Encouraging Excellence

The Geneva Financial Center (GFC) believes that access to highly skilled employees is a central requirement for a competitive financial center. The Foundation consequently supports educational initiatives ranging from apprenticeships to fundamental research, as well as professional and continuing education.

The GFC maintains a close working relationship with the Department of Education (DIP) and banks that offer apprenticeship programmes, in order to identify their needs and provide adequate responses via its two training committees (Banking Skills Strategic Committee and Technical Committee).

Geneva Financial Center

Comment la finance durable s'intègre-t-elle dans la formation?

De la finance dure à une finance qui dure

Only in French

Afin d’accélérer la transition du secteur bancaire vers la durabilité, finance et développement durable doivent être intégrés dans la formation professionnelle, continue et académique. Yves Mirabaud, Président de la FGPF, explique dans "Le Temps" qu'il s'agit d'une condition sine qua non pour que la place financière genevoise demeure à la hauteur des enjeux et des attentes de la clientèle dans ce domaine.

Genève bénéfice aujourd’hui déjà d’une offre remarquable. En lien avec l’apprentissage, une réforme majeure entrera en vigueur à l’été 2023. La nouvelle formation commerciale de base intègrera mieux le sujet clé du développement durable. D’une part, les produits financiers durables seront largement traités et, d’autre part, le développement durable sera au cœur de l’enseignement dans le domaine des compétences de conseil.

En matière de formation continue, la Haute école de gestion (HEG), en partenariat avec SSF, ainsi que l’Institut Supérieur de Formation Bancaire (ISFB) proposent des formations continues certifiantes en finance durable. Dans le domaine de la gestion de fortune, la certification SAQ CWMA, qui a été mise en place en 2017 et représente le benchmark dans la branche, renforcera dès 2022 les exigences relatives à la durabilité.

La formation académique n’échappe pas à la vague verte. A Genève, l’Université s’engage dans ce mouvement avec plusieurs « Certificate of advanced studies (CAS) » et Masters dédiés à la finance durable. Enfin, le Graduate Institute a également pour ambition de former les spécialistes en finance durable grâce au « Certificate of advanced studies (CAS) SDG investing » ainsi qu’au lancement à l’automne 2022 d’un Master en finance durable.

Geneva Financial Center

How to develop apprenticeships

The Geneva Financial Center encourages and assists banks in their efforts to train young people and aims to improve the image of the apprenticeship track, which is one of the keys to the success of the Swiss economy. Apprenticeships are an important point of entry into the banking world: more than 90% of apprenticeships lead to a permanent job.

However, several factors tend to impede the creation of apprenticeship positions, such as the size of the institution or its infrastructure, as well as the investment in terms of time and human resources. To encourage the creation of more positions in the sector, one solution would be to make the criteria more flexible and simplify the administrative procedures for institutions that wish to take on an apprentice.

The GFC liaises between the financial industry and the cantonal government to encourage measures to facilitate the creation of apprenticeships, by working closely with the Department of Education and the OFPC.

Since 2016, the GFC has initiated presentations of careers in banking to secondary schools. Working closely with "Go Apprentissage", a program funded by the Federal Government and supported by professional training partners, representatives from several Geneva banks meet students from "Cycles d'orientation". This initiative aims to encourage students to choose an apprenticeship by giving them tools to improve their résumés as well as to dialogue with trainees.

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Support for the Geneva Finance Research Institute (GFRI)

The GFC supports the Geneva Finance Research Institute (GFRI), a multidisciplinary institute attached to the University of Geneva which focuses on research and education in finance. It sponsors in particular a year-long "Finance Seminar Series".

Geneva Financial Center

Participation in the Board of the Institute for Studies in Finance and Banking (ISFB)

For over 30 years, the ISFB has played a central role in developing essential skills that ensure the Geneva financial center remains competitive. The Geneva Financial Center plays an active part in this process with Michel Juvet as Chairman and Blaise Goetschin as Vice-Chairman of the ISFB. Jean-François Beausoleil and Edouard Cuendet, Director of the GFC, are also board members of the ISFB.

Geneva Financial Center