Professionalism in Banking Sector
Professionalism is being aware of the language of time. People need to be professional for the betterment of the institution by recognizing the do and don’t of the job. Professionalism tends to abide by the commands of the authority that synchronizes with the professional knowledge, that should also fulfill due diligence in good faith. Professionalism is a simple word but its territory is vast. Banking industry is like artery and vain for a country. So, Professionalism in banking sector plays a vital role for the country by synchronization with the ethics in banking.
The more a customer gets facility the more he/she wants. On the other side, the less a customer will get facility from an institution, the more he/she will be attracted by other institution. The faster a customer gets facility the more he/she will be satisfied. But the faster you will provide a service the more chance you will bear chance of being an error. When a customer gets his/her expected services, he/she finds free time to make a noise as we know idle brain is devil’s workshop. In between you are with your professionalism for the betterment of your institution. Professionalism starts with very simple things. Excess of anything is not good. Excess consciousness may affect the normal flow of business. A salam may start your professionalism, a smile may help. You may give a pen to your customer to fill up account form with your own risk. At the same time you will observe that customer should not left your desk unconsciously with that pen given by your bank. Professionalism is the safeguard within you that will tell you about what you should do and what you should not in your banking profession.
Example.
- A customer has come to open an account without all necessary documents. And he/she wants you to fill up the account opening form. If you help customer to fill it up, next time, he/she will expect more. If you open account without necessary documents with a hope that he/she will bring those documents in time of checkbook collection, you will bear audit risk. Here you need your professionalism.
- Signing without reading breaks professionalism.
- Questions should be asked in time of helping to fill up the account opening form. Filling up account opening form without proper questions break professionalism.
- Sometimes, management desires fast and error free service from a bank member. Quality is related with time. If someone provides fast service with errors in banking sector may increase your performance but break professionalism badly.
- Professionalism differs when you are in a team. Unprofessional team member increases risk.
- Official behavior with seniors, same ranks and juniors is part of professionalism.
- Ignoring Sharia formalities increase risk. Sometimes, it is observed, cash is given to customers before software disbursement. At the end of the day, documents related to Sharia are matched up.
- There are some techniques to find exactness of customer’s verbal speech and body language. Professionalism is important here.
- It is better to give importance on documentation rather than verbal communication. Sending Investment proposal without proper visit is unprofessionalism.
- Often it is observed proposal is being created by back calculation. Due diligence is an investigation or audit of a potential investment or product to confirm all facts. Maintaining due diligence is symbol of professionalism.
- In our Quran, it is ordered not to mix up truth with false. Similarly, it is also ordered to disallow interest in sura bakara 275-281, sura al imran 130-131, sura nisa160-162, sura maida 62-63, sura rum 39. Professionalism should be there to stand with truth and huq in line of Islami banking.
- Other examples.
Once upon a time there was barter system. Later currency has started. Banking system started at bench in Italy by coins. Later cash has taken its place. Cash has converted into digital money. Customer behavior changes in different medium differently. Now a days, network is controlling behavior is also a bit working like a currency. Life is getting faster but accountability is weakening as transaction is being completed with a fraction of second without receipt. Professionalism is also changing from ledger book to banking software towards digital money. IT risk is getting prioritized. Information is ruling the world. So, information gape should be controlled in a systematic way to avoid chaos. Subways of banking are making transaction easier but at the same time it is making crowd and chaos. You need professionalism there.
In first world countries, network is being used for controlling national issues like transportation, treading and trend. They use their banking channel, information, network and good governance to rule their country. They have reached at the pick of individualism. If we copy their system blindly number of people may decrease tends to number of products will increase. Our cultural, geographical, weather, social and economical status does not clasp same. You need your professionalism there. Professionalism is highly important for Confidentiality maintenance also.
Normally we copy systems from them without evaluating what and how will it effect on our people. The way hardware is touchable where software is not, similarly a receipt should be given and taken for the completion of a transaction in software. Otherwise national employment may decrease. And, Customer may find no receipt for allegation in time of hackings and frauds. If our dependency on automation increases most, hacking attacks may harm drastically. So, beside combination of automation and manual system, a backup manual system should always ready to face financial crisis through banking medium and in case of transportation, treading and trend. So, print copy of statement affairs should be matched with computer soft copy at best as possible and should be preserved in vault like a copy of daily newspaper is preserved for archive. Otherwise, he/she will be running with in the Q, a programming. Here professionalism is required for self consciousness as well as to educate customers.
If we want to go forward we will have to go with the real sharia based women empowerment. Sharia based working environment and family empowerment is very important to retain our cultural, geographical, social and economical tradition and trend to journey towards excellence. Professionalism is required there.
We import more than we export. We need to be self sufficient on five basic needs. For that reason we need to increase export which is not an easy task. Professionalism is required there. In time of barter age, people knew what they should exchange and what they should reserved. They kept their required and exported surplus. Excess should be exported. But, we import luxury products. Here you need your professionalism to understand feasibility test and to decide on.
People acts differently in different profession and position. We may categorize professional as following:
- Ethical professionalism
- Altruistic professionalism
- Responsible professionalism
- Theoretical professionalism
- Committed professionalism
- Intellectual professionalism
Ethical professionalism:
- Deals honestly with others.
- Maintains confidentiality regarding professional matters.
- Recognizes professional basis and bases attitude and action upon soundly.
- Believes that others recognize the value of a professional.
- Does not misrepresent personal qualification.
- Faces self honestly.
Altruistic professionalism:
- Behaves unselfishly.
- Devotes practice to interests of others.
- Motives professional practice those are not selfish.
- Shows respect for others.
- Shows positivity toward co-workers, children, adults and community members.
Responsible professionalism:
- Promises only that can be delivered.
- Delivers on time.
- Says no without guilt.
- Is accountable for own actions.
- Develops a philosophy and sound basis for own actions.
- Foresees possible outcomes of professional actions.
- Make decisions based on possibilities.
- Considers the best benefits of the client.
- Confronts discrepant between intentions and action.
- Assess own contribution realistically.
Theoretical professionalism:
- Practices critical thinking.
- Contributes to knowledge base.
- Shows appreciation for scholarship, research and theory.
- Presents the theoretical foundation of ideas and actions.
- Evaluates own professional practice in light of new conditions and knowledge.
Committed professionalism:
- Spends time beyond the call of duty.
- Takes an active part in professional organization.
- Identifies both praise and criticism.
- Articulates profession’s philosophy and practice to public.
Intellectual professionalism:
- Read current journals.
- Interacts with colleagues to gain new perspectives.
- Strives towards self improvement.
- Maintains confidentiality.
There was direct barter system in ancient time, has rare to be found. Later, only coin was to rule kingdom has come to an end. Banking system started at bench in Italy, now it covers all over the world. Now, cash has converted into digital money which has no visibility or touch ability. In future banking may be enacted with human physiology and psychology. Customer behavior changes in different medium differently. Finally, we are with our professionalism with a dream to face a peaceful future.