Certification Programs

ICBA certification programs are designed to raise the standards of professionalism in the industry and give consumers a consistent stamp of approval to look for when selecting a banker.

 

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certification programs



ICBA certification programs are designed to raise the standards of professionalism in the industry and give consumers a consistent stamp of approval to look for when selecting a banker.

To make this happen, respected members of the ICBA certification board establish baseline criteria in several areas of specialization. Then, experienced, nationally-recognized instructors create training programs that target the needs of community banks based on those criteria. Finally, competency testing is measured after completion and a certification designation is granted. Annual continuing professional education is then required to ensure participants remain current.

ICBA Education is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: nasbaregistry.org.

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Certification

Audit Certification (CCBIA)

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Designation: Certified Community Bank Internal Auditor (CCBIA)

Requirement: Audit Institute; (30) Continuing Professional Education credits required every two years.

This program is designed to provide tools and step-by-step procedures to establish and maintain an effective internal audit function within a community bank. Areas covered include: auditing basics, internal auditing working papers, auditing liabilities and other activities, auditing assets and bank information systems auditing. 

Earn your Audit Certification at the ICBA Audit Institute

Certification

Bank Security Certification (CCBSO)

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Designation: Certified Community Bank Security Officer (CCBSO)

Requirement: Bank Security Institute; (15) Continuing Professional Education credits required every two years.

This program is designed to provide the Security Officer, regardless of the location or size of the bank, with critical information to meet regulatory requirements and provide strategic and tactical methods of security, robbery and fraud prevention and risk management. 

Earn Your Bank Security Certification at the ICBA Bank Security Institute

Certification

BSA/AML Certification (CBAP)

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Designation: Certified BSA/AML Professional (CBAP)

Requirement: BSA/AML Institute; (20) Continuing Professional Education credits required every two years.

The formal requirements for financial institution compliance under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) continue to be significant. This program covers all primary requirements of regulation and delivers guidance on best practice expectations in each area. 

Earn Your BSA/AML Professional Certification at the ICBA BSA/AML Institute

Certification

Commercial Lending Certification (CCLO)

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Designation: Certified Commercial Loan Officer (CCLO)

Requirement: Commercial Lending Institute; (15) Continuing Professional Education credits required every two years.

Loans are the most significant risk in most bank portfolios. This program assists in developing the necessary credit skills to maintain and manage a commercial credit portfolio as well as the analytical processes needed to reach a conclusion about the borrower's repayment ability. 

Earn your Commercial Lending Certification at the ICBA Commercial Lending Institute

Certification

Compliance Certification (CCBCO)

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Designation: Certified Community Bank Compliance Officer (CCBCO)

Requirement: Compliance Institute; (30) Continuing Professional Education credits required every two years.

The Compliance Institute is a comprehensive learning experience that covers the areas of regulatory compliance a community bank Compliance Officer is responsible for. This program covers: Developing a Compliance Program, Lending, Deposit and Operations Compliance. 

Earn your Compliance Certification at the ICBA Compliance Institute

Certification

Consumer Lending Certification (CCBCL)

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Designation: Certified Community Bank Consumer Lender (CCBCL)

Requirement: Consumer Lending Institute; (15) Continuing Professional Education credits required every two years.

Consumer lending presents a unique set of challenges by combining credit risk process with regulatory process. This program addresses the consumer lending decision and making sense of each step by covering the application process, financial statement analysis, credit analysis, loan structure, compliance, documentation procedures and closing.

Earn your Consumer Lending Certification at the ICBA Consumer Lending Institute

Certification

Credit Analyst Certification (CCBCA)

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Designation: Certified Community Bank Credit Analyst (CCBCA)

Requirement: Credit Analyst Institute; (15) Continuing Professional Education credits required every two years.

The role of a credit analyst has evolved into a critical function in today's community banks. This program focuses on the necessary financial analysis skills needed by today's credit analysts, and addresses the additional expertise vital to a community bank's overall lending success.

Earn your Credit Analyst Certification at the ICBA Credit Analyst Institute

Certification

Information Technology Certification (CCBTO)

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Designation: Certified Community Bank Technology Officer (CCBTO)

Requirement: Community Bank IT Institute; (30) Continuing Professional Education credits required every two years.

