What does a bank specialist do?
A bank or banking specialist is an individual responsible for maintaining effective business relationships with the bank's clients while ensuring an optimal customer service level. To support customer retention, bank specialists must identify their customers' banking needs and suggest appropriate bank products and services. They perform teller functions such as processing customer deposits, cashing checks, and issuing official checks. Bank specialists must also ensure that the bank complies with government regulations and standards.
Bank specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real bank specialist resumes:
- Achieve sustained revenue improvement in loans, annuities and deposit accounts every month at bank.
- Manage a customer portfolio, which includes servicing business relationships and cross-selling business banking products and services.
- Lead major initiatives in 3concurrent roles successfully manage affluent personal and business portfolio to proactively cross-sell additional products and services.
- Work with clients to resolve operational cash management issues in relation to select treasury management products.
- Serve on the holding company compliance committee responsible for identifying and implementing PC base loan origination systems.
- Initiate, review, and prepare all consumer and small business loan requests from origination to closing.
- Service the ATM, order cash and ship cash for the branch, verify and process night deposit bags.
- Inform customers of procedures for applying for services such as ATM cards, direct deposit, and certificate of deposits.
- Offer as well as advised clients on securities purchases and transactions regarding individual stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
- Maintain qualifications need to hold securities licenses.
- Assess patient financial requirements and advise patients on insurance benefits, co-pays and financial obligations.
- Secure and obtain accurate patients demographics, financial information, and maintain confidentiality on all patient records.
- Acquire, retain and expand new and existing customer long-term relations through identifying cross-sell opportunities and partner referrals.
- Profile customers to determine financial needs and cross-selling banking services and products including investment opportunities, deposit-base, and fee-base products.
- Provide notary service upon request.
Bank specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Bank Specialists are proficient in Bank Products, Strong Customer Service, and Customer Relationships. They’re also known for soft skills such as Initiative, Customer-service skills, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Bank Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Bank Products, 13%
Required to deepen customer relationships through financial planning and investment sales along with traditional retail bank products.
- Strong Customer Service, 10%
Established relationships with customers in a strong customer service environment.
- Customer Relationships, 9%
Sourced, acquired, and expanded customer relationships by maximizing sales opportunities and ensuring customer retention by cross-selling other financial products.
- Financial Services, 8%
Demonstrated ability to build and solidify relationships with local business and business owners through Chase at Work financial services.
- Treasury, 5%
Work with clients to resolve operational cash management issues in relation to selected treasury management products.
- Financial Solutions, 4%
Build stronger relationships with local small business market by analyzing operations, cash-flow and structure to identify and develop financial solutions.
Most bank specialists use their skills in "bank products," "strong customer service," and "customer relationships" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential bank specialist responsibilities here:
Initiative. The most essential soft skill for a bank specialist to carry out their responsibilities is initiative. This skill is important for the role because "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must create their own client base by making “cold” sales calls to people to whom they have not been referred and to people not expecting the call." Additionally, a bank specialist resume shows how their duties depend on initiative: "display knowledge competency of mitigation workout options and financial service products in promoting company initiatives to effectively meet customer needs. "
Customer-service skills. Many bank specialist duties rely on customer-service skills. "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must be persuasive and make clients feel comfortable with the agent’s recommendations.," so a bank specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways bank specialist responsibilities rely on customer-service skills: "referred high volume customer base to financial service mangers to promote investment opportunities. "
Analytical skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of bank specialists is analytical skills. This skill is critical to many everyday bank specialist duties, as "to judge the profitability of potential deals, securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must have strong analytical skills." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "experience interpreting legal contracts, performing analysis and negotiating solutions for management of financial data in banking/financial services. "
Detail oriented. For certain bank specialist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "detail oriented." The day-to-day duties of a bank specialist rely on this skill, as "investment bankers must pay close attention to the details of initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions because small changes can have large consequences." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what bank specialists do: "fostered high value customer relationships providing premium customer service and great attention to detail. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in bank specialist job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what bank specialists do. Bank specialist responsibilities rely on this skill because "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents need to be familiar with mathematical tools, including investment formulas." You can also see how bank specialist duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "perform advanced math functions with capability to analyze credit and financial information. "
The three companies that hire the most bank specialists are:
- Bank of America219 bank specialists jobs
- U.S. Bank163 bank specialists jobs
- KeyBank39 bank specialists jobs
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Compare different bank specialists
Bank specialist vs. Merchant
A merchant is responsible for selling goods and services for an organization to generate revenues by reaching out to existing and potential customers and discuss the products' features. Merchants must have extensive knowledge of the goods offered by the company to be able to respond to customers' inquiries and concerns accurately. They also maintain the adequacy of inventory for store orders, create purchase requests, and analyze sales performance. A merchant coordinates with the sales and marketing team to develop efficient promotional strategies and increase brand awareness on public platforms.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, bank specialist responsibilities require skills like "strong customer service," "customer relationships," "financial services," and "treasury." Meanwhile a typical merchant has skills in areas such as "product development," "gross margin," "market trends," and "strong analytical." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Merchants earn the highest salaries when working in the finance industry, with an average yearly salary of $75,078. On the other hand, bank specialists are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $40,734.merchants tend to reach similar levels of education than bank specialists. In fact, merchants are 1.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Bank specialist vs. Senior personal banker
A relationship banker is responsible for providing financial advice by applying financial disciplines in the banking industry. Relationship bankers process financial transactions on their clients' bank accounts, generate account statements, and reiterate bank policies to support clients' financial goals and objectives. They also research the current financial industry, identify new bank services opportunities to gain more clients, and increase profits for the business. A relationship banker must have excellent communication and customer service skills, responding to the clients' inquiries and concerns regarding their bank accounts, and resolving complaints timely and efficiently.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, bank specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "strong customer service," "treasury," "basic math," and "taking care." Meanwhile, a senior personal banker has duties that require skills in areas such as "account types," "business development," "customer transactions," and "real estate." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Senior personal bankers tend to reach similar levels of education than bank specialists. In fact, they're 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Bank specialist vs. Relationship banker
A financial service representative typically works for a bank or a similar establishment. One of their primary responsibilities is to reach out to clients and offer financial advice, services, or products such as insurance and credit cards. They can also set appointments, meet with clients to discuss benefits, and even gather applications. Furthermore, a financial service representative needs to have extensive knowledge of the products and services and be equipped with communication skills to build a rapport that will be essential in securing trust and sales.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from bank specialist resumes include skills like "customer relationships," "quality customer service," "bank policies," and "ach," whereas a relationship banker is more likely to list skills in "excellent interpersonal," "strong work ethic," "work ethic," and "cash handling. "
Relationship bankers make a very good living in the finance industry with an average annual salary of $36,296. On the other hand, bank specialists are paid the highest salary in the finance industry, with average annual pay of $40,734.relationship bankers typically earn similar educational levels compared to bank specialists. Specifically, they're 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Bank specialist vs. Finance service representative
Types of bank specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
