It must be the Festive Season

Well with that heading it think it is obvious, I am getting excited!


Welcome to this special festive edition of the CIOBS blog. It is not just the fact that Christmas is only three days away that excites me, it is the fact that we appear to have colour available - Very festive.

Or on the other hand maybe not!!!


In fact let's try for a picture instead!












Gosh it has worked! What a wonderful way to end the year.


Who are these people I hear you ask?


Well from left to right : Alan Swankie, John Ross, Irene Swankie, two very handsome young men! and Colin Watson!


I am sure that these names if not the faces are familiar to many of you as they are Chartered Banker tutors and in Irene's case a stalwart of the FEP.



This picture would have made a lovely Christmas card, oh well, maybe next year.


As the year draws to a close, may I take the opportunity on behalf of myself and Raymond and indeed everyone here at CIOBS to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2009.


Feliz Navidad


Nadolig Llawen


Nollaig chridheil huibh


Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia


Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa


Joyeux Noel


Michael (One of two very handsome young men!)

Please help me I'm falling

Welcome to the CIOBS blog. I have chosen the title carefully this week as I was just looking at some of the headlines today and they do not make good reading:


US house building slump continues

Russia's industrial output slumps

Oil falls despite Opec's threats

UK house prices 'to fall by 30%'

IMF sees world slowdown

Slump in Japan firms' confidence

US industrial output falls 0.6%

Pound continues fall against euro

Pound in fifth day of euro lows

US sales and producer prices fall

London finance status threatened



At the beginning of 2008 we were told that we were living in interesting times, then it became extraordinary times - what will be the next description? Who knows!


Today's favourite words seem to be "slump" and "falling."


Surely things must get better in the next year or so.


I do apologise for being so downbeat this week, but hey the festive season is just around the corner and on that theme our old friend Mr. Peter Moir is having trouble with his black bun! I kid you not.











The evidence is shown here.

The experts amongst you and Gordon Ramsay will notice there is a crack on the top.

If anyone knows how to get round this culinary issue, then please contact the blog and we will pass on your suggestions to Peter.

Keep it clean please.

What no Raymond?I hear you cry. He is around and he has been in a meeting since about 9.30 this morning, in fact he has just come out.

I am sure he could do with a nice slice of black bun.


Michael (Falling into a plate of black bun)

Move Over Raymond

Hi to all CIOBS bloggees and welcome to the return of superblogger.

At least I think that's what Raymond called me!

I was off for one week, yes, one week only and Mr.Raymond Brown manages to do two blogs in that time!

And he accuses me of hogging this blog! Indeed!

Well done Raymond. Two very informative blogs and with a touch of colour too!!!

He certainly had a busy week when I was not around and this week continues on the busy theme.

As we head towards the Festive break and the shortest day of the year, no doubt you will be in the same situation saying" let's get this done by the year end and that should be finished too"

The weather here in Scotland has been very cold this week, in fact I do not think the frost has lifted since the weekend.

Contrast this with the student from The British Virgin Islands that I was talking to this week who said"Yes, it is a bit chilly here too Michael, today the temperature is only 22 degrees Celsius"

Yes, indeed!!

Raymond was telling us all about low interest rates last week and this week it is the turn of the Pound in relation to the Euro, with the Pound continuing its sharp decline against the Euro, reaching a new record low of 1.1238 Euros this afternoon.

It is now at the lowest level since the Euro was launched in 1999.

Before anyone points it out, I know that Euro notes and coins did not appear until 2002, but the Euro existed as a trading currency from 1999 when it replaced the ECU!

As I am sure all Chartered Banker students and particular those of you studying International Business know, lower interest rates make it less attractive for foreigners to hold pounds.

A weaker pound is better for the UK exporters but is bad news for British holidaymakers who plan to go abroad during the Christmas season, and also makes imported goods more expensive.

However, the pound gained one cent against the US dollar, reaching USD1.4924 this afternoon.

Well I must go now someone is about to start drilling a hole in the wall where I am today. I have been waiting for this for a while, so drill away I say!

Michael (An International Blogger or is that Hogger?)

What a week that was!

Hi again,

I know it's almost too good to be true, but today I'm doing two in a row!! With Michael still on some totally undeserved holidays, I can click my keyboard till my heart's content.

So another week draws to a close. A week that's seen another bank go to the wall, a week that produced the lowest base interest rate since 1951 and what a year that was.

You probably weren't around then (and neither was I - I just look like I was!!) but in that grand year, the Conservatives won a general election, the average house cost £2,100 and a loaf of bread cost 6d (2.5 p). And in sport, Celtic beat Motherwell 1-0 in the Scottish Cup Final. Did you like the colour-coordinated team names? No? Well you should try getting claret and amber on this system, mate!

Talking about systems, the final version of the website is due to be produced in January (what we have is interim - it may be other things too, but that's another story!). The new one is supposed to have this blog within it, which will mean that we will be able to allow reader comments. As you know, all the best blogs have this facility - no, don't say it - this one's an exception!!

Anyway I digress, but who cares?

As mentioned last week, we had six delegates at the revision course for ApEx 1 on Monday and Tuesday. From memory, at least two have already sat their exams, or may be doing so as I write! Eek! I hope they pass - they deserve to.

As for the rest of the week, it's really been about keeping things moving what with Mr D being away.

Next week, we have our quarterly Education Committee meeting on Tuesday afternoon. That's when all the chosen representatives from the various banks, etc. make sure we are staying on track with our objectives, etc. But that's a veritable lifetime away, old bean(s).

Anyway, I have to go, but I'll finish off in the style of someone we know and love!

Have a good weekend.

Raymond (In the pink!!!)

Stranger in the Night

Hi everyone,

It may not quite be night yet, although it has been a long day, but certainly you will think me a stranger!

I can't actually remember when I did a blog last - anyway I'm here now, with the bold Mr Downey having earlier fled to go on holiday for a week. Lucky swine! (apologies to lovers of all things porcine ).

It's all go you know at the hive of industry that is the CIOBS! No, I'm deadly serious.

What with 3,716 Chartered Banker packs being sent out this week. Hopefully these will be sent to Chartered Bankers by our distributors - that would be good.

Also, after months of trials and tribulations, we finally managed to publish our first online e-revision module, Customer Relationship Management to the web. For those members, you can find these via the Members and Students section, then going to Online Support and then Tutorials. For non-members, hard luck, really! Just join us and experience the delights!!

Also, we had the results of our most recent customer survey this week. Pretty good, albeit one member wants videos introducing the CIOBS - that would definitely be one for the horror shelf....aaaarrrggghhh!!

Next week six lucky people will have the pleasure of my company on Monday and Tuesday for the next UK Financial Services, Regulation and Ethics course. Bet they can't wait!! I can.

When I say "I can", I would hate for you to get the wrong idea, I really love course delivery!! But the weekend will soon be upon us and quite frankly, it beats working!! If you don't think so, what a saddo....

Anyway, I'm sorry, I really need to go now. Two students have just emailed in (that's true actually) looking for some urgent questions to be answered by close of play, lest they cannot sleep at night!

The life of a CIOBS employee may be a happy one, but it's quite busy too!!

Hey ho!!!


If I get time I'll be back next week.

BFN (that's bye for now for those under 69).

Raymond

Failte Alba

Hi and welcome to the CIOBS blog.

Yes a bit of Gaelic in the heading this week and Scots Gaelic at that! Yesterday we welcomed a new group of Chartered Banker students to Drumsheugh House for an Introductory Session and two of the group had never been to Scotland before!

We gave them a guid Scots welcome. Haste ye back as they say!

Well what a week it has been never a dull moment and I am typing this before heading to a morning and early afternoon of meetings.

I can't wait!

Here's a bit of late news that was not covered in this week's news podcast.

Official figures show that UK inflation fell in October from a 16-year high,as oil and transport costs - as well as food prices - fell.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure dropped to 4.5% from 5.2% in September.