Information technology solutions continue to evolve. This creates opportunities for community banks to increase efficiency, improve service capabilities and better safeguard customers. This program addresses today’s community bank needs for managing and maximizing technology investments and shows IT managers and officers the solutions they can utilize to help strengthen existing IT capabilities, develop operational efficiencies and business continuity solutions, and more.

Earn your Community Bank Technology Officer Certification at the ICBA IT Institute

Certification

Enterprise Risk Management Certification (CCBRS)

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Designation: Certified Community Bank Risk Specialist (CCBRS)

Requirement: Enterprise Risk Management Institute; (15 ) Continuing Professional Education credits required every two years.

Participants of ICBA's new Enterprise Risk Management Institute will enrich and affirm their knowledge of the risk components that influence a bank’s function and soundness.

This new certification program focuses on strategies surrounding bank governance, credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, compliance risk, and legal risk. The program includes comprehensive dialogue that brings all risk elements together to reveal the necessary components of a successful enterprise risk management (ERM) framework.

Earn your Community Bank Risk Specialist Certification at the ICBA Enterprise Risk Management Institute

Certification News

Published quarterly, this newsletter is offered to bankers enrolled in ICBA’s certification program and is also available to interested community bankers.

Certification FAQ



ICBA Educationsm offers nine Certification Programs.  The Certification Programs are nationally recognized, professional designations and require the user to follow specific processes and procedures before a Certification is granted.

These Programs are governed and monitored by the ICBA Certification Board, which is made up of leadership bankers from the ICBA Bank Education Committee, Certified Community Bankers, attorneys, and Certification Program instructors.

Certification Programs are offered through ICBA Education’s Institutes. The following Certification Programs are currently offered:

  • Auditing – Certified Community Bank Internal Auditor (CCBIA)
  • Bank Security – Certified Community Bank Security Officer (CCBSO)
  • BSA/AML – Certified BSA/AML Professional (CBAP)
  • Commercial Lending – Certified Commercial Lending Officer (CCLO)
  • Compliance – Certified Community Bank Compliance Officer (CCBCO)
  • Consumer Lending – Certified Community Bank Consumer Lender (CCBCL)
  • Credit Analysis – Certified Community Bank Credit Analyst (CCBCA), and
  • Information Technology – Certified Community Bank Technology Officer (CCBTO).
  • Enterprise Risk Management Certification - Certified Community Bank Risk Specialist (CCBRS)

Certificate programs are delivered online and are an ideal way to enhance professional skills, gain practical training, explore banking career growth, and affirm expertise. This program provides a certificate of completion, but is not a Certification program and requires no additional training after completion.

Certification Programs are delivered through live classroom style programs and have ongoing continuing education requirements. All of our Certification programs have Continuing Professional Education (CPE) requirements and therefore qualify as Certification Programs.

To achieve a Certification, participants are required to:

  1. Attend an Institute in its entirety;
  2. Participate in all assigned case studies, small group work, presentations; and
  3. Successfully pass all exams given during the Institute with a score of 70% or higher.

Participants who fail to comply with the Certification procedures will not receive a Certification.

Yes, bankers can attend the Institutes without obtaining a certification. Certification is optional. In fact, many bankers elect to attend an Institute both in preparation to work towards full certification in the future or to obtain Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits.

Certification requires attendance and successful completion of an Institute and it's respective exam(s). There is a registration fee for each institute and a separate $500 testing fee for those who wish to take the exam(s) and become certified.

To keep a Certification current, bankers need to complete the applicable Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits every two years.

Thirty (30) CPE credits are required every two years for the following certifications:

  • Auditing – Certified Community Bank Internal Auditor (CCBIA)
  • Compliance – Certified Community Bank Compliance Officer (CCBCO), and
  • Information Technology – Certified Community Bank IT Officer (CCBTO)

Twenty (20) CPE credits are required every two years for the following certification:

  • BSA/AML – Certified BSA/AML Professional (CBAP)

Fifteen (15) CPE credits are required every two years for these certifications:

  • Bank Security – Certified Community Bank Security Officer (CCBSO)
  • Consumer Lending – Certified Community Bank Consumer Lender (CCBCL), and
  • Credit Analysis – Certified Community Bank Credit Analyst (CCBCA).
  • Enterprise Risk Management - Certified Community Bank Risk Specialist (CCBRS)
  • Commercial Lending – Certified Commercial Loan Officer (CCLO)

All certification CPE requirements start the year following achievement of your Certification. For example, if you achieve your Certification in 2022, the CPE requirement starts on January 1, 2023, and you have two full years to accumulate the required CPE credits by December 31, 2024.

