BankDhofar honours over 90 employees with newly acquired academic and professional qualifications
BankDhofar, the second largest bank in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of the size of its branch network, hosted an event in honour of more than 90 employees who successfully obtained academic and professional qualifications in various specializations. The event was held under the patronage of His Excellency Tahir bin Salim Al Amri, Executive President of the Central Bank of Oman. Also in attendance were BankDhofar’s Acting CEO and a number of senior management officials.
Commenting on the significance of the event, Dr. Khalid bin Salim Al Hamdani, Chief Human Resources Officer, said: “BankDhofar continuously seeks to raise the skills and competence of its employees by providing scholarships and appropriate training and development opportunities. These specialized developmental opportunities contribute to refining their job skills and subsequently drive towards enhancing their productivity and performance.”
Al Hamadani added that the emphasis on training and development is not only a requirement but a reflection of BankDhofar’s commitment to advancing Omanisation goals as set out in Oman Vision 2040. Several developmental programs have been initiated to support this strategy including the employment and graduation of over 109 employees from the "Ruwad" programme first launched by the bank seven years ago. The aim of the program was to qualify graduates across all specializations and equip them with skillsets related to leadership, finance, communication, digitalization and other relevant fields. He stressed that this has not only enabled them to take up various employment opportunities within the Bank but has also contributed to enhancing Omanization in various departments.
BankDhofar's effectiveness in achieving Omanisation targets serves as a model for the rest of the banking sector to follow, particularly at the middle and executive levels. The Bank's attractiveness as the preferred employer for Omani talent has contributed to a consistent and growing Omanization level of to 92%.
In 2017, BankDhofar launched the Performance Academy, an effective platform for strengthening the professional capabilities of employees. The Academy features a number of classrooms to enable participants to benefit from modern training tools and course material and additionally a virtual section to help gain practical experience before joining any branch. The Bank is proud to highlight that more than 3,000 training opportunities have been provided to employees across various departments and specializations.
BankDhofar has also launched many initiatives and strategic partnerships with various government agencies, including the Office of the Implementation Follow-up Unit of Oman Vision 2040, the Central Bank of Oman, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, and others. These partnerships have served to keep the government sector informed about the bank's extensive wealth of knowledge and experience while also encouraging collaboration and the exchange of expertise.
Moreover, the bank has recently launched an integrated educational platform to raise the level of financial awareness among the general population in the Sultanate of Oman. This platform offers a variety of training programmes and interactive courses that cover various aspects of the financial sector, ranging from the basics of money management, online payments, loans and banking insurance products, to investment and financial planning for the future.
The underlying goal is to improve the capabilities of employees through ongoing training and development, to finally foster the growth of a competent, cohesive and customer-focused workforce that helps achieve the Bank’s corporate and societal objectives.
