I was asked a question by a Banking and Finance University student recently, 'what does it take to be a private banker'. Well, my answer to this student is first of all, study hard and get good grades. After graduation, find a job at a bank as a Personal Financial Consultant (PFC).
As a fresh grad, you will get to undergo training and then work in a bank branch and learn all the ins and outs of frontline banking services (through on the job training). You will be seated at a comfortable corner (depending on which banks, it may be a comfortable or not so comfortable corner) of the bank branch with a desk, and lots of trays at your side (for the many forms that you need when you sign up customers for bank products).
As a PFC, you will need to get along with your seniors, the Relationship Managers (RMs), and your big boss, the Branch Manager. Try as much as possible to learn from them. Also, try to get to know the tellers (the staff at the bank branch counters) because they are the ones who can refer walk-in customers with rather huge balances in their savings a/cs to you for you to persuade them to invest their idle money. You would also need the tellers' help in other areas like opening certain a/cs for your customers, so be nice to them.
Once you start to learn the ropes of all the products under your care, eg insurance, strutured deposits, foreign currencies, unit trusts, among others, you can start to work hard and smart to look for ways to achieve your sales target. You would most certainly be expected to stay back way after the bank branch is closed for the day to do your calling to customers and follow up work. During the bank branch opening hours, you would usually not have much time looking for customers as you would be busy serving certain walk-in customers with their many enquiries. Of course, you might get lucky when a walk-in customer decides to sign up for one of the products under your care. That is why you would often find many PFCs looking sleepy because they really do work hard and long hours and most of them are sleep-deprived.
If you do well consistently over a period of about 2years, it means that you have proven yourself to be a great potential for a sales position higher up the banking ladder, maybe as a RM selling and marketing to a more affluent market, eg customers with larger deposits which qualify them to be in a certain category (different banks use different names for this group of more affluent customers). Once you get the promotion, either in the same bank or with another bank, you can then be a RM.
I will write more about the role of a RM in my next post. In the meantime, have a great day!
2 comments:
Hi eagle. The sad reality nowadays is that even big banks have froze many entry level positions. I am fresh grad with a degree in economics and i find it really hard to even get a sales job in a bank these days. I wanted to start out as a personal banker and move on to private banking eventually cuz I know private bankers tend to enter their jobs with an existing portfolio of clients. I guess that dream is pretty much dashed now.
Hi Eddy, thanks for the comment. Please do not feel disheartened. It is because most banks are in bad shape right now. Business isnt good as some banks have been hit so badly that customers have lost confidence in certain banks. There are quite a large no of customers who withdrew their money from bank deposit a/cs over the past couple of months. The reality about working in banks is: during the good times, bank employees enjoy the benefits, but during the bad times, there are retrenchments, headcount freezes, re-structurings, pay-cuts etc etc etc. I understand how you feel, but dont give up. If you are a fresh grad, I will encourage you to be patient, get a part-time job or something for now, and keep applying to jobs at banks. Meanwhile, if you have the time, please revisit my blog, as I will keep all you guys updated about banking trends in terms of latest news, daily issues, and perhaps even on jobs.
Post a Comment