Words of wisdom
Bankers should double up on their professional training, according to a recent graduate of FINSIA’s Professional Banking Fundamentals.
Adam Rose, a Relationship Manager in Business and Private Banking at CBA, passed the foundation program with flying colours and is already working towards Certified Professional Banker qualifications.
The ambitious university graduate spoke candidly about the courses and revealed a view that modern-day bankers needed to be even more professional than accountants and lawyers.
“In my mind, if lawyers and accountants have a need for continuing professional development then bankers have double that need,” said Adam, G FIN, in a candid interview with InFinance.
“Regulations change every day and accounting policies change everyday,” he said.
“When you're an accountant, you’ll know a lot about accounting, and a little bit about the law.
“When you're a lawyer, you know a lot about the law and only a little about accounting.
“As a banker, we have to be across what is happening in the legal world and we have to be across what is happening in the accounting world - because those two things have significant impacts on our clients which then has a significant impact on how we can help them.”
How FINSIA helps with the day-to-day
Going into detail about individual chapters, Adam explained that the course had already had a positive impact on his day-to-day role.
“Just today I was thinking about how I have been able to apply my learnings from FINSIA’s Professional Banking Fundamentals,” he said.
“There was a chapter on ethics that helped give me more perspective and deepen my understanding of the topic.
“I think the understanding of the theories behind ethical thinking, and the tools suggested in the ethics chapter are extremely useful.
“It’s helped me to think through how I can continue to practically apply the theory. I can be even more confident I have some structure on my thinking around an ethical problem.
“It's also nice to know I'm going to have some documentation that I've thought about this and this is why I came to the decision I did.
“Another chapter I found extremely useful was regulatory framework – it helped me to better understand why it is we are asked to do some of the things that we're asked to do.
“One of the things that I struggle with in my day to day work is if someone tells me, "Just sit here and connect that dot to that dot.
“I find that difficult. Whereas if someone can say, "Look. Here's what we're trying to do. Here's a picture that we're trying to draw. If I can get you to join that dot to that dot for the rest of the day, you'll help us draw the whole picture."
“That’s what the regulatory framework chapter did. It filled in the bigger picture. I have a better understanding of why it's important and that helps me frame the tasks in my mind.”
Riding a new wave of learning
Adam, who has been through CBA’s graduate programme, acknowledged he got more out of the course than he expected.
He said: “I didn't think I would get as much out of it as I have. I thought it was just going to be a formalisation of the education and on the job training I have received since.
“I actually thought that it would be fairly easy.
“In reality, there were parts of it that were easy because of my background, but there were parts of it that were challenging. So I did end up learning more than I had anticipated.
“It's not that I thought that it wasn't going to be worth doing. It turned out to be worth more than what I had initially thought I would get from it.”
Passionate surfer Adam’s practical attitude towards training and education is easy to understand when he uses a carpentry analogy to exilian explain his ethos.
He said: “I look at education as a tool.
“If you're a carpenter and you turn up to a job site and you're missing a chisel, which you need.
“You're going to have a really rough time on that project. You might get it done. In fact, you probably will. You'll find a way.
“But if you knew about this chisel and you had that tool in your tool box and it could save you a day's worth of work and give you a superior product, wouldn't you use it?
“It’s important to take to work all the ongoing training and professional development - every piece of education - we have
“We are professionals, whether we're chartered recognised, I sincerely hope that we're all professionals.
“CPD and further education gives us more tools in our tool box that we can take to help our customers. It's crazy to me to not want to get yourself better tools.”
Ensure you have all the tools in your toolbox
FINSIA has a range of professional qualifications, short courses and workshops covering key areas of financial services. Whether you’re new to the industry or want to translate years of experience into a qualification, FINSIA has an option available that’s right for you.
With qualifications, short courses and workshops, these are just three of the ways you can learn more about how to be more professional and ethical in your work.
Not sure which option is right for you? Check out the education hub here to learn more.
