ASIAN INSTITUTE OF FINANCE IN TALKS TO SPREAD WINGS

By Santhia Panjanadan

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysian-based Asian Institute of Finance (AIF), in an effort to spread its wings to three regions, is currently in talks with several parties to develop professional and skilled talent in the financial services industry.

Its Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Viets, said the
new markets were Switzeland, France, China, United States and Canada.

"AIF promotes Malaysia's financial services human capital development
programmes more holistically, both domestically and regionally.

"In the pursuit of that effort, we have identified strategic alliances and
hope to see our efforts bear fruit by early next year," he told Bernama in an
interview Monday.

Currently, AIF has alliances in all Southeast nations and in the United
Kingdom through affiliated institutions.

AIF, established in November 2008, is a joint initiative by Malaysia's
central Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission to support human
capital development in the financial sector.

AIF aspires to become an institution of global excellence in support of the
advancement of the financial services industry in Malaysia through strengthened
arrangements with four training institutions.

The institutions are Institutes of Banks Malaysia (IBBM), Islamic Banking
and Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM), Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII) and
Securities Industry Development Corporation (SIDC).

Over 43,000 candidates are currently participating in about 2,000 programmes
conducted by AIF.

Viets said spreading its foothold to new markets is part of AIF's expansion
plan, going forward, as it realised there was continuous need to upgrade talent
within the financial services industry.

The industry consists of conventional banking, Islamic banking, insurance,
Takaful and capital market sectors.

"An important focus for AIF is to elevate the capacity of the key training
institutions to meet not only the current development needs of the industry but
also to respond proactively to the rapidly changing financial landscape which
will place greater demands on the skills of financial professionals," he
explained.

He added the financial services industry contributed 11.5 per cent to the
nation's Gross Domestic Product last year which clearly indicated the growing
demand locally.

Viets said Malaysia was short of well-trained and developed talent due to
its rapid growth.

"The local market capacity is for 280,000 candidates to be trained in
Malaysia's financial services industry.

"Moreover, with Malaysia moving forward to become the hub in Islamic
banking, it requires more professional and skilled talents," he explained.

Besides developing talents, Viets said it was also important to retain the
talent within Malaysia.

AIF focuses on the development of competency framework for financial
service professionals, programme quality assurance and enhancing infrastructure
for learning.

Going forward in uplifting AIF's capacity towards global excellence
in delivering professionals and advanced-level human capital development, Viets
said AIF would focus on capital building, accreditation and certification,
rationalisation and branding.

-- BERNAMA