Overview

THE NEW BENCHMARK FOR PROFESSIONALS

Certified Banker (CB) is a professional qualification developed and offered by the HKIB to help banking practitioners at all levels raise their professional standards with skills relevant for the fast-changing banking environment. It also provides a common qualification benchmark that is recognised by regulators and leading authorised institutions.

The CB programme is the enhancement and replacement of the Associate of The Hong Kong Institute of Bankers (AHKIB^TM) qualification, which was launched over two decades ago.

ECF Subjects Integrated

The programmes of CB encompasses both generic and specialist topics. It also integrates the programmes developed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Enhanced Competency Framework (ECF). The ECF programmes, which are the building blocks of CB are administered by the HKIB.

Qualifications Framework (QF)

Certified Banker contains three programmes in progressive QF Levels (i.e. Advanced Diploma, Professional Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma). Candidates should attempt the programmes progressively according to their academic background and related work experience.
All three programmes have been quality assured by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) and are recognised under the Qualifications Framework (QF) as Specification of Competency Standards (SCS) based programmes.  Their learning contents are encompassing all relevant Units of Competency (UoCs) drawn from the SCS of banking industry. The Postgraduate Diploma for Certified Banker is the first and only Specification of Competency Standards (SCS) based banking qualification which is accredited at QF Level 6 in Hong Kong. This is at the same level as a Master’s degree. Please read the Accreditation to understand more.

Certified Banker is already recognised in regions outside Hong Kong and is set to achieve even wider global recognition in the years ahead.


Becoming a Certified Banker

Certified Banker offers qualification in three levels, reflecting the different level of experience and skills of an individual. The CB is suitable for current banking and financial practitioners who wish to deepen industry knowledge for career advancement as well as post-secondary full time students who wish to join the banking profession after graduation.

Individual Members who have completed a particular level and acquired the relevant years of banking or finance related work experience will be entitled to use the respective CB designations.

Entry Requirements

Candidates of CB (Stage I) need to be an HKIB Individual Member and fulfill one of the following entry requirements:

• A Bachelor's Degree in any discipline awarded by a recognised university or equivalent; OR
• An Associate Degree (AD) / Higher Diploma (HD) in a banking and finance discipline or equivalent; OR
• Mature applicants with either
  • At least five years of banking and finance work experience; OR
  • Two years of banking and finance work experience with a recommendation from employer.

Remark:  Full time students of the stated Diploma or Degree programmes will also be considered.

Candidates of CB (Stage II) need to be an HKIB Individual Member and fulfill one of the following entry requirements:

• The Advanced Diploma for Certified Banker offered by HKIB; OR
• A Bachelor's Degree in a banking and finance related discipline awarded by a recognised university plus one year of banking and finance work experience; OR
• A relevant professional qualification plus one year of banking and finance work experience; OR
• Mature applicants with at least ten years of banking and finance work experience. 

Remark: Applicants who do not possess a pass in “Professional Ethics and Compliance” or module(s) of the same nature at HKIB are required to first sign up for the training and obtain a pass in the corresponding examination at HKIB.
 

Pathway

Remarks
1 Credits are benchmarked against the QF credits (please find details of QF credit in the HKQF website at http://www.hkqf.gov.hk). 

2 For exemption only. Holders of the Professional Certificate for ECF on Retail Wealth Management (RWM) offered by HKIB are eligible to apply for “Financial Planning’ module exemption. 

3 The ECF programme covers a wide range of areas, such as Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) and Retail Wealth Management (RWM). Details of the integration of other ECFs in CB programme will be announced in due course. 

4 For exemption only. Holders of the Advanced Certificate for ECF on AML/CFT (Core Level) or respective grandfathered certificate are eligible to apply for ECF on AML/CFT (Core Level) module exemption.

5 For exemption only. Holders of the Professional Certificate in Treasury Markets (i.e. ECF on Treasury Management (Core Level) offered by LiPACE of OUHK are eligible to apply for “Fundamentals of Treasury Markets” module exemption.

Benefits

Intakes for CB training programmes