Following the highly successful inaugural school in 2016, Intellect Global Transaction Banking (iGTB) and the Roosevelt Group are pleased to announce successful completion of the 2017 Oxford School of Transaction Banking.

Last year’s school was well received by attendees drawn from across the financial services sector, achieving a magnificent Net Promoter score of 73%. This year continued the superlative feedback, with every session rated for satisfaction at 82% or over, all responses agreeing they would recommend the course, and a third of them rating this as 10/10. Comments included “It has been an amazing opportunity to meet some great minds in transaction banking, listen to many inspiring speakers and relearn the way we think about setting up a transaction bank” (Associate Director Global Transaction Banking, top Japanese bank), “Learning about the other banks and iGTB's tips for Design Thinking were very insightful” (Director, Head of Commercial Banking Corporates, large German bank) and “Very insightful & eye-opening. Learnt many new things applicable to my daily role profile” (Head of Transaction Banking, large African Bank).

Nearly 40 senior transaction bankers joined the course from all over the world which aims to improve the day-to-day running of their franchise by following the curriculum. Ashok Vaswani, CEO, Barclays UK, who was the guest graduation dinner keynote speaker, said: “With so much rapid change in our industry it is really important to undertake continual professional development and lifelong learning. Successful events like this encourage all of us to keep on learning in our careers.”

Enhanced by practical design insights from a stellar cast of been-there done-that experienced bankers, the course shares best practices and allows the participants to test their own designs in practical exercises using “Design Thinking” principles. These are all aimed at providing optimal solutions that address the key challenges in the transaction banking arena, as well as understanding how transaction banking is impacted by digital, by innovation, by economics, by marketing and by CEOs’ attitudes.

Ted Roosevelt Malloch, Programme Director, Chief Executive Officer of the Roosevelt Group, and Professor of Strategic Leadership and Governance at Henley Business School, said: “Transaction banking is a core banking service that is entering a new phase of relevance, with increasing customer expectations around new services and more sophisticated usability. Our curriculum is structured to enable market professionals to broaden their education and to better prepare them to identify and realise the potential in the transaction banking market.”

Manish Maakan, Chief Executive Officer of iGTB, Intellect Design Arena added: “The previous Oxford event proved to be a ground-breaking and compelling event for the transaction banking sector, as evidenced by overwhelmingly positive feedback from last year’s attendees. Our aim is to continue to raise the profile of an area of business that is growing in importance for the banking industry and to highlight some of the pressing issues and concerns market participants are dealing with on a daily basis. We are truly excited and proud to continue our involvement.”

The course also involves a networking and cultural programme and a growing alumnus community.

About the Oxford School of Transaction Banking:

The school, founded in 2016, has the aim of “helping senior transaction bankers to run, day-to-day, a successful transaction banking franchise.”  It is open only by invitation and only to heads of cash management, payments, liquidity, trade finance, supply chain finance (or equivalents) or above, in banks anywhere in the world.  In 2017 participants registered from Canada, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE, UK and Vietnam.

It is an intensive course based on Design Thinking featuring a curriculum based on a three-level maturity model and six design levers, exercises where scholars practise using Design Thinking on real case studies, case studies of specific banks presented by the leaders in the banks who executed them, additional speakers covering digital, economics, what CEOs want, marketing and in 2017 keynote speakers included Lord Wei, the first British-born person of Chinese origin to have become a member of the House of Lords, and Ashok Vaswani, CEO, Barclays UK.  The school takes place in the prestigious Rhodes House, Oxford, finishing at the exclusive Oxford and Cambridge Club in London, and also features a networking and cultural programme including South African jazz, a private tour of Oxford and a private viewing of the Degas and Picasso exhibition.  Finally, alumni have private access to a site featuring prime content on transaction banking.  The course ran between 26 and 29 April 2017 and continues to be sponsored by iGTB, with both iGTB and the Roosevelt Group formulating and moderating it.