samguru:
First of all, I will like to correct this impression that, if you work in a bank, you are a banker.you are not a banker! or should we say a cleaner in a bank is a banker or dispatch rider is a banker as well?, you are just an ordinary employee like a sales girl or marketer in any other industry. the only difference between you and that person working in another industry is you are always well dressed to look attractive to customers.

Back to the matter, there is no technicality in banking work! yes i mean it, a smart secondary school graduate will perform excellently in virtually every department except sensitive departments in a bank, and this is the reason why banks recruit all Toms, Dicks and Harry at graduate level because they assumed an average graduate will at least be better and trainable

My friend there is no career path in banking sector per say, especially now that IT (information technology) is gradually taking the space of professionals and reducing office space for caring out daily banking operations.what this portends is the so called chartered bankers and allied professionals will be phased out in the nearest future as all banks in Nigeria and beyond are seriously looking for ways to reduce overhead cost.

if you are still in banking job, dont be too happy, start planning for career switch, by applying for professional courses that can land you job in another sector.

that is my two kobo!!

dandollar1:
Abeg, which other industry can one fit in after working in banking operations for 10 years? I can't seem to find its relevance in other non-banking industry. I so much dislike this job, more so, the thought of ending up in marketing is scary. I need to move to some other industry. Someone please help. It's an emergency.

luvluvluv:


Hmm...well said. however I think if this elastic limit is exceeded, breaking myt set in.

I was opportune to do marketin in d same organizatn. I tell u, I almost insured my shoes coz of the treakin involved but thank God for their brand dat has made it easier.

Talkin about insurance, why wld any prospective customer want 2 do insurance wen all u hear from them is "incase of death"...hehe.

nnebebe:
I work in the bank as an operation staff. I feel drained everyday. There's no fulfilment in it for me. I look forward to Fridays and dread Mondays.
But I've acquired a rude confidence from the job. I'm more exposed & I now feel I can surmount any obstacle.
I keep praying & hoping God will answer me soon so that I will tender my resignation letter

Beesluv:
Nice 1
The over rated targets and job insecurity in the banking industry should be looked into. It's not encouraging at all

usbcable:
I wish to hear from a banker outside the shores of Nigeria to reallyy have a feel of how the business is run over there.Also,I can say 99 percent of employees are fully employed with benefits and despite the targets they just don't fire anyhow cos they spend at least 6 months to train u..dose 6 months,no target.. U just earning a pay cheque nii...most times self na u go quit,they won't fire u.I believe it's d same way in d USA too...duno about u.k.Target is everywhere but they still respect u as human and as long as they can see u making efforts according to how u were trained if u not meeting your targets they know it just not working for u nii..that u trying your best.
its a crazy world here in Nigeria

usbcable:
I wish to hear from a banker outside the shores of Nigeria to reallyy have a feel of how the business is run over there.Also,I can say 99 percent of employees are fully employed with benefits and despite the targets they just don't fire anyhow cos they spend at least 6 months to train u..dose 6 months,no target.. U just earning a pay cheque nii...most times self na u go quit,they won't fire u.I believe it's d same way in d USA too...duno about u.k.Target is everywhere but they still respect u as human and as long as they can see u making efforts according to how u were trained if u not meeting your targets they know it just not working for u nii..that u trying your best.
its a crazy world here in Nigeria

Denn:
The moment a bank expects young grads to get in funds at any cost, integrity and professionalism is sacrificed.

The most promoted bankers are not the best bankers....they are people who can meet set targets.

Overtime, we get people who can just bring in deposits or roll over term loans in higher positions. The real professionals are frustrated out.

Banking is more than just getting in deposits or booking loans.

That is why we have a lot of bad loans in the system. The real intelligent bankers have been frustrated out. Cowboys now reign supreme.

I look at some products developed by banks and can only laugh. Where is the innovation?

I attend MPRs and listen to the jumbles being read by the unit heads. Deposits....deposits....deposits....

