Retail Banking

Retail bankers are responsible for assisting and advising customers with their daily financial needs.

OVERVIEW

Retail banking, also known as consumer banking and personal banking, provides financial services to individual customers rather than businesses. Retail banking allows customers to manage their money, have access to credit and deposit their money in a secure manner.

Retail banks offer a variety of financial products and services ranging from checking and savings accounts, mortgages, loans, personal credit products, as well as remittance services. Some retail banks also offer services such as stock brokerage, insurance, wealth management and private banking – although these are delivered through an affiliate of the bank or other divisions.

As a retail banker, you will work in a hybrid finance/customer service role to help individuals manage their money and access bank services. Depending on your role within the bank, this could range from being a bank teller, mortgage specialist, financial advisor, relationship manager, or even managing an entire branch of a bank, to give just a few examples.

CAREER PATHWAYS

There are diverse opportunities and functions available for graduates within retail banking. Many major retail banks run specialized graduate programmes to recruit potential candidates to their function of choice, and management associate programmes are especially popular. Most retail banking graduate programmes will rotate you in different roles across the organisation, giving new hires the opportunity to experience different areas of work to gain an understanding of the bank’s business as a whole. Graduates may be put in charge of managing small-scale projects, be involved in creating new financial products and services, provide technical support to colleagues or other divisions, or even handle customers on the ground.

Due to the sheer variety of products offered by each bank, career paths can be very diverse. For instance, career advancement can take place vertically – where you climb up the corporate ladder to take on managerial positions – or horizontally, where you transition from managing products such as mortgages and personal loans to a different division, such as private banking.

KEY SKILLS FOR RETAIL BANKERS

Retail banking employers generally welcome candidates from any academic background unless the position requires specific technical skills. To be a standout applicant in this highly competitive sector, focus on developing soft skills, particularly:

Communication and people skills - You will need to forge and maintain strong customer relationships as a retail banker. Most roles in this line of work involve handling customers directly. Teamwork skills - Most retail banking work is done in supervised teams. Being able to collaborate and communicate effectively with your team members and supervisors will be key to success.

Attention to detail - As a retail banker, you will need to review customers’ finances, monitor financial trends, and keep an eye out for suspicious transactions.

Strong numeracy skills - Having strong numeracy skills in this line of work is essential as you will be handling the finances of your customers.

Leadership and project

management skills - These will be especially important as you climb the ladder and start supervising teams of other bankers, or if you are assigned in charge of the rollout of new financial products and services within a bank branch.

Certifications like the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) are optional but they may improve your career opportunities later down the line and give customers assurance of your skills in solving their financial problems.

However, if you are looking to specialise in particular roles, you will need to get accreditation from specific bodies. For instance, if you want to specialise as a credit professional in retail banking, you will need to be accredited by the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers.