SMU Vice-President (Office of Business Development) and Financial Training Institure@SMU (FTI) Academic Director Professor Annie Koh was interviewed in an article which featured the FTI. The article mentioned that the FTI was set up to raise proficiency in Singapore’s financial sector, as well as to champion competency-based training for professionals in the financial related industry. Professor Annie Koh noted that the adoption of the standards of the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) helps to “provide a structured training roadmap for financial institutions and banking professionals to plug their competency gaps, raise the bar of excellence, build pipeline for talent and drive effective change for businesses. Since its inception in 2007, the institute has trained more than 3,000 participants and certified over 900 professionals, from over 100 financial institutions. For its effort, the FTI was honoured with the IBF Inspiring Educator Award which recognises IBF-accredited training providers’ commitment in driving the adoption of the IBF standards to raise the professional competency of the financial industry.