The Office for National Statistics says the month-on-month fall in the CPI figure is the biggest drop in 16 years.

The Retail Prices Index, (RPI) the alternative measure of inflation, which includes housing costs, fell from 5% to 4.2%, the biggest fall since 2003.

The RPI measure is sometimes referred to as the "headline" rate of inflation, and is often used for agreeing pay settlements,or calculating the uprating of benefits such as pensions.

Meanwhile,core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, fell from the series high of 2.2% in September to 1.9%.

The CPI fall was the biggest since August last year.

"The largest downward pressure on the CPI annual rate came from transport costs where the price of fuels and lubricants fell this year but rose last year," said the ONS.

The Bank of England has said inflation could fall below its target of 2% next year - and might drop as low as 1%.

This year, the UK economy shrank for the first time since 1992 - falling by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2008.

This led the Bank of England to lower its key Bank Rate in October by 1.5 percentage points - to 3% from 4.5% - its lowest level since 1955.

With commodity prices falling and the economy shrinking fast, inflation is going to undershoot the 2% target by the middle of next year

Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, says it is now "very likely'' that the UK's retail price index will turn negative next year.

The Bank is expected to cut rates again in December, say economists, perhaps by a full percentage point to 2%, a level not seen since the 1930s.

A short period of deflation - where prices fall rather than rise - would not be a disaster, but a longer period of falling prices might be, say economists.

In prolonged periods of deflation, consumers hold off buying goods, reckoning they will be cheaper later on, according to economic theory.

This can lead to further falls in demand and output.

As firms sell less,they respond by cutting jobs or cutting wages.

Overall, consumers then have less money to spend - and demand falls yet again.

Some good stuff there for student members!

Michael (An deflated blog this week)

Ellan Vannin

Fastyr mie and welcome to this special blog.

Yes, you have guessed correctly I have been on my travels again and you are correct again - a bit of Manx to start us off this week.

I arrived at the offices of a well known organisation in the Isle of Man yesterday just in time to meet all the staff coming out to welcome me.

Well, in fact the fire alarm had gone off if the truth be told.

Hello to you all over there in Ellan Vannin.

As promised I have tried a bit of Manx this week!

All this after a visit to Airdrie on Monday too!

And there's more.

Saturday sees the Institute's annual graduation ceremony taking place at the Bute Hall, Glasgow University. This is a very important event in the CIOBS calendar and a time for celebration for graduands, prizewinners and fellows.

Congratulations to you all.

Next Wednesday sees a (very large) group of new students arriving at Drumsheugh House for an introductory session as they begin their Chartered Banker studies.

We look forward to welcoming you all. I cannot promise that all of the CIOBS staff will be out on the street to greet you though!

I can confirm that both the graduation and introductory sessions will be conducted in English - our Manx isn't that good!

Michael ( Well travelled)

A Friday update

Hi Everyone.

Some news regarding the on-line examination facility.

Examination Dates – December 2008 and January 2009.

The last date for examinations is Thursday 18 December 2008

On-line examinations will begin again on Wednesday 7 January 2009.

Please Note:

There will be no siitings at Strathclyde University during January 2009. The first sitting there will be on Thursday 5 February 2009.

To accommodate this additional sittings have been made available in Edinburgh on Thursdays 8th,22nd and 29th January 2009.

This message was brought to you at the request of Peter Moir.

Kind Regards

Michael (Peter's delivery channel)

The times they are a changing (again!)

Welcome to the first CIOBS Academy blog of November. I hope you are all well.

As we move into the new month, The USA has a new president and of course here in the U.K. the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has made a one-and-a-half percentage point cut in UK interest rates to 3%, the lowest level since 1955.

Do any of you out there remember 1955?

I can certainly remember interest rates of 13% in the middle 80's, yes, the 1980's just case you ask.

The interest rate cut today follows an emergency cut in rates last month from 5% to 4.5%.

The cut was followed by the European Central Bank lowering its eurozone interest rates from 3.75% to 3.25%.

So what is Mr. Brown saying about all these goings on then? Well Unfortunately Gordon was unavailable for comment and more importantly Raymond is on holiday this week!

The great man will return next week and Gordon's movements will be well documented in the press.

Talking of next week, I am out and about, starting in Airdrie on Monday, the Isle of Man Wednesday and Thursday and the week ends with the annual CIOBS graduation ceremony which takes place at the Bute Hall, Glasgow University on Saturday 14th November.

Michael (Forever Young)

Farewell to British Summertime

Hello to you all and welcome to the CIOBS blog.

The first blog since the clocks went back one hour last weekend. What do you mean "did they ?"

After our recent discussion about when the weekend starts, maybe we should start a "when does winter commence" debate.

On second thoughts maybe not, however there was snow in parts of Scotland yesterday and car windscreens have required to be de-frosted these last few mornings!!

Oh well let's just hibernate until spring.

"Get on with it" I hear you say. O.K. I will.

So what has been happening then?

The Glasgow District Centre dinner took place last Thursday and a great night was had by all. A substantial sum of money was raised during the evening on behalf of Erskine Hospital - a very deserving cause.

It was evening of great conversation and the after dinner speakers were highly entertaining and thought provoking.

I started the week in my home city of Glasgow, meeting with some new students and I did three presentations in the one day, well I did more or less the same presentation to three different groups.

By the time I got to the third presentation I was thinking I have said this already but to which group! I was told by the organiser who sat through the presentation three times that there was no repetition!

In fact we ended up working out a double act together!

On Tuesday I did it all over again, but to one group and this was in Edinburgh. I had it down to a fine art by then!!

Many people have asked about or commented on our new Professionalism and Ethics module, which forms part of the Chartered Banker syllabus, and I can confirm that this has now been launched and the workbooks are available. If you require further information, please speak to one of our Learning and Development team on 0131 473 7777.

I am sure there will be much interest in this subject and yes, it can be studied as a stand alone subject and is of relevance to anyone working in the financial services industry.

Michael (Did I put the clocks back? I didn't know anyone had taken them!)

An Informative Blog this week

Hi to you all and welcome to the weekly CIOBS blog.

First up this week some news for students doing Chartered Banker and related Diplomas.

CIOBS has introduced a new feature into the on-line examination system. This feature is designed to ensure that the machine you are using is working properly as far as saving your exam answers.

In order to do this you are required to answer a few multiple choice questions. These have been drawn from the MOCK multiple choice exam bank and cover a variety of subjects. Do not be concerned if you cannot answer them correctly, the system is simply looking for some responses and is not going to mark your answers anyway.

The test only takes 3 minutes and at the end of it you will receive a message confirming the situation with your machine. If it is working properly you will then be given access to your exam paper and can continue as before.

In the unlikely event of your machine not being set up properly the message you receive will tell you this and you should let the invigilator know, so that steps can be taken to ensure that your exam answers will be saved.

Hopefully, this little test will help to relax you before your actual exam begins.

When it does – Good Luck.

Also this week:

The following on-line exams have been made available for students to book:

Business Banking

Management Strategy & Leadership

Corporate Finance

Diploma in Specialised Lending

Money Laundering

The Compliant Person & Regulatory Risk

Only 2 subjects remain to go on-line. These are:

Professionalism & Ethics ( now due January 2009)

Building Society Operations ( due late November 2008)

As you can see from the above we are nearly there!

Have a good week.

Michael (Full of .........information.)

A Thursday this week!

Hello to all readers of the CIOBS blog. We like to keep you on your toes and after last week's early midweek blog I am not sure if this is an end of the week blog or a beginning of next week blog!

If you are not a regular reader of this blog, then please see last week's blog for further clarity on this.

A strange thing happened this week after my mention of Dublin in the last blog. I received an email from an Irish reader who was part of the early mid-week or the weekend starts on a Tuesday brigade.

How lovely to hear from you after all these years.

