The Emirates Institute of Finance (EIF), a regional leader in banking and finance training, announced key achievements in the field of banking and finance, and the successful training of Emirati future financial leaders, a report said.

The graduates of the first batch of its ‘Ethraa Programme’ for the year 2022-2023 consisted of 1,056 finance professionals, Emirates News Agency, WAM, said.

More than 122,683 citizens have been trained at EIF, including more than 100 finance leaders, and through more than 35 national and global strategic partnerships.

The Ethraa Programme, launched in 2022, aims to provide 9,380 jobs for citizens in the financial sector by 2026. The programme succeeded in training 1,839 citizens with success rate exceeding 84% in more than 20 banking and finance specialisations.

Fields like programming and cybersecurity acquired a 100% success rate.

EIF helped in the employment of 1,100 UAE citizens in specialised jobs in the financial sector within the year of 2023. The institute also enrolled more than 80 citizens within the Future-Tech Leaders Programme and trained over 100 Emiratis within the “Leadership Programme” which is in cooperation with University of Oxford.

In line with the governmental vision to empower Emiratis, increase their contribution to the future economy and to gradually increase the Emiratisation rate to 30% in banking and finance sector, the institute aims to achieve an Emiratisation rate 45% in banking and 30% in insurance sectors.

General Manager Noura Alblooshi said: “At EIF, we see great importance in empowering Emirati youth, providing them with high-level educational background to be competent financial leaders.

“Our focus is to build an economy that is diversified and based on innovation achieving sustainable development and prosperity for future generations, aligning with UAE 2030 Vision.”