News
26 September 2023
Letter from our new Chairman, Simon Thompson, Chief Executive, Chartered Banker Institute.
Dear Colleagues,
I’m delighted to have been elected unanimously as GBEStB Chair earlier today, and I look forward to serving and working with all of you until my two-year term expires in September 2025. Thank you for your support and good wishes.
On behalf of us all, and personally, I’d like to thank GBEStB’s founding Chair, Segun Aina, whose big shoes I now have to do my best to try and fill. GBEStB wouldn’t exist without his vision, leadership and dedication, and his legacy is an emerging global organisation that I am sure will come to play an ever-increasing role in enhancing and sustaining high standards of professional education in the years to come. Segun may be stepping down as Chair, but he will remain our colleague, friend and inspiration, and I know we will all hope to see him soon online or in person at GBEStB and/or our own Institute events.
As your new Chair, I have four priorities for GBEStB with the overall aim of making us a globally inclusive and representative body:
(a) growing our membership/partnerships so that regions not currently well represented get involved – this will also improve our financial stability;
(b) demonstrating value to our members by ensuring we hold regular events and conduct other worthwhile activities;
(c) finding a way to enhance the status and uptake of our standards; and
(d) leading a successful and well-attended 2025 WCBI in Scotland – building on the success of the wonderful WCBI in Malaysia this year hosted by AICB.
With your help and active support, making progress in these areas will make GBEStB a more credible organisation in the eyes of regulators and key stakeholders, and improve the recognition and uptake of our standards.
I’m delighted to say I will be supported as Chair by Alastair Graham, who will continue as our Secretary-General, and by six Regional Vice-Chairs and Board members:
Marie Muldowney (North America/Education Standards)
Biswan Das (India and surrounding region)
Carrie Leung (Asia-Pac/China)
Robert Dzato (Africa)
Edward Ling (ASEAN)
Ken Opara (AAIOB)
Our Vice-Chairs will liaise with our current members in “their” region to encourage them to play an active role in our association, e.g. by contributing to events and publications, and help attract new members to GBEStB.
Please let me know how the Vice-Chairs and I can work with you to shape GBEStB in the coming two years, and help you and your colleagues improve the development and delivery of banking education to your members, banks and other stakeholders. I look forward to hearing from you.
With best regards,
Simon Thompson
Chief Executive, Chartered Banker Institute
Chair, Global Banking Education Standard Board
September 2023
Please click here to read our latest newsletter, including photos from the successful World Conference of Banking Institutes (WCBI) 2023 held in Malaysia.
March 2023
On 30 March, GBEStB was pleased to host a webinar on The Impact of ESG Risk on Lending Products, presented by Emmanuel Rondeau. Please click here to see the presentation.
There has been a global acceleration in the demand for sustainable finance.
Cop26 in Glasgow and Cop27 in Sharm El Sheikh received universal coverage, but the pressure is not only from non-governmental organisations and the media. Governments and central banks are trying to meet net-zero pledges and nationally determined contributions on greenhouse gases. Regulators are also putting pressure on financial institutions to better identify their ESG (environmental, social and governance) risks and embed those factors into their framework.
Everyone working in a bank has a direct responsibility and must be aware of the impact the ESG factors have on their roles.
Speakers
The webinar was delivered by Emmanuel Rondeau, visiting professor at the London Institute of Banking and Finance and senior advisor for banking studies MENA. He also conducts risk and governance training, and is a Non-Executive Director at Banque Postale and formerly Senior Risk Executive at the Royal Bank of Scotland. The webinar was moderated by Alastair Graham, Secretary General of GBEStB with contributions from Graeme Skelly, Director of Banking Risk Training and former director at Barclays Bank.
March 2023
24th World Conference of Banking Institutes (WCBI), 28 June 2023
On behalf of the Board we have great pleasure in announcing the 24th WCBI event to be held in Kuala Lumpur on 26th-28th June 2023, hosted by the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers (AICB).