Many of you will be reading this blog to give you a break from Robert Peston's blog on the BBC website. He is certainly getting celebrity status these days.

Here at CIOBS life is never dull. Last week saw me in Leeds and London meeting with groups of new students and a pleasure it was to meet you all.

Hopefully you will become regular readers of this blog and regular listeners to our weekly news podcast.

Next Monday and Tuesday brings a revision session here at Drumsheugh with a group of Apex 1 students coming along to the home of CIOBS.

Next Thursday sees the annual Glasgow District Centre Dinner taking place at a hotel in the city centre.

Speakers include Dougie Vipond and Sally Magnusson from the BBC.

No, Robert Peston will not be there!

Should be a good night and myself and Raymond look forward to meeting friends old and new.


Michael (Less controversial and lesser known Than Robert Peston)

Early midweek blog

A blog on a Tuesday? Why not I say.

A very warm welcome to you all.

I was going to head this with "A midweek blog" and then I remembered it is Tuesday and therefore such a heading would have been technically incorrect. Although I do remember someone saying to me a few years ago in Dublin, on a Wednesday night "The weekend starts here!"

So Tuesday it is. You can make your own mind up with regard to Tuesday's location in the scheme of things.

Another week of turmoil in the markets and as mentioned in this blog on previous occasions, the serious news can be found in the weekly news podcast.

On that point I must admit that things are changing by the minute and I am sure that you will be keeping up-to-date with the goings on from various sources.

I have noticed that many students in recent times are showing a greater understanding of how the markets work and things like rights issues for example that they were struggling with a couple of years ago are now very familiar to them.

Interesting times indeed!

One of the reasons for this early/mid week blog is the fact that I am off on my travels later this week. Tomorrow will see me in Edinburgh, Thursday Leeds and finally London on Friday.

I hope the week goes well for you all.

And finally............. I noticed a shop with a sign in its window saying "Open 24/7."

As a friend of mine said what is so special about the 24th of July!!!


Michael ( Is Tuesday the new Wednesday?)

October or April?

Hello and welcome to the first CIOBS blog of October.

It is certainly Autumnal where I am, but it could be the start of Spring where you are!

In the Southern Hemisphere you are leaving Winter as we here in the north head towards it.

Goodness Michael you certainly have your global head on today.

Well with all the goings on in the financial world over the last few weeks, life goes on here at CIOBS with all sorts of things happening.

We are continuing with our plans for the on-line revision courses and we are writing and recording as we speak.

Face-to-face revision sessions for Chartered Banker subjects are due to take place in October and November and details of these can be found here:

http://www.charteredbanker.com/mainwebsite/resources/document/revision%20course%20update%20-%20september%202008.pdf


There will be no set diet for the Chartered Banker exams this month as, I am sure that as all students are aware the examinations are now on-line and can be sat more-or-less on a weekly basis.

RQF revision sessions are also available and details can be obtained here:

http://www.charteredbanker.com/mainwebsite/resources/document/rqfrevisioncourses.pdf


Your very own Raymond Brown has returned from Belfast where my moles tell me he went down a storm.

I am off to Leeds and London at the end of next week, where I will meet with groups of new Chartered Banker students. I am looking forward to meeting to you all.

The next issue of Scottish Banker is due to be with members around about the 14th of this month and there is an article in there about Continuing Professional Development. There are many changes afoot on this one and the article will, I am sure, give all the necessary details.

A new bit of business speak this week. A friend told me he was recently at a meeting and the chairperson announced" Let's run this up the flagpole and see who salutes it"

My Great Aunt died recently and left me her estate.
I thought I was set-up for life until I discovered you don't get much for a 10-year-old Volvo,

Michael ( Wearing an extra layer)

Deloitte Financial Services Rising Star Awards 2008

Welcome to the CIOBS blog.

Well that's another interesting week coming to an end.

The Live final of the Deloitte Financial Services Rising Star Awards 2008 took place here in Edinburgh on Tuesday.

The judging panel comprised Stewart Stevenson MSP, Philip Grant, Rob Topley, Ewen Munro and Simon Thompson.

The finalist were:

Christine Cairns - RBS
Yvonne Collins - National Australia Group (Europe)
Ashley McCurdie - Abbey
Mark Mercer - Bank of Scotland

The winner and Rising Star 2008 as decided by the judges was ........... Mark Mercer.

Many congratulations to you Mark.

Mark was also awarded the Fairbairn Trophy for the best presentation.

This vote was decided by the audience.

Well done to all the finalists.

As the judges said the standard was remarkable and it was no mean feat to reach the final.

Mr. Brown was in fine form and managed not only to keep everything together but entertained the audience at the same time.

A bit of a rising star himself as you will find out over there in Belfast tomorrow.

Wednesday saw another Introductory Day here at Drumsheugh with a new group of students embarking on either the Certificate or Diploma in Financial Services in attendance.

Some new catch phrases emerged from Wednesday's session such as:

"It's a marathon not a sprint" or "Think long-term"

I managed to invent a new phrase last week.

After spilling some water on a document I remarked to a colleague

" I will let this dry out and then we can have a chat about it"

She thought this was some new business speak.

It wasn't, but, I think it could be in the right circumstances!!!

Michael (Time for a sprint)

110 not out

Yes, This is the 110th CIOBS blog. Who would have thought it?

A very warm welcome to your favourite blog.

It has course been a rather turbulent week in the Financial Services Industry and all events have been covered in great detail in the media, and we have some coverage of the week's earlier events in our weekly news podcast.

Yesterday here at CIOBS we had the pleasure of introducing a group of new students to their first experience of their Institute by way of an Introductory day.

It was a pleasure to meet you all and I wish you well in your studies. The students will be doing the Chartered Banker qualification or one of our Advanced Diplomas.

Next Wednesday brings another new group of students and they will be studying for one of the Certificate qualifications.

Next Tuesday night sees the final of the Deloitte Financial Services Rising Star Awards taking place here in Edinburgh and I can exclusively reveal that Raymond Brown will be playing a very high profile part in the proceedings!

I am sure it will be worth attending for that alone.

Good luck to all the finalists. We shall have a full report on the proceedings in next week's blog.

Look out Northern Ireland and particular Belfast.

The high profile person that is Raymond Brown will be in your city on Friday 26th September. I know that you are used to high profile visitors in Belfast. President Clinton amongst others in recent years and I am sure you will be rolling out the red carpet for your esteemed visitor.

Please make sure when you roll it back up that Mr. Brown is not inside it!

Michael (Keeping a low profile at present)

Hanoi to the Grassmarket

What an interesting week it has been and it is only Thursday. Can it get any better?

A warm welcome to the latest CIOBS blog.

Firstly, may I draw your attention to this week's podcast which can be found here http://www.ciobs.org.uk/home.html

There you will find an article about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and some other interesting business news.

Monday saw a visit to CIOBS by representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Vietnam. The good folks brought a translator with them. Phew! I said as did Colin Morrison as we were about to do our presentations. The group are in the U.K. as guests of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAS) and Monday's treat was to spend the morning at Drumsheugh House.

The group were due to travel to London later in the week and spend some time at Canary Wharf visiting the FSA.

We had a lively discussion with subjects like the Credit Crunch and the Scottish Bank Note Issue being to the fore.

Talking about the credit crunch which I know is a serious matter, however, someone who shall remain nameless told me this week that two banks in the far east are in bother.

The Karaoke Bank is going for a song and....... Wait for it!

The Oragami bank has folded!!

Legal notice: The above was supplied to this blog by a Mr. X from Fife and he takes full responsibility for the contents.

This morning saw Raymond and myself along with many others at the Apex International Hotel in Edinburgh's Grassmarket. We were attending A seminar entitled "Treating Customers Fairly: Achieving the FSA'S December Deadline."

This was a very interesting event and the speakers were Jeremy Fraser of Brodies, Norrie Henderson of Bank of Ireland and Mike O'Hagan of the FSA.

