IMF | CEF

Target Audience: Junior to mid-level members of the financial intelligence units, target financial sanctions experts, investigators, prosecutors and judges from GCC countries, tasked with tackling terrorism and/or financing activities. Priority will be given to participants that did not attend the course on Best Practices to Enhance Effectiveness of CFT Frameworks that was delivered in October 2024.

Qualifications: Participants are expected to have a degree in the fields of law, criminology, or otherwise, experience in the field of CFT in a legal environment, including financial intelligence, enforcement, and target financial sanctions. Having worked on AML/CFT legal cases is mandatory. Basic knowledge of the FATF Recommendations and Methodology is also desirable.

Language: The course is conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Arabic. 

Course Description: Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), targeted financial sanctions (TFS), and enforcement experts face significant challenges in combating terrorism and proliferation financing, primarily due to a lack of specialized knowledge and expertise. Many legal professionals may not have adequate training in financial crimes and terrorism financing, which hampers their ability to handle complex cases effectively. Furthermore, many judicial systems are not properly structured, or under-resourced, lacking the necessary tools, technology, and personnel to gather intelligence and enforce against these crimes thoroughly. Coordination issues among various agencies also pose a challenge, as effective combat requires seamless collaboration between law enforcement, financial institutions, FIUs, and the judiciary.

The course aims to provide FIU, TFS, and enforcement experts from GCC countries with a toolkit to understand CFT risks and typologies and transform financial intelligence into actionable evidence for the successful prosecution and subsequent judgement of TF cases.

The course will have three areas:

• Understanding TF risks and activities and setting policy priorities.
• Proactive identification, intelligence gathering, investigation and prosecution of TF cases.
• Effectively prosecuting and adjudicating TF cases.
• Effective and timely implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions related to terrorism and terrorism and proliferation financing.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Assess the risks, threats and vulnerabilities in the context of CFT/PF risk assessments, and their mitigation from a legal perspective.
• Identify pragmatic solutions for investigating and disrupting CFT/PF activities from a legal perspective.
• Understand how the gathering and dissemination of financial intelligence is at the center of CFT/PF and appreciate its strategic value.
• Recognize and use the toolkit required to conduct investigations that can lead to effective prosecution of illicit actors and subject them to effective, proportionate and dissuasive actions.

Target Audience: Junior to mid-level government officials tasked with surveillance of the financial sector, especially staff of the central bank, financial regulators, and other agencies that engage in macroprudential oversight.

Qualifications: Participants are expected to have a degree in economics or finance, preferably at the master’s level, or equivalent work experience; good quantitative skills; and proficiency in the use of computers to analyze data. It is strongly recommended that applicants have completed the online Financial Market Analysis (FMAx) course. Because many of the workshops use Microsoft Excel worksheets, familiarity with the basics of Excel is important.

Language: The course is conducted in English only. Due to the technical nature of the course, English proficiency is a prerequisite.

Course Description: This course introduces participants to key concepts and tools used in the identification and assessment of financial sector vulnerabilities and sources of strength. The course materials provide a basic toolkit to assess financial sector risks and measure them against existing capital and liquidity buffers in the financial system. The discussions focus on the early identification of macro-financial imbalances and the analysis of the transmission of financial distress across institutions, markets, and economic sectors, with the objective of reducing the likelihood and the severity of financial crises. A combination of lectures and hands-on workshops allows participants to apply essential risk assessment techniques.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Measure the main risks facing banks (e.g, credit, market, funding) and their respective capital and liquidity buffers, from a systemic financial stability perspective.
• Design and perform basic stress tests of solvency and liquidity and interpret the results.
• Recognize the importance of nonbank financial intermediaries and their links to banks.
• Assess macro-financial linkages, including the links between the financial sector, the government, and the real economy, along with potential amplification mechanisms.
• Track the buildup of systemic risk and vulnerabilities associated with credit, real estate prices, leverage, balance sheet mismatches, and interconnectedness.
• Assess how shocks can amplify throughout the financial system, e.g., through adverse liquidity spirals or feedback effects between asset prices and leverage.

