IT has been exactly four years since Banking League came into existence at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.

The Banking League is basically a club that was born out of a need to get UWI students in the business sector to interact and socialise as they share ideas and work towards a common goal.

Banking League recently celebrated the milestone with four days of activities from November 3 to 6. The week culminated with a fun-filled, but informative anniversary meeting held at UWI’s of Management Studies department.

The distinguished club’s anniversary week began with launching social media campaigns with the objective of attracting new members to the rapidly growing group.

On day two, club President O’Shane Allen led members of his executive team to the local Young Men’s Christian Association in St Andrew to conduct a motivational talk and facilitate a reading session for the youngsters. Fast forward to the club’s usual meeting day of Thursday where a glitzy 90-minute anniversary ceremony was held to commemorate the founding day of the Banking League — November 3.

The ceremony was attended by a raft of dignitaries and heavyweights in banking and finance as well as academia.

Guests included senior general manager of NCB and keynote speaker Audrey Tugwell-Henry; Darlene Jones, director at Jamaica Institute of Financial Services; and Jacqueline Robotham, business relations and sales manager at Jamaica National Building Society (UWI and Papine branch).

Also present were Professor Claremont Kirton, deputy executive director of UWI Consulting and Michael Williams, acting executive director of Mona School of Business and Management.

According to Public Relations Officer Shawn-King Ferguson, the club spent considerable time during the four years to develop its image in order to attract students on campus as well as strengthening external relations with the banking sector.

Banking League has created partnerships with financial institutions thereby assisting in passing on invaluable information regarding the financial sector.

From time to time, representatives from banking institutions make substantial contributions to the club’s weekly meetings presenting on various topics relevant to the banking sector. This essentially, is a part of the club’s objective of promoting the holistic development of students through the engagement of different faculties with emphasis being placed on financial education, professionalism and ethics.

Importantly, club members enjoy weekly Thursday meetings due to the relaxed but vibrant nature of the executive team which include diverse personalities from various areas of studies. Four years on and the club continues to strike an impressive balance between fun and finance.

Banking League would like to thank sponsors Jamaican National Building Society, FirstGlobal Bank and Sagicor Bank for their continued support as well as National Commercial Bank for sponsoring last Thursday’s event.

— Alexei DaCosta