UPF-BSM and CaixaBank receive the 2021 EFMD Excellence in Practice Silver Award for the case study on the Risk School of the financial institution

• The prize belongs to the Professional Development category, one of the four categories of the EFMD Excellence in Practice (EiP) Award, which recognizes the best partnerships between clients and suppliers.
   
• This recognition allows the school and the financial institution to present their case during the EFMD Executive Development Conferences.
   
• CaixaBank promoted the risk school in 2015 with the aim of training the entire workforce in risk matters through academic material provided by the UPF Barcelona School of Management.

The UPF Barcelona School of Management and CaixaBank have received the EFMD Excellence in Practice Silver Award in the Professional Development category for the case study on the financial institution's Risk Control School. The award, which recognizes the best partnerships between clients and suppliers in the areas of leadership, professional development, talent and organization, will allow UPF-BSM and CaixaBank to present the case during the EFMD Executive Development Conferences.

“We are grateful for the recognition of the EFMD for a project developed in collaboration with our partner CaixaBank, the first bank in Spain”, said the Director General of the UPF-BSM, José M. Martínez-Sierra. “Participating in this project has allowed us to deploy our vocation of social impact through a training itinerary that fits a very challenging sectorial context”, considered Martínez-Sierra, who stated that learning together with leading firms such as CaixaBank “is the best way to meet our goal of bringing sustainable leadership to our classrooms and our programs”.

Thus, both UPF-BSM and CaixaBank were satisfied with the trajectory carried out in the financial institution, since, they celebrated, “not only have we been able to meet the objectives we had set, but we have been able to transmit the culture and policies of risk management to the organization”.

International recognition

“This award is a prestigious international recognition of the effort and dedication of many people, both form CaixaBank and the UPF Barcelona School of Management”, reflected the financial institution, which also explained how both partners “have worked in a coordinated manner to design, create a Risk School and to adapt to each moment and requirement”. 

Granted by an international jury composed of EFMD members, companies, business schools and alternative suppliers, this award is an international recognition of excellence in R&D for both entities, and legitimacy, positioning and broad visibility and brand value.

Along with UPF-BSM and CaixaBank, the partnership between Audi UK and Alliance Manchester Business School (University of Manchester) has also been awarded in the Professional Development category. In other categories, prestigious business schools such as Harvard Business School, ESMT Berlin and EMYLON Business School have also received awards.

CaixaBank, pioneer together with UPF-BSM

The award-winning case presents the pioneering initiative with which CaixaBank promoted the Risk School in 2015, the vehicle through which it intended to train its entire workforce in risk matters. With this project, the bank anticipated the European regulatory requirements on knowledge and competencies applicable to personnel in which the prudent, rigorous and responsible granting of credit was becoming increasingly important.

As explained by the promoters, the Risk School “should promote proactive, dynamic and eminently practical learning” to help those responsible for the commercial area of the financial institution in decision-making and customer positioning. A goal that has been achieved thanks to the experience of the UPF-BSM in training professionals in the banking sector in the State.

“In short, the Risk School has proven to be a key tool to keep professionals properly trained, to promote the risk management culture and to contribute effectively to the challenges posed daily by the management of the entity”, concluded representatives of the school and the bank.