Bank builds skill base in securities servicing

Citation

(2009), "Bank builds skill base in securities servicing", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 41 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2009.03741fab.002

Bank builds skill base in securities servicing

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 41, Issue 6

An award-winning training program is helping an international financial-services company to serve its clients across Europe from a new base in Manchester, England.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation chose Manchester, known in the Industrial Revolution as “Cottonopolis”, as a major European center despite the city having no existing base of securities-servicing experience to tap into.

The company needed 350 people to be recruited and intensively trained over 12 months. It had not undertaken a project on this scale before and needed to plan, design and implement a new training program.

A city-center-based advertising campaign helped the company to recruit the trainees, from a range of backgrounds. Some 35 percent of them were school-leavers and a further 35 percent were graduates.

A 15-day core induction program, with seven learner-development objectives, was developed. A measurement framework was used, incorporating benchmarks, qualifications and client service.

The program was designed to meet compliance and regulatory requirements, to embed the company’s vision and values and to use accredited-learning techniques to maximize retention of learning and pace of progression.

The 350 individuals were trained, with a drop-out average of one every two months. All business needs were met.

Ian Pettigrew, assistant vice-president, European learning and development said:

Following the completion of the core induction program, the company’s expectations of the learners were exceeded. Manchester was one of the few green-field sites where we have built a major operation from the ground up … We overcame huge challenges to design and implement an efficient training system that successfully upskilled 350 people to a very high standard.

The progam has also provided Manchester with a significant boost to its financial-services industry, adding a considerable base of new skills and creating bedrock for sustainable growth.

We have developed a pioneering qualification, the Advanced Apprenticeship in Investment Administration, which is helping to lay the base for a long-term securities-servicing skill base in Manchester. It is designed to attract young people to a career in financial services and to ensure that they develop the skills and practical experience required to progress. It will also help the company to recruit from a growing pool of partially skilled young people as it continues to expand in Manchester.