10 February 2016

Emirates Islamic, one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in the UAE, has announced that its CEO, Jamal Bin Ghalaita has won the 'Best Emiratisation CEO Award 2015' in the Banking and Financial sector for the second consecutive year. Bin Ghalaita received the award from His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah at the 18th National Career Exhibition in recognition of his vision and leadership, achievements toward Emiratisation within the bank, mentorship of UAE national talent as well as in recognition of his advocacy towards greater social responsibility. The award ceremony is organised and conducted by Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS).

Under the leadership of Jamal Bin Ghalaita, Emirates Islamic has extended its support to the nationalisation drive initiated by the UAE Government by not just recruiting UAE nationals, but by recognising their strengths and investing in their development to create leaders of the future. Key achievements under the CEO's supervision include a quantitative growth in the bank's Emiratisation percentage as well as a qualitative enhancement of the training process. The CEO's approach to sponsoring higher education for UAE nationals without a binding contract has increased goodwill and subsequently lowered the attrition rate to less than 10%. Many members of Emirates Islamic's leadership team, including the CEO are UAE Nationals and the bank's Executive Committee members comprise over 35% UAE Nationals.

Commenting on the distinction, Jamal Bin Ghalaita said, "I am honoured to be recognised by EIBFS for our efforts towards Emiratisation for the second year in a row. As a leading Islamic bank and among the fastest-growing banks in the UAE, Emirates Islamic is an employer of choice for talented nationals."

"We have made a long-term commitment to supporting the UAE government's Emiratisation efforts and have contributed significantly towards this initiative. We value the talent that works with us and through dedicated programmes and personal mentoring, we are able to offer our UAE National employees unmatched opportunities to learn, contribute and excel as they develop into future leaders of the Islamic economy," continued Bin Ghalaita.

"We are ambitious in our growth plans and we provide great growth opportunities to our employees. UAE Nationals play a critical role in Emirates Islamic's success now and will continue to do so going forward," concluded Bin Ghalaita.

Emirates Islamic's Emiratisation programme includes a University Graduate Trainee program for trainees to be placed as Assistant Managers across various departments within the bank; a Secondary School graduate programme to place graduates in branches in various roles based on their capabilities and skill sets; and the recently initiated Future Branch Manager Program (FBMP) management training program focusing on training university graduates for a period of two years to become Emirates Islamic's future leaders. The training programs not only enhance the young talent's banking skills, but also focus on building their self- confidence, individuality, and their ability to interact with others confidently and in a professional manner by which they can prove to be a valuable asset to Emirates Islamic as well as any organisation they choose to join in the future.

As CEO, Bin Ghalaita takes a keen interest in the trainee's performance until they graduate and personally takes it upon himself to ensure that the trainees' permanent deployment within Emirates Islamic is in line with their capabilities in order to maximise their contribution within the business. The bank has also created a sponsorship programme to educate and train the top 15 national students in their final year at various universities into qualified bankers. Each sponsored student's performance is monitored and coaching is provided where required, to ensure the students perform at their highest level. Upon graduation, these sponsored students are offered full-time positions in the bank and are deployed across various departments/branches at Emirates Islamic.