Some jackal will even abuse parents of low deposit scavengers.

A paradigm shift is required. Focus should be on profit via professional service and not on vacuuming all the deposits in the country just to play at the interbank market.

What is zenith bank doing to help the SMEs for example. How many dark skinned girls do you see in Zenith Bank? Is banking excellence dependent on your skin colour and skirt lenght? Must I look sexy to be a banker ?

What is diamond bank doing to reduce the enormous visa credit card bad debts booked from relentless 'marketing'. Did they not learn from ecobank's mistake using the same template?

Why is Stanbic focused on temporary makeshift branches with very few relationship officers? Relationship is key and should constitute the main workforce....not expatriates in the head office.

Why should a banker earn 25k monthly. Should he even be a temporary staff? A bank thrives on fiduciary relationships. At least your worker must trust that he will have his job permanently. Else, he uses your internet access to search for job. DSA my foot

The whole cauldron of ineffective 'marketing' must be thrown away and new processes must be adopted.

Zico5:
Working in the bank is an advance slavery. I worked in the bank for 5 solid years before I was booted out. I lived at Abule egba, joining staff bus at 5:30 everyday and I worked at VI. I at times got home around 11:30pm everyday. It was when I was sacked that I realized that I was living another man's life. I looked at the reward but could not see any. The only gain was the tag former banker. For almost 6 months I couldn't reason on next agenda. But thank God that my eyes was opened to the need and I filled it. I studied statistics and mathematics, I used the privilege to start a tutorial class in my vicinity and today, it is growing from strength to strength. I looked back and tell myself now that working for urself is the best way to realized one's potential. Most important, I have time to think on my own and plan my family.

MAYOWAAK:
These days, I am always saddened when I go into any banking hall in Nigeria. The environment is often depressing. Maybe it’s that desperate look on the faces of the staff, that tells you they’ve been barraged insulted this morning, threatened that their jobs could disappear at any moment. The culture has always been that the board asks the MD to perform the impossible, all they are interested in is the huge profits. The MD equally unleashes terror on his EDs and GMs. It’s like nuclear energy. You know, the atomic bomb. It starts small, but by the time it rolls down the rank and file, it picks up velocity, meanness and wickedness. This culture is what drives many a ‘bank worker’ to hate the system so much, they too start thinking of defrauding the banks. By the time the hateful energy reaches the guy on the shop floor, he just can’t take it anymore. It also drives them to make mistakes in their duties, apart from taking their dignity away.

The marketing guys bear the brunt. These days, many banks have employed marketers based strictly on commission. Some earn just N30,000 (less than $200) a month, if they don’t manage to open new accounts. Marketing cars? Where you see am? I see them sometimes trekking long distances after leaving my office. It’s depressing. Banking is far from what it used to be. In my first exposure to being a relationship officer, in 1997, I was allocated about 14 accounts, and told to grow the business on them. I was given a bit of pressure to open new good relationships. But today, the management of banks no longer care about relationships. They give instructions to their staff to go open 10,000 accounts each. Let me give them a feedback right here right now; it is damaging to your business, to the psychology of your staff, to how we the customers view you, and to the banking profession at large. It just does not make sense. How on earth is anyone going to manage 10,000 accounts? Not even 1,000. Not even 100.

What happened to banking? Most of the problem came from the executives, past and present. Nigerian banks are commercial banks. But they want to roll like the investment banks of Canary Wharf or Wall Street. Only better. They want to earn – at the top levels – better than those guys. They can even do personal deals that the Wall Street bankers would get jailed for. They live large, become high rollers. Some get courted by the government, given awards and appointed into all sorts of committees. This creates antagonism between the banks and the customers. The regulator steps in, determines the excesses of the banks, and rolls out the sanctions.

