Islamic finance just got one step closer to addressing its biggest problem: a lack of qualified bankers and scholars. Today, the UAE's largest private bank, Mashreq Bank, rolled out the first ever bank-wide Islamic finance e-learning solution at its Islamic banking division, Mashreq Al Islami. Hiring Ethica, the Islamic finance e-learning institute, brings Mashreq 100% online Islamic finance training and certification across their entire network of branches. The move marks a major turning point in an industry heavily bottlenecked by a lack of trained bankers and scholars. To date, banks have had to rely on external consultants to deliver short courses, but today's announcement makes year-round, bank-wide Islamic banking courses approved by scholars a working reality. Mashreq Al Islami's Chief Executive Officer, Moinuddin Malim, said, "Our partnership with Ethica demonstrates our commitment to ensure imparting quality programs, which caters to both basic Islamic banking courses as well as more sophisticated programs. We hold Sharia'h compliance as the core value of our business." Ethica's Managing Director, Atif Khan, said, "Whether training 100 bankers or 1,000 bankers, in tough times only e-learning provides the cost-effectiveness and year-round learning advantage over more expensive delivery channels such as classroom training. We are delighted to finally deliver Islamic banking courses to bankers anywhere, anytime." Mashreq piloted Ethica with a few hundred users before rolling out bank-wide training. Earlier this year Dow Jones affiliate Zawya.com and New York based Banker's Academy signed on with Ethica as well.
