On 7 December 2019, The Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII) celebrated its Graduation Ceremony to honour the achievements of its graduates for the academic year 2018/2019. A total of 1206 individuals have successfully completed their programmes, among whom are 963 graduates for the Certificate of The Malaysian Insurance Institute (CMII), 43 graduates for the Diploma of The Malaysian Insurance Institute (DMII), 118 graduates for the Associate of The Malaysian Insurance Institute (AMII) Level 1 and Level 2, 10 graduates for the Fellowship of The Malaysian Insurance Institute (FMII), 50 graduates for the Professional Certificate of General Insurance programmes and 21 graduates for International Compliance Association (ICA) Certificate and ICA Advanced Level programmes.
Over 400 graduates, guests and industry leaders attended the auspicious ceremony held at Lanai Kijang, Bank Negara Malaysia. In his welcoming remarks, Mr Rangam Bir, Deputy Chairman of MII congratulated all graduates for their hard work and achievements, and he expressed gratitude to MII’s Faculty, Councils, Board Members and staff for their support.
Mr Rangam Bir said “recent studies show that the number of professionals furthering their professional education and trainings is on the rise. (I am certain that) MII will continue to meet the needs of these professionals and play an important role in ensuring that the insurance industry’s talent pool remains deep and diverse.”
In highlighting the importance of networking and meaningful interactions, he added “Because networking is about connecting people with people, people with ideas, and people with opportunities, the network effect allow us to leverage the capability and strengths that will contribute to the development of society. Millennials today are inspired by what is possible, so we must show them the way, together.”
The ceremony was graced by En Adnan Zaylani Bin Mohamad Zahid, Assistant Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, as Guest of Honour. In his Special Address, En Adnan Zaylani said that “deepening the industry’s talent pool remain a top priority to elevate the industry to the next level. In the past three years, the insurance industry’s talent landscape has become increasingly competitive. As at 2018, 28,192 people were employed by the insurance and takaful sector and a total of 5,202 new jobs were created.
Amongst these are high-skilled workforce comprising 85.9% of insurance and takaful sector employees compared to 81.8% in 2016. This even exceeds the composition of high-skilled workforce in the banking industry which was at 79.1% in 2018, which encouragingly indicates a growing demand for such workforce segment in insurance and takaful industry.” He added, “the movement towards talent with value-added skill sets is in response to the industry’s needs to adapt to the forces of change.
The Bank has identified four driving factors shaping the future workforce needs of the Malaysian financial sector, namely, fintech innovation, regulatory reforms, expanding cross-border operations and shift in consumer demography and preference. This places new demands on the skill sets, expertise and competencies. We should look forward to a more diverse talent pool that is expected to emerge with the increase of new hires from non-insurance backgrounds.”
During the ceremony, MII launched the much-awaited MII Alumni. The MII Alumni will serve as a platform for MII graduates to forge fellowships, network and collaborate to contribute to the advancement of the industry. As a cohort of professional graduates, the hope is that the Alumni members will play the role of thought leaders for the industry, providing their insights and expertise to industry bodies on pertinent issues impacting the industry. The Alumni aims to:
- promote and enhance knowledge and practice of insurance
- obtain and disseminate information on matters affecting the profession
- share technical or management expertise and best practices
- analyse and predict the trends of the industry
- become the voice of the industry
The Alumni will provide a way to reach the insurance professional community to seek feedback and/or participation in MII’s plans and initiatives. Based on ground research, many MII graduates have displayed keen interest to work with MII. Through the Alumni, MII and the industry will be able to leverage on the Alumni for ideas, participation in collaboration projects and taskforce.
Graduates of FMII, AMII Level 2, AMII Level 1, AMII, DMII and Advanced Certification in Regulatory Compliance (Insurance); Best Student awards and Best Student by Subject awards were presented by the Guest of Honour, En Adnan Zaylani and accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer of MII, Ms Shalini Pavithran. Graduates of CMII (General), CMII (Life), Professional Certificate in General Insurance (Underwriting), Professional Certificate for General Insurance (Agents) and ICA Certification were presented by Mr Rangam Bir and accompanied by Pn Wahida Shariff, Chief Academic Officer of MII.
The ceremony also included the valedictorian speech delivered by FMII graduate, Mr Weng Eu Gene, and the commencement speech was delivered by En. Azran Osman-Rani, who was previously the iflix Group COO, CEO of iflix Malaysia, and CEO of AirAsia X.
