raduation MCB’s first cohort of RBA graduates receive certificates |10 April 2021

The graduating group in a souvenir photograph (Photo: Jude Morel)

The Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) Seychelles yesterday hosted its first certified banker graduation for 11 of its staff members at its headquarters at Caravelle House.

The graduating group is the bank’s first cohort to undertake the Retail Banking Association (RBA) international online training programme and receive professional certification in retail banking.

The RBA International has as objective to strengthen the status of retail bankers as internationally recognised professionals, fuelled by the belief that retail banking should be a recognised profession like accountancy and law.

The course is being facilitated by the MCB Institute of Finance at no charge to the staff of MCB.

Graduates of the Professional Retail Banking (PRB) certificate ‒ which teaches the breadth of international best practices in customer-centric retail banking ‒ were Helvin Alcindor, Jonathan Adrienne, Valerie Lebon, Julianne Marie, Nigel Samson and Phoebe Servina.

Meanwhile the Retail Banking level 1 certification provides candidates with a deeper understanding of the end-to-end customer experience, and the graduates for this were Audrey Adrienne, Belinda Baptiste, Marisa Delorie and Christel Hoareau.

Faviola Sanders, was the only person to have undertaken the Retail Banking level 2 certification and is working towards completing the level 3.

A Retail Banking Level 3 is considered on the same tier as a Bachelor’s degree.

“I did not have to take the level 1 because I had racked up 20 years working in the banking sector at MCB, with 10 years in management. The level 2 took a year to complete and I have another year to go before completing my final year in June to become a certified retail banker,” explained Mrs Sanders.

Talking about her experience, Mrs Sanders noted that the training programme started off as a challenging experience but she was able to adapt and balance work, responsibilities at home and her studies.

“I joined the world of work straight after completing school, so I never had the chance to properly further my studies and this certificate ‒ which is recognised internationally ‒ is like a confirmation of my years of experience,” she concluded.

In his congratulatory speech, the managing director of MCB Bernard Jackson commended his staff for their hard work and achievement, and highlighted that there will be future cohorts of RBA graduates.

“I am confident that there shall be many more graduates as we have in front of us these trailblazers, who will become mentors and coaches for all of your team members who want to become the best version of themselves,” stated Mr Jackson.

Mr Jackson also took the opportunity to congratulate Rabella Dubel, Edelle Crispin, Verothy Kilindo, Kim Laporte, May-Paule Lepathy and Derek Celeste for completing the AAT Level 2 Diploma in 2020.

Lindy Mathiot, human resource manager at the MCB, noted that the training programme started off in 2019 when the bank observed a lack of local courses for those working in retail banking.

As there are no schools currently in Seychelles that caters to the retail banking sector, the RBA International allows the cohort to learn virtually and sit the exams under prescribed conditions.

As part of MCB’s staff development strategy, the professional training will allow the bank to improve on delivery, empowering its staff to provide key consultations with clients and take key decisions when delivering quality customer experience.

Elsie Pointe