EIBFS Webinar Spotlights Need To Upskill, Reskill Employees To Meet Changed Workplaces

Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS), a regional leader in banking and finance education and training, today hosted a webinar on the urgent need to upskill and reskill financial professionals to optimize efficiencies in a post-COVID-19 world. Bringing together people managers, learning and development experts from leading banks and over 60+ participants, the thought session examined the trends in emerging learning that have come into play as a result of the pandemic.

Headline speakers included Mahmoud Tayser El Dalaw, Head of Learning & Development, HR-ADIB Banking Academy, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Adam Wadda, Regional Head of People Capability, Africa & Middle East, Standard Chartered Bank, and Michelle Hazelton, Managing Director, Anders Pink, UK. Fiby Francis, Lead, Leadership Department, EIBFS moderated the session.

The panelists concurred that different sections of an organization today required personalized content, skillsets, and engagement to facilitate learning. The speakers also emphasized the need for greater agility and pointed out that augmented reality, the Internet of Things and using AI to interact with customers externally as well as in the back office, will be a requisite in financial services—and those skills being parts of the value framework will be an absolute necessity.

While discussing the change in learning patterns, the speakers noted that today, a growing number of conversations at the workplace revolve around empowering the workforce to contribute to the future growth of the company. To achieve this imperative, the attendees suggested that L&D and HR managers should turn their attention towards providing competency-based learning modules.

Speaking on the webinar, Jamal Al Jassmi, General Manager of EIBFS, said: “The economic impact triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed the need to upskill and reskill employees to fit the changing job requirements today as well as to ensure future-ready talent for the workplaces of tomorrow. With the majority of future jobs yet to be conceptualized, our timely webinar aimed to support our overarching goal of offering lifelong learning to our patrons.”

He added: “At EIBFS, we are aware of the changes impacting the financial services sector and to match these shifts, we have developed bespoke skills-based programs to enable our students to become future ready and compete globally.”

To watch a recording of the entire session, please visit https://vimeo.com/544187470/10673b9700