The event was chaired by Richard Wyatt-Haines.

It was nice to see some former and some present CIOBS students in attendance.

Well it is time to get on and if next week is half as interesting as this week has been (so far) it will be super!

Michael ( Did I use the word interesting at all?)

Autumn

Well here we are again, a new month and a new season. it's time to use some of those great Scottish phrases such as "The nights are fair drawing in." This can be used as an ice-breaker or when you run out of conversation!

Another phrase widely used at this time of year in this part of the world is " Have you noticed that is turning a bit colder in the evenings?"

Once again this can used when you run out of conversation.

Someone who never runs out of words is your very own Raymond Brown.

Yes folks he is back and he is out and about already. Today saw him visiting an organisation in Edinburgh and he tells me that when he was introduced to the group the person introducing him said " Please welcome the man who gave us a highly entertaining and memorable presentation last year."

He then turned to Raymond and asked"What is your name again?"

Only joking on that one of course he knew Raymond's name - he had a name badge on!

What a welcome - no pressure or anything like that!

I am just glad the person introducing Raymond got his name right!

My moles tells me he was highly entertaining and he will probably be asked back next year.

Well done Raymond.

A memorable man.

Last week's outing to the farm was wonderful and if you are ever visiting Almond Valley Heritage Park in Livingston please take a close look at the duck pond.

What used to be a heavily overgrown area is now a haven for ducks. All thanks to the efforts of the CIOBS team.

The only serious injury to a member of the team was the broken nail sustained by Peter Moir.

Don't worry Peter it will grow back.

Next week sees a visit to CIOBS by a group of bankers from Vietnam. As far as I am aware this will be the first time we have received a group from this country.

We have had visitors from many parts of the world in the past and it is always interesting to meet them and find out a bit more about their country and the banking system there.

I am assured that the group all speak English - I am happy about this as my Vietnamese is limited- Some previous groups have brought a translator with them.

I have always enjoyed hearing my words translated, however I often wondered if the translator was maybe adding comments about me!!!

We are always pleased to receive any comments on the blog and any little anecdotes or stories that you might think would be useful.

One of our younger readers sent in this contribution last week.

" I have just bought a new CD called Sounds of the 80s, but it was just full of old folk coughing and complaining about everything."

Thanks for that Miss X from Kelty.

We have passed your name and address to your local old folks group. You can expect a visit from them soon.

Michael (Will I ever be memorable?)

Celebrities and all that

Hi there,

It has been a rather interesting week in the land of Drumsheugh. In addition to the usual round of meetings and supporting students as they strive towards academic greatness, we have had some strange goings on.

Last Friday saw the CIOBS annual barbecue take place. Nothing strange happened at that I suppose, however there was a bit of excitement at the end when we tried to take the gazebos down - no that is not a party game- this was serious stuff and in the end Chris Finlay of CIOBS took the bull by the horns - no that is not a party game either - and we managed to complete the task!

Earlier that day the well known T.V. personality Gok Wan, yes, he of "How to Look Good Naked" fame was spotted in the Drumsheugh area. He was in Edinburgh on festival duty and he signed a couple of autographs for CIOBS staff.

Thanks for that Gok.

Gok (I know this all sounds rather matey!) was accompanied by Sherrie Hewson, a presenter of Loose Woman and a former Coronation Street and Emmerdale star.

Unfortunately they didn't come to the barbecue as they had to be back in London that evening or so Sherrie said. (This is becoming too matey now!)

Just a reminder that our office will be closed on Thursday as we are off to Livingston. I am in the team that will be attending to the duck pond.

I hope there are no gazebos to be fixed!

As I have mentioned in previous blogs and in various other places, the Chartered Banker and related Diploma examinations are already or soon will be on-line. All students enrolled for a particular subject that is not on-line at present will be notified when their subject is due to go on-line.

The previously published dates for the October/ November 2008 diet no longer apply.

Examinations will be available on a weekly basis at various centres throughout the U.K.

Special arrangements are in place for students sitting examinations outwith the U.K.

Raymond returns to duty next Monday having missed the excitement of last week and indeed the excitement that tomorrow's event should bring.

Welcome back Raymond. I am sure you have missed us.


Michael ( There's no business like show business)

A Positive Bank Holiday Special

Hello and welcome to the CIOBS blog. Following on from last week's tales, I can confirm that Raymond has departed to a better place.

The great man is now enjoying his annual vacation at a secret location. He could be somewhere near you as I write and, all I will say is there is a sporting theme behind his choice of destination.

"That narrows it down then Michael"

I should add that Raymond left an apple in his drawer and he very kindly contacted me prior to his departure and invited me to have it.

How kind.

No doubt I will receive a bill on his return.

I am pleased to announce that the weekly news podcast has returned, however, that dreaded word recession pops up this week. The podcast can be found here:

http://www.ciobs.org.uk/about/what_podcasts.cfm#cbconf

Life here at CIOBS continues without Raymond and its business as usual.

September will see many courses running including RQF and Introductory days.

Various updates have been issued to the RQF subjects and these will be examinable from 1st October 2008. All students studying RQF subjects will have been notified of these changes recently.

Full details of these updates can be found here:

http://www.ciobs.org.uk/qualifications/downloads.cfm

The latest edition of Scottish Banker should be with all members by now. If you are not a member and you are interested in receiving a copy, then please email me at:

Michael@ciobs.org.uk

while travelling to work this morning "A thought for the day" came on the car radio. The speaker stated it was all about reaction and then rattled off a catalogue of disasters that had happened to him recently and he told the listeners how he reacted positively to all of this.

As I waited for the bus at the park and ride it was announced that it would be 20 minutes late - no problem said I - Thinking of the earlier broadcast.

A fellow passenger treated this delay as if it was the end of the world and it was interesting to watch his reaction!

I wonder how the rest of his day went?

Mine went very well thanks.

Thank you to the broadcaster!

The CIOBS Office here at Drumsheugh Gardens will be closed on Thursday 28th August. The team will be taking part in a charity volunteering event at the Almond Valley Heritage Centre in Livingston.

I am advised that the activities are landscaping a duck pond or repairing a Go Cart track.

How will I react to this? More news next week.

I hope you enjoy the bank holiday weekend and all your reactions are positive!

Michael (A radio ham)

Interesting Times

Hi and welcome to another midweek CIOBS blog.

I had an interesting start to the week on Sunday when in the company of John Needham a council member of CIOBS, I attended a Festival Service at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. We were joined by representatives of many other organisations in this celebration of the 62nd Edinburgh International Festival.

The Cathedral was full of all sorts of VIPs and me!

Each organisation was "protected" during the procession by one of the High Constables of Edinburgh. Our protector was a world War One veteran and he carried a baton. He told me it was ceremonial. The event passed off peacefully and the baton was not used for any other purpose.

I was very impressed by the number of people lining the streets and also by the number of people taking photographs. Goodness knows what sort of websites these photographs might appear in!

You might notice that there is no podcast this week, but rest assured your favourite method of catching up on all the business news from home and abroad will be back in its usual place next Thursday.

We probably need a rest from from some of the recent gloom and doom anyway. So I will just mention a couple of newsworthy items here in the blog.

The pound has sunk to 22-month low against the dollar after the Bank of England's inflation report warned the UK could be heading for a recession.

The US economy is still suffering from the credit crisis but analysts say the deteriorating outlook elsewhere in the world has buoyed the currency's standing.

So a glimmer of hope there.

So with the Edinburgh Festival in full swing and the Olympics taking place. I am sure you are asking"Where is Raymond?" Is he competing in China or Performing in Edinburgh?"

Well, the answer is no on both counts.

I can exclusively reveal that as the schools here in Scotland get ready to return after the long summer break and with everyone else at CIOBS looking forward to the Autumn and the various events in the calendar, the great man is preparing to jet off to somewhere interesting.

Have a good break Raymond and do not worry about anything here at CIOBS. I will look after the place when you are away.

