Think Online
David Taylor of the Bank Administration Institute notes that"PCs and modems are reaching a 40% penetration level for households with annual incomes over 50000, banks' best customers." Home banking offers tremendous convenience to these customers who will grow enormously in the next decade."Before doing the Saturday morning shopping, you can check the status of your checking account, pay any outstanding bills, and, with the advent of smart cards, some day download credit onto your card to pay for he shopping."
Don't Forget Government Job
Opportunities in Banking State governments and the U.S. government actively recruit banking regulators. Interesting places to look include the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and the Federal Reserve Banking System.
Branch Out
Jobs in bank branches could be risky. According to a recent study by Deloitte & Touche6, about 30% of bank employees （850000 people） work in branches. However, productivity improvements are expected to replace 151200 of them, and electronic delivery services is projected to eliminate an additional 344400 jobs. When new jobs created by electronic delivery services are factored in, the study shows a net loss of 450000 jobs by the year 2000.
Banks Are Getting Aggressive
The competitive environment is changing too. USA Today writes on Aug. 29, 1995:"Behind the bank deals: The easy times are over for bank earnings. Banks have posted record profits since 1991, thanks to falling interest rates and their efforts to slash costs. But interest rates aren't falling anymore, loan demand has slowed and bankers can't cost-cut their way to continued prosperity. They must grow and sell their services aggressively in new markets to keep earnings up and investors happy."
U.S. Banks Aren't That Big
In 1999, the world's largest bank was Japanese with 1270 billion in assets. That is two times as big as the largest U.S. bank: Citigroup.
Banking Is Shrinking
The business of banking is changing dramatically as traditional demand deposit and CD business shrinks. The U.S. banking system's share of financial assets in the economy has sunk to 25%, the lowest in the last 130 years. It is forecasted that half of the nation's retail branches will close in 10 years and that means as many as 450000 bank jobs may disappear.
The Future Is in New Areas
Because traditional banking is in decline, the future of the industry lies in services and new areas. Many banks are now starting to compete against investment banks, for example. One in five banks owns a full-service brokerage firm today. Half of bans own a discount broker. Expect these numbers to rise.
Specialized Banks Are Doing Best
Banks which specialize in a niche such a retail lending, credit card operations, cash management or global retail appear to be doing better than more diversified banks. Expect focused banks to continue to succeed and create more jobs. Players like Associates, MBNA and Providian are doing well at present.
You May Be Traveling
New regulations permit interstate banking. Historically, you might not have been asked to travel much as a banker or deal with businesses in other states. That is changing rapidly.
Middle-Managers Are in Demand
The shake-up in banking has left a shortage of good middle-managers, especially at smaller banks which find it more difficult to hire well-trained managers away from well-staffed larger banks. Other hot areas include loan review officers, technology specialists and auditors.
New Words and Expressions
1. teller（銀行）出納
2. clientele訴訟委托人，顧客
3. crucial關鍵的，決定性的
4. phenomenal非凡的，傑出的
5. Citigroup花旗集團
6. abound豐富，大量存在，盛產
7. layoff解雇（由於市場不景氣）
8. marketing-oriented市場（營銷）導向
9. customer-oriented客戶導向
10. Wall Street華爾街
11. derivative衍生的，被引申出的
12. mutual fund公共基金
13. trust services信托服務
14. counsel商議，考慮
15. MBNA銀行名稱
16. Forrest Gump《阿甘正傳》
17. shrinking收縮，變小，退縮
18. shake-up劇變, 振作
19. outstanding bills未償付票據
Notes
1. start out. To begin your life.
2. Citicorp. Citibank.
3. CEO. Chief executive officer （ABBREVIATION CEO）, the person with the most important position in a company.
4. trust officer. A fiduciary relationship in which one party, known as a trustor, gives another party, the trustee, the right to hold title to property or assets for the benefit of a third party, the beneficiary.
5. mortgage banker. A company, individual or institution that originates, sells and services mortgage loans.