Target Audience: The course is designed for experienced individuals from banking regulatory and supervisory agencies (RSA) with at least 5 years of relevant experience. Attendees are typically involved in banking regulation and supervision, bank examinations, risk management, and financial sector surveillance.

Qualifications: Attendees should be familiar with the Basel Core Principles for effective Banking Supervision (BCP). Familiarity with the IFSB banking standards is a plus. 

Language: The course is conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Arabic.

Course Description: The training program provides attendees with a foundation of theoretical knowledge and practical skills. The program will consist of three broad focus areas: a review of the BCP and IFSB standards, standards assessment process, and practical skills. 

1. International Standards Review

• Reviewing and strengthening the participants’ understanding of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision and the IFSB’s Core Principles for Islamic Finance Regulations–Banking Segment, and the interlinkages between the two standards.
• Learning the standards assessment methodologies.
• Reviewing the IMF-World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) and the role of standards assessments.

2. Standards Assessment Process

• Identifying relevant background information, learning best practices for data collection, and carrying out an overview of relevant institutional and macroeconomic conditions and market infrastructure.
• Carrying out analysis of preconditions for effective banking supervision.
• Conducting a detailed Principle-by-Principle assessment, including providing a description of the system regarding each Principle, a grading or “assessment”, and the necessary related comments.
• Preparing a structured detailed assessment report and compliance table summarizing the results of the assessment and the recommended action plan.
• Engaging with the authorities and communicating findings effectively to stakeholders.

3. Practical Skills

• Reviewing case studies of selected past FSAP assessments.
• Engaging in hands-on exercises that simulate real-world assessment scenarios, allowing participants to apply their knowledge in a controlled environment. 

Course Objectives: Aspiring financial stability assessors will be well-prepared to undertake the responsibilities of evaluating financial systems’ stability and compliance with international standards. They will possess a robust understanding of international banking standards, as well as the practical skills needed to conduct assessments, identify gaps, and communicate findings effectively, including in the context of the IMF-World Bank Financial Stability Assessment Program (FSAP). This training not only enriches the assessors’ expertise but also contributes to the overall aim of fostering resilient Islamic financial system globally. 

Target Audience: Mid-level and senior government officials from ministries of economy, finance, environment, and infrastructure, as well as officials from line ministries involved in Public Investment Management. 

Qualifications: Participants are expected to have a degree in economics/finance/public policy and/or work experience in public investment management.

Language: The course will be delivered in English language, with simultaneous interpretation to Arabic.

Course Description: The five-day course will be delivered in person, by the IMF’s Middle East Technical Assistance Center (METAC) in cooperation with the IMF Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF). The course will focus on the strategies and tools to strengthen infrastructure governance and public investment management, including the PIMA and its Climate module, to enable participants to assess the challenges in PIM in their own countries, and identify potential solutions to enhance PIM institutions. The course approach will involve a mix of lectures, country presentations and an exercise to map a reform program for particular PIM challenges. Participants are expected to actively contribute to presentations on country practices and exercises. Peer learning will be an essential element of the course.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Understand the current challenges in PIM and identify the specific needs for PIM reforms in their countries.
• Understand the key institutional roles and responsibilities, and coordination arrangements of PIM units, budget units as well as IT function throughout the planning, appraisal, selection and budgeting stages of PIM process.
• Have an overview of strategies and tools to strengthen public investment management, and good practices in the region and globally.
• Understand the objectives, tools and challenges of mainstreaming climate change considerations into the infrastructure cycle.

Target Audience: Mid- to senior officials in central banks and ministries of finance or economy who are directly involved in diagnosing the state of the macroeconomy and making projections.

Qualifications: Participants are expected to have an advanced degree in economics or equivalent experience, good quantitative skills, and proficiency in the use of Microsoft Excel. It is strongly recommended that applicants have completed the online Financial Programming and Policies, Part 1: Macroeconomic Accounts and Analysis (FPP.1x) or the online Macroeconomic Diagnostics (MDSx) course.

