During the year 2005, the management of the Institute of Banking Studies headed by H.E. Chairman of the Board of Directors was eager to introduce a comprehensive and qualitative development in the Institute's activities and its training and academic programs. This was done in view of the management's deep rooted and firmly established belief in the significant role of training and developing human resources in developing our banks and financial institutions. The management of the Institute gave priority to expanding and diversifying the training activities of the Institute in all aspects of financial and banking knowledge directly related to the present situation of the Jordanian financial and banking institutions and their future outlook. The total number of training courses and seminars held during 2005 reached (298) courses and seminars inside the Kingdom and abroad attended by (5321) trainees as compared with (277) courses and seminars attended by (4851) trainees during 2004. The achievements of the Institute during 2005 are as follows:-

First : Training Activities

* Training Courses

During this year the Institute has carried out (248) training courses attended by (4361) trainees . The training courses covered eleven major aspects:

1- Specialized Banking Operations.
2- Advanced Banking Operations.
3- Banking Operations in English .
4- Accounting and Finance.
5- Bank Marketing .
6- Self-Training .
7- Computer .
8- Internet.
9- Islamic Banking Operations .
10- Portfolio Investment .
11- Managerial Skills.

* Specialized Professional Diploma Programs

The Institute continued implementing the specialized professional diploma programs to accommodate the increasing demand for courses dealing with financial matters, bank credit and investment portfolios management, as well as the needs of the financial and banking sector cadres in order to create qualified human resources able to comprehend and use the required skills efficiently , and to cope with the financial and banking developments occurring on the international level .

In view of the above, the Institute of Banking Studies has carried out at its premises in Amman and at its branches in Irbid and Aqaba ten specialized professional diploma programs during the year 2005 on Financial Analysis , Bank Credit and Investment Portfolios Management. These programs were attended by (183) trainees who sat for a comprehensive exam at the end of each program. Those who successfully passed the financial analysis program were granted the "Financial Analyst certificate , whereas those who successfully passed the bank credit program were granted the Credit Officer certificate and those who successfully passed the investment portfolios management program were granted the Investment Portfolio Manager" certificate. These certificates were signed by H.E. Dr. Umayya Toukan , Chairman of the Institute's Board of Directors and by the Dean of the Institute.

However, the Institute is about to expand the specialized professional diploma programs by launching a new Specialized Professional Diploma Program in Bank Leadership in the coming year.

* Sustainable Microfinance Training Program

During this year, the Institute of Banking Studies has carried out (3) training courses within the Sustainable Microfinance Training Program in cooperation with AMIR Program, two basic courses and an advanced one, these courses were attended by (37) trainees working in this field in banks, financial institutions, lending institutions, as well as governmental and non-governmental institutions specialized in this field . The trainees who successfully passed the basic course were granted the certificates of Microfinance Practitioner whereas the participants successfully completed the advanced course were granted the certificates of Microfinance Specialist . The Institute will continue carrying out the basic and advanced courses locally and regionally in order to qualify and develop the cadres working in this field from the banking and financial sector institutions and other non - governmental institutions.

* Brokers Training and Certification Program

In view of the Institute's efforts to reinforce the local capital market with qualified and well trained cadres, the Institute of Banking Studies has carried out during this year five training programs within the Brokers Training and Certification Program at the Institute's premises in cooperation with Jordan Securities Commission and AMIR Program . The programs were attended by (146) trainees from various banks, financial institutions and brokerage firms. The trainees who passed successfully the required exams were granted certificates qualifying them to get permits to work as brokers from Jordan Securities Commission. This Program will be carried out during the next year 2006 extensively due to the big demand to attend this program as a result of the tremendous growth of the local financial market.

* Investment Advisor Training and Certification Program

Following the persistant efforts of the Institute of Banking Studies to improve and develop the Jordanian capital market's cadres and strengthening the concept of specialization in all professions under it . The extensive contacts between the Institute and Jordan Securities Commission , AMIR Program and National Association of Securities Dealers / USA have been crowned by signing a memorandum of understanding on 20/7/2005 to launch the Investment Advisor Training and Certification Program during the next year 2006 at the Institute's premises in English language . This program will be consist of (15) training modules during eight weeks for (160) training hours . By successful completion of the program, trainees who met the needed requirements will get a license from the Jordan Securities Commission allowing them to practice all or any of the following professions in the capital market according to the new Securities Law : Investment Manager, Investment Trustee and Financial Advisor .

