Nexus Financial Services is targeting Bahrainis to join its training scheme, in a bid to increase the proportion of locals working as independent financial advisors, the firm has announced.

The nationalisation initiative aims to boost local business by ensuring the staffing-mix meets every customer’s needs, according to the newly appointed sales manager, Marc Meldrum.

Nexus hopes to attract 'business aware' Bahrainis, who it pledges to train as financial independent advisors, in line with Bahrain insurance regulations that came into force over the summer.

“It is often easier for people to speak to people who are of the same nationality – certainly it is important that we have a strong team of Arabic speakers if we are to provide the best possible service to our local clients,” said Meldrum, who joins Nexus after five years working in the insurance arm of HSBC and American Express in Hong Kong.

“We would like to see our team be made up of many more Bahraini Financial Advisers as part of our exciting growth plans. We are looking for men or women who are business aware, it’s not about your academic qualifications, but about your approach to the role,” Meldrum added.

Regulatory changes introduced by the Central Bank of Bahrain in July made it mandatory for all independent financial advisers to pass the internationally recognised Award in Financial Planning.

The tailor-made qualification, which is available in English and Arabic, was developed by the UK’s Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance. Bahrain is the first country in the Middle East to make such qualifications mandatory.

Nexus, which has offices in Manama, Dubai, Qatar and Abu Dhabi has run in-house CII accredited training for its people for the past six years. As a result the majority of Nexus advisors working in the Manama office are already CII qualified.

“We are ahead of the game on training and ensuring that our advisors have the correct internationally recognised qualifications. I am 100 per cent behind the new regulations, because the more qualified financial advisors are, the higher quality of service we can offer, and the more respect the public has for the industry,” Meldrum said.

Meldrum is an insurance professional with qualifications from the Chartered Insurance Institute in the UK, with some 20 years worth of experience gained in the UK and Hong Kong.-TradeArabia News Service