«Central» calls on banks to increase the employment of citizens

The Central Bank called on banks to increase the pace of recruitment and training of citizens in various jobs so that they can meet the required points within the system of Emiratization by points approved by the Council of Ministers since 2015.

A banking source told Emirates Today that `` critical jobs' 'and the timing of employment were behind banks' late implementation of the Emiratisation Point Program for 2019, expecting banks to be able to cover the remaining points by the end of this year.

Target Points

In detail, the Central Bank said in a statement yesterday that in implementation of the Cabinet's decision in 2015 to adopt the Emiratisation strategy in the banking and insurance sector and the points system that replaced the ratios system, the Central Bank began its effective implementation in 2017 as a first stage without the application. Fines were fully implemented in 2018, stressing that the Emiratisation strategy has become heavily dependent on the operating profits of the banks, i.e., the higher the bank's profits, the higher the number of target points.

The Central Bank pointed out that in order to support Emiratisation in the banking sector, the target points were set in April of this year, identifying the target points that banks operating in the country should achieve by the end of the year, which is 29.736 points, revealing that the banks were able to achieve 28.05 points at the end of last June, which means that some banks must increase the pace of recruitment and training of citizens, in order to achieve the target points by the end of the year.

Regarding the results of Emiratisation in 2018, the banking sector exceeded the target points of 26,806 altogether, meaning that most banks were able to achieve the target points and some exceeded the target points by a noticeable difference.

Localization meeting

In the same context, the Governor of the Central Bank, Mubarak Rashid Al Mansouri, met with the President of the UAE Banks Union, Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, and agreed on the importance of Emiratisation, and work to attract and raise the efficiency of citizens working in the banking sector, in addition to focusing on the employment of new Emirati graduates, and increase training budgets And development of the UAE banks, so that investment is made in the development of career paths clear and ambitious for Emirati graduates.

Critical functions

A senior banking source told Emirates Today yesterday that there are two reasons why banks are delaying the implementation of the Emiratisation Point Program for this year. These are known as “critical jobs”, the difficulty of Emiratization and the timing of employment itself. In the last quarter of each year.

The source, who asked not to be named, said that with regard to the “critical jobs” factor, such as branch managers, credit and risk managers, and assistant managers, some banks find it difficult to localize them, as they require experience, training and practice for a large number of years. Unlike graduates who are easy to hire. He stressed that the banks have plans to start in the first half of the year, to qualify such code, therefore, affect the levels of implementation of the Emiratization strategy and somewhat delayed.

Timing of employment

The second factor is the timing of employment each year, as banks in the first half of each year determine their needs, train and qualify employees for resettlement, and then recruit in the fourth quarter of this year, and this happened in 2018, as it met Banks are expected to do so at the end of the year.

Point Localization System

The Central Bank said that the Emiratisation system in the banking sector gives banks several options through which they can achieve their target points. More points can be achieved by employing nationals in higher job grades.

According to the system, the bank achieves one point for the Emirati employee in the non-administrative grade, three points in the middle management and five points for the senior management. These points are doubled in the case of appointing a national of motivation, in addition to obtaining two points in the case of the appointment of a UAE national in a vital function such as investment and risk management, etc. Emiratization strategy.