The President, Mrs McAleese, has said she would like to be able to buy "futures" but finds banking a very complex business.

Opening the Institute of Bankers' new education centre at Dublin's International Financial Services Centre yesterday, Mrs McAleese said as a non-banker she found the financial pages to be "replete with mystery". "I would like to buy a successful future for my family and for everyone in Ireland.

"But it seems not to be that simple - either that or you're just not sharing the secret," she told the institute's members yesterday.

The new centre will offer educational courses in banking ranging from certificate to master's degree level and is based at North Wall Quay.

Mrs McAleese said the need for a financially literate banking profession to master the technicalities of their business has never been so pronounced. "Only a profession, which is comfortable with the tools at its disposal, can explain difficult and complex financial questions in terms we can all understand."

This year some 5,000 students will study at the institute, which has 20 courses. Its president, Mr Aidan Brady, who is chief executive of Citigroup in Ireland, said the institute would educate bankers to the highest standards in Europe.

"Because members combine work and study, the institute offers mainly part-time, post- experience programmes." He added that it would also offer conventional and distance education.

The Institute of Bankers is the leading professional education body in banking and financial services with a membership of more than 20,000. It was founded in 1898.