Banking
is turning upside down. New regulation, new businesses, new ways of
doing business! Nothing is as it was before and, obviously,
everything is changing for the better...
Let's
take the example of Deutsche Bank.
In a
press conference on January 31, 2013, Deutsche Bank's CEOs Jürgen
Fitschen and Anshu Jain focused (admittedly, at the end of their
presentation) on the cultural change at Deutsche Bank in the near,
mid and long term:
- Long-term orientation and sustainability
- Client focus
- Teamwork and partnership
Additional
elements, discussed in a presentation on May 23, 2013, include
Deutsche Bank's remuneration policy and its “red flag monitoring
system”.
This
sounds good, doesn't it?
Working
for corporate and investment bank, I have also made my cultural
change experience this year. The change is actually imposed by the
French regulator on anybody who has changed function in the finance
industry since mid 2010 and has direct client contact in his new
function:
On
May 24, 2013, I receive a letter from a finance training and
consulting firm. I am kindly asked to prepare an exam organized by
the French regulator, AMF, on July 5, 2013. The consulting firm will
provide e-learning tools, documentation, and multiple choice
questions to train me.
I am
wondering: Is that really necessary?
I
spend 5 minutes checking the underlying regulation. However, as this
is (once again) very complex (different categories of people subject
to different kinds of exams, different institutions authorizing and
then providing the contents, etc.), I close my web browser quickly
and call up the consulting firm. Friendly, but tenaciously, Julie, a
member of the AMF Certification Team with the consulting firm,
insists on her firm’s business model: “As you have changed
function recently, this is mandatory for you!”
I
call a few colleagues and get confirmation: The exam has been put in
place in July 2010 as a reaction to the financial crisis. It is meant
to ensure that people working in the financial sector enhance their
competence and work ethics.
Next,
I connect to my on-line account with the training firm to see what
needs to be done. The first thing I see is a 300 pages long pdf
document. I begin to get angry and decide to turn my attention to my
work again.
Some
weeks go by and, by mid-June, I decide to take up my preparation for
the exam.
I start reading the pdf document and realize that it is
about everything in finance – from banking over asset and fund
management to financial markets. Much of the content is regulatory,
some of it also commercial. I start reading or, rather, skimming
through the document and am positively surprised as it is very well
done. Nevertheless, as I have already learned all this at some time,
I definitely lack motivation. Is my formerly acquired knowledge
still present? Will it be sufficient to pass the exam?
The
e-learning tools consist actually of animated slides. They are of the
type “I explain you money laundering by showing pictures of
Dollar bags lying on beaches of paradisiacal islands”. It takes
certainly lots of time to produce these slides. But is it really
useful?
The
last part of the learning material turns out being most useful (for
the exam): In a student-like
manner, you respond to as many multiple choice questions as possible
to get a sense of how the exam actually works and to anticipate the
answers to future questions.
A few
days before July 5, my COO reminds me of the upcoming exam. I feel
caught out and, straightaway, register for a training session the
evening before the exam.
At
least, this is a good occasion to see the offices of the consultant.
In one of the best areas of Paris, they are quite nice and spacious.
I have learned something again – I definitely didn't know that this
type of training service for the finance industry pays as well as
that!
The
consultant has network problems and is half an hour late. Time enough
to discuss a bit with my peers. Among the few people who gather, most of them has
just shown up because it is mandatory.
We go
through multiple choice questions with a tutor who has 25 years of
experience as a French regulator. I keep thinking – “What as
waste: Here you have someone who could tell you a story about what
happened in the French finance industry in the last 25 years. But,
instead, he leads us through multiple choice questions and,
after each question, simply ticks the right box!”
The
next morning is like any other morning. I get up early, prepare
breakfast for the kids and bring them to school. However, instead of
going to work, I will be transformed into a better front officer this
morning. I answer 100 multiple choice question about the French
finance industry and its regulation and am happy to see at the end,
that I have passed the exam with success.
Now
let's be honest: I have actually learned a few new things through
this exam. But, was that really worth my time and the money of my
employer?