This much-awaited conference, delayed due to the pandemic, is our first conference since 2019 in London. We have combined this event with the two-day Malaysian International Banking Conference. The third day is devoted to the WCBI/GBEStB, taking direction from those important ESG trends discussed during the previous two days and the implications for training and education.
Importantly, this conference will also be a long-awaited opportunity to meet and collaborate with new and existing colleagues from around the world.
Full details of the conference including early registration discounted fees and sponsorship opportunities can be found by clicking on the following links:
24th WCBI, 26-28 June 2023 – Programme Agenda
24th WCBI, 26-28 June 2023 – Registration Details
We look forward to meeting you in KL.
September 2022
Please see the presentation given by Dr Biswaken Das, CEO of the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance and Board Member of the Global Banking Education Standards Board on the subject "Introduction to Educational Standards".
7 July 2022
GBEStB was delighted to host a webinar ‘Everyone can become a Fraud Detective’.
In both Banks and Companies employees are required to be aware of the opportunities to recognise fraudulent behaviour. Many historic, and some of the recent high-profile cases of fraud and AML, have highlighted the role of staff to protect the banks from significant regulatory fines, criminal prosecution, other financial consequences, and damaging reputation risks.
Everyone working in a bank has this responsibility, playing an active role in protecting the bank using the tools at their disposal together with the skills to recognise suspicious activity.
You can view the slide presentation here, together with Chapter 4, written by Nigel, taken from the book ‘Calling out Covid-19’.
Speakers
Nigel Iyer, a Fraud Detective for over 25 years around the world and author of “How to Find Fraud and Corruption” (Routledge 2020).
Chair and moderator of the conference – Alastair Graham, Secretary-General GBEStB
Contributions from Graeme Skelly, Director of Banking Risk Training and former director at Barclays Bank.
20 April 2021
GBEStB was pleased to present a webinar on ‘Financial Fraud - looking at it from a different angle’.
Fraud is a major type of operational risk that banks need to manage. Fraud activity is directed at both banks and the customers of banks. The cost of fraud for banks includes payments made to fraudsters (for ransomware attacks and other scams), compensation payments to customers who are the victims of fraud, and the remedial costs of dealing with fraud events. Major fraud or extensive incidents of fraud can damage the reputation of a bank and even cause some loss of confidence in the whole financial system.
Speakers
Allan McDonagh, Managing Director of Hibis Europe Limited and Advisor to b4investigate Ltd.
Graeme Skelly of Banking Risk Training Limited, Operational Risk specialist, and
Nigel Iyer, A Forensic Accountant and Partner b4investigate.
Chair and moderator of the conference – Alastair Graham, Secretary-General GBEStB
15 February 2021
Please see the February newsletter here.
16 December 2020
It was GBEStB’s pleasure to host a webinar on Responsible Banking with speakers from Chartered Bankers Institute, Simon Thompson, CEO and Fatma Dikes, President of EBTN, and Director & VP Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
In a world ravaged by COVID 19, another risk is equally important for understanding the impact on financial services ‘Green and Sustainable Finance’. The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference. It is scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland from 1-12 November 2021 under the presidency of the UK Government, with assistance from the Scottish Government.
Speakers and Agenda
Simon Thompson, the CEO of the Chartered Bankers Institute, member of GBEStB and active in the planning of the COP 21 conference, presented his thoughts on this topic.
Simon gave a brief overview of green and sustainable finance, and responsible banking - and current/future developments
Look ahead to COP26, and in particular Mark Carney’s (former Governor of the Bank of England) COP26 Private Finance Strategy and what this means for finance professionals’ education and training
He also talked about the UK’s Green Finance Education Charter, which brings together 12 professional bodies and more than 1 million professionals to enhance professional education and training in this area
Don’t forget that the GBEStB recently published its own standard on green and sustainable finance to help our member bodies . Click HERE to see the standard.
