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Ready to progress your career in Treasury? You’ve come to the right place.. Chris Blake is Global Head of Liquidity Framework Policy and Governance at HSBC. He’s also Co-chair of the UK Asset and Liability Management Association (ALMA), an organisation which gives people the skills they need to further their careers within banking treasury. He is also and Chair of the UK Finance Liquidity Managers Committee. We spoke to him about what ALMA has to offer someone like you. First, tell us a bit about yourself I’ve been at HSBC for nearly 12 years, initially writing global liquidity policies, then helping with ring fencing and also rolling teaching the ALCO course globally. Prior to that, I spent 2 years after the global financial crisis at the FSA (the forerunner to the PRA) as a technical specialist and before that as a treasurer and trader on mainly interest rate and money market products. Can you explain what ALMA does? ALMA has been around for more than 30 years. What started as a group of UK treasurers from banks coming together to form a trade association in 1992, has grown into an organisation focused on education, networking and advocacy within asset and liability management (ALM). In practical terms, that means we run conferences, masterclasses, and open courses and the CertBALM® to share best practice and help people get the most from a career in treasury. What course would you suggest for a treasury candidate? Our Certificate of Banking Asset and Liability Management (CertBALM® for short) has become the benchmark qualification for the industry. It is a level 6 qualification (equivalent to a final year honours degree) and covers everything you need to know about bank asset and liability management to be confident practitioner across treasury matters. It is also accredited by the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT), the chartered professional body for treasury. How did CertBALM® come about? CertBALM® was created in 2016 in response to the lack of central resources about bank treasuries. Up until then, information was hard to access, spread across multiple banks. For instance, when I wanted to find out how bank treasuries worked, I had to take 17 exams – as did many of my associates at ALMA. Needless to say, that took a lot of time and we had to learn a lot of information we didn’t actually need. CertBALM® is an efficient way for any future bank treasury experts to gain the skills they need to start progressing their careers today. What expertise will candidates gain? You will study an introductory module covering an overview of banking, treasury and ALM. After passing an initial progress test, you will then move onto the following four modules:
Who can benefit from the course? There are no entry requirements and the course is aimed at people working in bank treasury, balance sheet management, asset and liability management, and risk. It is designed to benefit a range of people. That could be someone with a couple of years of experience in treasury, hoping to take on more responsibility or someone who has worked in a bank for five to 15 years As well as knowledge, what else can you gain? Networking is a real benefit of the course. ALMA has 110 member organisations. That’s 110 different companies funding their staff to take the CertBALM®. Throughout your studies, you will meet like-minded individuals from across the industry, also keen to learn new skills and advance their careers. By comparing how their experiences differ from yours, and how What else do we need to know? On average, the CertBALM® takes nine months to complete. You will have four one-hour sessions on each of the four modules – a total of 16 hours initial learning. This is in addition to self-study via the learning hub where you can find a host of online resources. One course per year includes a four-day residential where you will get face-to-face tuition on the four key modules. The other course each year is taught totally online, which is often beneficial for overseas students and the Residential constitutes two online revision courses, each being two days long and covering the same topics. Finally, your advice to anyone interested in the CertBALM®? If you’re ready to stand out from the crowd and further your treasury career, the CertBALM® is the course for you. The qualification shows you have a solid understanding of bank treasury and sets you up for the next phase of your career. Testimonials from CertBALM® Graduates “From first taking up the CertBALM® course only nine months into my Treasury role, today I am confident I have been equipped with the most relevant certificate in Banking ALM that will allow me to build a strong career in the field and hopefully one day, with experience, become a well-regarded industry practitioner. Very special thanks to all the extraordinary instructors, mentors and programme organisers who made it happen. I wish future students all the best – hopefully they will enjoy the experience as much as I did”. “Not only has the course given me a fantastic insight into a bank’s Treasury function, achieving the CertBALM® has put me in touch with a wide range of technical experts and like-minded individuals across the industry – a brilliant opportunity for CertBALM® key information: Start: March and September Length: 9 months Study: 10 hours a week (200-250 study hours in total) Assessment: One online progress test. Two 3-hour online exams. Find out more/apply: ukalma.org.uk/certbalm/ There are a limited number of spaces for a March start |
What could the CertBALM Qualification do for my treasury career?
