28th March 2021, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain | The General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI), the global umbrella of Islamic financial institutions successfully conducted today its first Online Professional Certification Programme on "Certified Islamic Specialist in Takaful". This certification programme will continue for five days and is delivered in Arabic language.

CIBAFI training and professional empowerment objective has seen a minor threat manifested in the decrease in the number of graduates during the year 2020. This decrease was due to the current health crisis. With governments and countries imposing restrictions on travels and physical gatherings, most of the training sessions planned by CIBAFI Accredited Agents in different jurisdictions were either put on hold or postponed on a later date.

In the above context and being fully committed to enhance human capacity within the Islamic finance industry, CIBAFI has decided to launch a series of online certification programmes for the current year. This initiative aims to inspire innovative solutions for CIBAFI’s accredited professional development agents to follow. CIBAFI will conduct series of certification programmes in different fields of studies and languages, with focus on the programmes that are least used and delivered by its agents.

Dr. Abdelilah Belatik, Secretary General of CIBAFI commented: “The current pandemic should not be a hindrance but an opportunity to continue doing things in the most innovative and effective ways. Human development is more important now more than ever. For instance, the increased awareness of the benefits of insurance and a preference to secure and sharia-compliant coverage increase the need to develop and qualify professionals to work in the Islamic insurance industry. This programme will give participants the opportunity to acquire knowledge and understanding of the Takaful concepts, principles and operational mechanism, Takaful products and the legal, financial and management issues of Takaful”.

CIBAFI Online Professional Certification Programmes are aligned with CIBAFI’s third objective of Training and Professional Empowerment which endeavors to enhance capacity building within the Islamic financial service industry (IFSI). CIBAFI training programmes and certificates are appropriate for various levels of all stakeholders including leaders, executives and specialists in the Islamic finance sector.