The College of Banking and Financial Studies (CBFS) is a government organization established by a Royal Decree in 1983 with the chief objectives of education, training and encouraging research in banking and financial subjects. It is under the juristic supervision of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) and is supported by all banks operating in the Sultanate.
The College has been helping the financial services industry to meet its developmental needs by offering academic and training courses, which are tailor-made to the emerging needs of Oman and has been an active partner in the country’s thrust towards Omanization of the banking sector. The College presently has over 1500 students pursuing various academic and professional courses in the Departments of Professional Studies, Postgraduate Studies, Under Graduate Studies, and English Language Centre.
Another focal area of the College is corporate training. The Annual Training Plan of the College for 2016-17 envisages conducting 81 courses for the banking and financial sector, in Muscat as well as in Regional Centres, covering a wide variety of topics in functional and managerial (soft) skills. These courses are designed and delivered by full time and visiting faculty with immense operational and training experience across various regions/markets. The classroom training is supplemented by e-learning.
In addition, the College sponsors the local Chapters of four eminent professional bodies - ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association), ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India), IIA (Institute of Internal Auditors) and ACFE (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners). It supports their initiatives towards Professional knowledge sharing local capacity building in their respective functional areas through periodical seminars/workshops.
All the above activities of the College are operated from its well-equipped campus at Bausher, which houses over 38 classrooms & seminar halls, 4 computer labs with Internet connectivity, Wi-Fi facility, a multipurpose hall, atrium, cafeteria and a well stocked library with over 15,000 books and over 20 titles of scientific journals, besides the EBSCO search engine database, covering over 600 journals in wide areas and disciplines. A longer term plan is also drawn up for the construction of a spacious new premises in the existing campus.