The Good and the Ugly - Licensed Banker Chase Employee Review

Licensed banker roles are required to pass 4 industry exams (SIE, Series 6 & 63, Life Insurance) as a condition of employment—which is no easy task!! Each licensee is left to on an island and most do not make it off the first go around. Most managers lack knowledge of the process and were never licensed so they’re of little help to you. To put it in context, the SIE has more content in it than a finance major’s coursework during their undergraduate. (Per VP of Compliance, who has 6 FINRA licenses and a BS in Finance). And you’re teaching yourself the material 99% of the time. I was fortunate to have had a successful licensing experience by passing concurrently. Managers: The seven managers I had were sales professionals with zero managerial skills. They displayed no tactical or strategic thinking or planning. Extremely reactionary or going through the motions. They’re programmed to manage to a scorecard and beyond that they had little input or thinking outside the box. I have never experienced such aggressive, demeaning, and abusive behavior from managers like I did in banking. My demeanor and sophistication took more than I should’ve. One of the manager’s I had to report to HR; the fact this individual is still with the Firm tells me everything I needed to know about the culture. Numerous employees after me, reported this individual with no action from HR. Unacceptable. Training: Like most organizations, the sink-or-swim paradigm dominates the branch environment. And it's costly and careless. Banking is one of the most challenging industries to learn (trust me!) with a tremendous weighting attached to it. Employees can lose their jobs with one fatal decision. And the majority of the time, I assure you they were ignorant of their action, due to the lack of efficient training and development. I was thrown into transactions week two post-licensing and I hadn't even scratched the surface of my training. My manager was intimated by my resume and decided to show me who ‘she was’! I had zero allies and fought tooth-and-nail to make it. In my experience spanning several industries, Chase gets a F for training. There’s no way an employee, especially, one new to the industry can be effective without shadowing and having a mentor to teach them. I had over 200+ modules in two weeks with no repetition or action. The amount of information a banker has to know is incomprehensible!!! Training score: F+. Sales/Incentive Plan: The most rigorous sales culture I’ve encountered. The incentive plan is extremely favorable if you’re in an affluent, high income, or high traffic area. And you have to producing partners. Your monthly bonus can exceed 10K! Conversely, if you’re in a low income, low traffic area, you’ll struggle. As in any industry…location, location, location. It’s never more true than in finance! Pitch the mindset and attitude platitudes and accept reality—to make money, you have to have money! It is statistically proven high earners, suburbia top tier credit (comes into play with credit cards, and loans) and larger liquid assets to invest and spend. Unfortunately, salaries and incentive plans aren’t adjusted to meet the distressed areas and low income customer base—which affects banker’s compensation, monthly performance, and career trajectory. Diversity and inclusion: The Firm is diverse. It’s colored nicely in C-level and senior leadership. However, branch life is another story. The National achievers in my market were Caucasian males and females. The top performing branches year over year had no AA or brown skinned bankers. They were all in Detroit. Twenty something white or eye candy were only hired at those branches, if the Financial Advisor approved. Most of which couldn’t pass the exams. The sales plan was demotivating and unrealistic. Relationship Bankers were gophers to Private Client Bankers—whose caps were extremely high in comparison to the RBs. There’s literally zero difference in the job performance. Chase is a title hierarchy company. The higher the title, the more superior you are to your peers, and therefore, deserve to make more money! If you’re an RB, make it a priority to level up to the PCB role. The difference is prestige on your resume, career mobility—internally and externally—and thousands more in compensation!!! It’s egregious! Customer Service/Five Keys: Customers don’t matter, deposits, conveniences, investments, loans due! Because the sales pressures are so high, bankers are driven to see people as dollars. If you don’t have money, you’ll be shown digital solutions. If you do have money, you’ll be shown a desk. We were abused by customers and tolerated by back offices. Technology stinks and obstructs a positive experience. You’re not permitted by management to help walk-in customers due to having to make calls; most of the time (88%*) you’re leaving voicemails. Kindness and professionalism are foreign. And OSAT is a jokety joke joke! I could/will write a book on OSAT. It’s ridiculous! You’re forced to send recognition, do mandatory training, monthly skill up’s, controls training and affirming. Branch life is brutal. Burn out is prevalent and misery is worn like a uniform! Break the cycle of control. Train your team the way ‘you know’ they can be impactful! Get some help for your management team. They need help! The company is great over all, but like many corporate behemoth’s they lack compassion and value when it comes to letting all employees think independently, creatively, and strategically to improve the business outcomes.