The Egyptian Banking Institute (EBI), the training arm of the Central Bank of Egypt, continues to implement its strategy to develop the human capital in the African banking sector. Over the past months, the EBI has implemented several activities and partnerships with a number of authorized organizations, as well as designing and delivering training programmes in the financial and banking sector for African trainees. Abdel Aziz Nossier, the Executive Director of the EBI, stated: "The African continent is an important pillar in our strategy, therefore we continually develop cooperation opportunities and implement training programmes that invest in the human capital within the African financial and banking sector. Recently, we have cooperated with the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD), affiliated to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to implement a training programme at the EBI headquarters for 19 trainees from 10 African countries (Sudan – South Sudan – Sierra Leone – Malawi – Liberia – Zambia – Namibia – Mozambique – GuineaBissau – Equatorial Guinea). The programme delivered a curriculum around the different marketing channels for small and medium enterprises banking services. Nossier added: "This programme is concerned with identifying the different needs of banking products for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), focusing on scientific methodologies to market these products and the importance of identifying banking policies and procedures for marketing these products. It also takes an in-depth look into the success factors and international best practices for successful financing for SMEs." To enrich the training programme and introduce African participants to the history of the Egyptian banking sector and its vital role throughout the different ages, a visit was organized for trainees to the Banque Misr Museum. This programme is a continuation of the EBI's successful journey in the training and education field, the institute implemented 9 training programmes with the participation of 66 trainees from 6 African countries (Sudan – South Sudan – Somalia – Djibouti – Nigeria – Sierra Leone) during last month. Within its strategic partnership with the Central Bank of Sudan, the EBI implemented several programmes, such as "Egyptian Experience in Exchange Rate Reform and Monetary Policy" and "Conventional Monetary Policy Implementation", with the participation of total 12 trainees from the Central Bank of Sudan. The two programmes aimed to introduce the trainees to the role of the central bank in managing monetary policy, and the state's experience in liberalizing the exchange rate, this in addition to the domestic reform in Egypt programme. Moreover, a programme titled "Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism" was delivered to 10 trainees aiming to provide them with necessary knowledge about money laundering, and its risk given with its relationship to terrorist financing. The trainees also received first-hand knowledge of Egypt's procedures and standards for combating money laundering and terrorism financing in addition to the regulatory authorities and its obligations.