Unfortunately, it is the rank and file who suffers. The first to get wasted are those junior people. They are the first whose careers are stalled. In the days when the current executives were climbing the ladder, they knew they had a career. But today, careers are finished. What you get when you walk into a banking hall, apart from empty cubicles where they had planned to have human beings dispensing cash until e-Banking came along, are those sad eyes that I hate to look into. It’s not as if it’s easy for those of us outside, but it depresses one to see those faces, and oftentimes, to be told by them in hushed tones just how desperate things are, as they slip their CVs into your palms or obtain your email for the same purpose.

And then we all form the mob and rain down on the banks. Every customer is sure that they are overcharging his/her account even if there is no evidence. No one wants N1.00 to be taken as charges for anything. Some banks used to pay you for withdrawing money from your account. When I see the fees they take for sundry services, I wonder how they survive. For me, the issue is not generator and diesel. As standard businesses, with loads of staff to pay, you have to generate some good income. Nigerians say the banks should face their core business of lending. But we forget that even we Nigerians are very bad debtors. See what we had to move to AMCON, bailouts for many of our big men, many of whom hold national awards! The nation as a whole had to pay. For normal customers, 70% - 80% of the loans go bad. You give a loan and the man thinks it is just cash flow by any means. He decides to re-bury his grandmother who died 25 years ago! He pays tithes of 10% to his church because his pastor told him “you have to pay on every cash flow so that ‘Gaaad’ blesses the rest!!”

But I urge that we have a rethink about the way we have been raining down on our banks. They are shrinking. Their businesses are shrinking. Even their staff are shrinking in size. No, it’s not the gym. It’s the stress and bad cash flow. It’s the sanctions they receive from their bosses who are mostly at their wit’s end. It’s the psychological trauma of being cursed at every meeting for not meeting ‘targets’. It’s the trauma of being employed as an internal control officer, an internal auditor, only to be asked to go and meet your family and raise N200million in new accounts. It’s the apparent failure of the current banking business model. The problem is; can we imagine how the ideal situation will look like? Certainly, the executives have to reduce their expectations. They probably have to earn less because the cash flows will not sustain the expectations of the past. But those at the lower echelon need protection from the regulators and the rest of us. They need a proper return to the days when they could be happy that they have careers. The exuberance of the Soludo days – when branches were opened everywhere at huge costs – are since over. The illusions have disappeared. The industry has shaken out. Many have been laid off. But we should not stand aside as the industry shrinks to death. Indeed we should not bring out our own machetes and inflict more blows as part of the lynchmob.

I hope the banks find their mojos back. A lot of them are just marking time. The days of innocence are gone. Even we the people will not be happy with the picture when it all comes tumbling down. It’s also about the disappearance of the middle class. The only ‘safe’ industry in Nigeria is oil and gas. Telecoms has shaken out too; is still shaking out. Let’s have some mercy for our banks and bankers please. Believe it or not, they need it.

BY:TOPE FASUA

saxywale:
i hope someone can answer this question. What department is operations in a bank? Nigerian trained bankers use that word alot. I worked in retail banking, then regulatory risk department in a bank not in Nigeria before returning back to engineering.

Denn:
The moment a bank expects young grads to get in funds at any cost, integrity and professionalism is sacrificed.

The most promoted bankers are not the best bankers....they are people who can meet set targets.

Overtime, we get people who can just bring in deposits or roll over term loans in higher positions. The real professionals are frustrated out.

Banking is more than just getting in deposits or booking loans.

That is why we have a lot of bad loans in the system. The real intelligent bankers have been frustrated out. Cowboys now reign supreme.

I look at some products developed by banks and can only laugh. Where is the innovation?

I attend MPRs and listen to the jumbles being read by the unit heads. Deposits....deposits....deposits....

Some jackal will even abuse parents of low deposit scavengers.

A paradigm shift is required. Focus should be on profit via professional service and not on vacuuming all the deposits in the country just to play at the interbank market.

