Branch Management
- Description
- Tasks
- Skills
- Useful Knowledge
- Entry Qualifications
- Professional Qualifications
- Trends
- Resources
Retail banking is the face of finance in the UK, with about 12,000 high street banks serving consumers and businesses day in, day out. Responsible for the whole branch or possibly several branches, you will take care of all the operational aspects. Leading by example, you’ll be in charge of recruiting and managing teams of customer service professionals and often specialist financial teams, ensuring business and service targets are being met.
Salary
Trainee level positions start at approximately £18,000 per annum. With the right experience, qualifications and skills you could progress to regional and area management roles and earn in excess of £70,000 per annum. This does not include potential bonuses and additional benefits. Salaries will vary considerably based on location and employer.
- Communicating and implementing business, marketing and sales initiatives
- Monitoring sales targets and producing regular branch performance reports
- Managing and motivating branch employees
- Overseeing and authorising customer lending arrangements before submission to the bank’s credit department
- Checking a consistent brand image is being portrayed and that premises are maintained to company standards
- Coaching employees and responsibility for appraisals
- Supporting employees to reach targets identified in individual development plans
- Recruitment and induction of new employees
- Quality control – checking security and compliance measures are in place and being followed
- Fostering relationships/maintaining a strong presence within the local communities
- Responding to high-level complaints
- Attending regional, management and head office meetings
- Excellent people, leadership, motivation and communication skills including the ability to engage, inspire and influence others
- Organised and methodical
- Strong, innovative customer service ethic
- Professional and credible
- Trustworthy and decisive
- Flexible, able to juggle and delegate workloads
- Good at analysing numbers and data
- Motivated to meet targets
- Calm and confident in handling potential conflict situations
- Understanding of financial product regulations and the legal aspects of banking
- Comfortable working in an environment where adherence and quality control are essential
- Business focused, with good all-round knowledge of marketing, sales, training and people management
A new entrant will not always be required to have this knowledge. Employers usually provide training to acquire skills for:
- Setting strategic business goals
- Developing and managing master budgets
- Leadership of people
- Recruitment, selection and retention of colleagues
- Adherence to wider legal, regulatory and corporate responsibility requirements
Prior experience working in a customer service or retail role may prove beneficial. Many of the larger banks offer internships and work experience, providing a useful insight to the various branch, regional and central roles. Whatever the route in, branch managers need an understanding of numbers and to be able to communicate with people and produce written reports, so qualifications in Maths and English are important. Criminal Records Bureau checks and bankruptcy checks will usually be carried out.
There are typically four main routes into branch management:
- Progressing from an entry level role in the branch on an in-house training programme. In order to gain an entry level position, employers will look for people who have:
- A Levels, Scottish Highers or equivalent qualifications such as Business, Administration and Finance (BAF) Diploma, BTEC National Diploma, Welsh Baccalaureate (BAC) and SVQ Level 3 or Higher National Certificate (SCQF Level 7)
- A retail banking Apprenticeship, joining an accelerated training programme
- Level 2 Apprenticeship in Providing Financial Services, Retail Banking (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
- Level 3 Apprenticeship in Providing Financial Services, Retail Banking (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
- Recruitment schemes for people with school / college leaver qualifications. These schemes often last between 3 and 6 years. Professional qualifications will be part of a scheme and sometimes the employer will offer a ‘sponsored degree’ route where the candidate will undertake a degree at the same time as working. Entry requirements will vary, depending on the employer.
- A retail banking graduate training programme for people with a degree. Graduate schemes usually ask for a 2:1 degree or higher. A business, marketing or finance orientated degree may help.
Although not specifically required, it is increasingly common for retail banking branch managers to study towards technical qualifications for regulated financial products. Professional qualifications studied will vary depending on their level of entry. Those working their way up internally to branch management, may study qualifications in customer care and retail financial services, which are available from Level 1 up to Level 4 through the Institute of Financial Services, the Chartered Banker Institute and other professional bodies.
After gaining considerable experience in retail banking, professional qualifications undertaken tend to be a higher level, including:
- Institute of Financial Services Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP)
- Institute of Financial Services Level 3 Certificate and Level 4 Diploma in Retail Banking Conduct of Business (CertRBCB / DipRBCB)
- Professional Certificate in Banking, awarded by the ifs School of Finance
- Chartered Banker Institute Professional Banker Certificate/Diploma
- Chartered Banker Institute Advanced Diploma in Financial Services
- Chartered Banker Institute Chartered Banker
- City College Norwich Qualifications (CCNQ) Level 3 Certificate/Diploma for Professional Bankers
- CCNQ Level 7 Diplomas in Financial Services Leadership, Business and Corporate Banking, Building Society Operations or Chartered Bankers
All big banks and building societies employ retail banking graduates nationwide within their branch networks, offering rotations between branches and central offices. Jobs are usually UK-based although all major banks have large international operations. In Northern Ireland, opportunities are mainly in Belfast, Larne, Newtownabbey, Bangor and Londonderry. To manage their branches, banks are constantly seeking inspiring leaders with energy, drive and ambition. As well as good people skills, you’ll need to be innovative with good business acumen in order to make prudent commercial decisions. Excellent customer service remains at the heart of this relationship based proposition. Graduate and school leaver training programmes exist with the larger retail banks. The annual intake can vary.
