I'm bored too...ask ScottieK about the banking industry

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I'm getting my MBA at a top tier business school. I have zero experience in anything in "banking". Should I look elsewhere for work? If I did pursue something in your industry, what position/function should I pursue right out of school? Where do MBAs have the best fun/value/lifestyle in banking?

[Drew16]

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Come on Scottie. That's lame stuff. We all know that banks get ripped off all the time by conmen. Give us some juicy bits.

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All the time? I doubt it. Tellers are trained to spot cons, and branch managers are consulted on transactions above a certain dollar limit. Not saying it's impossible. I think that a successful con would have to include an inside man. Tellers who try to cheat the system almost always get caught.

Did anyone see Heist (new NBC show) on Wednesday? I thought that bank robbery was pretty cool.

ScottieK

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I recently worked for a bank and while there are many steps in place to stop ripping off the bank, they are easily just brushed off or "OK"ed because the manager is lazy/busy.
There was a group who had a worker in a hospital and a worker at the DMV. They were taking patients info, getting a license made with someone elses photo, then coming in and cleaning out the accounts.
One day a guy comes in wanting to make a LARGE withdrawal from both checking and savings. He was acting very shady and since it was a large limit I had to get a manager to sign-off. So I go to the managers office and tell him I think something is up and he just comes out there and OKs the transactions.
The next day..."Hey you know that guy yesterday? Yeah that was a scam."

I also worked at a bank that got robbed. The single best day I had while working at a bank.

[Wes Mantooth]

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I also worked at a bank that got robbed. The single best day I had while working at a bank.

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?? best day ??

[edtost]

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I also worked at a bank that got robbed. The single best day I had while working at a bank.

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?? best day ??

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trip report?

[Drew16]

The armored car people came everyday to fill the ATM. At this bank the ATM was outside and not directly attatched to the bank. So they filled the machine with money and took out any deposits made into the ATM(also any ATM cards left in the machine). They then brought the deposits into the bank where a teller would open and process them. Most just had checks but there was some cash.

That teller had her window closed and I was the only other teller. When you entered the bank the line formed to the right. This little white guy comes in and enters to the left (the exit end of the line). I am with a lady and dont pay much attention because this happened alot. Then I hear the other teller say "Im sorry, Im closed at the moment" followed by, "HEY! What are you doing?"

I look over and see the guy dangling over the counter and he just uses both arms to scoop up everything on the counter and bolts to the door. On his way to the door he almost bites it and gains control of himself just before crashing through the glass door. I kind of froze because I didnt realize what was happening and the lady at my window says "You may have just been robbed." I kind of laugh then realize I didnt hit my alarm button.

The robber was smart enough to park down the street but after he ran to his truck he got in and drove right in front of the bank where everyone was standing and writing down his license plate number. It only took the cops about 2 minutes to show up, this bank was in a busy area and an area with alot of foot traffic. The first two cops show up and apparently since they arent detectives they cant come in. They just make us lock the door and stay inside. There are only two customers inside and they must stay also. One is a dirty old lady saying she MUST leave and go to work but the cops wont have it. She is standing at the door cussing the cops the whole time.

Finally the FBI shows up, along witht he TV cameras and the head FBI guy begins his power trip. He comes in screaming at everyone telling us everything we did wrong and how we may have messed up the crime scene. We all get questioned, they look for fingerprints and the bank manager says its time to open back up. After they are nice enough to buy us a pizza.

The rest of the day is spent with a line out the door of people coming to make $5 or less deposit/withdrawals just to ask what happened.

The next morning we had to come in an hour early to meet with a counselor. I was kind of a jackass and kept making smartass comments because I was tired and didnt see the point of meeting with a counselor. Its not like someone got shot.