Certified bankers will be given access to the ICBA Online Certification Portfolio. This is a password protected area of the ICBA website where you will enter your CPE credits. Supporting documentation is required for all CPE entries. Examples of qualified documentation include certificate of completion/attendance or a copy of a sign in sheet from the event validating your attendance. (NOT eligible as documentation are receipts, confirmations, agendas or event materials). This is also where you can pay the required annual renewal fee.

Certified bankers are required to earn at least 50% of the required CPE credits through ICBA Education's live in-person or livestreamed events or by participation in live webinars where there is interaction between the attendee and/or the ability to interact with the speaker. CPE can also be earned through live in-person, livestreamed events, or live webinar training from another source.  The remaining CPE, up to 50%, may be accumulated through online training or self-study courses relevant to your certification.

No.  Bankers with more than one Certification cannot use their CPE credits towards more than one Certification. For example, a banker with an Auditing Certification and Compliance Certification will need to get 30 hours of CPE for each designation, a total of 60 hours of CPE training every two years.

Bankers with the CBAP Certification must accumulate their CPE credits in topics related only to the Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering requirements. Due to its specialty area of expertise, all certified CBAP persons will be required to maintain current and timely knowledge of BSA/AML events through ongoing CPE.

ICBA Education adheres to the NASBA Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs. To calculate total CPE credit, determine the total number of instructional minutes and divide by 50. Fifty (50) minutes of participation in an instructed event is considered one (1) CPE credit for each program of learning.

We understand that your CPE submission is very important.  For that reason, the ICBA staff works as quickly as possible to review and approve all CPE submissions on an ongoing basis. CPE approvals are typically completed within a two-week period. If you have questions related to a specific CPE submission, please call the ICBA Education staff at 800-422-7285.

If you don’t meet your CPE credit requirement within the two year period, your Certification status will lapse and you will no longer be certified through ICBA Educationsm.  ICBA Educationsm staff will notify bankers whose Certification status has lapsed before the Certification designation is removed.

The Certification annual renewal fee is $125. ICBA staff sends notice of renewal fee payments due each year to all certified bankers.

Yes, the annual renewal fee applies to each certification a banker holds.  For example, a banker with two certifications would pay $250 fee - $125 for each of the two certifications up to a maximum of $500.

Your Certification status will lapse, and you will no longer be certified.  ICBA Education staff will contact bankers whose Certification status has lapsed before the Certification designation is removed. To reinstate your certification, contact ICBA. You will be required to enter the required number of CPE for your certification into your certification portfolio and pay any outstanding renewal fees. A Certification Reinstatement fee of $100 will apply.

If your Certification lapsed 2 years ago or more, you must repeat the Institute and retake the required exam(s).

All special requests and considerations must be submitted in writing to the Certification Board. The Board is comprised of bankers, Certification Program instructors, attorneys, industry experts, consultants, and ICBA staff. The Board meets twice a year. Contact ICBA Education by email at [email protected] or by telephone at (800) 422-7285 for information on how to submit your request. 

Yes. For the Credit Analyst Institute, we limit the number of participants to 50 students for each program. Due to the subject and nature of the class and small group work, the maximum learning environment is limited to 50 students.

For banking customers, an ICBA certification is a reassuring sign of professionalism to look for when selecting a banker. For you, that makes your ICBA certification an important selling point and marketing tool. It's an independent, third-party testament to your skills and abilities. To date, more than 4,000 community banking professionals are certified through ICBA. ICBA certification program participants gain up-to-date regulatory and operational skills and suggestions to take home and use immediately in the following areas.

The ICBA Education staff is happy to assist you. Contact them by email [email protected] or by telephone (800) 422-7285.

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You worked hard to earn your credentials. Receive the recognition you deserve. ICBA Education is thrilled to announce that we can award digital badges to community bankers who have successfully completed any of our nine certification programs.