Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain: – As part of the Central Bank of Bahrain’s (“CBB”) commitment to enhance the competitiveness of the financial services sector and in accelerating the development of the local talent pool to meet the needs of the fast-evolving digital economy, the CBB is cooperating  with the University of Bahrain to offer its support for the capstone consultancy projects of the Master in Financial Technology  at the University.  The program will involve   providing research topics for the students' graduation projects.  The training program will be offered via the CBB’s digital lab, FinHub973, which is powered by Fintech Galaxy’s FinX22 Open API platform.

The graduation project for the Master in Financial Technology consists of a consulting experience through which students apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in the program. The program aims to develop new insights for its candidates towards new financial technologies and financial analytics.

Ms. Yasmeen Al-Sharaf, Director of FinTech & Innovation Unit at the Central Bank of Bahrain commented: “We are pleased to announce our collaboration with the University of Bahrain to empower Bahraini students, by equipping them with the skillsets required for today’s business environment which is dominated by evolving FinTech applications and innovations.  Investing in the upskilling of Bahraini youth to meet the changing dynamics of the financial world and offering them with all means of support is a key priority for us at the Central Bank of Bahrain and is an integral part of an effective financial ecosystem”.

Ms. Yasmeen Al-Sharaf also commended the role of each of the Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait, Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) and Arab Banking Group (Bank ABC) in supporting this initiative and their commitment to supporting the local workforce, emphasizing on their pioneering and constructive efforts in the development of the FinTech ecosystem and financial services sector at large.

The Dean of the College of Business Administration, Prof. Dr. Hatem Masri, praised the support that the College enjoys from major companies and institutions of the public and private sectors, particularly the Central Bank of Bahrain , stressing that this support would help improve the outputs of scientific research in the College on the one hand, and create solutions to the challenges facing the banking sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain on the other hand.

Dr. Hana Bawazir, Head of the Department of Economics and Finance at the College of Business Administration at the University of Bahrain, expressed the department’s endeavor to cooperate with specialized experts, with the aim of enriching the program’s participants with innovation and creativity skills in this field, training them practically and theoretically, and preparing them to meet the challenges of the current data-based economy.

The supervisor of the graduation projects in the Master in Financial Technology, Dr. Yomna Abdulla, stressed on the importance of student projects to have an impact on society and help in development of the economy in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

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