[ScottieK]

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I recently worked for a bank and while there are many steps in place to stop ripping off the bank, they are easily just brushed off or "OK"ed because the manager is lazy/busy.
There was a group who had a worker in a hospital and a worker at the DMV. They were taking patients info, getting a license made with someone elses photo, then coming in and cleaning out the accounts.
One day a guy comes in wanting to make a LARGE withdrawal from both checking and savings. He was acting very shady and since it was a large limit I had to get a manager to sign-off. So I go to the managers office and tell him I think something is up and he just comes out there and OKs the transactions.
The next day..."Hey you know that guy yesterday? Yeah that was a scam."

I also worked at a bank that got robbed. The single best day I had while working at a bank.

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I can see the part about lazy managers. My bank had a rash of robberies at local branches recently. I think they hit three or four of our branches along with a few other banks in the span of a month. Here's how they got caught.

At one branch, the robber gave a teller a demand note (I think he was armed...holding the gun low so nobody else would see.) The teller gave him the dye pack. He took the money and exited the bank. The dye pack blew, he threw the pack along with his demand note on the sidewalk and ran. Police lifted a fingerprint off the demand note and caught him six hours later, hiding out at his house. I guess he pitched all his clothes in the trash. He was part of a team, and he led the cops to the ringleader. The whole crew (three or four "students" and the "teacher" ringleader) got busted in days.

We're also home to Robin the Hood and the Babyface robbers...two kids, 13 and 11 I think...maybe younger, who robbed banks with loaded shotguns and handguns. They all got caught. My manager told me about a guy who robbed one of our branches. Teller gave him the dye pack, and it blew up on the guy. Didn't matter to him. He headed to the local casino and started playing craps (??) covered in dye, both him and the money. Cops at the casino detained him. True story.

There was a bank robber in North Carolina and Virginia who was very successful for years. His MO would be to wait until the fall and winter months, so he didn't look suspicious wearing a heavy jacket (to disguise his body type) and ski mask. He would hit banks at the end of a Friday, so there were few customers around, and the banks he hit were near wooded areas.

He'd go in with a handgun, jump behind the teller line and take the money himself (no dye packs or marked money for this guy.) Then he'd take off into the woods. He was ex-military, very much in shape. He'd run for several miles to his dirt bike, stashed there the night before, and ride off.

He got caught because two kids playing in the forest found an underground bunker, with tools, guns, bank locations, a target map, escape routes, and some cash. Turned out that the robber owned a karate dojo and went to church. IIRC, they said he was one of the most successful bank robbers in history.

As you can guess, I love bank robber stories.

ScottieK

[ScottieK]

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I'm getting my MBA at a top tier business school. I have zero experience in anything in "banking". Should I look elsewhere for work? If I did pursue something in your industry, what position/function should I pursue right out of school? Where do MBAs have the best fun/value/lifestyle in banking?

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Well, banking's not glamorous. I will say that when I got my MBA, I did not want to work for a bank doing what I do. Loan underwriting? You gotta be kidding me. I wanted to be a stockbroker (all marketing majors and cold calling), an investment analyst, venture capitalist analyst...something a little flashier.

At my first job, a few people came over from a local stock brokerage. They were all brokers, and they said that they made good money during the late 90's (hell, who didn't make good money before the tech bubble burst, 9/11, and Enron?) But, when the market turns bad, it turns the worst for the new brokers because they don't have clients with a lot of net worth. So their clients stop investing. The big clients go to the experienced brokers. Since their salaries are heavy on commissions, my friends couldn't stay there and make rent. But they did have realtime access to so much market information and analysis it seemed ridiculous. One guy's specialty was riding penny stocks. Pretty good at it too.

My first job was at a CPA firm. We didn't do audits or tax. We did government contract work. It sucked. Long hours, lots of travel (which was fun at first, but got tiresome) and no real sense of accomplishment. I know a lot of audit and tax people, and they seem to have fun...in a really nerdy sort of way. But they get burned out a lot too.

I actually love loan underwriting. I take client financials, tax returns, personal financials, just about anything I can get my hands on, and run it through our risk and profitability models. I also structure the deal, calculate debt service ability and repayment, and I look for financial trends. I've seen more financials in my first six months than in all of my business classes put together. I see how businessmen set up their operations (holding companies, tax structures, fiscal year ends, etc.) How and why they move money. Why they choose to do deals in real estate. 80% of them are pretty damn smart.

