Kuwait University certifies 170 Financial Market Traders

When the programme first commenced in late 2009, a total of 51 students completed the programme.

Today, 170 students have completed the programme reflecting the increased interest in programmes that enhance graduates' skills and prepares them to enter the job market in Kuwait and the region.

With this batch of graduates, the total number of students who completed the programme over the last 4 years is 391.

Funded through a grant from the Citi Foundation, Citi's social investment arm, the Citi-FMTP ran ten intensive sessions and employing the following tools:

•Applied fundamental and technical analysis
•Financial and economic indicator for financial market forecasting
•Kuwaiti Stock Market Trading rules & regulation
•Opening brokerage account, placing order and execution
•Strategic investment and short term positioning
•Financial modeling & dynamic portfolio using Excel Pro & using Reuters models for stock trading
•Complying with Capital Markets Authority rules and regulation
•Risk Management

Established in 1967, The CBA is one of KU's 14 colleges, and offers the following majors: Management & Marketing, Finance & Financial Institutions, Accounting, Quantitative Methods and Information Systems, Economics and Public Administration. CBA prepares graduates for professional positions in public and private sector businesses, organizations, institutions and corporations using English as the academic language.

Dr. Abdullah Alsalman, Founder & Director of Financial Trading Center, commented, "Citi Foundation has continued to support a programme that enhances the skills of students that are needed for training in the stock markets. This will give the Kuwaiti human capital the added skills and knowledge needed to enter the job market in Kuwait and the region and showcases Kuwaitis as leading candidates. We are proud of our graduates who have completed the programme and their success encourages Kuwait University to continue partnering with corporate players like Citi to offer programmes that impact students' career decisions and lives positively."

Dr. Abdullah added, "The Financial Trading Centre continues to work with Citi to develop the programme with the aim of increasing the number of specialized technical analysts in the financial markets. These analysts and through continued development of the CITI-Financial Market Trading Programme, will also have chance attend the Certified Financial Technician examination (CFTe) level 1 which is recognized internationally."

"I would like to congratulate the 4th batch of graduates from the intensive CITI-Financial Market Trading Programme (CITI-FMTP). Citi looks forward to seeing these graduates take up senior positions in leading banks in and outside Kuwait and more importantly to apply the skills and knowledge they learned in the programme in their daily jobs," said Ozgur Kutay, General Manager of Citibank in Kuwait.

"Citi is keen on developing Kuwait's talent pool and our partnership with Kuwait University underscores Citi's commitment to supporting financial education at top academic institutions," Ozgur added.

Over 500 young Kuwaitis have so far received certified training on financial literacy, life skills and personal economics through Citi's sponsored training programmes.

Citi has been in the Arab World for nearly 50 years and continues to view the region as critical to its global franchise. It is currently present in ten Arab countries including Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.