The Central Bank of Jordan began in 1965 to study the necessary means of setting up a team for academic and practical training to cater for the requirements of the financial and banking staff and enhancing their academic and practical abilities. These efforts culminated in the creation of the Institute of Banking Studies in accordance with Article (37) Paragraph (d) of the Central Bank of Jordan Law and in accordance with the Institutes Articles of Association No. (69) issued on 1970. The Institute was officially inaugurated on October 9, 1971 and was housed then at the Central Bank premises.

In the early 1990's the Institute witnessed a new stage: the construction of the Institute's permanent headquarters in Tla'a Al Ali in Amman. Also, the Institute has two branches, one in Irbid and the other in Aqaba. The purpose of these branches is to widen the distribution of academic and training activities conducted by the Institute to cover the various regions of the Kingdom.

During the period (1993-2003) the Institute's management expanded the umbrella of the Institute training services to include, in addition to banks and specialized credit institutions, numerous financial institutions, ministries, public corporations and private investment companies such as the Orphans Fund Development Foundation, Amman Financial Markets institutions, Association of Amman Financial Market Brokers, the Social Security Corporation, Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation, in addition to insurance companies and foreign exchange companies, Ministry of Finance and Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority . During 2004 three new banks, BLOM Bank, Bank Audi and National Bank of Kuwait - Jordan, joined the Institute as founding members.

In 2005, the umbrella of the Institute's training services was further expanded to include number of developmental organizations and non-governmental organizations working in microfinance and developing rural societies such as the Jordan Forum for Business and Professional Women, and the Jordan Micro Credit Company, Ahli Microfinancing Company and other organizations whose working in this field.

Recently, the Institute witnessed a remarkable development represented in establishing a Mock Dealing Room to develop the skills of Jordanian banking and financial cadres and improve their performance by putting theory into practice in a simulated environment similar to actual work. Also, on the academic side, the Institute's efforts culminated in starting the MBA Program in Banking and Finance in cooperation with University of Jordan, which is unique on the local and the regional level as well. The Institute has also continued the implementation of the series of Specialized Professional Diploma Programs in Bank Credit, Financial Analysis, and Investment Portfolios Management. Along with the preparation to launch a new program within this series on Banking Leadership in order to accommodate the training needs of the banking and financial cadres and prepare them to occupy higher supervisory and executive functions. These fruitful and persistent efforts as well as the accelerating development helped the Institute to rank third in El-Hassan Bin Talal Award for Academic Excellence during last year.