CISI CEO Simon Culhane, Chartered FCSI at the Integrity at Work session in Manila
The CISI's provision of financial courses and exams in the Philippines was announced this week during the visit to Manila by the CISI's CEO Simon Culhane, Chartered FCSI for the official opening of the Institute's Philippines office.
The Fundamentals of Financial Services qualification will be initially offered to select Philippine universities and colleges, and a Train The Trainer programme is underway to instruct teachers to teach for the syllabus and exam, in collaboration with the Finance Educators Association and Eastwest Educational Specialists.
Ken McGowan, CISI Regional Director in Asia, said: “With a literacy rate of 97.5%, far higher than some of its Asian peers, the Philippines is an ideal location for the Institute to make strides in its charitable goals – particularly that of improving financial literacy. Our qualifications at the foundation level are very relevant to schools and colleges in the Philippines and our newly appointed Country President, Anton Mauricio, is the founder of the local Financial Educators Association (Fin.Ed.).”
The CISI exam, which has also been studied by 5,000 students across Sri Lanka, will be taught over the course of a semester, following which students will take a computer based test, receiving their results instantly. The CISI is currently collaborating with CHED’s technical panel for business and management in order to roll out this plan by 2016.
Simon said: “Our work in the education sector has been achieved with the support of both the British Embassy in Manila and with Sir Alan Yarrow, Chartered FCSI(Hon), CISI Chairman and Lord Mayor of London last year, when he led a trade mission in Manila.”
The CISI has also struck a deal with the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to share its global expertise in the areas of continuing learning and qualifications training.
“Integrity and ethics are critical foundations in the building of a successful global financial services industry. We are keen to support this growing sector"While in Manila, Simon ran a CISI Integrity at Work (IAW) seminar for 30 top financial executives at the Peninsula Manila as part of the CISI Philippines’ Financial Integrity Initiative. The CISI will partner with major business and finance groups in the country for this effort.
The IAW presentation, delivered by the CISI in 15 global locations to date in English, Spanish and French, is an interactive session where participants can supply their live responses to case studies via electronic voting devices. The case studies are based on real-life integrity dilemmas as provided by CISI’s practitioner members.
Simon said: “Integrity and ethics are critical foundations in the building of a successful global financial services industry. We are keen to support this growing sector within the Philippines and meet the need for financial literacy education and for qualified professionals.”
Simon will also address 5,000 finance students at the National Finance Summit at the SMX Convention Centre at the Mall of Asia. Separately, he will also be the keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Finance Educators Association at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, which will be attended by finance teachers from all over the country.
He said: “With the introduction of the Republic Act 1061 (approved in July 2014) allowing full entry of foreign banks to the Philippines, and scrapping limits on foreign ownership, the Philippine market is now fully open to foreign investment.
“That has got to be an incentive for foreign investors looking for opportunities to complement the business processing outsourcing sector (BPO). The Philippines BPO sector has been ranked third in the 2014 world top five outsourcing destinations, accounting for 10% of the Philippines GDP by 2016, amounting to around $25bn and employing about 1.3 million people. Opportunities exist outside the BPO in an ever expanding banking sector and we are keen to support the professionalism which is integral to growing and maintaining this expansion.
“Last year the global CISI award winner for the highest score in the CISI Operational Risk exam was an employee at the HSBC electronic data processing facility in Manila, and we look forward to further outstanding results from Philippine candidates."