Experts predict growth for banking sector

Students at the seminar ' Banking as a Carrer' organised by ' The Hindu' Education Plus in Hyderabad on Sunday. Photo: G. Krishnaswamy.

Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Bank, R. Ramachandran, predicted phenomenal growth in requirement for banking professionals in the coming days, keeping in view the expansion of the sector and its convergence with other financial sectors such as Insurance, NBFCs and capital markets.

Addressing a gathering of bank-job aspirants during the ‘Seminar on Banking as a Career' organised by The Hindu Education Plus in association with the National School of Banking (NSB) here on Sunday, he informed that 30 to 40 per cent of the existing banking staff would soon to retire, creating more vacancies in future.

New avenues

With the arrival of private and foreign banks, the gamut of banking services has expanded from mere deposits and loans to a much wider array that includes Personal Banking, Wholesale Banking, International Business, Corporate Credit, and Rural Banking, and there was a greater need for manpower to keep up the momentum.

Tracing the technological advancement in banking sector, Mr. Ramachandran said that technology, despite being a great enabler, could not take banking to the next generation alone.

“Human warmth cannot be done away with, despite technological interventions. Even now, people flood to banks in order to interact with the staff. It is not an information-based link, it is an emotion-based link,” he asserted, and said that banks would require professionals from across the spectrum for fruitful engagement with the expanding economy.

Infrastructure, Risk Management, Banking and Financial Services, Management Information Systems, and Customer Relations Management are a few wings where specialisation can be expected.

He urged the younger lot to cultivate the qualities of professional integrity and institutional loyalty to enhance their employability as banking professionals.

The status and power enjoyed by bankers are enormous, he assured, and ethics, value system and integrity are of paramount importance to merit them.

Facing tests

The retired Assistant General Manager, Human Resources, State Bank of India, N. Rama Raju, urged job seekers to take optimal care while filling in the application forms, so as to avoid rejection in the later stages of the selection process.

Director of NSB, C.S. Vepa, said that the selection process for banking jobs changed with the emerging trends in the sector. There were more questions on banking and finance in the General Awareness section of the written exam and English had ascended from being a subject one has to merely qualify in.

Quantitative aptitude has more questions on Data Interpretation and Marketing and Computers have been added anew. While interview tested the candidate as an individual, group discussion gauged his or her behaviour in a group and thereby assessed the leadership qualities.

A Question and Answer session ensued when the aspirants interacted with the speakers.