That's put him in a panic. Will he go or will he stay?

Tune in to next week's blog and I shall let you know.

And finally a little holiday tale with a financial services touch to finish this week


Jimmy and Mona are flying to Australia for a holiday to celebrate their 40th anniversary.
Suddenly, over the public address system, the Captain announces," Ladies and Gentlemen, I am afraid I have some very bad news.

Our engines have ceased functioning and we will attempt an emergency landing. Luckily, I see an uncharted island below us and we should be able to land on the beach. However, the odds are that we may never be rescued and will have to live on the island for the rest of our lives!"

The plane lands safely on the island.

An hour later Jimmy turns to his wife and asks, "Mona, did we pay our Bank Master card bill yet?""Oh no! I'm sorry. I forgot to send the cheque," she says.

"One other thing, Mona. Did you remember to send a cheque for the car loan to the finance company this month?" he asks.

"No I didn't send that one, either."

Jimmy grabs her and gives her the biggest hug in 40 years.

Mona pulls away and asks him, "So, why did you hug me?"

Jimmy answers, "They'll find us!!!!"

Oh well, back to work for me.

Michael (I hope I find you well)

Midweek Mania

Hi and welcome to a midweek edition of the CIOBS blog.

I am writing this from a secret location in the West of Scotland - If it's good enough for Raymond Brown...........

I would rather be doing it from the West of the Bahamas or somewhere where the sun is shining.

Both myself and the aforementioned Mr.B. have been in the classroom this week. Doing a bit of teaching if you please and what a pleasure it has been.

We have been running Apex 1 revision courses for both the 2004 and 2007 versions.

This keeps you on your toes, remembering which version you are doing and ensuring that you are not repeating yourself - Perish the thought! Perish the thought!

I promised to keep you up to date in respect of Chartered Banker and related Diplomas with regard to the introduction of on-line examinations.

The most recent subjects to become available on line - are: Private Banking & Wealth Management, Retail Banking (Scots Law) and Retail Banking (English Law)

Specimen papers for each of the on-line exams will be available via the Downloads section of the website as soon as these become available, so please check regularly!

We will continue to keep you advised of the progress regarding the on-line examinations via the CIOBS Forum and and those students enrolled for a relevant subject, via email.

Further sayings from office meetings.

A manager declared "I've another arm up my sleeve."

And a manager who described any new technology as "state of the ark."

A reader from Glasgow tells us she keeps amused during office meetings by collecting the sayings of a colleague, which so far have included:

I call an ace an ace.

It is a chicken and hen scenario.

It is man eat man out there.

Keep them coming please.


Michael (I call a spade a bucket)

The pipeline is flowing

Hi dear readers and welcome to this, the final July blog of 2008. Well, here we are in the middle of the holiday season and Yes, the roadworks are certainly in full flow here in Central Scotland.

Some news of the on-line examinations for Chartered Banker. I can advise that three more subjects are now available for booking via the on-line system.

These are:

Call Centre Management
Financial Economics
International Business

As mentioned last week there are a few more subjects in the pipeline and students who are enrolled for a relevant subject will be advised when the final examination for that subject is available on-line.

Work is continuing on the on-line revision sessions for Chartered Banker and related diplomas, with a tutor now in place for each subject. We will be starting with the non-core subjects and upon completion of these our thoughts will turn to the core subjects.

As I speak Raymond is at a secret location somewhere in Scotland recording the voice over for one of these revision sessions. In response to the many requests from previous attendees at Raymond's courses, I can confirm that he will be recording this one in various accents.

Fife, Northern Ireland (That's a popular one) and Glaswegian (With a hint of Sir Alex Ferguson!)

If we have missed out your regional tongue please let me know and I will see what we can do for you.

"How's your Doric Raymond?"

"Very well how's yours"

Follow that the two Ronnies.

I have heard a couple of interesting snippets this week.

"Ah, 50 pence pieces,"

"You don't get many of them to the pound."


Signs you are getting old.

A reader of this blog was joking with his grand-daughter about being Superman and how he would have to find a phone-box to change into his costume.

"What, Grandpa," she piped up, "is a phone-box?"


Michael (Looking forward to a bit of Doric)

Plenty in the pipeline

Hi readers and welcome to the Ciobs Academy blog. I am pleased to advise that the sun is shining here in Edinburgh and it is forecast to be hot. Well, things are certainly heating up here at CIOBS and there is plenty in the pipeline.

As you know, we previously said that all Chartered Banker and related Diplomas etc. will be examinable online starting from 1st September with a phased rollout between then and the end of the year.

We are currently making good progress with on-line implementation and I can confirm that a total of 5 subjects, UK Financial Services, Investment, Customer Relationship Management, Operational Risk Management and Credit Risk Practice are actually available online now. The exams for these subjects can be booked via the website as and when candidates feel ready to sit them.

The next subjects to come on stream will be Call Centre Management, Financial Economics, International Business and Financial Management. These should be up and running over the next few weeks. It is likely that Retail Banking will be next to make an appearance.

As and when each new subject becomes available, we will email all those enrolled for the course and we will also keep you advised more generally via the online Forum. Specimen papers for each of the on-line exams will be available via the Downloads section of the website as soon as these become available, so please check regularly!

And there is more. We are currently working on on-line revision sessions for the non-core subjects relating to the above and at present your very own Raymond Brown is beavering away with Customer Relationship Management and I am currently working on International Business.

This new style of revision session will eventually replace the face-to-face sessions. In brief there will be slides and a commentary on all aspects of each subject and students will be able to access these at a time that suits. There will also be case studies throughout.

Unfortunately a virtual lunch will not be provided!

Maybe we should work on that one next!

We have also been emailing RQF students this week regarding the updates to this qualification with 1st October being a very important date, as from this date the examinations will be based on the updated syllabus.

Is this true? An insurance company received a claim form recently on which the driver had written after the question "Could either driver have done anything to avoid the accident?", the nonetheless truthful reply: "Travelled by bus"

It's time to get on. I am expecting a visit from the artist formerly known as Grim Reaper very shortly and he does not like to be kept waiting.

Michael (My pipeline is overflowing)

Who's a pretty boy?

Hello dear readers and welcome to this the 101st edition of the CIOBS blog. Yes, I am back on my perch and delighted to be so. Well done to Raymond for the last two blogs and I can confirm that all issues regarding passwords etc are now sorted.

You may recall a few weeks ago we were talking about business speak, well, I have heard a new one this week" let's keep that in the back pocket" Super!!

It's all go here at CIOBS as we move towards August and look forward to welcoming the many visitors to Edinburgh for the International and Fringe festivals.

I can exclusively reveal that Raymond's one man show will not be taking place this year after last year's unfortunate incident. I believe that the theatre where the show took place is about to re-open, however the management have adopted a new Risk Management policy. He will however, be out and about later in the year.

I have heard that he will be visiting the Belfast area in September. Something for your diary readers in Northern Ireland.

It has been a week for conference calls, taking us to places such as Manchester and the Isle of Man. Conference calls are a bit like comedy, it's all about timing. The pauses are great, then you start thinking has that person finished? Shall I speak? or will I be interrupting?

I am pleased to report that this week's calls have been fine or Braew as they say in Manx.

There are many things on the "Back Burner" here at CIOBS. We are progressing the on-line revision courses and aiming to have some in place by the end of 2008. This is an exciting development and I will keep you "in the loop" on this one.

Finally this week, Congratulations to our Chief Executive, Simon Thompson and his wife Aneta on the birth of their son Alexander on 2nd July. Mother and baby are fine and Simon is recovering.

Michael ( Not a pretty boy)

100 Not Out

Hi again,

This is indeed a momentous occasion - the 100th posting on this blog.

Yes, 100 times people all around the world have been able to view this communication masterpiece - well perhaps, that's taking things too far!

