Survey results - Banking as a Profession - the next steps

At a high level symposium, hosted by RBA and LSE, to consider The Future of Banking as a Profession, delegates from around the world were posed a series of key questions.  The results reflect how bankers worldwide view the development of banking as a profession and the steps needed to achieve this. Key results included: BANKING STANDARDS ·        Do you think the banking industry and its customers need national or international retail banking standards? International 72 percent National 28 percent ·        Would banking standards help to rebuild trust in banks? – 77 percent say YES ·        Would banking standards help consumers to judge what they can reasonably expect from banks? – 82 percent say YES ·        Would banking standards be an important step towards the professionalisation of banking? - 64 percent say YES PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS ·        Retail banking should have its own professional qualification – 53 percent strongly agree, with another 30 percent slightly agreeing. There was no strong disagreement, though 4 percent said they slightly disagreed ·        Retail banking and corporate banking need a common professional qualification – only 19 percent strongly agree, with 28 percent strongly disagreeing ·        Retail banking, corporate banking and investment banking need a common professional qualification – 36 percent strongly disagree, with only 17 percent agreeing ·        Retail bankers should be qualified in a similar way to accountants and lawyers – 68 percent strongly agree Michael Lafferty, Executive Chairman of the Retail Banking Academy, said “The survey results give an indication of how bankers worldwide feel about the importance of banking being regarded as a profession and also what senior bankers believe are the key ‘next steps’ for the industry in achieving this aim.  With 25 countries represented at the event, the results reflect the views of an interesting cross-section of the global banking community.”