TITLE : BANK MANAGER'S HANDBOOK: A GUIDE TO BRANCH MANAGEMENT, THE.

Preface

There is no doubt that bankers taking up their first managerial appointments have had plenty of opportunity to acquire a sound technical knowledge. However, when it comes to the practical art of management, there is remarkably little training available to inform a banker about the things he should expect in his first year or so of management, about the practical difficulties he may now encounter with customers and about his whole approach in taking up his appointment. Experience shows that uncertainty as to how to perform in the managerial capacity and a consequent inability to make the transition from clerical to managerial duties can prevent the new manager from reaching his full potential.

Equally, the failure to make successful relationships with customers can prove a real stumbling block. The ideal situation is one where customers feel they have a bank manager who understands their point of view, who can talk in language comprehensible to them and who gives sound reasons when describing the limits within which the bank can help them. Unfortunately, such a situation is not as common as it should be.

In writing this book I hope to make a contribution towards assisting newly appointed managers through some of the pitfalls of the early years and helping them to achieve a good rapport with their customers. At the same time perhaps I will be able to dispel some of the misconceptions that the student and career banker may have about the demands and realities of branch management. At the very least, I believe that readers of this book will be challenged to consider again how they as banking customers themselves can get the best out of their own bank.

In order to avoid using both the masculine and feminine form on Preface each occasion where it is necessary I have, on the whole, stuck to the male form. I recognise that this is an unsatisfactory representation of the banking world today, but felt that for easy reading, a single form would be more helpful.

I would like to thank Mr Owen Hawkes for his idea of the mnemonic used in the book. It conveys what I wanted to say simply and memorably. My particular thanks are also due to my wife for her assistance in matters of composition and layout.

Finally, it should be pointed out that all the individuals and companies referred to in the text are entirely fictitious.

Peter Elliott November 1986