Assalamualaikum, a very good afternoon and Salam Sejahtera to all of you.
It gives me great pleasure to be here at the closing of this leadership training programme this afternoon, especially since it is a milestone event of several firsts for us. This is the first FSTEP event hosted by the Asian Banking School since it officially became part of the ABS family in November of last year and a first at its premises here. We are also looking at the first batch of FSTEP participants to go through this newly introduced FLAME programme, which stands for “Future Leaders and Managers Enrichment”.
I was told that for the last 10 days, a total of 20 graduates have gone through this programme. They were carefully chosen from the more than 150 participants that make up the current FSTEP Batch 13 after going through a rigorous selection process that included looking at their skills in leadership, collaboration, creativity, communication skills and analytical thinking. In short, the 20 here today represent the cream of the crop and I am confident are already on their way to being effective future leaders and managers. I would also like to give special recognition to the top three winners of the public speaking competition held earlier today – your strength in this area is a skill that will definitely serve you well. My heartfelt congratulations to all of you on your achievements.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The financial services industry today is a challenging one with the traditional lines of business being expanded into new areas and new business models. Arising from this, skill-set requirements have also evolved in tandem with the growing diversity and complexity of banking channels; together with sophisticated customer expectations and new technological innovations. To keep up with these challenges, ABS, together with the invaluable collaborative contributions from Bank Negara Malaysia, will continue to enhance and update the role that FSTEP plays for the industry in producing quality talents. Today’s programme is one such outcome from this.
FLAME was developed and tailor-made solely for FSTEP together with our learning partner, HRnet One Consulting, who also custom designed the logo for us. HRnet One has over 15 years of experience working with local and global organizations on a wide range of areas across their network of offices operating in 8 countries and 10 cities across Asia Pacific. I was told that quite a few of our own local financial institutions have worked with them as well, so I believe that our talents are in good hands.
As for the FLAME programme itself, it was designed to groom FSTEP participants in the areas of leadership, teamwork and personal development. The 10-day programme is based upon the 4 areas of Know-How i.e. business acumen, communication acumen, personal acumen and relational acumen – all essential skills that are looked for by employers today. The term “flame” was chosen to signify the dispelling of darkness through the light of knowledge as we nurture our participants into becoming holistic and well-rounded future financial leaders.
To the participants, the certificate of achievement that you have obtained today will certainly give you an advantage in your budding career in the financial services industry.
With you being selected for this programme, you have already demonstrated your commitment to being exceptional in your chosen profession. It validates the high potential that you have to excel in your respective fields and makes you a more effective professional. Your sponsoring financial institutions that you are interning with at the moment and your future employers also benefit from what you have achieved in this programme. However, you must bear in mind that unless you continually educate yourselves, these achievements and benefits will sooner or later become obsolete.
The point here is that learning is a continuous and ongoing process. We need to keep learning new skills and acquire new knowledge in order to live and work more productively and effectively. Today’s certification that you have received is unlikely to be your last. In a dynamic and ever-changing industry like financial services, you can expect to have to continually update your skills and knowledge in order to adapt as economic and business conditions change and evolve.
At this point, I would also like to acknowledge the sponsoring financial institutions where the FLAME participants are interning at currently and thank their supervisors and HR representatives for recognizing the importance of continuous learning and for paving the way for them to join this leadership programme. We hope that you will be able to see the change in the participants once they report back to work.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I had mentioned at the beginning of my speech, this event marks a milestone of many firsts for us. This new FLAME programme is only the first of many changes that ABS will undertake and introduce for FSTEP. Together with Bank Negara Malaysia, we are in the advanced stages of revamping the content and sponsoring model of the FSTEP programme to make it more effective and in line with what the industry needs. The new and improved FSTEP will be rolled out this year for the next batch intake, which will be Batch 14, and we hope for the continued support of all the financial institutions from the different streams covering conventional banking, Islamic banking, investment banking and insurance/takaful.
It also gives me great pleasure to announce that FSTEP will also be moving here to Nu Tower 2 in June of this year to the 11th floor, which is one floor down. This move will enable ABS to have an even more hands on approach to its continued commitment to enriching the talent pipeline for the industry through FSTEP. It also bodes well for our participants as the new premises will offer a more conducive learning environment with modern aesthetics and state-of-the-art facilities; with the added bonus of KL Sentral being more accessible to get to.
Meanwhile, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Dr. Vijay from the Asian Banking School on his recent appointment as Director of Graduate Training and FSTEP. I trust that your team and you have much planned for FSTEP and will take it to even greater heights. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Mr. Lee Khee Joo for his invaluable leadership contributions over the years and wish him the very best for the next phase of his journey after FSTEP.
My deepest thanks to Bank Negara Malaysia, HRnet One Consulting and the Management and Staff of the Asian Banking School led by Professor Colyn Gardner for all your hard work in making the launch of the first FLAME programme a success. My congratulations again to the Batch 13 graduates of this programme and I wish you all the best in your future undertakings.
Thank you.
