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“Dude, why is it every time I walk into the bank, everyone I talk to is a Vice President?”
“Because everybody is a Vice President. It is a totally made up title that means absolutely nothing and is there to make you feel better about doing business with them. It’s totally bullshit.”
This was a real conversation I had with a good friend of mine a few years ago. At the time, I was a slightly disgruntled, moderately underpaid banker who was just starting to see some traction from my calling efforts. I had booked a few deals and thought I was hot shit. Some of the higher ups began to take notice of what I was doing and were actually going out of their way to talk to me. But I was furious. I was furious because I was missing one thing
See, I was an Asst. Vice President.
The Asst. Vice President carries LITERALLY just as much weight as a Vice President title. I was just upset because I am a superficial, insecure asshole who really cares about the way people perceive me. And having that AVP title, in my mind, was a detriment to my success.
As fate may have it, my wife and I were out to dinner with my friend and his girlfriend just a few days later when my boss called me and told me I was being promoted to Vice President. My wife was super excited while my friend just looked at me with this smug grin on his face, clearly recalling our conversation from a few days earlier. To cement how much this title DOESN’T mean, my promotion was a title change only. No raise. No memo. I felt like Dwight Schrute when he got promoted to Assistant Regional Manager.
This is why every time my mom states that she “deals with the Vice President of the bank” whenever she walks into her local branch, it makes me laugh. It’s like that scene in Big when Tom Hanks’ little ginger friend asks that if the President dies, do you get his job and Tom Hanks says “no we’ve got like 100 of them.” That is truly the case with banks and the title is only put in place to make ignorant customers feel better about who they are dealing with despite the fact that this person was selling cell phones just a few weeks ago.
Now, if you ever have a problem with your bank and anyone with a Senior Vice President title or above reaches out to you, then you can be assured you are dealing with a big swinging dick at the cracker factory. These titles actually mean something and when these individuals are getting involved, you better believe that Vice President you were dealing with a few days prior is getting his or her ass chewed out for dropping the ball so bad. These guys actually have the power to make things happen for you and always know who to contact to get things resolved.
My advice when it comes to dealing with individuals at the bank is to simply do your homework. Don’t just rely on the VP in front of that individual’s name to make sure you are getting the best possible products and services. When looking to set up accounts, get a loan, apply for a credit card, or whatever it may be – just simply ask questions about this individual’s qualifications. As I said before, who you bank with matters SIGNIFICANTLY more than where you bank. The same goes for the title of the individual you work with. We will dive way deeper into this next week when we discuss actual commercial banking for your business..
Respond
@billfromthebank
I’ve read this same article 5 different times in the past two weeks on PGP. I get wanting more finance stuff, but let’s be honest, working in a retail bank isn’t even really banking
Finance:
Tier 1: Private equity, buy-side
Tier 2: Investment banking
…
Tier 10: Retail / commercial banking
I don’t think retail/commercial banking should be lumped together, at least not yet. Retail banking, primarily lending, is nearly all computer underwritten and can be done by someone with virtually no knowledge, and they have little power over the decisions made (I can say this because I have also done this).
Being in commercial/ag lending, at least in a small regional bank, you still have quite a bit of power over the decisions made and what you can provide your customer. Is that tightening up? Absolutely. Will commercial lending be underwritten on the same sweeping generalizations as retail banking is? I would imagine in the very near future, yes. Will I likely be fired for someone to be paid much less since all “lending” will become is data input and the computer makes a decision? Also yes….
Bigger the account, the more variance in statistics associated. Same goes for insurance underwriting. If you aren’t in the business of exotic risks, then you are just a monkey reading algorithm and formula results.
Depends on your perspective and the FI, corporate/commercial bankers look down on retail because they are tired of having their friends and family think they are a teller.
But then again your FI might not give a damn about IB and just have it to support their core businesses. Like saying you’re in IB at CapOne (unsure if this even exists) is useless because all they care about are personal CC’s and having celebrity spokespeople.
Thinking about being an investment banker at CapitalOne made me laugh
It seems like at mid level to smaller banks, it is kind of the thought that commercial lending is what drives revenue and because of that there is still a little bit of deal making and officers still have some power to “move and shake”. At larger banks (tbh, I have less experience) the deal making is at a minimum, and commercial deals are more very large, no brainer, syndicated style credits(which are likely handled by the syndication department/private client group), whereas locally the bread and butter that drives revenue is non interest income from debit cards, OD fees, etc.
For example, being a commercial lender/VP at a 20 branch regional bank is a much different role with much different responsibilities/power than being a commercial lender/VP for say a US Bank, even in the same town.
Sounds like a person with title of Vice President
Do I smell a blog-off??
Action
Co-sign.
Source: bank VP
Put in a good word for me.
Signed: 1st year MBA student
I got promoted to Director recently. Except in title. And pay. In realty my director boss quit and I was given her responsibilities and “we’ll figure out the rest later but don’t worry we’ll take care of you.” 6 months and counting….
You should follow up on that, big guy. Very rare an employer will give you jack shit unless you ask. Need some tact, but ask.
Well then my new boss (CFO) quit. So he has to get replaced. At this point, I get my bonus in December, if I get fucked I’m out.
You could burn down the building
it’s spreading too.. im in tech and anyone that manages a team is now a VP of sorts
My sorority’s exec board had one president and then like 3 VP’s. This must have all started with the Zetas…
P.S. the Big movie reference may be top movie reference I have ever read. Perfect example and some would say Tom Hanks best film.
They’re all like that…VP of Philanthropy, VP of Academics, VP of the Treasury, VP of Risk Management…pointless.
Tbt to TSM days
As a commercial banker I can confirm this is beyond true.
At an IB it’s analyst->associate->avp ->VP -> director -> managing director. All significant promotions/raises
was totally reading those as the greater then symbol and got confused.
-checks title-
Still a peon
Bank Officer-> Asst VP-> VP-> First VP-> Division VP-> Senior VP-> Exec VP…. tbh you can add “senior” to any VP title to add another layer of no one gives a fuck.
Can confirm. I’m a commercial/ag banker who was recently was promoted from AVP to SVP, which came with a 1% pay increase and new business cards. That being said, I love my role in a small, regional bank, however my consistent, pessimistic soapbox speech is that we will all be acquired and a part of a large national bank within the next 10-20 years, if not sooner.
Keep thinking banking could be a fun second career.
I work in logistics and sales rep, sales executive, sales associate, logistics specialist, account manager, senior account manager, national account manager and freight broker are all the same job.
Can confirm,
Signed
Freight Broker/Logistics Account Specialist/Logistics Account Coordinator/Weekend Operations (retired)