ABN AMRO: Certifying thousands of employees

Like every other bank, ABN AMRO has to demonstrate that its employees have sufficient knowledge of rules and regulations.

This includes the Financial Supervision Act, Solvency II, Basel III, and FACTA. But demonstrating this knowledge is not enough. Ultimately, it is about the conduct of its employees. How can this be shown? And how do you maintain the interest of employees in keeping up with relevant legislation? Ed Jacobs, Learning and Development specialist, has the answer.

“We train our employees continuously. That is in both our interest and that of our customers. For example, we are obliged by international legislation to ensure that our employees are able to detect money laundering practices. But also to ensure that we provide the right information to our customers. In other words, it is about being in control of commercial risks and reducing risks to reputation.

Learning and testing knowledge and behaviour

Demonstrating that thousands of employees have the right knowledge and behave correctly inevitably has to be organised efficiently. Together with the Compliance department, we have developed training courses on which both knowledge and behaviour are taught and tested. Using a certification process, we alert employees to the fact that they have to update their knowledge. We carry out the training courses, the tests, and the recording of the results online. This means we do not depend on time or place and that we save a lot of time updating the content.

The tests in particular are very important. Regulators want to see how you test the required knowledge and what the results are. They also want to make sure that the actual tests are conducted in the correct manner. In such cases we are time and place-dependent, and the online tests are held at our offices.

Processes and procedures clear for everyone

We also give online training on desired behaviour, which is linked to the required basic principles. This makes clear to everyone how our internal processes and procedures are structured, so that we can help our customers in a responsible fashion. We test the required knowledge, making extensive use of statements, situations, and dilemmas. This way, we make our employees aware of their own behaviour, the behaviour that is required, and the risks associated with the performance of their function.”

About ABN AMRO

ABN AMRO is one of the three largest banks in the Netherlands, providing services to both private and business customers. The bank is also active on the international stage. In more and more sectors, and certainly in the financial one, the authorities, including international authorities, are setting stringent requirements for organisations concerning compliance with rules and regulations. The purpose of this is to detect such activities as money laundering, as well as to demonstrate that customers are being given appropriate advice.