In this context, the Training of Trainers (TOT) course was held at the Institute's premises during 16/4-18/4/2005 and was attended by (7) local lecturers who will carry out later the training of participants in the Investment Advisor Training and Certification Program. The TOT course aimed at acquainting the local lecturers with the main modules of the training program and provide them with the necessary ideal training tools to deal with the subjects of the program .

* Seminars in Cooperation with Regional and International Institutions

The Institute of Banking Studies carried out during this year (12) banking seminars attended by (263) trainees in cooperation with several regional and international banking institutions. These seminars aimed at achieving several objectives of top priority to the Institute . The seminars were as follows :

- Anti - Money Laundering / in cooperation with Bond Associates Ltd./ UK and was conducted twice this year.

- Financial Engineering Workshop / in cooperation with Sigma Associates / UK .

- Asset / Liability Management in Islamic Banks / in cooperation with the Islamic Research and Training Institute - Islamic Development Bank /Jeddah.

- Asset / Liability Management / in cooperation with Lywood David International Ltd./ UK.

- Managing Change and Innovation in Banking / in cooperation with Batt and Partners Consulting Ltd./ UK.

- E-Banking / in cooperation with Crown Agents Financial Services Ltd./ UK.

- Developing and Structuring New Wholesale and Retail Financial Products / in cooperation with Sigma Associates/ UK.

- Financial Modeling for Credit Risk/ in cooperation with Euromoney Training / UK.

- Measuring & Managing Operational Risk and Basel II / in cooperation with Euromoney Training / UK.

- Developments in Personal and Private Banking / in cooperation with Batt and Partners Consulting Ltd./ UK.

- Banking and Financial Services Regulatory Compliance / in cooperation with Bond Associates Ltd. / UK.

* Mock Dealing Room Courses

The Spot Foreign Exchange and Money Markets Dealers Training and Certification Program was held at the Institute's Mock Dealing Room to enable the financial and banking sector cadres who deal in financial and money markets to practise such operations in a simulated environment similar to their work nature. The Mock Dealing Room is equipped with (Windeal for Spot FX and Money Market) software programs which were bought from Multimedia TradeWind Limited / UK upon the recommendation of the technical committee specially formed for this purpose.

These programs were designed to handle dealings in foreign exchange and money market operations as well as cross rates, the rules and risks of dealing in foreign exchange, short term derivatives in loans, bank deposits , and the basics of dealing in money markets through banks or on behalf of individual customers and understanding the concepts of interest rates and their theories , dealing with deposits, in addition to practical examples on money market operations and management of risks associated with foreign exchange and money market transactions.

The Spot Foreign Exchange and Money Markets Dealers Training and Certification Program is carried out by specialists selected from different banks and financial institutions and trained within the Training of Trainers program which was held at the Institute's premises during 2003 in cooperation with Lywood David International Ltd. on the software programs with which the Mock Dealing Room is equipped.

However , the Institute of Banking Studies held (12) training courses within this program, which were attended by (104) trainees from different banks and financial institutions dealing in such operations.

* Special Training Courses

The Institute of Banking Studies held this year (11) special training courses attended by (186) trainees for the Rasheed and Rafidain Banks from Iraq, Export and Finance Bank, Jordan Commercial Bank, Islamic International Arab Bank and National Society for Investor Protection .

* Courses Outside Jordan

Following the agreement between the Institute of Banking Studies and the Central Bank of Libya to enable the Banking Training Center of the Central Bank of Libya to benefit from the experiences and facilities of the Institute of Banking Studies in all specialized financial and banking matters, the Institute of Banking Studies sent a group of experienced and qualified lecturers to carry out on behalf the Banking Training Center / Libya (6) specialized training courses which were attended by (217) trainees from the Libyan banking sector.

