Chartered Banker MBA:
‘The gold standard for tomorrow’s leaders’

The Institute joins forces with the UK’s top-rated Bangor University to launch a ground-breaking Chartered Banker MBA – “an innovative product with global resonance,” writes TED GARDENER, Professor of Banking and Finance and Head of the College of Business, Social Sciences and Law.

The Institute has teamed-up with the UK’s top-rated Bangor University Business School to offer the ground-breaking Chartered Banker MBA.  Combining the dual accredited qualification of an MBA and professional Chartered Banker status, it’s the highest qualification for banking professionals and a direct response to the challenging environment facing global banking.

The new degree is the latest phase of the ambitious development programme undertaken by CIOBS designed to support greater industry professionalism. Its importance is underscored by recent market research (see Chartered Banker, February/March 2010) which demonstrates strong endorsement of the Chartered Banker status by bank customers in the wake of the financial crisis.

The CIOBS partner in this initiative, Bangor Business School at Bangor University in North Wales, is a leading international research centre in banking and finance. It’s the top-rated institution in Accounting & Finance –  incorporating banking – in the most recent (December 2008) Research Assessment Exercise, the definitive rating of research quality in UK Universities.

Many of the School’s professors and researchers advise banks, central banks and banking bodies. It has a world-class Advisory Board, which includes the former chief executive of HSBC, a deputy governor of the Bank of England and the former chief executive of Prudential.

A strong supporter of the Business School and chairman of Bangor University Council is Lord Mervyn Davies, former government Minister and chairman of Standard Chartered Bank. The Bangor Business School recently opened a new London Centre to deliver key programmes in the City.

The Chartered Banker MBA is the first qualification of its kind to offer jointly an MBA and professional Chartered Banker status. It can be completed in two years and students can remain fully employed throughout. Its ‘blended delivery’ combines on-line learning methods with face-to-face workshops. These workshops will be delivered in the City of London and at other select venues in response to demand.

The programme is launched as the banking sector comes under unprecedented scrutiny. “As the global financial markets emerge from a period of unprecedented crisis, the need for a modern, relevant and up-to-date postgraduate degree in banking has never been more essential for tomorrow’s leaders,” says Professor Colyn Gardner, CEO of Bangor Business School’s Management Centre, and a leading bank management training consultant. “The Chartered Banker MBA is that qualification.”

Simon Thompson, Chief Executive of the Institute adds: “The need for demonstrably qualified bankers has never been greater. Customers, regulators and employers demand skilled banking professionals committed to high ethical, professional and technical standards to help us build sustainable banking institutions. The Chartered Banker MBA is the gold-standard banking qualification for tomorrow’s leaders.”

The Chartered Banker MBA will provide the expertise and knowledge to handle challenges in the new banking environment. It combines traditional MBA skills with the specialist needs of the banking industry, and comprises 12 modules. Some, such as marketing, corporate strategy, human resources, organisational behaviour and managerial economics, are common to all MBA programmes but for this course will explore how these disciplines apply to the banking and financial services industry.

Other modules address the specialist needs of the industry. All students must cover financial institutions’ risk management, corporate finance, credit and lending and professional ethics and regulation. Elective modules include capital markets and treasury, international banking, financial analysis, Islamic banking, private banking and wealth management. Students are assessed on research-based projects in four of these elective modules.

The Chartered Banker MBA will have a ‘top-up’ route for bankers who are already professionally qualified. Such professionals can gain exemptions from up to 50% of the MBA programme.

An innovative product, the Chartered Banker MBA is designed to have global resonance. The emphasis is on traditional MBA skills and the specialist needs of the world’s most important industry. 

We believe that the global banking industry will support the professionalism that customers and other key banking stakeholders will increasingly demand.

At the same time, the Chartered Banker MBA is about the high-level skills and flexibility that modern bankers need in order to operate profitably and manage the changes and innovations that characterise the industry. 

The underlying philosophy of the Chartered Banker MBA is that enterprise and innovation need to be part of a banker’s analytical skills alongside a strong culture of professional standards and social responsibility that are supported by shared ethical values.

The modern phase of banking research at Bangor University began in the late 1960s, with the arrival of Professor Jack Revell from Cambridge University. Jack Revell had been the financial sector specialist within a research team headed by Nobel Laureate, Professor Sir Richard Stone.

The Bangor Business School is not only a centre of international research excellence in banking and financial studies, but it also has strong industry links.

The Bangor Business School is a leading teaching and research focused business school offering a full range of disciplines from undergraduate to doctoral level. Coupled with a commitment to excellence in research is a commitment to the local economy, and delivering executive training through the Management Centre.

Students are attracted by a reputation for high quality and expertise, particularly in banking and financial services in which Bangor is a leading European centre housing one of the largest PhD schools of any business school in the UK. Staff research papers and articles are published regularly in leading journals and their books published to a worldwide audience.

In recent years, staff have conducted high level consultancy work including major policy studies for many leading organisations such as the European Commission, The World Bank and the UK Treasury.

By partnering universities worldwide and engaging with business, industry and external organisations, Bangor offers a broad dimension to academic disciplines, enhancing the academic environment for both staff and students.

The banking group at Bangor includes many internationally renowned research professors and is recognised as the leading specialist banking research group among European universities.

Route to the Chartered Banker MBA

Compulsory modules
Financial Institutions Risk
Management
Credit and Lending
Professional Ethics and Regulation
Corporate Finance
Corporate Strategy
Managerial Economics
Human Resources / Organisational
Behaviour
Research Methods

Elective modules
Marketing Strategy
International Banking
Financial Analysis
New Venture Creation
Financial Crises and Regulation
Islamic Banking & Finance
Capital Markets & Treasury Management
Private banking & Wealth Management

Key Features
• Dual accreditation from Bangor Business School and the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland
• Only qualification in the UK and globally which allows students to gain an MBA as well as Chartered Banker status
• Blended learning delivery allows flexibility to study around work commitments and can be completed in 2 years
• Exemptions for up to 50% of the programme given for previous professional qualifications
• Delivers practical content to aid executives and managers to make sense of the holistic nature of bank management. This covers technical banking and finance areas as well as ethical and professional standards
• Responds to the increasing need to sustain responsible professionalism in global banking

The Chartered Banker MBA starts in January 2011. Exemptions for up to 50% of the programme are given for previous professional qualifications, including existing Chartered Bankers. Members can register an interest in the Chartered Banker MBA at cbmba@charteredbanker.com

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