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    The Banker
    The Banker
    The Banker
    Ebook106 pages1 hour

    The Banker

    By Lee Foo Chai

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    About this ebook

    The book is about the banking career of Lee Foo Chai, a Malaysian who is passionate about living life to the fullest. He has written the book with a sense of pride, courage and determination. His thoughts are collected from his working life in the bank which spanned over a period of 29 years. He provides an insight into the operation of the bank, its management structure, the bank’s policy, the office politics and the culture of the organization. He also shares his thoughts on how to enhance your banking career and what it takes to climb the corporate ladder. His journey as a banker has been long but worthwhile and he is grateful for having the opportunity to work in the prestigious international bank and for the invaluable experience gained. He believes that banking is still a respectable profession to join and a good place to find your true potential.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherReadOnTime BV
    Release dateJan 16, 2014
    ISBN9781742843834
    The Banker

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      Book preview

      The Banker - Lee Foo Chai

      Chapter 1

      Beginning of my Banking Career

      It was a cold day in December 1974 when I arrived at London’s Heathrow airport after a long flight from my home in Malaysia. The airport was swarmed with many travellers from all over the world queuing to pass through the immigration check point. It was an extremely busy day with aeroplanes arriving and departing seemingly every minute. Arriving at London, the British capital and the world’s largest financial centre was a dream come true for me. I had heard so much about this great city during my younger days. It was hard to realize I had at last come to the home of the famous British pop group The Beatles.

      This was my first trip to England and also my first trip overseas. There was a feeling of excitement and also uncertainty – I did not know what to expect during my stay there. I still can remember being overjoyed when I was recruited to be a bank officer trainee with a British bank after graduating with a degree in economics from a local university. I was very fortunate to secure the bank job and the trip to London marked the beginning of my banking career with the prestigious international bank.

      Chapter 2

      Training in London

      The London office attachment was part of the Bank’s training programme to enable me to learn the fundamentals of banking before I assumed my official job back home in Malaysia. It would give me the opportunity to get acquainted with the English culture and facilitate my future dealings with English-speaking customers, especially the Mat Salleh (Malay word for Westerners). For me, I had already decided to enjoy myself, as this could be a once in a lifetime experience.

      The training in London was conducted mainly at the bank’s headquarters in the city. A group of the bank’s trainees from Malaysia had already begun their training after having arrived in UK a few months previously. There were also a few trainees from other countries too but they tended to keep their own company, and mixed only among themselves.

      We were provided with hotel accommodation by the bank and were also paid a daily allowance on top of our basic salary at home. We usually commuted to the office by the city’s underground tube service which was very efficient and rather cheap. We later learned that the bank’s top executives often used this mode of transport as well.

      The training program often required us to sit next to an experienced bank staff for a whole day to observe how the bank transactions were conducted in that department. Having acquired the requisite skills, we would move on to the next department. Office work was very monotonous. It entailed lots of checking and signing of documents. We were regularly required to read chunks of manuals on guidelines and procedures regarding the bank’s operation. There were several instances when we were asked to help to paste stamps on envelops – an experience we often preferred not to talk about! On one occasion, I was asked to deliver some traveller’s cheques to a customer who was hospitalised. Overall, life as a trainee in the office was rather boring.

      We always looked forward to the time after office hour where we would flock to the pubs to drink beer and chat with the customers there. To overcome homesickness, we always found something to do with our free time. During the weekend, we sometimes managed to make trips to the nearby English countryside. During our long leave, many of us took the opportunity to travel across the English Channel to the European continent to visit a few countries like France and Germany.

      On completion of our training, we were required to pass an examination set by The Institute of Bankers in London. The examination covered basic subjects like English, Law, Accounting and Economics and it was a breeze for those of us who had studied these subjects in the university. However, there were a few trainees who failed the examination at their first attempt. They were required to re-sit some of the subjects. As a result, their training period was extended by a few months to enable them to pass the examination before returning home. Of course, these trainees did not complain about the prolonged training since it was more like an extended holiday for them!

      Chapter 3

      Life as a Bank Officer Back in KL

      After completing the six months training in London, I returned home. My first assignment was with the telex department in the bank’s Kuala Lumpur head office. This small unit was managed by an officer and two women secretaries. It was responsible for sending and receiving telex messages from banks all over the world. The messages involved transfer of large sums of money. Hence, the unit provided a very important service for the bank. The coded messages, when received from overseas, were usually transmitted to the bank’s branches via telex machines. Where a branch did not have telex machines, the messages had to be communicated via telephone. As part of my job in the department, I was given the responsibility to telephone the branches regarding their messages.

      I recall an occasion where I could not pronounce correctly some of the banking terms and customer names mentioned in the message. This annoyed the officer at the other end of the line. The following day when I called the officer again regarding a new telex message, he refused to take my call. He insisted on having one of the secretaries to call him instead. I firmly told him that either he took my call or he would not get any more calls from us and henceforth he would be held responsible for any delay that arose. From that day onwards, he patiently received my calls. To my surprise, we eventually became good friends.

      My next assignment was as an accounts officer in a branch in Kuala Lumpur. The daily job was monotonous with signing of vouchers and scrutiny of customers’ cheques. There were meetings to attend and telephone calls to answer. Life was regimented with lots of rules to follow. Everybody followed a work pattern. I quickly learned to respect the bureaucracy in the organization. The message

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