Chatting To A Bank Manager Yesterday.

[Harry Sacks]

Manager of local branch of very large bank. Got chatting about the credit crunch and NR. I asked if at any time he became concerned about a run, in light of what happened last summer.

Surprising reply. " Oh, I don't know what was going on with NR for that to happen. They must have been in trouble for some time."

Me, pretending to be naive: "Wasn't it to do with the way they had financed their lending business, borrowing money from other banks, and selling the loans as MBS?

Bank Manager: "I've know idea how banks finance their lending, you need a PhD for all that."

!!!!!!

[rabbithole]

Manager of local branch of very large bank. Got chatting about the credit crunch and NR. I asked if at any time he became concerned about a run, in light of what happened last summer.

Surprising reply. " Oh, I don't know what was going on with NR for that to happen. They must have been in trouble for some time."

Me, pretending to be naive: "Wasn't it to do with the way they had financed their lending business, borrowing money from other banks, and selling the loans as MBS?

Bank Manager: "I've know idea how banks finance their lending, you need a PhD for all that."

!!!!!!

I have found recently that the standard of staff who work in local branches of any banks is getting worse (computer says no). They are no more than shopkeepers and all they do is pay your money in and out of the system and try to sell you a financial product or two-

This was confirmed to me recently by the complete fiasco that was transferring money to a Jersey bank account held with the same Bank. No-one had a clue what to do and even the manager was stumped for a while!??!?!?!?

They are certainly not economists. Most of them probably don't even read the financial news.

[gravity always wins]

Ah the division of Labour. specialisation produces a society of morons.

A Bank Manager who doesn't know how Banks work.

God help the fools who came to him for advice.

[Live Peasant]

To be honest, it doesn't surprise me at all. The Bank Manager is after all just another salesman with targets to hit, dictated to him by Head Office.

Like the call-centre chicken, he has a corporate script from which he shouldn't deviate whilst he tries to sell you insurance, pay-as-you-go accounts and breakdown cover.

He's not paid to think, just to achieve commission levels.

He will probably go on to selling carpets or Mercedes cars having demonstrated his success in a 'customer-facing role' and 'consistently hitting targets'.

[Injin]

How did you summon him?

Goat sacrifice or virgin knifing at full moon?

[DoctorJ]

I have to admit that I can't stand going into my branch for advice anymore because it scares me too much.

[jac]

a number of years ago i remember abbey(taking over by the spanish) were recruiting in the metro.. wanted people with RETAIL SALES experience. ie we dont want a bunch of accounting nerds who know the value of what we're doing and realise we're going to make a gigantic f*ck up in the future lending to people who cant pay back, but we want scum of the earth salespeople who will force some dodgy perfume onto your hands even though it smells like cat's p*ss

sorry i dont know why im so angry this morning!

something to do with vent up anger at smarmy estate agents!

[Killer Bunny]

They are no more than shopkeepers and all they do is pay your money in and out of the system and try to sell you a financial product or two-

Insurance salesmen, more like. :angry:

[Nomadd]

Ah the division of Labour. specialisation produces a society of morons.

A Bank Manager who doesn't know how Banks work.

God help the fools who came to him for advice.

If you think local branches are bad, you should try working in The City. For every 1 expert (and yes, there are a few), you have 100 morons. I worked on IT systems design for 5-6 years with three separate clients and was gobsmacked by the number of "uneducated, thicko cockney wide-boys" working as dealers (financial, that is, not drugs.) If only the outside world could see whom these banks employ... And, of course, finance is the only industry we have left in this country (well, "had left" until the meltdown started... )

Nomadd

[only one]

I paid a cheque in last week at my bank and was asked by the cashier if I'd 'considered taking out a mortgage'. When I responded with no chance, the woman looked at me like I was mad. 'Would you not like any further information Sir?'

Er, no.

[Bloo Loo]

How did you summon him?

Goat sacrifice or virgin knifing at full moon?

HIM??? More likely to be a teenage girl straight out of the sixth form, fully indoctrinated with the banking mantra.

[gravity always wins]

If you think local branches are bad, you should try working in The City. For every 1 expert (and yes, there are a few), you have 100 morons. I worked on IT systems design for 5-6 years with three separate clients and was gobsmacked by the number of "uneducated, thicko cockney wide-boys" working as dealers (financial, that is, not drugs.) If only the outside world could see whom these banks employ... And, of course, finance is the only industry we have left in this country (well, "had left" until the meltdown started... )

Nomadd

The older I get the more I try to understand how the world works.

The more I understand the less I realise everyone else understands.

The more "skilled" an individual becomes at a certain task the dumber they seem to be at everything else.

Jack of all trades master of none - it's the only way to survive the future.

[Bloo Loo]

The older I get the more I try to understand how the world works.

The more I understand the less I realise everyone else understands.

The more "skilled" an individual becomes at a certain task the dumber they seem to be at everything else.

Jack of all trades master of none - it's the only way to survive the future.

theres an old french saying: the older you get, the worse it seems!

[symo]

The older I get the more I try to understand how the world works.

The more I understand the less I realise everyone else understands.

The more "skilled" an individual becomes at a certain task the dumber they seem to be at everything else.

Jack of all trades master of none - it's the only way to survive the future.

Your remark falls down in engineering. The more skilled you become the more valuable you are to other companies worldwide. Not the UK of course, god forbid (there is no god so why do I say this?) we actually manufacture cutting edge high value machinery anymore.

[gravity always wins]

Your remark falls down in engineering. The more skilled you become the more valuable you are to other companies worldwide. Not the UK of course, god forbid (there is no god so why do I say this?) we actually manufacture cutting edge high value machinery anymore.

But what is that skilled individual worth outside of engineering though? (which is the point).

