What does a banker do?
A banker is primarily responsible for assisting clients with their banking needs, particularly when withdrawing, depositing, and paying. Aside from handling transactions, bankers are also mainly responsible for opening and closing accounts, processing requirements, verifying the validity of documentation, recommending services and other financial options to clients, and resolving inquiries and concerns. A banker may answer calls and correspondence, coordinate with other banking personnel, maintain accurate data, and discuss conditions to clients thoroughly. Furthermore, because a banker mainly works with clients, it is essential to attain customer satisfaction.
Banker responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real banker resumes:
- Manage a mortgage, banking and securities base lending pipeline for one of the top lending branches in the firm.
- Manage a variety of internal initiatives including merchandising, cross-selling, customer retention programs and promotional campaigns.
- Earn numerous reward certificates for level of sales and customer service through QA.
- Qualify potential members for membership by opening checking accounts, savings accounts, IRAs, CDs, and processing loan applications.
- Follow appropriate VL guidelines to ensure compliance with QA and banking regulations.
- Pass series 6 , 63 and insurance exams as registered member of FINRA.
- Handle branch workplace goals and assist management in the weekly completion of branch reports.
- Uncover banking products such as loans, credit cards, CDS base on what the customers needs are.
- Attract new clients utilizing internal and external COI's as well as organizing marketing directives to select industries.
- Process electronic banking applications for clients including online banking, ACH, wire transfers, remote deposit capture and bill payment.
- Process all online banking applications, submit debit card orders, process ACH transactions, and assist customers with online banking.
- Participate in workplace events and external activities to acquire new household relationships.
- Maintain appropriate continuing education requirements as required for retaining licensing and FINRA registration.
- Conduct weekly audits of ATM vault ensuring accurate balancing and maintaining operational cash limits.
- Implement innovative promotional sales events for consumer/business portfolio growth and attorneys to build concrete COI relationships.
Banker skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Bankers are proficient in Taking Care, Financial Services, and Securities. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Detail oriented, and Initiative.
We break down the percentage of Bankers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Taking Care, 15%
Take care of customers on the front line by cashing vouchers and taking care of lottery customers.
- Financial Services, 10%
Developed and cultivated a territory in a new market for compliance-related software and services to the financial service industry.
- Securities, 6%
Staff auditor: Conducted examinations of internal control procedures in bank branch, trust, securities, and cash management departments.
- Bank Products, 5%
Demonstrated good client service by identifying customer needs and referring relevant bank products and services accordingly.
- NMLS, 5%
Attained NMLS identification number for mortgage origination.
- Upselling, 4%
Advised customers with banking information while upselling Wells Fargo Products.
"taking care," "financial services," and "securities" are among the most common skills that bankers use at work. You can find even more banker responsibilities below, including:
Customer-service skills. The most essential soft skill for a banker to carry out their responsibilities is customer-service skills. This skill is important for the role because "securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must be persuasive and make clients feel comfortable with the agent’s recommendations." Additionally, a banker resume shows how their duties depend on customer-service skills: "provide prompt quality customer service along with support to tellers and branch management. "
Detail oriented. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling banker duties is detail oriented. The role rewards competence in this skill because "investment bankers must pay close attention to the details of initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions because small changes can have large consequences." According to a banker resume, here's how bankers can utilize detail oriented in their job responsibilities: "balanced the atm, by paying close attention to detail determining if the check and cash deposits were correct. "
Initiative. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of bankers is initiative. This skill is critical to many everyday banker duties, as "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." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "cultivate strong client relationships, growing client base through marketing, networking, and referral initiatives. "
Analytical skills. A big part of what bankers do relies on "analytical skills." You can see how essential it is to banker responsibilities because "to judge the profitability of potential deals, securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents must have strong analytical skills." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical banker tasks: "used profiling analysis tools to identify cross-sell opportunities and made outbound sales calls to increase product per customer ratio. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in banker job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what bankers do. Banker 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 banker duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "exceeded sales goals while maintain excellent quality and customer satisfaction statistics"
The three companies that hire the most bankers are:
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.437 bankers jobs
- Citi219 bankers jobs
- Citizens Financial Group119 bankers jobs
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Compare different bankers
Banker vs. Finance sales consultant
A finance sales consultant helps sell financial products and services. They can work in various industries, such as home, automotive, or banking. They essentially assess their client's needs and provide financial solutions. There are a lot of skills needed to become a good finance sales consultant. However, great customer service and communication skills top the demand.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a banker are more likely to require skills like "taking care," "securities," "upselling," and "branch management." On the other hand, a job as a finance sales consultant requires skills like "sales process," "pre sales," "workplace," and "business development." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, finance sales consultants reach similar levels of education than bankers. Finance sales consultants are 0.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Banker vs. Finance service representative
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.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that banker responsibilities requires skills like "taking care," "securities," "nmls," and "upselling." But a finance service representative might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "patients," "team-oriented environment," "mutual funds," and "fsr."
Finance service representatives may earn a lower salary than bankers, but finance service representatives earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $40,163. On the other hand, bankers receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $55,656.In general, finance service representatives achieve similar levels of education than bankers. They're 1.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Banker vs. Finance & sales representative
A finance and sales representative is responsible for selling financial services and instruments to clients according to their needs and requirements. Finance and sales representatives identify the clients' long-term financial goals and objectives to provide accurate investment options and plans by considering their risk tolerance and credit performance. They also follow the movement of the stock market and inform the clients of any changes that may affect their portfolio and financial stability. A finance and sales representative must have excellent analytical and communication skills, especially in handling client accounts and developing financial strategies for their best interests.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a banker is likely to be skilled in "taking care," "securities," "nmls," and "upselling," while a typical finance & sales representative is skilled in "work ethic," "fsr," "business relationships," and "financial objectives."
Finance & sales representatives typically earn similar educational levels compared to bankers. Specifically, they're 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Banker vs. Finance service specialist
A financial service specialist is responsible for determining the clients' financial needs by assessing their account profiles and financial performance. Financial service specialists sell insurance services and other financial instruments based on clients' specifications and risk appetite. They also review stock trends and market stability to create financial forecasting and modify investment plans for the clients. A financial service specialist must have excellent communication and analytical skills, especially in discussing options to the clients to achieve their long-term goals and objectives.
Types of banker
Updated January 8, 2025
