Business : #ecademy school : Deskilled Bankers - the overlooked element of the recession?

I grew up in the world of Banking where the ACIB was the 'pot of Gold' at the end of the study rainbow! There was no question that I would be "let loose" with customers as a Branch Manager or worse as a Business Banker, until I had demonstrated my capability to understand a Balance Sheet, interpret the Law relating to Banking and make a sound Risk/Reward based decision.

The next generation of Bankers who came behind me and those who entered the various other 'deregulared' Institutions that now deal in Financial Services were no less talented - in fact many are brighter.... however, they did not have the same disciplined infrastructure.

professional Qualifications & Examinations were ignored in favour of 'internal training courses' and the Chartered Institute of Bankers became the Institute of Financial Services and, I believe, lost 75% of its membership.

I cannot be certain that the obvious de-skilling that this created was a contributory factor? It may be that Bonus schemes, Complex Financial instruments and the Herd instinct were the true catalyst(s) to the disaster we are now emerging from?

However, I suspect that the royal road to sanity is to ignore the academics that encourage us to put all of our faith in mathematical models of risk assessment yielded by amateurs and instead embrace those who build our knowledge and skills and give us that crucial "Reserve Power" that provides a foundation for true business acumen.

Get the 'retailers' out of Banking and put some educated Bankers back at the helm and we create a safety net for all of us in the future.



Phil Ryan MBA ACIBDeputy Chief Executive Officer
The Management Centre