6. Deloitte & Touche. A company name.
Exercises
Ⅰ. Answer the following questions in English:
1. Why does people say"High Grades less important than work ethic"?
2. Why are banks getting aggressive?
3. Where are the largest banks in the world?
4. What do you think about"specialized banks are doing best"?
5. What would Branch Manager be responsible for?
6. Could jobs in bank branches be risky? Explain it.
7. Do you think that the future is in New Areas?
8. Do you know why banking wants to consolidate?
Ⅱ. Fill in each blank with an appropriate word or expression:
1. Jobs in banking can be exciting and offer excellent opportunities to learn business interact with people and build a clientele. Today's commercial banks are more diverse than ever. You'll find a tremendous range of opportunities in commercial banking, starting the branch level where you might start as a teller to a wide variety of other services such as leasing, credit card banking, international finance and trade credit.
2. Banking is going a period of tremendous consolidation with frequent mergers and layoffs.
3. Mergers abound such as those Citibank and Travelers into Citigroup or Nations Bank and Bank America.
4. Because commercial banks remain profitable and are more involved than ever in the financial markets, they are with Wall Street for"high-tech finance jocks" in foreign exchange derivatives and financial engineering.
5. Your job will be to make mortgage loans to homebuyers and businesses. This involves heavy contact real estate professionals, credit checks, and dealing with new buyers.
6. If you are Internet savvy and familiar computers you will have an edge in banking.
Ⅲ. Translate the following sentences into English:
1. 花旗提供公平且具有競爭力的薪資福利，並根據業績給予獎勵，衡量標準與業務目標相對應。
2. 花旗希望所有員工都能奉行高度的個人與職業道德。
3. 為客戶提供優質的金融服務，最大限度地為銀行爭取綜合效益，完善與同業在銀團業務領域的合作框架、模式與機製。
4. 良好的個人修養和職業道德，正直、敬業、遵紀守法是銀行職員的基本要求。
5. 全日製本科及以上學曆，經濟、金融類相關專業畢業，具有較好的金融學、管理學以及商業銀行經營管理理論方麵的基礎是銀行管理者的基本條件和能力要求。
6. 具有較強的客戶需求理解能力、市場營銷策劃能力和能夠根據不同市場客戶的特點有針對性地進行產品規劃是銀行管理者的能力要求。
Ⅳ. Translate the following sentences into Chinese:
1. Many college graduates start in investment banking in an analyst position. To succeed in these positions you need to be extremely dedicated, have good spreadsheet skills and be analytically fluent. Your next step will be to become an associate. Same skills, just raise the volume.
2. Some jobs in investment banking call for very strong mathematical ability. If you are good at math think about getting an advanced degree in a technical field （studying areas such as stochastic calculus and differential equations）, then take some advanced finance courses in options pricing or bond valuation and apply to a research department on Wall Street （Carnegie-Mellon's FAST program is a leading in training mathematicians and physicists for Wall Street jobs）.
3. The initial attribute most corporate employers are looking for is initiative. If you can give examples in interviews of situations where you did something plain useful even though no one asked you to, you will be a hot commodity.
4. Have you ever started a business? Or put together a social event that brought people together? Or started a new organization?
5. Banking is going through a period of tremendous consolidation with frequent mergers and layoffs.
6. Your job will be to make mortgage loans to homebuyers and businesses. This involves heavy contact with real estate professionals, credit checks, and dealing with new buyers.
Reading Materials
Careers in Corporate Finance
Overview
A career in corporate finance means you would work for a company to help it find money to run the business, grow the business, make acquisitions, plan for it's financial future and manage any cash on hand. You might work for a large multinational company or a smaller player with high growth prospects. Responsibility can come fast and your problem-solving skills will be put to work quickly in corporate finance. The job of the financial officer is to create value for a company. For example, the finance group at American Electric Power of Columbus has four main areas of concentration: liquidity, flexibility, compliance with laws and regulatory support. The goals of the objective are met through four main activities carried out by AEP's Finance Department: 1） designing, implementing and monitoring financial policies, 2） planning and executing the financing program, 3） managing cash resources, 4） interfacing with the financial community and investors. Jobs in corporate finance are also relatively stable while performance in these jobs count. But it's not like your job is going to depend on whether you're selling enough this week or getting good deals finished this quarter. Rather the key to performing well in corporate finance is to work with a long view of what going to make your company successful. Many would argue that corporate finance jobs are the most desirable in the entire field of finance.