Bachelor’s degree or a graduation degree
IBPS Recruitment
IBPS has released Job notifications for Probationary Officer (PO) Posts.
A Bank Probationary Officer (PO) in the bank is the starting level appointment for bank officers and the promotional prospects are quite healthy with the work
What is PO in bank?
A Probationary Officer (PO) is an entry-level employee in a bank appointed to handle the overall banking management within the banking sector. Probationary Officers join the bank at a junior level. During the probation period, they need to work in an entry-level office in the bank for two years, and later they are promoted to assistant Managers of Scale 1.
Job Profile
Here are the job profile of a PO in Bank. The assistant manager works closely with the branch manager to ensure that all the processes and services a bank offers run smoothly. He assists in directing and managing the tellers’ and loan officers’ jobs. He makes daily schedules and duties as well as trains the newly hired employees with the using of the machines and the like.
An assistant manager is just as responsible as the manager for the overall success or failure a branch faces.
A bank PO is responsible for assisting the branch manager in training all the employees to do their job well. They help in the budgeting of the bank’s expenses and help create a fool-proof daily routine that the employees can follow.
Roles and Responsibilities
While on the job, here are some of the important responsibilities of probationary officer (or Assistant Manager) in banks.
- The primary duty is to assist and support the branch manager in operating the bank functions.
- He or she has to oversee the functions of the bank whether they are running smoothly or not. He / She also manages the trivial things without bothering the manager.
- He or she has the duty to take care of hiring new employees when needed and arranging their training for their development.
- He or she also has to take care of the customers so has to help and solve customer concerns and queries
- He or she has also to look into the matter of marketing of the policies of the bank.
- He or she has to prepare the reports about the performance of the bank for showing to the manager.
- He or she will be responsible for all the duties and functions of the absence of the manager.
- It will be the duty to motivate the employees after evaluating their performance
- He or she has to take part actively in the meetings regarding sanctioning of loans and other financial decisions of the bank.
Read on to find all of the essential roles and responsibilities of a PO in a bank. Here’s a summary of what we’ll cover:
- Credit and Debt Management
- Customer Service
- Bring New Business
- Handle Cash
- Payment Clearances
- Report Verification
- Official Communication
- Employee Management
Let’s get right into it:
1. Credit and Debt Management
A bank PO has to work towards augmenting the bank’s business by managing cash flow, loans, mortgages, and finance. With time the bank PO may get other responsibilities like preparing and processing the loan document, validating the loanee, and investment management.
Bank PO is also the maker of the loan, and the branch manager is the checker of the loan. Sometimes he has to perform the on-site visits to the loanees as and when required.
2. Customers Service
All banks rely on customers for their business. So servicing the customer is the foremost necessity for an officer by giving them the information they asked.
As a bank PO, you will be asked to look into customers coming for opening new accounts, ATM cards, deposits, receipts, loans, chequebooks etc.,
3. Bring New Business
4. Handle Cash
5. Payment Clearances
6. Report Verification
7. Official Communication
Just like in any MNC or IT company, all employees receive numerous emails which could be related to new rules or schemes or products. A probationary officer may be asked to keep a track of these latest developments to improve their product knowledge as they will be interacting with customers more.
The manager could also ask you to send official replies or letters to other departments for want of information or provide them with required info. So PO’s are required to be well versed in all the branch activities because on promotion, they will be elevated to the cadre of ‘Branch Manager’.
8. Employee Management
The job of a Bank PO also includes allocation of work, monitoring and evaluating the performance of his subordinates who are from the clerical cadre. Bank PO holds a key position in delegating work to the subordinates under the Clerical Cadre and reporting to the manager about the overall performance.
More than responsible, the bank PO is accountable to the management for the holistic development of the branch.
Educational Qualification for Bank PO
The minimum educational qualification for becoming a probationary officer is a Bachelor’s degree or a graduation degree from a recognized university. It requires a minimum of 60% marks for SBI PO & 50% marks for IBPS PO in Graduation.
Skills and Specifications of a Bank PO
The skills and specifications required to be a bank assistant manager are as follows:
- The candidate should have thorough and deep knowledge in the finance, accounting, and economics
- He or she should be aware of all financial rules and regulations of the government
- He or she should be able to manage the employees so should have exceptional leadership and motivational skills
- He or she should be able to resolve the quires and customer concerns, in short, should have extraordinary customer service skills
- He or she should be able to maintain the confidentiality so must be honest regarding the financial dealings of the bank
- He or she should be a good communicator both verbally and written so should have excellent communication skills with the negotiation skills as well.
- He or she should have team working skills so will be able to work as a part of a team.
