The Shandong Rural Credit Union (SRCU) is an apex organization with over 110 rural commercial banks as members in the province of Shandong. Recognising the importance of high-quality training systems, The SRCU was interested in establishing a training academy—the Shandong Rural Finance Academy (Academy)—to provide targeted and standardised trainings to the over 70,000 staff of the SRCU’s rural commercial bank members. The SRCU saw the Academy as potentially a critical component in the overall training system of the SRCU, and important in strengthening the competitiveness, market position, and quality of the SRCU and its member banks.

The SRCU commissioned IPC to conduct a feasibility study for the new Academy, seeking support for the design of an effective concept for the Academy. In this role, IPC worked with the SRCU to develop a sustainable commercial business plan for the Academy’s establishment, seeking to meet the needs of the myriad stakeholders involved.

IPC experts performed several tasks in conducting this feasibility study:

• examining the “supply side” by assessing the current training system of the SRCU and its member banks including management capacities and infrastructure, current training programmes, as well as current training capacities of the SRCU and its member banks
• understanding the “demand side” through conducting a training needs assessment in 3 selected SRCU branches and 4 selected rural commercial bank members
• estimating training needs of all rural commercial bank members in terms of the quantity of trainings and the quantity of staff to be trained
• understanding the envisioned training system of the SRCB and the Academy, as well as the expectations of member banks and their staff for the Academy, and the envisioned future role of the SRCU in the overall training system
• developing a business and operational plan for the Academy covering the establishment period of time and the first three years of operations