Also a number of the Central Bank of Libya cadres participated in the training courses carried out for the cadres of the financial and banking sector in Jordan.

Second : Academic Activities

- The graduation of the 33rd group of the Institute's students took place at the Institute's premises. The number of graduates was (31) in Banking and Financial Studies (Ordinary and Islamic) thereby raising the number of the Institute's Intermediate Diploma Program graduates to (1484) since its foundation.

- The success percentage in the intermediate university certificate exam for the Institute's students both in the Ordinary and Islamic Studies in Amman and Irbid was (88%), whereas the success percentage for all participants in the intermediate university certificate exams in the Kingdom was (54.72%) for the managerial and financial program and (68.90%) for all specializations .

Third : MBA Program in Cooperation with University of Jordan

The Institute continued the implementation of the MBA Program in Banking and Finance in cooperation with University of Jordan at its premises in Amman in English language in the afternoons . Sixty employees from the different Jordanian banking and financial institutions joined this program , twenty students of the first group of the program sat for the comprehensive exam after completing the requirements. The results were sent to the University of Jordan in order to be approved by the Council of Deans after being approved by the Institute's Board of Directors . The success percentage was (100%) which proves the success of this program which is unique on the regional level .

However , (18) students remained from the second group of the MBA Program in addition to (22) students who joined the program at the beginning of the academic year 2005 / 2006 after being selected from a big number of candidates from the different banking and financial institutions in accordance with the acceptance regulations of the Higher Studies Faculty of the University of Jordan .

Fourth : Aptitude Exams

In view of the Institute's efforts to create trained and qualified banking and financial cadres who possess the necessary skills to serve their institutions and raise the standard of the banking and financial sector and also to assume a more effective role in performing their assigned posts, several aptitude exams were carried out at the Institute's premises for evaluating the efficiency of the employees of the posts of : Branch Manager, Operations Manager, Commercial Services Officer, Customer Services Officer, Credit Officer , Archives and Tellers . However, the fees for such exams were reduced from (JD 50) to (JD 40) for each employee according to Institute's Board resolution number (781) dated 8/9/2005.

Fifth : Promotion of Authorship

Following the Institute's objective to raise the technical and professional level of the Jordanian banking and financial sector cadres, and in view of the Institute's eagerness to support authorship in subjects related to developing banking operations and the efficiency and experiences of those working in the financial and banking sector, the Institute has sponsored a book written by Dr. Mohammed Abu Nassar on Company Accounting . This sponsorship was done in view of the Institute's belief that such book will enrich the Arab library in this field and will put between the hands of researchers in the banking and financial different aspects a distinguished references .

Sixth : The Library

During the year 2005 the management of the Institute of Banking Studies enriched the Institute's library with a big number of references , periodicals , financial and banking bulletins and specialized books from local , Arab and international publishers. The Institutes Library has thus become an important reference for qualifying and upgrading the abilities of the financial and banking cadres in Jordan , and a distinguished platform for spreading bank knowledge and technology.

In view of the above, and in order to spread and encourage knowledge, research and reading, the Institute has provided the library with (106) reference books in English language, (206) reference books in Arabic language, thereby increasing the number of books and references in English language to (3633) and the number of books and references in Arabic language to (9744) .

Seventh : Scholarships

In order to encourage the Institute's students of the Intermediate Diploma Program to continue their higher studies, the distinguished ones among them were given special attention from the Institute's management, and were granted scholarships to continue their university studies in the governmental universities inside Jordan or in foreign accredited universities . In this context, the scholarship of Mr. Ala'a Khawaldeh from Arab Bank was continued at the University of Wales/UK to get his MBA in Banking and Finance. During this year, also Mr. Hazem Quteishat from the Agricultural Credit Corporation was granted a scholarship to get the MBA Degree in Banking and Finance in the Master's Program held at the Institute in cooperation with University of Jordan . In addition, Mr. Ghaleb Shonaq from the Cities and Villages Development Bank was also granted a scholarship to get BA Degree in Financial and Banking Studies from Yarmouk University .