Bank trainees to get more options

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Oct 17, 2003 by Dickinson, Casey J

SYRACUSE - A training center for banking employees is expanding its offerings. The upstate New York office of the Center for Financial Training (CFT) has added managementand communityleadership training to its traditional line of banking education, says Pavel Mischenko, executive director of the center.

Located in the HSBC building in downtown Syracuse, CFT began more than a century ago as the local chapter of the American Institute of Banking (AIB). The chapter provided banking-system training for Central New York branch workers. As banking consolidation increased in the 1990s, Mischenko explains, larger banks began providing their own branch-worker training, reducing the number of available students.

Three years ago, AM converted its local chapters into Centers for Financial Training to reflect the organization's addition of programs beyond traditional banking training. A non-profit corporation, the Center for Financial Training offers courses designed to improve the financial skills of bank-branch employees as well as managers and other financial-industry workers. Area banks such as Alliance Bank and Solvay Bank use CFT for employee training. CFT also serves the Rochester market.

Students can take CFT courses in person, online, or via mail, says Mischenko. Course costs range from $50 to $450. Some classes carry college credit accepted by institutions such as Syracuse University. Subjects include basics such as "Principles of Banking" and more advanced courses such as "Law and Banking." CFT also offers seminars and courses aimed at financial-institution managers as well as branch employees. Approximately 50 banking-management personnel recently completed a CFT leadership course. A team of 20 instructors drawn from area banks provides CFT's classroom training. Mischenko and two support workers staff the center. Its annual budget, from membership fees and services, is approximately $250,000, according to Internal Revenue Service records.

Mischenko has reversed the CFT's declining student enrollment in his two years as executive director. Last year 1,024 students took CFT courses, up from 931 the previous year. Online courses have been a focus of growth, increasing from 58 to 98 students over the same period. Over the past year, he's begun more outreach efforts, actively seeking out students from banks, rather than waiting for banks to call CFT. Mischenko has added credit unions to CFT's client base. The center trains employees for Rome-based AmeriCU credit union.

Financial personnel aren't the only students at CFT; workers from community organizations can take an 11-session, community-leadership-training program. JPMorgan Chase, BSB Bank, and Solvay Bank recently sponsored a communityleadership program for executives from several agencies. The leadership program includes two follow-up sessions to see how participants have achieved three professional goals set during training. Mischenko meets with participants three and six months following the end of the initial sessions.