Would they have the necessary skills to survive and adapt in a different and more challenging environment?

[Fudge]

I went to my local branch of HSBC and asked about the Euro One account, nobody could tell me anything about it.

Told to come back next weeK, when I did still didnt know anything. Gave them my phone number and asked them to

let me know the rate interest on the Euro One account. A couple of weeks later they rang me, apparantly the the Euro account does not pay any interest. I just said thank you and put the phone down.

[OnlyMe]

My "personal" banker seems to change more frequently than the local curry house would change their dish washer. It seems that every 12 months or so it

happens.

Banks used to be sources of investment and advice and a key support for the real economy. It is no surprise the real economy is so knackered and reliant on the money printers - it has been wrecked, underfunded, ripped off for high interest whilst the commission hunters have sprayed money over completely the wrong sections of the economy.

There are no real banks on the high street any more.

[Venger]

In 1989 the assistant manager at my local branch refused my request for £100 on my overdraft, openly sneered at me, and caused a big scene to embarrass me in front of some of the (pretty) clerk girls I liked and saw about in the village and the other customers. He even came out and coldly made it clear he wanted me out of the branch with his palm showing me the way to the door.

Nowadays I've been upgraded to Private Banking facilities at their parent and another bank with fancy extras and nice bonded paper, get their wealth magazines sent to me, and get regular calls to come in for a "review" - probably all designed to get you to peddle some of their investment products - but I don't forget that with the banks, if you've got no money, you've got no friends. And I'm more likely to ask a gardener about how to repair my car than I am to ask my bank about investment advice.

Banks should just stick to regular banking in my opinion. They've got too deeply involved with all sorts of stuff these days.

[R K]

Up until around the mid 80s it would have been inconceivable for most bank managers NOT to have been fully qualified (degree equiv. plus post-grad) plus maybe 15 years plus wide ranging experience in all aspects of lending, security-taking, asset valuations, business ratios, investments and so on.

Then they went American, shifted all the experience into a handful of centres of expertise, then they introduced computerised credit scoring and lending models, got rid of 90% of all their experienced lenders put the rest in those "fight club" towers daa'n docklands way and turned their branch network into Tesco outlets.

The reasoning was that the cost savings from not bothering with all that outmoded professional stuff and instead paying minimum wage to a few part-time women in the branches outweighed the risks/costs of not doing it.

Hence it is true that nearly all professional bankers (retail and business banking - not investment banking) were either retired early or quit. Banking was left with the Adam Applesh*t of the world, and look where it got us.

[Bloo Loo]

Up until around the mid 80s it would have been inconceivable for most bank managers NOT to have been fully qualified (degree equiv. plus post-grad) plus maybe 15 years plus wide ranging experience in all aspects of lending, security-taking, asset valuations, business ratios, investments and so on.

Then they went American, shifted all the experience into a handful of centres of expertise, then they introduced computerised credit scoring and lending models, got rid of 90% of all their experienced lenders put the rest in those "fight club" towers daa'n docklands way and turned their branch network into Tesco outlets.

The reasoning was that the cost savings from not bothering with all that outmoded professional stuff and instead paying minimum wage to a few part-time women in the branches outweighed the risks/costs of not doing it.

Hence it is true that nearly all professional bankers (retail and business banking - not investment banking) were either retired early or quit. Banking was left with the Adam Applesh*t of the world, and look where it got us.

the old guard would have seen the CDO scam for what it was- it would have gone against the grain and not used.

"My word is NOT my bond" seems to be the current moto for the city.

[thecrashingisles]

I went to my local branch of HSBC and asked about the Euro One account,

LOL. I remember asking about Euro accounts in HSBC in Northampton. After waiting for ages to speak to the one person who supposedly knew something about them I was told, "But why do you need a Euro account? You can get an HSBC credit card and use it to buy things abroad!"

[Neitherland]

Manager of local branch of very large bank. Got chatting about the credit crunch and NR. I asked if at any time he became concerned about a run, in light of what happened last summer.

Surprising reply. " Oh, I don't know what was going on with NR for that to happen. They must have been in trouble for some time."

Me, pretending to be naive: "Wasn't it to do with the way they had financed their lending business, borrowing money from other banks, and selling the loans as MBS?

Bank Manager: "I've know idea how banks finance their lending, you need a PhD for all that."

!!!!!!

You're well out of date on this one. Proper traditional bank managers who could actually make decisions disappeared nearly 20 years ago....

Many of the big banks ran early retirement schemes for the traditional managers in the late 80s early 90s. The branches ceased to exist as separate entities, many were closed, and the decision making was removed from them.

But the point is this really isn't a recent development.

[Fudge]

LOL. I remember asking about Euro accounts in HSBC in Northampton. After waiting for ages to speak to the one person who supposedly knew something about them I was told, "But why do you need a Euro account? You can get an HSBC credit card and use it to buy things abroad!"

Yes the staff were looking at me like I was some sort of idiot for wanting a Euro account.

Your the first person to ask for this, they said. Which if true is also worrying. None of their customers has considered

protecting their money by moving money out of sterling.

[stu2006]

I remember about 4 yrs ago when I was a manager for ASDA Stores (spit) and our clothing manager at the time left to become a bank manager with the Abbey National..she was a thick as pig swill really and new nothing about banks or economics...she was recruited for her customer care skills if my memory serves me well..

[Bloo Loo]

I remember about 4 yrs ago when I was a manager for ASDA Stores (spit) and our clothing manager at the time left to become a bank manager with the Abbey National..she was a thick as pig swill really and new nothing about banks or economics...she was recruited for her customer care skills if my memory serves me well..

when was "Frack you, pay me" the skill set of ASDA?