A new professional body for qualified retail bankers was last week in London opened to individuals and employers in the financial services industry. The Institute of Retail Banking will be a membership body for all retail bankers who have achieved the designation of Certified Retail Banker (CRB), having passed the examinations of the Retail Banking Academy (RBA).
GTBank, Ecobank and Standard Chartered Bank are among the thousands of professional retail bankers from over 60 countries that are currently working towards RBA certification.
The RBA produces certified, professional retail bankers who will be an asset to their bank and the industry worldwide. Academy certification marks you as someone who is committed to maintaining the highest standards of professionalism in your work.
Certified Retail Bankers will be able to understand customer psychology and build enduring and profitable relationships with customers; motivate and engage staff, which is critical to exceeding customer expectations; deliver excellent service that will delight the customer; analyse product profitability in order to focus on optimal value creation, and assess and manage the bank’s risks.
Bolade Agboola, former chairman, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Lagos chapter, who spoke with BusinessDay on phone, sees this as a welcome development but is reluctant to accept that it would have significant impact on the retail banking space in Nigeria, considering the existing professional bodies such as ICAN and CIBN, among others.
The new not-for-profit Institute, will be governed by an independent board of trustees and will be the custodian of the CRB designation.
Members will also be bound by a professional code of conduct and ethics and required to undertake continuous professional education.
The Institute will have the power to suspend and expel members in circumstances where they have brought discredit to themselves, their bank or the Institute.
Launched by Lafferty Group in 2011 to develop retail banking as a profession with a similar status to accountancy and law, the Retail Banking Academy already has candidates in some 78 countries studying for the CRB qualification.
Membership of the new professional body is expected to grow rapidly, as current candidates pass their examinations, which can be taken in designated centres worldwide.
The Financial Conduct Authority has given approval for the name Institute of Retail Banking.
Speaking recently at a roundtable on professional standards in banking hosted by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, Evelyn Hunter-Jordan, CEO of the Retail Banking Academy, said: “The Academy has achieved remarkable growth since the first exam candidates were registered in 2012. This is proof, if any was needed that there is vast global demand for a professional retail banking qualification. Today’s banks realise that retail bankers should not be sales people pushing products, but true professionals who behave in the best interests of customers.
“Current banking qualifications across the globe are mainly based on the concept of the general bank that used to exist 50 to 100 years ago and are largely focused on corporate banking. Today, retail banking is the dominant banking sector and it has very little in common with wholesale banking. Far from being a step on the road to corporate banking, retail banking today offers a very exciting career in its own right for modern bankers – from relationship managers to CEOs.”