Fatma Dikes, President of EBTN, and Director & VP Frankfurt School of Finance and Management added her insight on the work being undertaken on this subject.
Should you wish to watch the webinar, click HERE and use the password 5U=J%7V4.
Simon Thompson’s slide presentation can be viewed HERE.
4 November 2020
Please see the November newsletter here.
8 September 2020
Please see the September newsletter here.
24 April 2020
Please see the April newsletter here.
8 November 2019
Please see the October/November newsletter here, read about the World Conference of Banking Institutes held on 17 September 2019.
24 October 2019
On Tuesday, 17 September 2019 the AGM of the Global Banking Education Standards Board was held at the London offices of The London Institute of Banking & Finance. The minutes can be found here.
12th November 2018
The Global Banking Education Standards Board (GBEStB) Published a second Standard Exposure Draft for Consultation.
Details of the draft “Threshold Competence for Bankers” can be found under the Banking Standards tab. The Board welcomes comments from the banking industry, Regulators, Supervisors and Central Banks by 31st March 2019 to globalstandards@charteredbanker.com
Questions for Response
The Education Standards Committee welcomes all comments on the draft Standard, and in particular seeks feedback on the following issues:
Is the proposed level of threshold competence for professional bankers (one that is “equivalent to at least the first year of an undergraduate degree programme, in respect of educational level”) appropriate?
Are the recommendations for the content of initial education programmes for professional bankers, as set out in pages 5-6, comprehensive given the Standard seeks to apply to all professional bankers worldwide? What, if any, additional content should be added? What, if any proposed content should be removed from the current recommendations?
In what ways might the Standard support the efforts of international and national regulators to raise standards of ethical and professional competence in banking?
Simon Thompson
Chair - Education Standards Committee
September 2018
Alastair Graham appointed as first Secretary-General
The Global Banking Education Standards Board (GBEStB) is delighted to announce the appointment of Alastair Graham as its first Secretary-General.
Up until the end of 2017, Alastair was Managing Director of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP); a position he held for nearly 10 years. Before that, Alastair was Senior Vice President and Head of Global Training at Moody’s Investors Service and has also worked for several banks throughout his career, which spans over 40 years.
Download to see the full press release.
April 2018
Global Banking Education Standards Board (GBEStB) launches first Standard Ethics Education and Training for Professional Bankers
The Chartered Banker Institute is proud to support today’s launch of the Global Banking Education Standards Board’s (GBEStB) first Standard – Ethics Education and Training for Professional Bankers.
Announcing its publication, Simon Thompson, Chair of GBEStB Education Standards Committee and Chief Executive of the Chartered Banker Institute commented:
“The GBEStB brings together more than 20 banking institutes to provide the foundation for high-quality and consistent education of bankers. Our first education standard - Ethics Education and Training for Professional Bankers - sets out our expectations of and guidance for GBEStB member bodies in terms of general recommendations, and recommendations for the content, delivery and assessment of ethics education programmes for professional bankers.
Promoting a more consistent approach to the ethics education of professional bankers worldwide should, in our view, help develop a strong and consistent culture of customer and client-focused, ethical professionalism in banking, and contribute to improving financial stability. We call on banking institutes, central banks, regulators and others to endorse and support this standard, and the work of the GBEStB more broadly.”
The new Standard consists of seven key recommendations, which it expects all GBEStB member bodies to use their best endeavours to comply with, and guidance which it expects GBEStB members bodies to consider when implementing the Standard. The seven recommendations are:
1. General Recommendations regarding ethics education and training
2. Key ethical principles for professional bankers
3. Content of ethics education and training programmes
4. Delivery of ethics education and training programmes
5. Assessment of ethics education and training programmes
6. Impact Measurement (of the Standard)
7. Public Declaration – ( ie - GBEStB member bodies shall publicly endorse the Standard)
Ethics Education and Training for Professional Bankers is effective from 1st June 2018, and GBEStB member bodies are expected to take active steps from that date to work towards compliance with this Standard.