Praise for Chartered Banker by Experience from graduates

Graduates of FINSIA’s Chartered Banker by Experience course have praised the fact they could reflect on their career to date.

The gold standard in banking which has been brought to Australia by FINSIA also helps focus on the incoming Banking Executive Accountability Regime.

And the fast track intensive nature of the Chartered Banker by Experience (CBBE) course means it can be mastered by time-poor senior executives who are driven to reach the highest levels of professionalism.

Here three of the first cohort to pass the prestigious qualification give their views.

CBA Executive General Manager Regional and Agri Business Grant Cairns F FIN said: “I enjoyed reflecting on the last ten years working in the industry and the dramatic changes that we have seen including digital transformation, regulatory change and rising customer expectations.  

“It’s rare we take the time to reflect how we responded to these changes and what is means for our leadership into the future.

“We are all time poor so the opportunity to undertake a program that recognises your industry experience made it very attractive. Having said that, the program is still challenging and requires consistent application to stay on track to complete the reflection statements and reading.   

“In terms of mindset, I think the Chartered Banker is excellent in that it hones your focus on your accountabilities as a banker particularly with respect to customer outcomes, understanding your compliance and regulatory obligations and having ethical frameworks to apply sound judgement.  
 
“As Chartered Bankers, I think we are well placed to role model professional standards in the industry amongst those we lead and work with.
 
 
Bank of Queensland Money Market & Debt Funding Senior Manager Christopher Bell F FIN said: “For me all three pieces of assessment were of value. 

“The statements were a productive way to reflect on my work abroad and in Australia - how I dealt with issues (good and bad) many years ago, and if and how I would deal with them differently today based on my learnings and experience.”

Referring to the fast-track nature of the course including the challenging sessions with the assessor, he added: “This is a significant part of my decision.

“But ultimately the decision to become Chartered Banker was a recognition that I wanted to be beholden to a global standard in banking and financial services.” 

He wants people who deal with him to know he meets “a standard and code of the highest standard - something not too dissimilar to a Chartered Accountant. 

“My code places more emphasis on ethics and integrity. The research I found concluded that bankers were at one point held with the upmost trust with their customers and community and this became blurred and lost over time and as a global industry we lost our way and our core purpose. 

“We forgot that the product and service we offer is important to family and business communities not just to our shareholders. Let us hope we are not too late to fix!”
 
“The CBBE is a positive step in addressing the responsibility and accountability that BEAR goes to the heart of. 

“I feel CBBE is really a natural evolution to bankers acknowledging their experience and being accountable to a regime that is based on the very principles we should be displaying day in, day out – like professionalism, high ethical standards, and undeniable accountability for our actions.”


 
Armillary Private Capital Joint Managing Director Leon Grandy SF FIN said: “I think the applied ethics overlay is highlighted by reflecting on your own personal experience and then writing about this in a succinct and contextually tight way was an invaluable opportunity to reflect on what has happened in your career.

“I had the opportunity to think about why things had concerned me; how I dealt with communicating those issues to various stakeholders, and to see them through a different set of lenses.”
 
Having to master a different style of writing clearly is a side product of taking the course.

He said: “I thought, in many respects, the non-academic reflective style, which is also not like business writing either, was quite hard to master.  

"You need to think about the relationship with your marker/support person, as being different from that of either a project sponsor, a customer, an academic supervisor, or a mentor. 

“If you don’t write for an ELT or Board, you have limited experience in General Management; or haven’t worked across different parts of a Bank or FSP, it will be quite a challenge. 

“Perhaps consider getting some practice in, before the clock starts running. 

“Despite that, the process of reflection, and the structured process of authorship about the challenges faced in technology; leadership; crisis management; and/or ethical dilemma’s faced and your honest evaluation of how you acted or didn’t act, or should’ve acted, or how you now know to act, will give the individual considering registration as a responsible party a good sense of whether or not they want to be exposed to the slings and arrows of a more observed life. 

“If you think you already have the experience and the ability, then I would certainly recommend this path those who are looking at BEAR registration, but it wont get you there unless you have that willingness to be accountable.  Its great when everything is going well; but it takes a special kind of humility to be willing to front year after year when things are not going well."