KUWAIT CITY, November 13: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) celebrated the graduation of NBK Academy’s Wave 29 of newly hired employees who successfully met admission criteria for this intensive course specially designed for Kuwaiti fresh university graduates.

The graduation ceremony was attended by Mr. Omar Bouhadiba, CEO of International Banking Group at National Bank of Kuwait, Mr. Mohammed Al-Othman, CEO - Consumer and Digital Banking Group, Mr. Mohammad Al-Kharafi, COO - Head of Group Operations and Information Technology, Mr. Emad Al-Ablani, GM - Group Human Resources, Mr. Ahmed Bourisly, GM – Corporate Banking Group, Mr. Jad Zakhour, GM - Head of Treasury Group, and Mr. Hisham Al-Nusif, GM - Consumer Banking Group, along with a number of NBK’s executives and officials.

The program lasted for 7 months, during which fresh graduates from different majors received intensive training on technological, behavioral and other skills that allow them to build a sustainable career at NBK.

The course covered various areas of banking principles, such as design thinking and increasing productivity, training on creativity, innovation, and digital trends in the banking sector, in addition to banking business, and comprehensive understanding of all NBK groups and departments.

The participants presented new ideas to the heads of different departments within the “Innovation Challenge” program, which aims to stimulate trainees’ creativity and ability to generate innovative solutions for the various training aspects covered in the Academy.

The program included various Blended Learning interventions through in-person and virtual courses in addition to on-site training at different departments to better understand work nature in the banking sector.

On this occasion, Maryam Al-Nasrallah, Talent Management Manager, Group Human Resources at National Bank of Kuwait, said, “NBK Academy program embodies the bank's strategy of investing in the human capital by preparing young national banking leaders who are qualified as per the latest and best international standards to sustain the bank's successful story over many decades.”

“With a legacy of success spanning over 16 years, NBK Academy is a program specifically designed for university graduates with the aim of recruiting, developing and empowering newly graduated national talent to join the banking sector,” she added.

“NBK maintains its leadership in the private sector in terms of attracting, training, upskilling national talent and qualifying them to join the banking sector. The bank also stands out as the employer of choice for national professionals, with the highest Kuwaitization and employee retention ratios across the private sector,” she explained.

The Academy reflects NBK’s vision to foster sustainable human capital development as one of its top strategic priorities and a shared responsibility between the various governmental institutions and the private sector.

It is worth mentioning that the content of NBK Academy program is regularly enhanced to keep pace with the latest trends in banking, and administrative sciences.

Launched in 2008,the Academy aims to pave the way for fresh Kuwaiti graduates to join the banking services sector by providing them with the best training programs developed in cooperation with leading international institutions and universities to meet the demands of the labor market.