial and ancillary services regulatory body, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). It also has the DIFC Courts, which is an independent common law judiciary based in DIFC with jurisdiction over civil and commercial disputes in or relating to the Centre.

DIFC is built upon a modern legal, regulatory and physical infrastructure which makes it the destination of choice for Financial Services firms establishing a presence in the region.

For further information, please visit our website: www.difc.ae, or follow us on Twitter @ DIFC .

About BANKSETA:
BANKSETA as the name suggests, is the Banking Sector Education and Training Authority. It was established in 2000 and is widely regarded as one of the leading SETAs in South Africa. BANKSETA is recognised as a centre of excellence and innovation for skills development in the broader banking and microfinance sector. The mission of the organisation is to support transformation and people development; and through partnerships, to enable stakeholders to advance the national and global position of the broader banking and microfinance industry. To deliver on its mandate, BANKSETA runs several programmes that are broadly aimed at developing people in the industry.

There are numerous BANKSETA initiatives which are available to learners, university graduates and current employees in the banking and microfinance sector. Accredited skills training is provided in the sector to achieve a number of outcomes, including employment for school leavers, new business opportunities for young entrepreneurs and up-skilling of future executives. The BANKSETA strives to promote the sector as a preferred employer, and provide sector employers with qualified employees.

The BANKSETA also focuses on people with disabilities and those who have not completed their schooling. The driving force of the BANKSETA is to build skills for tomorrow by empowering South Africa's youth, in order to encourage transformation in the financial services sector.

For Cass Business School press information contact:
Liam Turner / Tameem Al Kintar
ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller
Tel: +971 433 44550
E-mail: l.turner@asdaa.com / t.alkintar@asdaa.com

For further inquiries on DIFC , please contact:
Shaima Al Zarouni
PR Manager
Dubai International Financial Centre
Tel: +971 4 362 2432
Shaima.alzarouni@difc.ae

For BANKSETA press information contact:
Zandile Skosana
BANKSETA
Manager: Marketing & Communications
Tel: +27 (0) 82 743 9907
E-mail: zandiles@bankseta.org.za

Mboneni Mulaudzi
Media Basics
Managind Director
Tel: +27 (0) 82 889 2971
E-mail: Mboneni@mediabasics.co.za

© Press Release 2011