The traditional banking definition, quoted in Banking Regulation Act 1949 Section 5 (c) defines "Banking as means to accept, for the purpose of lending or investments, deposits of money from the public, repayable on demand or withdrawal by cheque, draft, order or otherwise." However, the definition is not fully relevant in the current scenario. Now banks are working as "financial super markets" that provide banking and finance products and services, required by customers. The products and services may vary, such as insurance, demat account, financial advisory, wealth management, portfolio management services or retirement planning. Banking is considered to be a business of trust, therefore any product or service being offered in bank is treated as more reliable and customers have more faith in them.
Profits of any bank are based on two segments, one being interest incomes and another being non-interest incomes. Interest income is the difference between interest received on loans and interest paid on deposits. Profits in this segment are subject to Credit Risk, Market Risk & Interest Risk. The second profit segment also has two divisions. One is income generated through providing in house services like locker rent and fee based income from different services.
The second division is income generated from third party products and advisory services.
This division has so many positive aspects like there are no risks as explained above and bank do not need to provide funds for the same.
Income from these products is very helpful in achieving the level of net profit required by the banks. Therefore, growth opportunities of bank employees are more synchronised and directly proportional to this segment of business.
In order to have a successful banking career, one must possess the capability and skills to calculate, ability to perform different roles, good knowledge to interpret and analyse returns in different financial products. Various aspects of calculation like IRR, NPV, and Beta etc. are vital for decision making. There may be a myth that now we are working in fully computerised environment and there shouldn’t be any need for learning Financial Mathematics. However, while dealing with customers, a banker needs to understand and comprehend various requirements, to avoid any disconnect with him. Having possession of the required skills and knowledge will enable the aspiring candidate to resolve customer queries, thereby achieving meaningful relationship building.
Customer needs and preferences vary as per the customer’s age, financial background, lifestyle and future goals and ambitions. A financial planner has to provide solutions to the customers as per their requirement with utmost benefits. A bank’s success and revenue generation is completely dependent on the services and products offered and benefits provided as per FAB analysis.
Wealth managers quantify investments in terms of achieving future goals, after identifying and bridging out the gaps. Career and scope of growth in banking lies in the knowledge of all the above mentioned aspects, as well as knowledge of management of banking operations. At higher positions, bankers are required to manage profitability, business, ALM (Asset Liability Management), liquidity management, capital adequacy and many more. Thorough knowledge and apt skills of banking operations, banking software, financial mathematics, banking products, different legal aspects, third party products, financial planning, wealth management, and management of bank will certainly provide good opportunity of growth in a banking and financial career.
"In order to have a successful banking career, one must possess the capability and skills to calculate, ability to perform different roles, good knowledge to interpret and analyse returns in different financial products".
