Banker Is 'Jack of All Trades:' Financer, Manager, Industrialist

How many people think of a banker as a "jack of all trades?" To many of us, a banker is the teller who cashes our checks. To some of us who are more grugal, he is the savings teller who accepts our deposits and enters them in our passbooks. To others, he may be the bookkeeper who prepares the statements of our checking accounts and mails them to us. Each of these people plays an integral part in a bank. But the functions which they perform represent only a small part of the entire role which a bank plays for the business community. A bank performs many functions, affecting our everyday life, which we, perhaps, take too much for granted. The food which we eat would not get to our table without banks. A bank may well have loaned money to the farmer or the whole-saler.

The banker plays a role in the building of the roads on which we drive. All the new super highways, turnpikes and the bridges and tunnels would not come into being without the aid and advice of bankers and the services which they can offer. The same is true of the schools and hospitals. The banker will help and advise individuals, institutions, and charitable organizations on their investments.

Customer Service

Through correspondent banks the banker can make money available to his depositors anywhere in the world. He performs a multitude of other miscellaneous services which will assist the customer in carrying out his business or in taking trips or journeys.

To the banker, the fundamental operations which his bank performs are: the maintenance of checking accounts, of savings accounts; the collection of checks, votes and bills; the transfer of funds by mail, wire or telephone, the financing of imports and experts through commercial letters of credit; the issuance of traveler's letters of credit and traveler's checks; and loaning of money.

What are the opportunities for college graduates in banking today? If this question had been asked 50 years ago, the answer would have been quite different. At that time banks were generally closely held corporations and the major responsibility for their operation fell to smaller groups who either represented family interests or large stock ownership.

With today's industrial expansion the demand for diverse banking services has grown. This resulted in a need for increased capitalization so that the large bank today is a publicly owned corporation.

Ability Not Ownership

Perhaps one of the most outstanding developments in banking has been the fact that a large bank now recognizes that one of the many functions of management is to recruit and develop the best young men available. Young men in banks today are trained for specific responsibilities and are promoted on their ability. Success comes as a result of ability and not as a result of representing ownership interests.

While opportunities for young men, comparable to those of today existed in the 1920's, the ten year period of depression during the '30's meant that few entered or were encouraged to enter the field. By the time World War II her-aided in the present period of expansion the demand for able manpower again asserted itself. It could not be met because all available men were entering military service. As a result, it can be said that for 15 years, generally from 1930 to 1945, banks did not develop the younger manpower necessary to take on positions of responsibility.

This of course has created a problem for banks which, for the young man today, is an opportunity. The cure of this problem is being evolved now through accelerated training methods, through a willingness to put young men into responsible positions at an earlier age and a complete break with the traditions of many years ago, that a man in a bank had to wait for the individual ahead of him to die before he could be promoted.

Over $7,500?

The young man today perhaps should look on banks in the same way that he looks upon other well-managed corporations. Large banks face the same managerial problems. They must develop experts in the control of the flow of credit. They must train men who can become experts in the field of management and personnel. They must have top investment analysts as well as individuals far advanced in the field of public relations. It is therefore important for the individual, regardless of what particular area he fits into, to gain a general knowledge of finance.

Banks realize that they cannot attract men for these responsibilities unless they compete with industry. The reputation of paying notoriously low salaries, which was perhaps deserved in the earlier part of the century, is no longer based on fact. Today starting salaries offered to college graduates compare favorably with those offered by industry, excluding engineers and other technically trained men.

In the book, "They Went to College," by Sarnest Havemann and Patricia Salter West, based on a survey made by Time Incorporated, it is stated that banking amongst all other businesses had the highest percentage (30 per cent) of College graduates earning $7,500 per annum and over, and only the professions of law, medicine and dentistry had a higher percentage.

Banking is, in many respects, a profession; and just as the lawyer, doctor, and dentist must go to a professional school to learn his profession, so must the banker spend a comparable time in learning his profession. With no professional schools for bankers, comparable training is accomplished through job experience.

One of the questions which is often asked is, 'how long is the training period?' Usually formalized programs in banks vary in length from six months to two or more years. However, it is impossible to say that the training ends at that stage; for, as in all professions, the formalized training becomes a background on which the individual will build his source of knowledge with his practical experience. Actually the training of a successful banker never ceases. It is only the one lacking in the ability to grow whose training ceases with the limitations of his capabilities.

Truly the accomplished banker is a 'jack of all trades.' But here the similarity to the phrase 'jack of all trades and master of none' ends. Through his knowledge of banking functions he has become master of finance.