Career Opportunities in Banking

In this article, we have focused on the great importance of banks in the functioning of the economy and on their many services and roles in dealing with the public. But banks are more than just financial service providers: they can also be a vehicle for a satisfying professional career. 

What opportunities are there for careers in banking?

"A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain."

- Robert Frost

Loan Officers

Most bank managers begin their careers accepting and analyzing loan applications submitted by business and household customers. Bank loan officers make initial contacts with potential new customers and assist them in filling out loan requests and in developing a service relationship with the bank.

Credit Analysts

The credit analyst backstops the work of the loan officer by preparing detailed written assessments of each loan applicant's financial position and advises the bank's management on the wisdom of granting any particular loan. Credit analysts and loan officers need professional training in accounting, financial statement analysis, and business finance.

Loan Workout Specialists

With the substantial numbers of business failures in recent years, many loans to businesses and consumers have gone bad, requiring the services of skilled professionals to identify the causes of each problem loan situation and to find solutions that maximize the chances for recovering the bank's funds. This is the job of the loan workout specialist. who must have a strong background in accounting, financial statement analysis. business law. and economics, along with good negotiating skills.

Managers of Bank Operations

Managers in the operations division of a bank are responsible for processing checks and clearing other cash items on behalf of their customers for maintaining and improving the bank's computer facilities and electronic networks, for supervising the activities of tellers, for handling customer problems with checking accounts and other bank services, for maintaining security systems to protect the bank's property, and for overseeing the operation of the bank's personnel (human resources) department. Managers in the operations division need sound training in the principles of business and financial management and in computers and management information systems, and they must have the ability to interact with large groups of people.

Branch Managers

When banks operate large branch systems, many of these functions are supervised by the manager of each branch office. Branch managers lead each branch's effort to attract new accounts, calling on business firms and households in their local area. They also approve loan requests and resolve customer complaints. Branch managers must know how to motivate employees and how to represent the bank well in the local community.

Systems Analysts

These highly trained computer specialists work with officers and staff in all departments of a bank, translating their production and information needs into programming language. The systems analyst provides a vital link between bankers and computer programmers in making the computer an effective problem-solving tool for management and an efficient, accurate and safe channel for delivering customer services through websites and other electronic channels. Systems analysts need in-depth training in computer programming and mathematics as well as courses emphasizing business problem solving.

Auditing and Control Personnel

Keeping abreast of the inflow of revenues and the outflow of expenses from a bank and tracking changes in the bank's financial position are the responsibilities of auditors and accountants. These are some of the most important tasks within the bank because they help guard against losses from criminal activity and waste. Jobs as important as these require considerable training in accounting and auditing.

Trust Department Specialists

Specialists in a bank's trust department provide a wide variety of customer services. They aid companies in managing their employee retirement programs. issuing securities, maintaining business records, and investing funds. Consumers also receive help in managing their property and in building an estate for retirement. Men and women employed in bank trust departments usually possess a wide range of backgrounds in commercial and property law, real estate appraisal, securities investment strategies, financial statement analysis and marketing.

Tellers

One bank employee that many customers see and talk with is the teller—the individual who occupies a fixed station or location within a bank office or drive-in window, receiving deposits and dispensing cash and information. Bank tellers must sort and file deposit receipts and withdrawal slips, verify customer signatures, check account balances, and balance their own cash position at least once each day. Because of their pivotal role in communicating with customers Bank tellers must be friendly with customers, accurate, and knowledgeable about the other departments of the bank and the services they sell.

Security Analysts and Traders

Security analysts and traders are usually found in a bank's bond department and in its trust department. All banks have a pressing need for individuals skilled in evaluating the businesses and governments issuing securities that the bank might buy and in assessing financial market conditions. Such courses as economics, money and banking, money and capital markets, and investment analysis are usually the best fields of study for a person interested in becoming a bank security analyst or security trader.

Marketing Personnel

With greater competition today, banks have an urgent need to develop new services and to more aggressively sell existing services—tasks that usually fall primarily to a bank's marketing department. This important function requires an understanding of the problems involved in producing and selling services and familiarity with service advertising techniques and cost accounting. Course work in economics, services marketing, statistics, and business management is especially helpful in this field.

Human Resources Managers

A bank's performance in serving the public and its owners depends, more than anything else, on the talent, training, and dedication of its management and staff. The job of human resources (personnel) managers is to find and hire people with superior skills and to train them to fill the roles needed by the bank. Most major banks operate intensive management training programs, lasting from 6 months to as long as 18 months, which typically are directed by the human resources division. Human resources managers keep records on employee performance and counsel employees on ways to improve their performance and opportunities for promotion.

Investment Banking Specialists

Banks are becoming increasingly involved in assisting their business customers with the issue of bonds, notes, and stock to raise new capital, and they frequently render advice on financial market opportunities and on business mergers and acquisitions. This is the dynamic, fast-paced field of investment banking, one of the highest-paid and most challenging areas in the financial marketplace. Investment banking personnel must have intensive training in accounting, economics, strategic planning, investments, and international finance.

Bank Examiners and Regulators

Because banks are among the most heavily regulated of all business firms, there is an ongoing need for men and women to examine the financial condition and operating procedures of banks and to prepare and enforce banking regulations. Bank regulatory agencies such as the FDIC hire bank examiners from time to time, often by visiting college campuses or as a result of phone calls and letters from applicants. Examiners and regulators must have knowledge of accounting, business management, economics, and banking laws and regulations.

Bank Training Specialists

Bank employees hired into management positions typically go through training programs that vary considerably in length and content, though most seem to average a year to 18 months in length. Trainees are generally rotated through different departments of the bank and also are given classroom instruction. Most bank training programs also encourage their trainees to seek additional education, including computer classes, accounting and MBA programs, and foreign language instruction (reflecting the growing internationalization of banking).

Thus, at last in summary. There are professional career opportunities in banking for those who have received the necessary education and training. Moreover, with recent changes in services offered, technology and regulations. Banking can be an exciting and challenging career. However, finding a good job in the industry today will not be easy because consolidation is underway. Hundreds of smaller banks are being absorbed by larger ones, with subsequent reductions in staff. Nevertheless, if such a career sounds interesting to you, there is no substitute for further study of the industry: its history, services and problems. It is also important to visit with current bank personnel and doing internship to learn more about the daily work environment inside a bank. Only then can you be sure that professional banking is really a good career target for you. 

Collected by: Uttar Tamang