Anyhow, Mr D is on the last day of his holidays, so he'll be back to torment you next week!!

So what's been happening since Monday?

Plenty actually! Much of my time this week has been spent on updating various modules in respect of the RQF and the Chartered Banker (CB) qualifications. I have now completed these and so next week, we will communicate these updates to all who are doing the RQF Apexes 1, 2, 3 & 4, 5 and 20 and the CB modules UK Financial Services and Investment. The changes take effect from examinations sat on 1st October onwards.

On Tuesday, I was pretending to be Simon Cowell, when I was part of the judging panel for our Rising Stars Semi Final. The candidates were all high calibre (obviously) but I would really love to have been able to say something like "Sorry, you just weren't good enough, that really was horrendous!" or even better "you're a lightweight, you're fired". For those not versed in TV trivia, the latter was Sir Alan Sugar!

Other than that, I've been serving customers all week. Remember the old saying (well, not that old, really!) "If you're not serving a customer, make sure you're serving someone who is"!!

Finally, on this momentous occasion, the podcasts of the Professionalism & Ethics Debate from the 2008 Chartered Banker Conference are now on the web - worth listening to? - I should say, old bean! Tune in now via http://www.ciobs.org.uk/about/what_podcasts.cfm

Finally, finally, one of our students, Pauline McPherson and her team of charity fundraisers called Wacky Racers are running an event on 28th August at 6.30pm in the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Jack Black, a leading authority on personal development and well known keynote speaker, is the star attraction. For more information, just go to the above podcast link and click on the Weekly Newscast for 10th July!! All will be revealed!

They think it's all over - it is now!!!!!!!!!!


Raymond (really missing Michael!)

Better late.............

Hi everyone,

Just a little bit behind schedule with the blog, but as you probably guessed, it's the vacation season and so Master Blogger is currently away from his perch!!

That's not actually the reason why there was no blog last week - the real reason was that I couldn't remember the password to access the site - so now you know. However, I have just reset it and am currently considering whether to advise a certain person of the new password!

Anyway, thing are quite hectic following the recent issue of the exam results, with a number of calls coming in re new studies, a few moans and groans and even a few tears - shame!!

Talking about the exams, the Chartered Banker online situation is moving quite fast now, with five exams (UK Financial Services, Investment, CRM, ORM and Credit Risk Practice already available. Two more will shortly be on, being Call Centre Management and Financila Economics. No it's not a deliberate spelling mistake, but I just wanted to share how I always type that word FINANCIAL! Annoying or what!

Other than that, there is plenty going on at the CIOBS. Our website is getting a makeover and should be up an running soon(ish). It should be a lot slicker and easier to navigate and, if my request has been heard, (probably not) this blog will be located within the new site and it is the intention to give it a facelift too - we might even allow our two regular visitors (my mum and and unknown person) to make comments - but then again.....

Anyway, I'm going now, it's time I got cracking with the updates to all the Regulatory subjects and the two related Chartered Banker subjects so that these can be issued and the exam banks updated in time for October 1st when the changes take effect.

Have a good week - I may even see you later in the week (not physically, unless you're my mum).

Cheers.

Raymond

The Final Curtain

Hello and welcome to the CIOBS blog.

I am sure that all potential Chartered Bankers and those studying for the related Diplomas will be aware that the results of the Spring diet are now available on this website.

I have reproduced the above news with the kind permission of Peter Moir.

His permission must be sought for any reproduction that takes place here at CIOBS!

This is an historic time as the examination format is changing and there will be no more fixed diets. Students will be able to sit the final examinations at a time that suits them. Examinations will be available on a weekly basis starting in September of this year.

Was there a tear in Peter's eye yesterday?

The start of this week saw an Apex 5 revision session taking place here at CIOBS. In fact the attendees were delighted due to the fact that I took the session on Monday with Raymond taking over on Tuesday.

Two for the price of one or was it buy one get one free?

You can make your mind up as to why the students were delighted!

Raymond is off on his travels again this afternoon - Look out Fife he is on his way. The last time he was in Fife the group was with him all the way, however, he managed to shake them off at the Kincardine Bridge.

I am sure it will be safe for him to return to the Kingdom today.

Talking of travel, I will be starting two weeks annual leave tomorrow. So no more blogging for me during that time.

I am sure that Raymond will keep you posted on all the joys and sorrows of CIOBS during my absence and he might even have some kind words.

Congratulations to those who have passed the examinations - I am sure that you will enjoy the celebrations.

And there's more. Our AGM takes places here at Drumsheugh later today.

I look forward to seeing some of our blogees in attendance.

Michael (Do we have an AGM every year?)

A Marvellous Night For a Moondance

Well here we are again and on a Thursday too! A very warm welcome to the CIOBS Blog.

That's us nearly at the end of another week and what an interesting week it has been. Your very own Raymond Brown has been out and about this week and his travels have taken him to Fife and Renfrewshire. He is very popular in both places. So much so that he is making return visits next week.

I have had a few enquiries this week regarding the results of the Chartered Banker and related Diploma examinations which took place recently. The scheduled date is 5th July. Results will be posted on our website on or about that date. Not long to go now and good luck to everyone involved.

Congratulations to my colleague Pamela Harrower who took part in last weekend's Moonwalk Edinburgh 2008. Pamela walked in aid of charity. Well done Pamela. Pamela did the full moon which covers a distance of 26.2 miles. The half moon is a distance of 13.1 miles funnily enough!

My spies tell me that a male member of the CIOBS staff was spotted in the Meadows area of Edinburgh at the end of the walk. Did he take part? What was he wearing? I think we should be told. Did he do the Full Moon or the Half Moon?

Today we have a delegation of members of The Beijing Financial Education Centre visiting us here at Drumsheugh Gardens. A warm welcome to you all on this sunny morning.

This week's Podcast is now available on this website and Inflation is very much to the fore. Don't blame me I only report what is going on!

A big thank you to the correspondent who raised the question of management speak this week and sent us some examples of the same.

"My least favourite business-speak term is not enough bandwidth. When an employee used this term to refuse an additional assignment, I realised I was completely 'out of the loop'."

I once had a boss who said, "You can't have your cake and eat it, so you have to step up to the plate and face the music." It was in that moment I knew I had to resign before somebody got badly hurt by a pencil.

"The latest that's stuck in my head is we are still optimistic things will feed through the sales and delivery pipeline (i.e.: we actually haven't sold anything to anyone yet but maybe we will one day)."

Do you use any of the above? Do you know someone who does? Maybe you have some more to add. Please let me know. All correspondence to michael@ciobs.org.uk

Michael (Pushing the envelope)

An Informative Blog

Welcome to the CIOBS blog.I know it is Wednesday and this might confuse some of our regular readers, but hey, a change is as good as a rest – so why not a Wednesday blog.

Keeping with this theme, our weekly news podcast which is normally posted to the website on a Thursday has been posted a day earlier this week.

This is due to operational reasons.I will say nothing further on this one.

What I will say is that negative equity makes an appearance.This might be a new topic to some of our younger readers.

The podcast can be found here:

http://www.ciobs.org.uk/about/what_podcasts.cfm (This will require to be pasted into your browser - This is due to other operational reasons)

I have received the latest copy of the CIOBS magazine Scottish Banker this morning, the June/July edition and I am sure that it is on its way to all members as we speak. Some good stuff in there as always including the CIOBS annual report.

Anything happening with Chartered Banker this week Michael? Yes there is.

Mr. Raymond Brown can be heard in all his glory in a superb presentation explaining about some major changes to the qualification and it is especially applicable to those who will enrol after 1st August 2008.

You can hear the great man in full flight here:

http://cibsbreeze.ciobs.org.uk/chbanker2008 (Will require to be Pasted)

Further to last week’s mention there is now some news regarding the format of revision sessions for 2008/9

Details can be found here:

http://www.ciobs.org.uk/qualifications/downloads/Revision_Course_Timetable.pdf (Pasting required)

A lot of information there! And a bit of pasting too!

