Training and management development were an important part of BCCI’s institutional development driven by the founder, Agha Hasan Abedi.
BCCI established Regional Training and Development centres in several locations and also extended its training facilities beyond its own employees to bankers and officials from developing countries.
One of the most substantial programmes developed in China during the 1980s. Following requests from the People’s Bank of China and Chinese state-owned banks and corporations, BCCI initially provided training through its Hong Kong centre in subjects including international trade finance, foreign exchange, treasury operations, remittances and international banking practice.
As China began opening its economy to the outside world from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, the need for Chinese banks and financial institutions to develop expertise in international banking, foreign exchange and trade finance increased substantially. In response to this growing demand, BCCI established a dedicated Management Training and Development Centre in Shenzhen around 1988. BCCI trainers also travelled to other parts of China to conduct courses for the People’s Bank of China, domestic banks, government-related institutions and state-owned enterprises.
An important objective of the programme was to equip Chinese central and commercial banking institutions with the knowledge and technical skills required to conduct international banking and trade-finance business on their own behalf, reducing their dependence on Western and other foreign banks which had traditionally dominated the market and provided much of the expertise and international connectivity required for such transactions.
The programme therefore went beyond conventional staff training. BCCI was effectively transferring international banking knowledge and practical experience to Chinese institutions at a time when China was becoming increasingly integrated into the international financial and trading system. Much of the cost of this training was borne by BCCI rather than being operated as a commercial training business.
By the time of BCCI’s closure in 1991, approximately 3,000 Chinese officials from banks, financial institutions, government bodies and state-owned organisations are recorded as having participated in training programmes developed or conducted by BCCI.
The China programme reflected a broader aspect of BCCI’s purpose and Agha Hasan Abedi’s vision for the developing world. Abedi regarded China as having the potential to emerge as a leading force among Third World countries, and believed that strengthening its own banking, financial and institutional capabilities would be important to its future economic development and international role.
BCCI’s training programme in China therefore formed part of a wider objective: to use the Bank’s international network, experience and technical expertise to help developing countries build their own capacity for international trade and finance, rather than remaining dependent upon established Western financial institutions.