CIBN Gives Heritage Bank Institute, To train New Recruits

By Elizabeth Chukwuma

 Aware of the challenges of the nation’s Banking Industry and its commitment to ensure greater efficiency and boost its workforce, Heritage Bank plc, appears to have  got  the nod from the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria ,CIBN, to train its  new recruits  for its Banking operations from its accredited  learning and development institute.

Business analysts see it as welcome development as the Bank has  embarked on the initial  training of 300 new employees. The Institute, baptised  “The Refinery”, according to the Banking sources , is supervised by the Bank’s Human Capital Management Group, which is currently training 300 fresh graduates recruited  within  and outside the country. The new employees, the sources, disclosed  have diverse academic backgrounds. 

The Institute , which is located in Port Harcourt, Capital of Rivers state , was said to have  a designed scheme of studies which   provides a three months intensive training  programme for new intakes on the  different areas of  banking operations including Marketing.

The  Institution, baptised, ” Refinery”,according  to the Bank sources  was  a tailored learning Institute with a perfect blend of ”technology techniques and methodologies to optimise training experiences”, ostensibly to help employees succeed in ensuring that the bank’s business stays ahead of the curve with the banking sector in order to achieve the Heritage Bank’s target goals.

Only recently The Value News visited The Refinery in Port Harcourt during the ushering in of the new intakes by the Group Head, Learning and Development of CIBN, Babatunde Apena . The CIBN, top official who could not hide his feelings  had  commended the Bank’s training facility , describing it as one of the best in nation’s  banking industry that could only be  compared with learning facilities in  Banks found  in  other parts of the world, particular, those found in the industrialised nations.    

 Ifie Sekibo, the Bank’s Managing Director, collaborated the CIBN, top executive but further described it as a” forward looking business School, whose strength lies in the ability to spot and mould talents into great professionals”.

Sekibo,  noted that the Refinery which was established to” train, nurture and arm young employees with the right skills needed to fast-track development and enable teams to flourish”, remain focused.

He   explained that at the Institute  they  hire young graduates who want to advance their skill levels, which will lead to a direct and indirect improvement of the life for their family members  and communities that will culminate  towards into developing a more productive and, resourceful persons.

According to him”, any business that hopes to survive under  the current economic challenges faced by the country  must devise a creative way of harnessing the full potentials of the talents that abound among the nation’s teeming youth population.

Appealing to the new  employees , to have at the back of their mind that after their graduation from the Bank’s Institute,  they should have the opportunity to contribute their quota towards the development of the country,  he charged them to ” ”imbibe the bank’s mantra of commitment to spreading the culture of Wealth Creation, Preserve and Transfer”.

“The Heritage  training program, he disclosed  was designed to take each participant on an enriching, rigorous and intellectually engaging learning journey to equip them with the fundamental competencies required of a professional banker. ”The Curriculums are structured to accommodate both Core and Non-Core Banking competencies such as finance, credit and accounting, organizational and behavioural competencies”, he had said.

The Herritage Bank boss, pointed out that it has assembled a large number of new hands at a time when gainful employment was becoming hard to come by; stressing that the bank had always remained optimistic and pragmatic in deploying its resources for developmental purposes.

The Rivers state born Banker opined that “in the recent times, when operators in the nation’s banking sector are experiencing drop in margins and rising , costs of running Banks, but nothing has changed in the Industry.

Giving a word of advice to the new  Bankers :You are coming into an industry that most people think it is impossible to survive but we, at Heritage Bank see more opportunities in place of despair, noting that employment comes with uniqueness and promise.

  He urged them to put in practice  everything they have  learnt within the three months they were in the Bank Training School to maintain a balance as an industry and a company to achieve  progress as individuals.