And finally……………….

A big thank you to one of our correspondents for the following tales from the banking world of yesteryear:

An Inspector Calls

The 'Inspector's team' descended unannounced to inspect branches' books.'Surprise' visits were impossible in the Western or Northern Isles. The ship's wireless operator would radio to Lochmaddy or Stornoway, that three 'Edinburgh' gentlemen – they always wore bowler hats and riding macs - were on board, giving banks time to prepare for their visitors...

Cause to smile

Inspectors often kept records of amusing branch correspondence...

"Her 18-year-old daughter has been associated with the pigs for the last few months - by physique and temperament she is well suited for this purpose." (Application for current account, Feb 1955)

"Farming will be more profitable from now on as she is selling her own milk…"
(Letter from a rural branch)

These may bring back some happy memories for some and indeed unhappy memories for others.


Michael (It must have been fun in the fifties!)

Congratulations

Hello to you all and a very warm welcome to the first blog of June.

How can I follow the great man’s blog from last week? It was everything that a blog should be. Informative, accurate and with a touch of the famous Brown humour.

My spies tell me that the great man did a fantastic job in his role as chairman last Tuesday. Will he be resting on his laurels? Hardly! I did rest on some laurels once. I can't recommend it, though.They are a lot spikier than they look.

John Swinney was delighted to get a mention last week of course – his office have contacted CIOBS and thanked us for the publicity.

I will be out and about today visiting Springburn Academy in the north east of Glasgow, where I will doing a bit of recruitment for the Schools Certificate in Financial Services.
This involves school students studying for a Certificate in guess what? Yes, you are absolutely correct – Financial Services.This qualification is most suitable for students who have aspirations (Sorry JS!) of a career in the Financial Services industry.

Did you know that the European Central Bank celebrated its 10th anniversary on 1st June?

This has got me reminiscing about the forerunner of the Euro, the European Currency Unit or ECU.

Do any of you remember this currency? It was a trading currency with no notes or coins ever being issued and was subsequently replaced by the Euro.
The 10th anniversary of the Euro is on 1st January 2009.

Where has the time gone?

Today, the single currency is used in an area that stretches from Cyprus to Ireland and from Portugal to Finland. More than half of all EU Member States have already adopted the euro.

All this Euro talk, the holiday season must be upon us.

Congratulations to Mr.Edward Bowen the oldest member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland who celebrated his 100th birthday on 2nd June.
Mr. Bowen, joined Bank of Scotland as a 16-year old apprentice at Carnoustie branch, became a member of the permanent staff in 1928 and joined the Inspector's team in Edinburgh the following year. Between 1947-1968, he held branch management positions at Arbroath, Dundee and Aberdeen. He became training officer in 1969 and retired in 1972.

Here at Drumsheugh there is plenty going on as usual. Amongst other other things we are looking at the revision sessions for the new format Chartered Banker examinations. As students will be sitting examinations at various times throughout the year, changes will be happening and some of these will be radical! Watch this space.

Oh well I better get off my laurels and head for the north east of Glasgow.

Michael (Go west)

Busy Days!

Hi all and welcome!

Firstly, I'd like to apologise that Michael is having a few days holiday. I know that he is becoming a bit of a cult blogger, but even literary superstars need a break!

This week has certainly been exciting. As the great Downey proclaimed, I was hosting the Scottish Banking Forum on Tuesday morning, with that unforgettable title "Wealth Managers Driving For Success: Becoming Tomorrow's Elite" - by the time that I had announced it, it was nearly time for the closing remarks!! Apart from that it was a good session, with over 20 delegates in attendance.

On Wednesday, we had our International Chartered Banker Conference. With delegates arriving from Corstorphine, Gorgie, Dalry and Leith, it truly was a global affair! To balance that up, we did however have several excellent speakers from Europe who gave an insight as to the opportunities for UK banks to tap into the Central Eastern European markets. Interestingly, but of no surprise to many delegates, the message for UK banks was that service delivery had to be sharpened up for success to follow - others would however argue that service levels are currently more than satisfactory!

Professionalism and Ethics was another key theme of the day.

This is an area of much interest to all in the financial services sector and one which the CIOBS will be focusing on over the coming months / years. During the panel discussion, a delegate asked about the ethics of charging £30 for an overdrawn balance of say £10. The reply from a panel member was to the effect that perhaps it was about as ethical as overdrawing your account in the first place without permission - indeed, was unauthorised overdrawing actually any different from walking out of a shop without paying for your goods? Controversial or what, young Giles!

Overall, the Conference was a great success, with around 130 in attendance and a distinguished speaker list, including John Swinney, MSP and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance giving the keynote address. I always like to pick up on the little idiosyncrasies of speakers and like many politicians, John just loves to say "aspirations"!

Other than that, we have been doing some real work as well. We are still working on the new procedures for the Chartered Banker qualification and these will be sent to students as soon as possible. The new procedures include areas like assignments, which of course affect tutors too and so these are also being revamped.

Never mind, folks, even if life is getting a bit weary, it's important to look on the bright side. Two things to cheer you up before I go. Firstly, it's Friday and the weekend looms. Secondly, the King of the Bloggers will return next week to royally entertain you. On reflection, at least you have one thing to look forward to!

Have a great weekend.

Raymond

Three in a row - is that a treble?

Hi and welcome to the CIOBS blog.

First of all it is my great pleasure to announce that Raymond has been podcasting this week.

Please go to http://www.ciobs.org.uk/about/what_podcasts.cfm (after you have read this blog of course!) and you will hear a fit and healthy sounding Raymond with some very interesting business news.

Well, what a week it has been dear reader. I have been in the class room for the first three days of this week. Monday and Tuesday saw the Apex 5 revision course take place and Wednesday brought an introductory day for a group of new Chartered Banker students.

One of the favourite aspects of this job is meeting people and there were some very nice attendees this week. The not so nice ones know who you are!

(Disclaimer – This is a very bad attempt at humour – everyone was very nice.)

Of course we have yet another bank holiday weekend coming up, although I believe the Edinburgh schools were off last week and will not be off next Monday; however I am sure that many of you will be looking forward to the long weekend.

I know that the good citizens of Glasgow are looking forward to next week and in particular Tuesday morning when the fit and healthy Raymond Brown will be chairing the Scottish Banking Forum at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Argyle Street.

The financial services community will be out in force in Edinburgh on Wednesday when the Chartered Banker Conference takes place at the Balmoral Hotel in Princes Street.

Myself and Raymond will be in attendance at that one and we hope to meet friends old and new.

Just a reminder that we are undertaking a survey at the moment of those who have recently signed up for a course with CIOBS. If you have received an email and possibly a reminder regarding this, then I would encourage you to take a little time to complete the survey.

Well time to go. I am off now to do a little more recording.

Please don’t worry about this I will not be singing.

Michael (Any requests?)

Raymond's Return

Hi again dear readers and welcome to the CIOBS midweek blog.

It’s Wednesday again and I do hope you are having a good week wherever you are.

“So what’s happening at Drumsheugh Gardens?” I hear you ask.

Well,I shall tell you.

We are currently planning revision courses in respect of Chartered Banker and related Diplomas.

These will take place during the final quarter of 2008 and dates will be finalised shortly.

Looking towards 2009, it is planned that revision courses will take place throughout the year. This is in response to the new examination format and the publication of these dates will assist students in planning their studies and their final examination date(s).

Dates for 2009 will be advised in due course.

We are also about to send out one of our surveys.

This will be sent to students have enrolled for a new course during the period 1st February 2008 to 30th April 2008.

If you do receive a survey by email from us I would urge you to complete it. This is your chance to voice your opinion!

All replies will be anonymous.

Next Monday and Tuesday brings yet another of our ever so popular revision courses for The RQF Apex 5/H2 examination – Yes, this is the one where there is an opportunity to sit the final examination here at CIOBS HQ on the Tuesday afternoon.

