By Surihe Gaomas WINDHOEK Over the past year there has been quite a high demand for banking candidates in the north of the country. As more and more people resign from the banking sector looking for greener pastures or to further their studies, this results in a gap that compels this sector to seek for the services of qualified staff. It is against this background that Bank Windhoek saw the dire need to invest in the training of bankers in the country, by officially launching its 11th Candidate Bankers Training Programme (CBT) in Windhoek yesterday. At the occasion 22 students, who were mostly job-seekers, will now take part in the empowerment and development programme this year by undergoing an intensive five-month training course at Bank Windhoek. Officially launching the programme, Managing Director of Bank Windhoek, James Hill, said that due to the high demand for training in the banking industry, the bank trained two CBT groups last year. “We believe this programme lays a strong foundation for future bankers at Bank Windhoek, or be it at any other bank in Namibia,” said Hill. This time, the total cost of the 2007 CBT programme amounts to approximately N$680ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 and, since the start of the programme in 1996, the bank has spent more than N$6-million on the training of CBT students. Through what is called the Bank School, students will be equipped with the knowledge and expertise to start a career in the banking industry. “It is the beginning of a new year and a fresh start … We hope many of you will become employees of Bank Windhoek and that those of you who don’t will still become employees of the banking industry,” Hill added. It becomes apparent that from the applications which came through from interested students in the country, there is a big gap in filling up the banking employment sector. Hill noted that during the course of late last year, the bank received a total of 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 300 applications for this year’s CBT programme. After thorough testing, the top 19 students and three bursary-holders were chosen to complete the programme. In order to stay in the programme, the students are required to maintain an average of 80 percent throughout the next five months. Over the years, the CBT programme has been described as a success, as most of the staff members at the newly-established community branches in Aminuis, Ongwediva as well as Oshakati-North are CBT graduates. Lately, public complaints have been about the poor service delivery and client response at banks in general. However, Group Human Resource Adviser, Elize Fahl, said that to avoid such a situation, candidates will be able to handle responsibilities ranging from the bank’s internal affairs, service delivery, teller training and fraud detection, through the Bank School. “We further advise banks to train their people, put away money in training and development before we expose them to the public. There is a need to bring them up to speed with the know-how of banking for effective service delivery,” added Fahl during an interview with New Era yesterday. During their training, the CBT students will be multi-skilled through attachments to different departments within Bank Windhoek. Since the launch of the CBT Programme in January 1996, a total of 350 students have graduated, of whom the majority are still employed by Bank Windhoek. This is the 11th year that the bank will be training prospective bankers through the CBT Programme.