The finance sector provides a lot of career opportunities to people who are interested and skilled in it. One of the most promising finance sectors is undoubtedly banking.
Banking can be mainly of three types: investment, retail and commercial. All of the three banking sectors, especially commercial banking, drive the country’s economy. Commercial banking is the one that provides loans for other investments and consumptions. So, is commercial banking a good career path?
Commercial banking is definitely a bright career path for the freshers and the experienced as well. Once you get the experience to work with clients and banking products like loans, cash management, and other syndicated facilities, you can even end up with a promising executive position.
Here in this article, you will get to know about different aspects of commercial banking and then decide if you should opt for it or not.
What Is Commercial Banking?
Commercial banks are financial institutes offering deposit accounts, business loans, mortgages, lines of credit, payment processing and other banking services. The services are mostly offered to corporate institutions.
Apart from this, these banks also serve individual consumers as well as small businesses. The various services offered by such institutions are providing wire transfers, checks, bill paying services, loan services, security for deposits of small and large amounts, conducting credit card transactions, exchanging foreign currencies, etc.
The source of income for these banks comes through the convenience fee charged for different services and the interest paid by customers while paying back a loan.
Is Commercial Banking a Good Career Path?
If you are looking for a number of good career options in the finance sector, then commercial banking is the best considering the salary, career growth and availability of jobs.
If you intend to build your career in this field, you have to however start from the very basic level that is a credit analyst. But if you have an MBA degree, then you can start as a loan officer or account manager. Eventually, depending on the skills, you may advance to the executive or managerial level.
On average, a commercial banking annual salary is around $91,732. The salary may go lower or higher depending on the position one holds. A recent statistic shows that in the United States, commercial banks control $15.58 trillion as assets; hence they can be considered a large sector.
Why is it good to work in commercial banking?
There are several benefits of working in commercial banking; let’s see what those are:
Stability
Commercial banking is a stable sector and things will probably be in the same way in the future too. Even after the introduction of digital wallets or e-banking, the requirements of commercial banking will remain intact. So, if you are willing to work in a stable sector, then commercial banking is right for you.
Financially Rewarding
Commercial banking provides high-paying jobs even at the basic level. Moreover, the payment structure improves as you make more experience and gain high positions. So, the financially rewarding part is worth mentioning.
Promising Career Opportunities
The primary job offers for fresher in commercial banking are loan officers or credit analysts. However, you can get more opportunities once you put your hard work and time into it.
Wide Range of Job offers
Commercial banking offers a wide range of job offers; from getting jobs to deal with customers to back-end jobs– you can get as per your ability.
What are the Careers in commercial banking?
The variety of positions available in the commercial banking sector makes it one of the best career paths. The roles available are discussed in detail below.
Credit Analyst
The person responsible has to carefully access customers’ financial statements, credit scores and annual reports. This is needed to determine an individual customer’s creditworthiness before approval of a personal or business loan. Other factors like stock market fluctuations and regulatory frameworks are taken into consideration and a final report is made.
This job (entry-level) has a good proportion of demand in the market. A person must possess sound risk analysis and quantitative analysis skills before applying for this role. As estimated by the Bureau of Labour Statistics of the United States, for a credit analyst, the median annual income is $71,520.
Account Manager
The person responsible for this role has to look for new clients and manage accounts. This person has to maintain a good relationship with clients and hold one-on-one interactions with customers to answer their questions. The annual average salary for this post is $58,670.
Branch Manager
A general or branch manager supervises the operations of a particular branch of the bank. The responsibilities are as follows:
- Recruiting and training new staff.
- Connecting with higher officials and discussing improving his branch’s performance.
- Making sales goals and tracking them.
- Overseeing loan and credit approvals.
Finance or an accounting degree is necessary to be a bank manager’s role and may typically earn $68,038 annually.
Quality Assurance Specialist
The person having this role has to ensure that all the operations of the bank conform to the specified standards of quality.
The functions are as follows:
- Implementing company’s regulatory standards.
- Reviewing documents.
- Performing audit.
The salary may be around $68,430 annually.
Loan Officer
The primary function in this role is to extend loan facilities to businesses or individuals and assist them through the whole process. He provides all kinds of information to the customers. The average income is $56,987 annually.
Executive
To have this position, a combination of hard work, knowledge and time is required. The executive has to be thorough with the handling of clients and strategies as well. The salary of a senior executive is $100,000 a year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is commercial banking competitive?
Yes, commercial banking is really competitive. The main reason is that the banks cannot charge higher interest rates for bonds or other investments and that’s why banks earn less money.
How many hours do commercial bankers work?
Commercial bankers typically work 10 hours or from 8 am to 6 pm. However, they also need to work on weekends, night shifts or overtime depending on the pressure of some particular causes.
What skills do commercial bankers need?
Some of the major skills that commercial bankers need are organizational skills, communication skills, customer service skills and quantitative ability. Apart from that, they need to have in-depth knowledge of the banking industry and how they can improve the performance of the banks.