A very warm welcome to all delegates – I look forward to meeting with you all on Monday morning.

Looking ahead, some events for your diary.

Tuesday 27th May 2008:Scottish Banking Forum. Wealth Managers Driving for Success: Become tomorrow’s Elite. Location: Glasgow

Wednesday 28th May 2008: International Chartered Banker Conference. Location: Edinburgh

Please contact Martin Fishman of CIOBS on 0131 473 7789 or email him Martin@ciobs.org.uk if you are interested in attending any of the above.

And finally this week ……….

Yes folks he is back.

Raymond has returned and is looking fit and well and I am sure that he will be up to a bit of blogging very soon.

Welcome back Raymond.

Michael (Our survey said XX)

Midweek and in colour too!

Welcome to the midweek colourful CIOBS Blog. Regular readers will be aware of my previous rants regarding the lack of colour therefore it is so exciting when colour makes a return! It must be something to do with the wonderful weather that we have been having in Scotland this week.

Okay, hands up it has nothing to do with the weather - it is about location, location, location. It depends upon where I am doing this from as to whether or not colour is available. Older readers will have experienced this with t.v. or wireless reception in years gone by. If you are not sure what a wireless is, then please ask your grandparents!

This will all change very soon when the CIOBS website is revamped - We shall be in total control. At present this blog effectively comes to you via a third party. That scenario will end after the revamp. Hooray!

I trust that readers in the U.K. enjoyed the bank holiday last weekend and are looking forward to the next one at the end of the month.

Here at CIOBS it is pretty much business us usual. I have noticed some of the papers from the recent examination diet passing through the office on their way to or from the examiners and verifiers. This is a very busy time for all concerned and as previously mentioned this diet was the last to be held on a fixed date.

Raymond is well on his way back to full fitness and will be back in the saddle next week, he is currently enjoying a holiday during this period of lovely weather.

Peter's head is also healing and he would like me to thank you all for the many cards and bouquets of flowers that he has received recently - O.K. I made that one up.

Our Business Development team are on the road this week and are presently in Manchester of all places. Some of you from the Glasgow area may be travelling to that city next week.

If you are going away soon, remember your blog and the weekly news podcast are available wherever you are. Just log on to www.ciobs.org.uk

Some students were commenting on the podcast last week and I would agree with their comments that it is an invaluable learning tool for student members of the Institute.

Time to get on.

Have a great week and I hope the sun is shinning wherever you are.

Michael (Did I mention the weather?)

May Mayhem

Well here we are once again. Another week and another month have gone by.Welcome to the first blog of the merry month of May.Did any of you wash your face in the morning dew yesterday? Before you ask, yes, I certainly did and I am feeling radiant on this sunny Friday morning here in Edinburgh.

What a week it has been here at Drumsheugh.Your very own Raymond Brown was hospitalised earlier in the week,however, the good news is that he is well on the way to recovery. Which means I have got my hands on the blog again.

I will not be running a “Guess what was wrong with Raymond” Competition.

Another blog favourite, Peter Moir sustained some head injuries this week which involved a tunnel and a plank of wood. Don’t ask!

No competition here either.

Academically speaking the two day Apex 1(2004)version course went well and it was a pleasure to meet all the delegates.

Good Luck to you all with the final examination.

Yesterday was certainly historical from a CIOBS point of view.The very last Chartered Banker examination in the present format took place yesterday afternoon.From September these examinations will be available in an on-line format.

Students will use lap tops to type the answers to the questions.Some of our older readers might ask “what is a lap top?” Please ask your grandchildren – they will demonstrate for you.

I am advised that the results from the recent diet will be available to students on or about 5th July 2008.

Your blog team will keep you up to date with the progress regarding the results. (With Peter Moir’s kind permission of course)

The new format will make the examinations available to students on a weekly basis and will end the present twice-yearly diets.

As I write students are arriving here at CIOBS to sit various on-line examinations for the Regulatory Qualifications or the Diploma or Certificate in Financial Services etc.

I hope it goes well for everyone.

Remember a selection of the week’s business news is available as a podcast on our website and can be found by pasting the following into your browser.

http://www.ciobs.org.uk/about/what_podcasts.cfm

It’s not just a new month or the fact that it is Friday that excites us today,it is a bank Holiday Weekend here in the U.K.

So whatever you are doing please enjoy yourself and stay safe.(See above re planks of wood etc.)

Michael (Radiant and healthy at the moment)

Is there a tiger in your tank?

Hi and welcome to the week that was. Firstly a big welcome home to one of our regulars MR.X from Kirkintilloch.

It was good to speak with you yesterday and it sounds like you had a great time trekking in Nepal.

I know that you did have internet access at some stages of your journey and I trust that you kept up with your favourite blog as well as the football results!

All the week’s financial happenings including news of the RBS rights issue and the Bank of England injection of funds can be found on our weekly news podcast.

Just click here and you will hear all about the events. http://www.ciobs.org.uk/about/what_podcasts.cfm

You will in fact have to paste this into your browser as the blog is not allowing links at the moment.Oh no I feel a rant coming on again about the lack of colour but I won't.

My thanks go to the participants in this week’s introductory day here at Drumsheugh. It was a pleasure to work with you all and I hope the problems at Edinburgh airport on Wednesday evening did not spoil the day.

Exam fever is all is all around us at the moment with the Chartered Banker Spring diet in full flow.

This is the last diet to have the examinations in the current format, we shall be moving to on-line versions towards the end of this year. Full details are available on this website and Chartered Banker students will have received the recent newsletter advising of the changes.

I am looking forward to Monday and Tuesday of next week when I shall be running a revision course for Apex 1 students and I am sure the students are also looking forward to it.

Roll on Monday morning!

It has been a brief blog this week as I am trying to conserve fuel and I am certainly not panic buying either.

Have a great weekend and best of luck to all of you sitting examinations next week

Michael (A full tank at the moment thank you)

It's nearly exam time again

Hello to you all once again and especially to the student member who contacted us here at CIOBS last Friday asking if there would be a blog published that day.He/she was obviously in need of a blog and so soon after Wednesday’s offering too.

Apologies for the wait.

I must mention that the weekly news podcast has returned after last week’s non-appearance and can be located here http://www.ciobs.org.uk/about/what_podcasts.cfm

Well what a week it has been.Your very own Raymond Brown has been running a two day revision session for RQF Apex 1 (2007 version) and I was very privileged to be invited to sit in on some of the topics and was well impressed. These courses are great value for money and it was also a great opportunity for me to pinch some of Raymond’s material for my own use in the future! Thanks Raymond.

If you are interested in attending any of our courses or if your company wishes us to run an in-house course then please contact us here at CIOBS.Our main switchboard number is 0131 473 7777.

This week saw the last of the revision courses for Chartered Banker and the closing date for submission of second assignments has also passed,which means that the final examinations are nearly upon us.The first of these is on Tuesday 22nd April with the final examination taking place on 1st May.

I will advise at a later stage regarding the publication of results.

Good Luck to everyone sitting an examination at this forthcoming diet.

Today sees a meeting of the Business Development and Education Teams – sounds like a football match, perhaps we will get a draw.

As thoughts turn to next week, I see that there is an Education department meeting on Monday. That will be the Education team without the Business Development team perhaps?

Wednesday brings one of the legendary CIOBS Introductory Days.This week’s course sees the arrival of some new students who are studying for a Diploma or Certificate in Financial Services – you will be coming to the right place folks and I look forward to meeting with you all.

Did you know that on this day in 1949 the Republic of Ireland Act came into force and Eire became a republic?.

A very good morning to all our friends over there in Dublin at the Institute of Bankers in Ireland.

Also on this day in 1992 the comedian Benny Hill passed away.He certainly was the fastest milkman in the west.(Older readers will understand that one)!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Michael (the fastest blogger in the east)