Laughing all way to the bank

By VIKKI BLAND

When former data entry clerk Kylie Foster entered the banking and finance sector at 24, she wanted to work for an established brand. "I looked around at companies such as Cadbury's and Lion Breweries, then I saw a position as a cheque batch processor for the ASB Bank. I thought: 'That's a successful brand name.' After two interviews, I had the job."

Ten years later, Foster is still with the ASB and has come a long way from cheque processing.

As team leader for the ASB Online helpdesk, she manages a staff of seven and has almost completed a New Zealand Business Diploma in Banking. While happy with her salary, Foster says it's the fast paced, competitive nature of banking that is most satisfying. She is particularly pleased to have been involved in internet banking when the ASB Group pioneered the service in 1997.

"It was exciting; there's always changing customer expectations and new products about to launch around internet banking."

Effusive and motivated, Foster says at one point her banking career became mundane. "A perceptive manager saw I needed more challenge and helped create a new role for me. That set my commitment to the bank in concrete."

Foster says a banking career can go in many directions, but success is almost always determined by employer quality. "My diploma studies are funded by the bank, I get four weeks' annual leave and there's a lot of support and team building. There are also great Christmas presents - two years ago we got a backpack with picnic contents."

So if all you want for Christmas is a job in the banking and finance sector, what do you need to know?

For a start, the sector is growing. Along with Statistics New Zealand and Reserve Bank observations; banking and finance recruiters Debbie Graham and Associates report growth in financial employment areas including accounting, auditing, treasury, corporate finance analysis, stockbroking, equity analysis, client advisement, funds management, credit control, trade finance, and customer support.

John Nevill, principal for recruitment firm Gaulter Russell, which places about 15 per cent of its job candidates with banks and financial institutions, says the mobile mortgage market is growing along with migrant and internet banking. There's also huge growth in small business banking and finance.

"Being involved in consumer branding can be exciting, as can the earning potential in certain financial service and sales roles," says Nevill.

He says people who are drawn towards running their own businesses may opt for careers in banking and finance instead.

"Some financial services positions let people come as close to running their own business as they could get. For example, mobile mortgage or insurance managers have the autonomy to run their own territory and are not heavily managed. They're measured on output not input; skilled salespeople and marketers are interested in this."

So how secure is a job in banking and finance?

Not surprisingly, the perception is larger employers offer better career diversity and less chance of redundancy. Companies with international offices may also be able to offer overseas employment opportunities. However, due to competition and light regulation, small financial management and brokerage firms have sprouted en masse and these can also prove dynamic and progressive employers.

Take Mike Pero Mortgages. From a tiny 1991 start-up, the company is now New Zealand's largest single mortgage-broking brand with 14 staff and 38 franchisees processing more than a billion dollars of loans annually. Another, Marac, is New Zealand's largest privately owned finance company with assets of $670 million and lending liabilities of $603 million.

Jeff Staniland, chief executive for Mike Pero Mortgages, says many people see banks as secure employers but there has been downsizing in recent years. "In comparison, there has been phenomenal growth in the number of finance companies out there."

Staniland says banks are an ideal training ground for people who may want to work in smaller financial organisations later.

People interested in a broking career need good people skills and the ability to understand finance processes and documentation.

He says opportunities in mortgage broking are growing thanks to booms in the property market and the increasing number of small brokers, and predicts credit services and small business borrowing will continue to loom large.

The ASB Group's Barclay says people interested in banking and finance do not need to be of a certain age or be tertiary qualified.

"Honesty is by far the most important thing. After that, common qualifications include good secondary school achievement for sales and support roles and proven finance experience or tertiary qualifications for specialist roles."

Popular tertiary study options for careers in finance and banking include Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Business Studies degrees and the more industry-specific New Zealand Business Diploma in Banking. Tertiary courses can be started or completed following employment, with larger employers often picking up the tab. As a result, some career climbers are drawn to banking and finance to avoid a student loan.

"I think people look for work in this sector because they believe quite rightly that most financial services companies put a lot of emphasis on career development. It's not just a job opportunity," says Barclay.