SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Trade training
South African banking is constrained by a lack of appropriate training.
BANKSETA and training providers are working to fix this issue.
NEW FROM BANKSETA
BANKSETA launched its fully-funded National Payments Systems
Foundation course in conjunction with the Payments Association
of South Africa (PASA) in the middle of June this year. BANKSETA
board member Shirley Zinn said the implementation of the course
was meant to supplement on-the-job training and learning through
informal interactions among payment practitioners.
Zinn believes payment practitioners have admitted the complex
nature of the payments domain and that it requires shared, formalised
training. Through this programme, there will be improvements in
industry engagement and will lead to an increase in industry-based
innovations.
BANKSETA Chief Executive Officer Max Makhubalo says
that the South African banking sector is constrained by a lack of
appropriate skills. He explains that BANKSETA has doubled its
support for small and micro-enterprises, with one aspect of this
being through its mobile training solution – a bus equipped with
satellite technology, touch-screen computers and office equipment
– launched two years ago.
BANKSETA has also researched the issue of ‘Recognition of Prior
Learning’ (RPL), where those with experience in the sector – but
without the necessary formal educational qualifications – are given
credit toward gaining their qualifications. As part of BANKSETA
research, sector representatives and regulators visited the Centre
for Learning Sciences and Technologies in the Netherlands to
benchmark the European approach to RPL and its application in the
banking and microfinance sector.
‘The pilot RPL project has been a huge success,’ according
to Makhubalo. He says while BANKSETA has a wide range of
initiatives to promote employment in the banking sector and to
develop employee skills, one area which has been neglected has
been the employment of disabled people.
‘We have researched the hindrances to the recruitment and
retention of disabled people in banking, and are now implementing
the results, like assisting the visually-impaired to use computers,’
says Makhubalo.
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THE BANKER
Edition 2
EVOLVING TRAINING NEEDS
Dr Derek Shirley, Chief Executive of Cornerstone Performance
Solutions, says that there have definitely been changes in training
methods employed by banks over the past 10 years. He also points
out that the banks have increased their training spend over the
years, but because of the new financial and banking regulations, the
buying process from external service providers has been tighter and
much more carefully controlled.
‘They have to find a balance between external service providers
as well as providing the training internally. They will most likely
source external service providers for training areas that demand
advanced expertise, like compliance,’ says Shirley.
He added that banks do most of their own operational training
and seek external providers only for specialised areas. He says that
in terms of executive training, most banks have partnered with
institutions of higher learning with whom they offer executive
training and mentoring for their senior management.
Thabiso Ncube, financial analyst at Karabo Portfolio Managers
added that with the advent of new applications, software and
hardware in the global market, it is rather obvious that the approach
to training needs in the South African banking sector must evolve to
cope with the dynamics of global technology.
BANKSETA INTERNSHIPS
‘Banking is the litmus test for the health of the economy,’ says
Makhubalo. However, South Africa’s banking sector is constrained
by a lack of appropriate skills.
‘The output from schools is deteriorating in the levels of
mathematics, accounting and communication skills, which affects
customer-relation management skills. This impacts on the amount
of money that has to be spent by banks to train new full-time
employees to get them to the level of their competitors’ staff in
Europe or the US,’ Makhubalo said.
‘The fact that South Africans have a preference for university
education, even if it is social sciences, while the country is in
desperate need of technical, accounting and IT skills, exacerbates