OREANDA-NEWS. December 15, 2009. Eurasian Bank is introducing a trail-blazing program for training future banking leaders that will be one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated in Kazakhstan, Chairman Michael Eggleton announced today.

The bank will select 20 outstanding Kazakh nationals who will be completing either their undergraduate or graduate studies in 2010 for the five-year program. The reward for those who finish is a middle-management position at the bank – and the chance to jump on the fast track to top management.

At the heart of the employee training program will be one-year rotations through five divisions of Eurasian Bank: Front Office Corporate Banking, Front Office Retail Banking, Finance, Internal Control, and Risk Management. Some of the rotations will be at the bank’s Almaty headquarters and some at its branches in Almaty and Astana.

“The Kazakh government is stressing the importance of ‘local content’ these days – training Kazakhs in cutting-edge skills so they can become the country’s next business leaders in all sectors,” Mr. Eggleton said. “We want to do our part to help the country achieve this goal as this is the key to the future. We think our ‘20 in ‘10’ program is a good start.”

The 20 future employees will consist of 10 graduates from universities in Almaty, five from universities in Astana and five from universities overseas, said Mr. Eggleton, who conceived the program.

“We’re not just looking for business school graduates, either,” he said. “In addition to business majors, we’ll consider outstanding graduates in such fields as mathematics, science, engineering, accounting, finance, economics and marketing. We simply want to find the brightest, most ambitious graduates available.”

Because of the international nature of banking these days, those selected for the training must be fluent in a language other than Kazakh or Russian.

Key features of the training program will include:

-- Each trainee will spend a year in one of the bank’s divisions, then be rotated to another division, meaning they will serve in five divisions during their five years. The rotations will ensure they know as much as possible about different operations of the bank, Mr. Eggleton said.
-- Each trainee will be assigned a mentor from senior management.
-- Once a year each trainee will have a half-day meeting with Eurasian Bank’s chairman and senior management team.
-- In addition to on-the-job training, participants will attend specialized training courses during their five years.
-- Each participant will receive a financial bonus upon completion of the program.
-- Each trainee will receive a management position at the end of the five years.
“At the end of the program we will have a group of young managers who can lead Eurasian Bank -- and the rest of Kazakhstan’s banking sector – to the next level,” Mr. Eggleton concluded.

Eurasian Bank, Kazakhstan’s seventh-largest in terms of assets, is one of the few financial institutions in the country to have grown during the economic crisis of the past two years. Mr. Eggleton credited that to the bank’s moderate, conservative borrowing and lending policies.

Mr. Eggleton was chairman and chief executive at Russia’s Trust Investment Bank before joining Eurasian Bank in October. He has two decades of banking experience in the former Soviet Union, including senior management positions at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse First Boston.