Banking Stories From A Senior Worker In Chinese Commercial Bank (Part II)

Source: http://o5.com/10-ways-to-fund-your-business-start-up/172_piggy-bank/

Carry on with my last post, today I will share my friends' experience as an account manager in Chinese commercial bank.

Account Manager's Scope of Work

To put it in the simple way, my friend's major duties include: business & client's development, institutional clients' account settlement, deposit, loan, enterprise financing and enterprise retention. Basically my friend is responsible for enterprise's any relevant issues with the bank. The client's benefits in the bank (including client's deposit, loan and transaction fees) will be converted into my friend's performance data and link directly with my friend's monthly payment. So those institutional clients are critical in my friend's daily work. 

The Distinction Between Big Banks And Small Banks

In Chinese big banks, account managers will be further categorized into different segments. Some will be responsible for Marketing, some will be responsible for digital direct sales management system. some will specialize in offering loans to clients, some will be responsible for credit check after the loan. But in my friend's bank, which is a joint-equity commercial bank and not quite big, he has to be responsible for everything of a client. As he said to me, he is a synthesis of big bank's account manager's different functions. So they got another name from big banks: comprehensive account managers. 

Four Different Types of Account Manager

There are two keywords mentioned by my friend when he talks about his work: Resources and Technique.

- The meaning of resource: it is your networking, family background or anything that can help you attract deposit or transaction fees to the bank you work for. 

- The meaning of technique: it is your understanding and mastery of the bank's business operation through years of working experience. 

When you combine this two elements of account managers, you will get several different types of account manager segments:

Type 1 Resource-Based Account Managers

These are account managers that have strong family or networking background. Their work lives are relatively idle because their powerful family background enables them easily meet the target performance set by the bank. But in the long-term perspective, there are some risks associated with resource-based account mangers, assume that they cannot transform themselves from resource-based account managers into resource + technique-based account manager, once their background collapses, then their performance in the bank will be tied up with the collapse and plunge.

Type 2 Technique-Based Account Managers

These are account managers who do not have enough networking or family background to support their performance in the bank. But after years of accumulation of working experience, they have built some reputation in the industry and will have the ability to secure their own loyalty customer base. It is pretty easy for them to transform into resource + technique-based account manager.

Type 3 Resource + Technique-Based Account Managers

Those are mainstays of most Chinese commercial banks. They have strong operational capability and experience; they have a loyalty customer base that accumulated in their years of working experiences. If they jump from one bank to another, it vary likely leads to loss of valuable customers in the bank.

Type 4 Account Managers without Resources or Techniques

Those are account managers that live in the bottom of the bank. After several years working in the bank, they still cannot possess enough operational and business capability. And they do not have powerful background to support their work. It is easily for them to descend to assistants of the previous 3 types of account managers.

......To Be Continued.