With their schedules already filled with exams, theses and other academic activities, about 1,400 college seniors will receive yet another assignment--from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
The students, who will join the megabank in spring after graduation, will be asked to start studying for a qualifying exam to become a certified securities sales representative, bank sources said.
Sumitomo Mitsui plans to put more emphasis on sales of investment trusts, and qualifications as securities sales representatives are necessary for its new business strategy.
It will be the first time a major bank has asked prospective employees to begin studying for the certification exam six months before they even join the bank.
Many major banks face a serious manpower shortage caused by past downsizing efforts to deal with disposal of non-performing loans.
The work-force deficiency means there are not enough employees to train the new recruits during their first several months on the job.
Regardless of what career track the prospective employees will pursue, they will all receive training materials from Sumitomo Mitsui, beginning this month.
The materials are designed to prepare them for the Type 2 securities sales representative exam.
The bank's goal is to have all the rookie employees pass the test to be held in May, about a month after they officially join the bank.
The securities sales representative exam is not easy. Only between 60 and 70 percent of exam-takers pass the test.
Until now, the bank has encouraged only career-track employees to pass the exam in November of their first year with the bank.
Sumitomo Mitsui officials said the new education program was partly in response to requests from the college seniors.
"In the past, we passed out lists of books only to prospective employees and hoped they would read them before entering the bank," said an official in the personnel department. "But today's college students are more ambitious, and many ask us what they should study before entering the bank.
"While we believe they will be very busy working on both their senior theses and the qualification exams, we decided that it would be beneficial for us to take advantage of their eagerness."
Sumitomo Mitsui has also prepared other materials for ambitious college seniors to teach them bookkeeping and foreign languages over the Internet before they enter the bank.
The bank's 500 or so rookie employees on the career track will undergo a six-month off-the-job training program to learn the basics of banking, such as loans and foreign exchange, after joining the bank.(IHT/Asahi: October 13,2006)
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200610130144.html
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