Kate Hopkins - Commercial Banking

• What inspires you?
• What attracted you to Barclays?
• Why did you choose to join Business Banking?
• What have you been doing since you joined?
• What do you enjoy the most about you job?
• What support and training have you had since joining?
• What qualities do you need to succeed in Business Banking?
• Why join Business Banking at Barclays?
• Who at work inspires you and why?

Transcript

What inspires you?
My aeroplane is to symbolise my passion for travelling, seeing the world and getting an opportunity to explore some new cultures. One of the main reasons why I’ve decided to come work for Barclays, is the opportunity to work aboard, the opportunity to work with customers that are internationally based and its also a private passion of travelling, seeing the world and I just love holidays.

What attracted you to Barclays?
The main decision maker for me in terms of why I decided to work for Barclays instead of any other firm was the opportunity to work for what I believe is an unrivalled bank in terms of what it offers for its customers. I also believe that we are a truly innovative bank and one of the best brands in the UK.

Why did you choose to join the Commercial Bank?
The main reason I work, or chose to work in the business area of the Commercial Bank, was the opportunity to work with some of our top names in the UK - pretty much all the names you know on the high street and every manufacturer - and just being given the opportunity to work with business to ensure that our economy grows and work closely with the larger business community in the UK.

What have you been doing since you joined?
When I first joined I started in Risk, which, I personally feel is one of the most important areas in terms of the Commercial Bank because it underpins our ability to do business effectively. I was involved in internal projects where we looked at firming up and shoring up the risk function basically, so that was my first stint.

I followed that by stint in what we call servicing in the Commercial Bank, which for me was probably one of my most valuable experiences because it’s centred upon the primary contact with the customer. Any role where you have customers, I found it was crucial to have that experience, so I was working on the frontline, I was the first port of call for our large business customers, and it was a fantastic experience, in dealing with their day-to-day queries.

You were their first port of call if they had any troubles or any issues, so that was a fantastic experience on the servicing side. Then, I moved on to more of a sales role, where I am currently. I’m involved in making sure that the customers are given the best advice, that they are given the best solutions for their needs. And that’s the role I’m in at the moment.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?
The bit I enjoy most about my job is going into work every day knowing that it’s not going to be the same as yesterday. Every single day is completely different and it is by the very nature in which we work so closely with our customers that we effectively mirror what they’re going through.

Like I say, every day is completely different, you work on their needs, what comes through the door that day, and I would say that through interaction with customers, you get an insight into their business. You know sometimes that these are large family businesses, otherwise they can be very large PLC’s but just getting an insight into their business, how it runs and how we as a bank support them in they’ve achieved - I think that that’s probably the best bit about my job.

Also the team I work with, all the people I’ve come across while I’ve been in the team have been absolutely fantastic, so I enjoy not only working with our customers but also working with all our internal customers and all my fellow staff as well.

What support and training have you had since joining?
The support and training has been impeccable really from the start. From the very beginning we’ve had a very structured training programme, which has been delivered by our graduate team. So not only have they provided support but a structured learning scheme for us, which involved, across the first eight weeks a number of intensive courses.

The other thing that’s been provided for us in terms of training is a bespoke training programme for the area of the bank you are in. So effectively it means that any time you move on to a new role, you go through the process of an induction course which allows you to basically go on the course that anyone in that job would have done, so it gives you an insight into any new role that you go into, more experience in the bank, your interaction with other members of staff at the bank, not necessarily on the graduate programme. Every time you move on the support and the training is provided for the new requirements for any new role.

On top of that, we also have individual graduate training events, which build on and develop our knowledge of the bank. Because, essentially, we sometimes work with people who have been at the bank for sometimes twenty to thirty years, it just helps you to bridge that knowledge and experience gap.

The training is varied but it is there really to support you. Another bit of training that is available to graduates is the opportunity to get involved in professional qualifications. I myself have been involved in the AMCT which is an additional training scheme that has been provided within the Commercial Bank and that has a professional accreditation. So in terms of training and support, it’s just unrivalled.

What qualities do you need to succeed in the Commercial Bank?
Firstly you need to be able to build relationships with people. The fundamental side of our business within the Commercial Bank is to build relationships with our customers. That underpins pretty much everything we do with our customers, so you need to have those relationship-building skills.

You also need to be confident and hard-working. Within the bank, we need to be working hard to ensure that we are delivering the best customer service. It is a competitive environment and that is our main, unique selling point to our customers.

Why join the Commercial Bank at Barclays?
I would say that the Commercial Bank is at the forefront of what we do within Barclays. We’ve got a fantastic reputation within the market place and our unrivalled three-person proposition to our customers just provides a fantastic opportunity for anyone to develop their relationship skills, but also, their fundamental banking skills.

Who at work inspires you and why?
Within my team there is one relationship director that I work alongside. The reason he inspires me is his attitude towards his customers, and the way in which he does things. He basically epitomises what we stand for in terms of customer service.

This relationship director looks after the business services sector within our team in the Midlands. One of his customers is a company that looks after care homes for disabled children. Now, a lot of the time we are involved in entertaining our customers as a way to ensure that we get to know them the best, build the relationship to ensure that we are providing the best service.

Basically, he has arranged for one of the children at a care home who had leukaemia and that had been fostered, someone who didn’t have any parents, and who’d never been to a football match to come down to Highbury for one of the last games that they had there. Well, this person was a massive, avid Arsenal fan.

This just epitomises what we stand for in the relationship side of banking and has proved to be a complete inspiration not only within our team but also, sort of, in the wider Commercial Bank area.