I remember in business class, prof's always said "financials tell a story." That's not accurate. Financials raise questions for you to ask the business owner. The answers you get complete the story.

The game plan for a loan underwriter is to move up to Relationship Manager, the guy who calls on clients and meets with them to see what else they need. Those guys work hard, but they have a lot of fun going to business lunches, golf outings, and schmoozing clients. They make pretty good money, esp. the ones in real estate.

As for my job, I've got more benefits than I know what to do with. Very little travel. Very little overtime. Our unit is one of the best in the company, and we're heavy on real estate. I'm learning a LOT about what it takes to run a business. So if we're talking about a traditional bank (not an investment bank like Wachovia, although we do have an investment division,) then I would choose loan underwriter for an entry position.

Sure, you could go to the consumer side, which is mostly sales, and that's fine....but you won't learn nearly as much about business. Also, you get to deal with customers who are all over the map and bitching about why they've got five overdraft fees. Dealing with business people is much easier, IMO.

Fun? Yes. My bank does a lot to keep me happy.

Value? Absolutely. It's like business school on steroids, and they pay me to attend. I meet with our city president (25 yrs. experience, one of the best) or someone weekly to learn about some aspect of commercial credit. Last Thursday was acquisition and development loans for real estate. Also, I feel like I'm adding value and getting something accomplished. Just driving around town...occasionally I'll see a new retail building going up or whatever....hey, I worked on that deal. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Lifestyle? Good. I make money. I rarely travel for work. You may want to travel, but I've already done that bit. It wore me out. I rarely work overtime, and I haven't worked a weekend yet. One thing a CPA firm WILL do to you is make you work insane amounts of overtime with no compensation. Fiscal year end for auditors, April 15th for tax guys. I've heard all sorts of 80 hour work week / stayed until 3am / took all my work home stories. The CPA test is another thing accountants have to deal with. Not for me.

That's just my take. Look around, talk to working friends....see what interests you. You don't really need banking experience to get my job. You do need a working knowledge of what financial statements look like, some idea of how a business works, how different legal structures (C corp, S corp, LLC, etc.) operate, and be analytical / nitpicky by nature. Your supervisors should teach you the rest (really the way it should be in any occupation.) Good luck.

ScottieK

[swc]

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Is it bad to just write checks to yourself when moving money from bank to bank instead of going through actual transfer processes?

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I don't see why it would be. This is how most people open new accounts.

ScottieK

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I thought I'd chime in here for a second. I worked in banking as a sr. teller for a few months and this is something I delt with a lot. It depends on what kind of relationship you have with your transferring to account and how much you plan on writing the check for. Sometimes banks will place a hold on checks if they are over a particular amount and if the account has not been open for very long. Also they'll hold it if the amount is significantly over what the average balance is. In which case if you need money in that account right away it wouldn't be a good idea as it takes anywhere from 2 days to 14 to clear your account (depending on bank policy).

[ScottieK]

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Is it bad to just write checks to yourself when moving money from bank to bank instead of going through actual transfer processes?

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I don't see why it would be. This is how most people open new accounts.

ScottieK

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I thought I'd chime in here for a second. I worked in banking as a sr. teller for a few months and this is something I delt with a lot. It depends on what kind of relationship you have with your transferring to account and how much you plan on writing the check for. Sometimes banks will place a hold on checks if they are over a particular amount and if the account has not been open for very long. Also they'll hold it if the amount is significantly over what the average balance is. In which case if you need money in that account right away it wouldn't be a good idea as it takes anywhere from 2 days to 14 to clear your account (depending on bank policy).

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swc - welcome to OOT (pronounced "Oh Oh Tee.") [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Good points. I've never been a teller, so I don't know all their procedures.

ScottieK

[swc]

Thanks. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Yeah we have all sorts of crazy proceedures they put us through. I went to classes for the first week that I worked there and as they could they would send us out for more training. You'd be surprised all the stuff we have to do just for a simple diposit.