Language: The course is conducted in English only. Due to the technical nature of the course, English proficiency is a prerequisite.

Course Description: This course is designed to strengthen participants’ ability to comprehensively assess a country’s macroeconomic situation, including the current state of the economy, the stance of fiscal and monetary policy, financial stability, exchange rate misalignments, vulnerabilities in the different sectors, and the medium-term outlook, especially the sustainability of public and external debt.

The course emphasizes practical tools for use in day-to-day macroeconomic analysis and relies on case studies relevant to the region where the course is given to illustrate how these tools are applied and how they can contribute to the policymaking process.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Analyze potential output, calculate output gaps, and diagnose the outlook for the economy.
• Assess the stance of current fiscal, monetary, exchange rate, and financial policies.
• Assess macro-financial linkages, including through the analysis of financial sector soundness indicators.
• Assess the medium-term prospects of the economy, especially the sustainability of public and external debt.
• Identify possible external and internal economic risks and vulnerabilities to economic growth and identify policies to address them.

Target Audience: Middle to senior-level officials who have responsibilities in the area of Agriculture.

Qualifications: Candidates should have experience and current job descriptions directly relevant to Agriculture. 

Language: The course is conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Arabic.

Course Description: The course is designed to facilitate the more effective participation of Arab and Middle East countries in the work of the World Trade Organization related to Agriculture. It will provide an overview of ongoing discussions related to the Agreement on Agriculture at the WTO. The programme will include lectures, practical exercises, and provision of relevant material by the WTO Secretariat, and may include contributions from other relevant international organizations, as per availability. Participants will also contribute directly to the programme through experience sharing exercises.  

For additional information concerning the content and admission to WTO courses offered at the CEF, please address your inquiries to Mr. Samer Seif El-Yazal: samer.seif@wto.org

Target Audience: This course is designed for policymakers and senior-level representatives from relevant ministries who are interested in leveraging behavioral science to improve policies, programs, and communications. Participants should have a commitment to institutional change and a desire to explore innovative, evidence-based approaches to policy challenges.

Qualifications: No prior knowledge of behavioral science is required—just an openness to learning and applying new approaches to enhance policy effectiveness.

Language: The course is conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Arabic.

Course Description: Policymakers are increasingly turning to behavioral science to tackle complex and persistent policy challenges. Traditional policy design often overlooks the contextual, psychological, and social factors that shape human decision-making. A behaviorally informed approach goes beyond economic incentives and regulations to consider the subtle but powerful influences embedded in bureaucracies, technologies, and service delivery—factors that can make or break the success of development programs, particularly in low-income contexts.

Course Objectives: This course will equip participants with practical tools to diagnose behavioral barriers, design effective interventions, and implement behaviorally informed policies and programs. Through interactive, hands-on activities, participants will apply behavioral insights to real-world policy challenges, learning how to:

• Identify cognitive biases and decision traps that affect both policymakers and the people they serve.
• Improve the design and delivery of policies, programs, and services.
• Develop low-cost, high-impact solutions to improve policy outcomes.

For additional information concerning the content of the course, please address your inquiries to eMBeD@worldbank.org

Target Audience: Officials responsible for the compilation of external sector statistics (ESS) (balance of payments and/or international investment position (IIP) statistics), and who are familiar with the methodology of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Statistics Manual, sixth edition (BPM6). 

Qualifications: Participants are expected to have a degree in economics or statistics and at least two years of relevant compilation experience or should have completed the Compilation of Balance of Payments Statistics course. 

Language: The course is conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Arabic.

Course Description: This course, presented by the Statistics Department, targets compilers with a certain degree of experience in the compilation and/or analysis of balance of payments and/or IIP. It aims to provide a deep understanding of the concepts, data sources and compilation techniques for balance of payments and IIP statistics and their application in addressing complex methodological issues. The course does not cover the basic balance of payments and IIP concepts. The intermediate level of the course presupposes participants’ familiarity with the basic concepts. The course will also elaborate on the topics being addressed during the current update of BPM6.

