A new RM, let's assume we are talking about the ones in Personal Financial Services, meaning that you are selling bank products to individuals and not companies, will go through more training to arm himself/herself with the necessary higher level skills required when dealing with higher net worth bank customers.
You could be dealing with customers who have deposits of say $100,000 or more (depending on the bank again) with the bank and have to service them with their needs. Eg, they need to do certain transfers of their money to other countries or they may be requesting for certain services like putting their money into Fixed Deposits (FDs) with higher yields. Of course these requests will be to your advantage as you can accumulate precious revenue points towards achieving your sales target. Note that not all customer requests will be this advantageous, some requests could be time-consuming and do not earn you any revenue points. =(
You will be exposed to bigger investments on behalf of your customers, but before you even have a chance to do that, you will have to convince these customers to take risks by investing their money with the bank's various investments schemes, rather than leaving their money 'idle' in their savings a/cs or FD a/cs. Not all are willing to do that,but if you are smart and hardworking enough, you will be able to find customers with big ambitions.
On the one hand, your job will be 'easier' because you do not have to serve too many walk-in customers and you will also have a larger customer base from your previous 2 years of PFC work. You will also be able to call existing customers with large deposits with the bank and recommend suitable investments for them depending on their investment appetite.
However, on the other hand, it will not be that easy as these customers will demand more from you and they are more likely to be more well-educated than customers you used to serve during your PFC days. They might expect more from you and give you added pressure. So it's another step up, where you will feel more confident in terms of knowledge of the various bank products, but will have to cope with a different level of issues from more articulate, more educated and more demanding customers with much more money. This is a great testing ground for those who aspire to be Private-Bankers. And we all know that the better Private Bankers make tonnes of money in good times.
4 comments:
Hi eagle, thanks for the reply earlier. I had the previous misconception a RM's duty is primarily driving sales and leading your own team, now i know its more in-depth than that.
On a different note, what is your current view on the prospects of business banking? With the financial crisis now, many SMEs looking to improve their cashflow turn to banks. Yesterday's Straits Times featured an article of how SMEs today have difficulty seeking approval from loan applications. Its an interesting thing to note cuz now so many SMEs are actually wanting to borrow money now than ever. It's understandable that banks have to adjust their lending criteria nowadays but for the SME bankers, wouldnt this be a perfect opportunity to seize?
Hi Eddy, thanks for your comments.
A RM may also lead a small team of staff, some are groomed towards management, others are groomed towards more sales.
RMs who want to go into management can eventually become a Branch Manager, which is a great position.
Those who stick with sales can eventually move up to Private Banking. For the Commercial Banking (Business Banking) RMs, the path most likely taken would be one which leads to Wholesale Banking/Global Banking.
Yes, you are very well-informed. SMEs are hit by the financial crises and some need banks to help with their cashflow. That is why the govt has opened up more avenues for SMEs, what with the micro-loan and bridging loan schemes.
These SME loans are really low in interest and very worth-while for SMEs to apply for.
The problem is most banks' credit criteria are very stringent at this point in time. When a SME applies for the govt-link loans, their applications will still have to be evaluated by the bank giving out the loan as the risk of loan default is shared between the bank and the govt.
For the SME bankers (Commercial Banking), yes, you can say that it's a good time for us. However, issues we face are:
1. Some SMEs do not need cash as they do not foresee their businesses picking up/growing in 2009
2. Some SMEs who need cash, cannot get their loan applications approved.
Sigh!
What a dilemma...I actually applied for a position as a SME specialist in Standard Chartered(Price Solutions) recently, thinking it's a good opportunity amidst this crisis, now I only pray that I could be right.
I believe many SMEs are eager to hear what the government have to say during the upcoming Budget speech. I think its likely that the government will announce new financial assistance schemes for SMEs next Thursday, perhaps new initiatives with Spring Singapore or something. I wonder how it might impact SME banking.
Best of luck in your job applications.
As for upcoming budget, well, let's see what will be on offer in terms of SME schemes. My guess is that there should be some measures to spice up the slow economy. Good on you for keeping abreast with the latest current affairs and news.
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