By Patrick Onuoha
The School of Banking Excellence, an education arm of Access Bank Plc has won the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Award for the Best Bank Academy in the year 2016.
The Nigeria’s tier one bank also worn Bank of the Year award at the 4th BusinessDay bankers’ award .
The award was in recognition of the quality of the curriculum of the school and quality of the graduates as well as the consistency in their production of fresh graduates.
Presenting the award to the Bank at the 10th Annual Banking and Finance Conference 2016, Dr. Uju Ogubunka, former Registrar of the CIBN, commended Access Bank for training its workforce and by extension building capacity for the banking and finance industry in Nigeria.
The School of Banking Excellence which takes fresh graduates through an intensive five-month pre-career course was the first of such institutions to be accredited by the CIBN in March 2015.
Founded in 2002, the school was conceptualised to groom the youth, educate them and prepare future leaders for the banking industry.
During the programme students of the School are mentored by high-level resource persons both internal and external including the Chairman and Group Chief Executive of the Bank.
Receiving the award, Pattison Boleigha, Chief Conduct and Compliance Officer, Access Bank Plc said the five months entry-level training at the Banking School of Excellence, has acquired an enviable reputation as a learning centre of excellence.
“Our approach to employee development is a mix of different learning methods ranging from self-study, on-the-job training to e-learning programmes. Employees on a continuous basis are exposed to various capacity building programmes both locally and internationally,” he noted.
According to him, the Access Bank School of Banking Excellence empowers the trainees to compete internationally, build confidence and improve their sense of belief.