In the continuous aim of the SKILLS programme – Superior Knowledge by Intensive Labour Learning Schemes to support youth capacities and supply qualified human recourses in order to meet the increasing needs of the local labour market in most business sectors of the economy, the SKILLS programme launched, under the patronage of the Ministry of Finance in cooperation with the European Union, the Syrian Enterprise and Business Centre (SEBC) and the Institute for Financial Literacy (IFL), another programme - SKILLS- Financial- on Wednesday 20 April, 2011.

The launching of SKILLS – Financial, is being implemented for the first time in Syria, in the aim to establish a developed training centre for granting professional training certificates, internationally accepted for employees working in the financial sector. The centre will ensure the supply of talented business staff qualified for working in the various financial, banking and insurance institutions, after delivering the necessary training and rehabilitation and therefore providing them with the most up-to-date financial and commercial knowledge and skills available at an international level. The training includes preparatory courses and professional classes provided by the IFL in addition to the awareness campaigns on the best ethical behaviours practiced between professionals of the financial sector in line with the openness and development of the economy that Syria is witnessing.

SKILLS – Financial includes three phases for providing employees working in the financial sector at various levels proficiency with the fundamental skills through granting them the following international training certificates:

CFA - Chartered Financial Analyst
CMA - Certified Management Accountant
CVA - Certified Valuation Analyst
IFRS - International Financial Reporting Standards
JFA - Junior Financial Analyst
FRM - Financial Risk Manager

SKILLS – Financial comes as additional proof of the success of the Syrian-European cooperation over the past few years, in launching and implementing specialized training programmes targeting the most emerging sectors in Syria and supplying these sectors with qualified human recourses in line with the needs of each sector as part of the economic reform and development process. One example is SKILLS – Journalists which was launched in November, 2011.

The Syrian financial sector witnessed gradual developments since the beginning of the millennia through the opening of over 16 private banks, traditional and Islamic, which reflects the apparent growth in the financial industry achieved in Syria.

SKILLS is the first specialized mini-business school, established by the Syrian Enterprise and Business Centre and the SME Support Programme (SSP) in cooperation with the European Training Foundation (ETF) in the aim to bridge the gap between the needs of the labour market and the skills of the workforce through providing the business sector with professional skills and superior knowledge in line with the plans of the Syrian government for economic growth, increase of investments and creation of new jobs for the youth.