Annual Report 2011:
Summary Annual Report and Accounts of the Chartered Banker Institute for the year ended 28 February 2011

The Institute is governed by a Council of members (the Trustees of the Institute) which is ultimately responsible for the management and administration of the Institute, its property and affairs, except where the Royal Charter or Rules prescribe that approval is required by the Institute in General Meeting.

The Council consists of at least 15 people and comprises both elected and appointed members. The powers and composition of Council, periods of office, terms of reappointment and re-election are prescribed in the Rules.

Objectives

The objectives for which the Institute is constituted are contained in the Royal Charter and are as follows:

• to encourage the highest standards of professionalism and conduct amongst its members in the public interest;
• to improve and extend the knowledge and expertise of those engaged in banking and financial services;
• to conduct examinations and promote the continued study of banking and financial services in all their aspects and to award certificates to candidates who meet the standards laid down by the Institute;
• to establish links and to co-operate with other professional or educational bodies with a view to the pursuit of common objectives and to represent the banking profession both nationally and internationally.

The recent financial crisis has reinforced the importance of the Institute’s role in rebuilding public confidence and trust in the banking profession through enhancing and embedding high ethical, professional and technical standards. As the oldest institute of bankers in the world, and the only remaining institute of bankers in the UK, we play an increasingly important role in helping banks and bankers regain public trust.

Strategic aims and themes

In pursuit of the above objectives, the Institute has identified five strategic themes which shape the Institute’s activities. These are:

1. Promoting professionalism;
2. Accelerating and sustaining growth;
3. Enhancing member and employer engagement;
4. Building a world-class organisation; and
5. Working in the public interest.

All of the Institute’s activities support one or more of these themes, as set out below.

Achievements and performance

Promoting professionalism

The Institute’s vision for the banking industry has always been one of professionalism, where only individuals and institutions with integrity, responsibility to their customers, appropriate technical knowledge and a will to uphold ethical practice deserve to succeed. The Institute plays a leading role in developing and setting professional standards for the industry, and much of our work during 2010 involved the further development and promotion of the Chartered Banker and other standards throughout the whole of the UK and, to an extent, overseas.

Accelerating and sustaining growth

The Institute recorded more than 2,600 student enrolments in 2010 (1,610 in 2009). In addition, many more individuals in the UK and, to a growing extent, overseas participated in a programme accredited or certified by the Institute.

Enrolments were boosted both by the increase in the number of UK banks supporting the Institute and our qualifications, and by the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) requirements, where financial advisers need to gain new, higher-level qualifications before the end of 2012.

Whilst the small number of graduates joining the industry in autumn 2010 impacted on Chartered Banker student numbers, the rollout of the Institute’s “SMART CB” experiential route to Chartered Banker (in partnership with Reed Learning) and the launch of the Chartered Banker MBA (in partnership with Bangor Business School) mitigated this to some extent.

At introductory (Professional Banker Certificate/ Diploma) level, the Institute enrolled nearly 900 students in the current year, an increase of almost 50% compared with 2009 and 100% compared with 2008. This reflects, we believe, the genuine desire of an increasing number of banks and bankers to reprofessionalise the industry from the bottom up, which the Institute is well placed to support.

Enhancing member and employer engagement

Following the launch of the Institute’s new CPD scheme in January 2009, the Institute has continued to invest in developing appropriate content and materials to support members. Participation in the scheme is mandatory for all Members and Fellows who wish to retain the Chartered Banker title. Additional e-learning modules in business and softskills have been added, an online “Professionalism & Ethics” toolkit was launched, and the Credit Skills Library has been enhanced. All are available free of charge to members at www.charteredbanker.com.

During 2010, the Professional Development team have continued to build relationships with banks and others throughout the UK. Awareness of and support for the Institute and our work to enhance banking professionalism have grown considerably, and provide a solid foundation for future growth.

Building a world-class organisation

The Institute aims to be in the forefront of enhancing professionalism in banking, in terms of the ethical and professional standards we set and the qualifications and training we offer directly and through a range of learning partners. In order to ensure the continued relevance of our flagship Chartered Banker qualification, a thorough review of the structure, content and delivery of the qualification was launched in 2010, to report in 2011. The intention is to launch a revised Chartered Banker qualification beginning in autumn 2011.

A major focus over the past year has been enhancing student support. At introductory (Professional Banker Certificate) level this has been achieved by developing an e-learning module to support distance-learning study materials, in partnership with Unicorn. Initial feedback on the module is excellent. We have also developed a range of innovative, alternative assessment methodologies comprising accreditation of prior certificated and experiential learning to support our “SMART CB” and “Experience Counts” programmes.

Working in the public interest

The Institute works to rebuild public confidence and trust in the banking industry through enhancing and embedding high ethical, professional and technical standards.

