Tadawul Academy delivers risk and sustainable finance L&D CISI success

Dr. Karim Mansour (KM): Tadawul Academy was established in 2014. We just celebrated our ninth anniversary. We’ve taught close to 7000 students now, most of them through our eLearning platform www.TadawulExams.com. Most of our students are from the Middle East (particularly the GCC), but we’ve started to attract students from the UK and Africa. Thanks to our commitment to high pass rates, we are now the highest-rated academy in the world for CISI qualifications. You can see what our students are saying here: www.tadawul.academy/reviews.

KM: We provide purely CISI qualifications. We cover Wealth Management, Risk and Compliance, Regulatory papers, and Corporate Finance. Some of these qualifications are also offered by CISI in Arabic, so we offer those too.

KM: Shortly after the Global Financial Crisis, the UAE capital markets regulator (the SCA) signed a partnership with the CISI to deliver their qualifications in the UAE as part of a certification regime aimed at raising the level of competence in the country. This includes Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, KSA, Lebanon and Palestine, and Jordan followed shortly after. These qualifications are now required and taken around the GCC and Levant.

KM: CISI qualifications are recognised around the world, so taking the training and passing the exams allows professionals to prove they are fit and qualified to practice their profession both regionally and internationally.

KM: 1. Compliance and risk modules 

With the global push by regulators to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, these qualifications are continuously evolving and growing in importance. They are the most commonly required qualifications by regulators in the region who have partnered with the CISI.

2. Green sustainable and responsible finance  

The CISI is a proud signatory of the Sustainable Finance Education Charter, which aims to integrate green and sustainable finance principles into the education and training programmes of finance professionals worldwide. The CISI with their Chartered Body Alliance partners have developed a new pathway for those working in financial services to support the transition to a low carbon world, address climate-related risk, and explore sustainable, green finance opportunities. This pathway now offers two new qualifications: Green and Sustainable Finance Certificate and Climate Risk Certificate.

3. Islamic finance for portfolio growth 

The CISI Islamic finance professional qualifications have been specifically developed to provide financial services professionals with specialist knowledge and expertise to foster strong careers in all areas of Islamic finance including Islamic Economics, Islamic Business Ethics, Shari’ah and Islamic Commercial Jurisprudence, Sukuk Market, Islamic Insurance – Takaful and Islamic Corporate Governance. The Islamic Finance study pathway has been developed in conjunction with the Bahrain Institute on Banking and Finance (BIBF) and l’Ecole Supérieure des Affaires (ESA) and is supported by the Central Bank of Lebanon. It consists of two qualifications: Fundamentals of Islamic Banking and Finance and the Islamic Finance Qualification.

KM: In 2016, just two years after establishment, we took the decision to start offering these qualifications online on a state-of-the-art cloud platform with a dedicated mobile app. This has proven to be the most strategically prudent decision, as it helped position us regionally and internationally as a major provider of CISI qualifications. When the pandemic hit in 2020, our corporate clients moved from physical to online training, and by then we had already established ourselves as a leading provider of online learning, so we were able to capture a big market share from our competitors. As a privately-owned company, we can’t provide exact costs, but we can say that offering quality learning doesn’t come cheap. The old adage “you get what you pay for” couldn’t be truer, so we’ve strived to continuously ensure that our content is clear, relevant and most importantly, enables our students to pass with flying colours.

KM: Lots of students come from non-investment backgrounds, particularly accounting. These certificates attract accountants for two reasons:

1. Accountants need to cost the income and costs associated with the financial institutions they work for, so it’s imperative for them to know how the securities and investment products offered by their companies work, so they can properly record them in the books.

2. Accountants are always looking to expand their career choices, so they look for qualifications that can help them upgrade their skills and open new career paths for themselves. Since they are already conversant in finance, they have an advantage over others who are just coming into the sector.

KM: Each country has its own regulations and CISI offers different regulatory papers for different countries around the world. These papers help accountants understand their regulatory environment and what’s expected from them when it comes to ethics, sustainability, governance, shareholder rights, etc. Other papers such as those in Risk and Compliance provide a solid background on how to implement preventative and detective controls to safeguard their organisation. The Investment qualifications clarify how products work and accountants can use them to better understand the products their organisations offer.

KM: ESG integration into all aspects of investment and business decisions is gaining traction. This means professionals need to be adept at understanding how ESG metrics and considerations can be holistically integrated into business strategies, investment processes, and risk management. The market for green, social, and sustainability bonds is expanding, presenting both opportunities and challenges for professionals to understand their structuring, issuance, and reporting requirements. Given the urgency of the climate crisis, there's a significant push towards understanding climate risks and opportunities. Various jurisdictions are introducing or enhancing regulations related to ESG disclosure and sustainability reporting. Professionals must keep abreast of these regulatory changes and understand how they impact both investors and companies.

KM: The hosting of COP 28 in Dubai, a nexus of global finance and commerce, offers a unique intersection of traditional and modern financial paradigms. This event will underscore the importance of sustainable finance, given the urgent need for global alignment on climate goals. At the same time, with Dubai's stature as an Islamic finance hub, there's an opportunity to spotlight the synergies between Islamic finance principles and sustainability objectives.