What is zenith bank doing to help the SMEs for example. How many dark skinned girls do you see in Zenith Bank? Is banking excellence dependent on your skin colour and skirt lenght? Must I look sexy to be a banker ?

What is diamond bank doing to reduce the enormous visa credit card bad debts booked from relentless 'marketing'. Did they not learn from ecobank's mistake using the same template?

Why is Stanbic focused on temporary makeshift branches with very few relationship officers? Relationship is key and should constitute the main workforce....not expatriates in the head office.

Why should a banker earn 25k monthly. Should he even be a temporary staff? A bank thrives on fiduciary relationships. At least your worker must trust that he will have his job permanently. Else, he uses your internet access to search for job. DSA my foot

The whole cauldron of ineffective 'marketing' must be thrown away and new processes must be adopted.

Dasshboard:

Telecom is your best bet. But after 10 yrs you should be more concerned with setting up a small business. You must not work for some one all your life.

Denn:


So who is a banker?

Denn:


CIBN generally....

Depending on your unit..a CFA will earn you a good spot and possibly a Prado in 5 years time

chukkiephil:
so therefore, is it safe to say that security men and cleaners are bankers??

luvluvluv:
Good day all. Let's make this thread a place to help us grow in our banking line. As we know, the banking industry employs from all fields but you will need consistent self development to measure up or even unsurp the performance of your colleagues whose bases are in the financial desciplines.

Here, we will share personal experience as it concerns how well to remain relevant and build on that relevance. What professional courses are necessary. Our long and short term goal.

All ideas are welcome. ex bankers or aspiring ones. Welcome on board!

Denn:


I think we have flogged this issue on this thread

Nafizzey:
Well Great thread, As an aspiring banker in the future, let me use this medium to throw some questions to experience and practicing bankers in the house.

Which softwares/Application do cashiers mostly use to withdraw and deposits money bank accounts.

And secondly what are professional courses and Softwares do you strongly suggest intending bankers should be conversant with that are indispensable along banking line.. thank you

Nafizzey:
Well Great thread, As an aspiring banker in the future, let me use this medium to throw some questions to experience and practicing bankers in the house.

Which softwares/Application do cashiers mostly use to withdraw and deposits money bank accounts.

And secondly what are professional courses and Softwares do you strongly suggest intending bankers should be conversant with that are indispensable along banking line.. thank you

Denn:


Drivers, cleaners etc are all support staff in all spheres...not only banking.

Owners and officials of banks are bankers. Simple.

I showed you a definition. Show me yours.

It seems you drive in traffic with an air of seniority because you are a 'banker'.

Nafizzey:
Well Great thread, As an aspiring banker in the future, let me use this medium to throw some questions to experience and practicing bankers in the house.

Which softwares/Application do cashiers mostly use to withdraw and deposits money bank accounts.

And secondly what are professional courses and Softwares do you strongly suggest intending bankers should be conversant with that are indispensable along banking line.. thank you

nnebebe:
I work in the bank as an operation staff. I feel drained everyday. There's no fulfilment in it for me. I look forward to Fridays and dread Mondays.

But I've acquired a rude confidence from the job. I'm more exposed & I now feel I can surmount any obstacle.

I keep praying & hoping God will answer me soon so that I will tender my resignation letter

luvluvluv:
Good day all. Let's make this thread a place to help us grow in our banking line. As we know, the banking industry employs from all fields but you will need consistent self development to measure up or even unsurp the performance of your colleagues whose bases are in the financial desciplines.

Here, we will share personal experience as it concerns how well to remain relevant and build on that relevance. What professional courses are necessary. Our long and short term goal.

All ideas are welcome. ex bankers or aspiring ones. Welcome on board!

sademola:


Guy, I'm NOT a banker but I've been privileged to have 'worked' with one of highly paying and rated banks in West Africa if not entire Africa. I work for a Bank I'm not a BANKER.

Are your clerks n drivers (if u have any) in your 'cucumber farm' agriculturalists like yourself?