The course consists of a series of lectures and workshops analyzing country cases with a strong data component and is designed to allow peer learning and sharing of experiences. Recognizing the challenges in compiling data in emerging areas of user interest, the course emphasizes specific topics, such as estimating informal cross-border activities and the treatment of special purpose entities. The course examines themes and challenges emerging from developments in the global economy, and participants have the opportunity to discuss how these impact compilation work. Specific exercises are geared to integrate data compilation with Fund surveillance and policy advice; and to demonstrate the analytical uses of ESS.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to:

• Apply knowledge gained in dealing with complex methodological and compilation issues related to balance of payments and IIP statistics.
• Describe the high-level themes that are being addressed during the current update of BPM6.
• Identify potential data sources and compilation techniques to be used to improve the coverage in ESS of activities emerging from globalization.
• Describe the analytical uses of balance of payments and IIP statistics.

Target Audience: Mid- to Senior level banking supervisors in charge of supervision of banks.

Qualifications: Participants are expected to be involved in banking supervision and familiar with bank regulation and supervision issues.

Language: The course is conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Arabic.

Course Description: This regional course, presented by the IMF Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF) and the IMF – Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center (METAC), aims to build capacity of banking supervisors in establishing minimum supervisory expectations and guiding banks in creating and maintaining robust and comprehensive frameworks for estimating adequate expected credit losses on financial instruments, and establishing internal supervisory examination processes to evaluate the adequacy of those frameworks.  In so doing, the course will cover various aspects of IFRS 9 and its expected credit loss (ECL) approach to estimating credit loss provisions, notably classification and staging of financial instruments, key and common definitions, ECL model development, management, and supervisory assessment, and regulatory and accounting provision approaches.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Classify financial instruments based on IFRS 9 and evaluate the staging criteria of banks.
• Describe the role of governance and control in an effective ECL framework. 
• Understand the role of Supervisors in banks’ implementation of IFRS 9.
• Establish minimum supervisory expectations for banks in implementing and maintaining their ECL frameworks.
• Identify and interrogate the key components of an effective ECL framework.
• Understand the treatment of ECL anomalies such as credit forbearance, purchased or originated-impaired (POCI) financial instruments, other problem assets, in economically stressful periods.
• Learn from implementation challenges from other countries’ experiences.

For additional information concerning the content of the course, please address your inquiries to Ms. Nehmat Hantas, Banking Regulation and Supervision Advisor, METAC: nhantas@imf.org

Target Audience: Mid- to senior-level banking supervisors.

Qualifications: Participants are expected to be involved in microprudential regulation and supervision of banking institutions.

Language: The course is conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Arabic.

Course Description: This regional course, presented by the IMF-CEF and the Financial Supervision and Regulation Division of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the IMF (MCMFR), aims at strengthening banking supervisors’ capacity to implement the risk-based supervision (RBS) approach required by international standards for the banking sector. The course begins by introducing the conceptual RBS approach and discussing the concrete challenges for effective RBS implementation in prudential regulations and supervisory processes. The course then presents methodological guidance on assessing a bank‘s risk profile in view of deciding adapted supervisory priorities and early intervention measures to address identified weaknesses. Through a mix of sessions including lectures, practical case studies, and interactive discussion, the course provides guidance on making a risk-based supervisory assessment of banks’ financial soundness, with highlights on corporate governance, risk management, and main financial risks (with a selected focus on credit, liquidity, and operational risks), leveraging supervisory bank-rating models for illustration.

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

• Understand the approach and methodology of risk-based banking supervision.
• Implement a risk-based assessment of a bank’s risk profile that would result in early identification of material risk issues.
• Determine appropriate preventive and corrective supervisory action aimed at addressing identified weaknesses in individual banks.
• Incorporate the risk-based approach into supervisory objectives, action plans, organization, and processes within their respective authorities.

For additional information on the content of the course, please address your inquiries to Mr. Alexis Boher, Senior Financial Sector Expert, MCMFR, at aboher@imf.org.