The Institute’s public interest work also encompasses promoting financial capability. CIOBS leads the work of the Financial Education Partnership (FEP), which offers workshops in financial capability, careers and a range of other related topics to schoolchildren and others throughout Scotland, delivered at no cost.

Financial review and results

During the year ended 28th February 2011 the Institute had net incoming resources of £195,031 (2010: £353,224). This was fuelled by an unrealised gain on recognition and valuation of the Institute’s historic bank note collection of £137,500. The Institute earned a surplus before unrecognised gains and losses of £56,945 (2010: deficit £180,583).
 
The Institute retains a strong asset position, with net assets of £2,399,772 (2010:£2,204,741). Maintaining this strong financial position is necessary to support the realistic and ambitious programme of activities through which the Institute will lead the reprofessionalisation of the banking industry over the coming years.

The Institute’s reserves policy requires that reserves be maintained at a level which ensures that the Institute’s core activity could continue during a period of unforeseen difficulty. Council considers that unrestricted reserves should be maintained to achieve this desired level, at between three to six months of expected future total resources expended. For the current year this amounts to between £500,000 and £1,000,000. At present the Institute’s reserves are sufficient to achieve this.

Future plans

Promoting professionalism

The Institute will continue its leading role in the reprofessionalisation of the banking industry through the continued development of the Chartered Banker Professional Standards Board (CB:PSB). We aim to achieve public support for the work of the CB:PSB from major UK banking institutions, and others, and will publish a prospectus, or similar document, setting out the CB:PSB’s aims, objectives and deliverables later in the year.

Chartered Banker will continue to be promoted as the “gold-standard” qualification for UK bankers, with the Institute’s new Professional Banker Certificate and Professional Banker Diploma promoted as the first steps towards full professional qualification.

Accelerating and sustaining growth

We will continue our work to increase the number of banks from across the UK supporting the Institute, the professional standards we set, and the professional qualification programmes offered by the Institute and our partners. In order to ensure that as many individuals and institutions as possible can benefit from the Institute’s education programmes and qualifications, additional learning partnerships may be established with partner institutes and educational establishments.

Whilst our main focus will remain supporting the re-professionalisation of banking in the UK, we will also pursue international opportunities to develop the Chartered Banker brand.

Enhancing member and employer engagement

We will continue to invest in developing CPD resources for members, and will launch an online, regulatory CPD support package for Professional Financial Advisers in 2011. The Institute will continue its work to accredit major employers of our members for the Approved CPD Employer Scheme, recognising on-the-job development activities as meeting some of the requirements of the Institute’s CPD programme.

Regular communications with employers will be maintained via the Institute’s Professional Development team to ensure that key contacts are kept up-to-date with Institute activities and developments. The Institute will establish new Advisory Panels to enable employers to input into the development of professional standards and new qualifications at an early stage.

Building a world-class organisation

The Institute will continue to develop its capabilities to offer a wide range of professional banking programmes to support the re-professionalisation of the banking sector. Following the review of the Institute’s flagship Chartered Banker programme, a new Chartered Banker qualification will be launched in 2011. New delivery technologies may be employed to support students studying for the new Chartered Banker qualification.

Working in the public interest

The establishment of the Chartered Banker Professional Standards Board (CB:PSB) is designed to rebuild public confidence in the ethical and professional competence of bankers, and restore pride to the banking profession.

The further development and full launch, with industry support of the CB:PSB will, we believe, enable the Institute to make a significant step in rebuilding confidence and trust in the banking industry.

In addition, the Institute will continue work to expand the Financial Education Partnership (FEP) further in 2011, by seeking additional sources of funding and by recruiting additional volunteers to deliver workshops. Workshops may, for the first time, be delivered outside Scotland. We will also engage with the Scottish Government and others to take forward plans to improve the co-ordination and delivery of financial education in Scottish schools.

Independent auditor’s statmement to the trustees of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland

We have examined the summarised financial statements for the year ended 28 February 2011.

This statement is made solely to the charity trustees as a body in accordance with the terms of our engagement letter. Our work has been undertaken so we might state to the charity trustees those matters we are required to state in such a statement and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity trustees for our work, for this statement, or for the opinions we have formed.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and auditor

The trustees are responsible for preparing the summarised financial statements in accordance with the recommendations of the charities Statement of Recommended Practice.

Our responsibility is to report to you our opinion on the consistency of the summarised financial statements with the full financial accounts and Annual Report. We also read the other information contained in the summarised annual report and consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the summarised financial statements.

Basis of opinion

We conducted our work in accordance with Bulletin 2008/3 “The auditor’s statement on the summary financial statement” issued by the Auditing Practices Board for use in the United Kingdom.

Opinion

In our opinion the summarised financial statements are consistent with the full accounts and the Annual Report of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland for the year ended 28 February 2011.

CHIENE + TAIT Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor 61 Dublin Street Edinburgh EH3 6NL.

Click to view 2011 Balance Sheet
Click to view 2011 Statement of Financial Activities

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