Training

The goal of the training service is to build the skill base of all persons in Caja Madrid, designing and implementing actions ultimately aimed at achieving the Group's objectives while helping individuals develop their careers.

Caja Madrid follows a set procedure for preparing and monitoring its annual Training Plans. The Plans are designed on the basis of the Group’s strategic priorities, the key projects to be implemented in the different organisational units and the principal goals for enhancing staff employability.

The 2008 training plan was generally organised in three basic areas:

• Retail banking: this training plan is defined by segments of customers according to the Group's business model (individuals, personal banking, small businesses and independent contractors, agency network and euro-residents, amongst others) and its commercial priorities.
• Business banking, investment banking and Corporación Financiera Caja Madrid: the managers of this segment team up with the heads of the organisational units concerned to define an ad hoc training plan for the different categories of internal clients, such as Altae Banco, Business Banking and Gesmadrid.
• Central units: after surveying the needs of the different business units, the key persons that support them in central services are brought in to help design the right training plans for attaining the Group's overall goals.

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This year's expansion of the workforce underscores the importance of the “Induction Plan” specifically prepared for the new persons who have joined the organisation. The programme consists of 187 training hours covering topics from an overview of the Group to the specific knowhow needed to do their jobs, with detailed training on technical banking procedures and optimising the skills needed to sell financial products and services effectively.

Also, implementation of the European Union Directive on Markets in Financial Instruments (MiFID) called for a series of training actions to familiarise staff with its contents and the operational changes it entails.

The Group uses training plans to ensure training initiatives are designed for the specific function performed by each person and reflect the yearly evaluation of their skills and competencies.

The individual training plans also include specific topics requested in the virtual classroom. This service allows each person to actively engage in the design of his or her own training plan, maximising its responsiveness to their particular needs and expectations. More than 9,000 such requests were handled in 2008 in relation to a great variety of subjects involving financial markets, banking products and services and expert courses on how to best serve specific customer segments.

In 2008 three training actions were carried out to broaden and deepen knowledge of alternative energies in the Project Finance Area.

The Group’s training investment in 2008 amounted to 1.3% of its wage bill.