Why is retail banking looked down on?

As an addendum, many college graduates turn away from it. But, its a fast way to move up at a large bank. You're likely more educated than the others in a branch except the manager. You'd move up to six sigma or something else higher fast, but most WSO people wouldn't dream of it.

Here? You need to know your audience. Since your banana count likely indicates you are not a troll:

These are people preparing for specialized finance (and related) careers. Recruiting for a job in retail banking shouldn't require the same level of preparation as the other careers commonly discussed here. It's a completely different avenue. It's also one which is much more reliant on personality and naturally acquired skills.

If retail banking is where someone's skills and passions are, it's a great option for those people... but this may not be the best place to discuss that career path. Some may see the lack of preparation required to land those roles as "below them", that they are too common or easy to get, or that the function is not what they desire. They may incorrectly assume that it's some type of "lesser" job when it's really just different. Either way, if you are trying to prep here for a retail banking job... well, you're probably doing something wrong. You also need to be working with a completely different toolbox... one which actually may be to your detriment in some of the other careers.

With regards to WSO, unfortunately there are a lot of college or high school students who live in this fantasy world that Investment Banking is like Wall Street, Margin Call, etc. It also has to do with this notion of "prestige" which is irrelevant.

If you enjoy corporate banking (assuming this is what you're referring to when you mean retail) there are a lot of options such as asset-based lending (reserve-based lending) and similar work to what Investment Bankers perform except you are packaging loans for F500 clients.

In short, if its something you enjoy you can have a successful career and make a decent chunk of money along with bonuses and probably have a better work-life balance. In addition I believe there is less of an expectation for you to move onto PE or an MBA after two years and are often promoted to managerial positions and even VP soon thereafter.

Retail banking is looked down on because it is really just opening up checking accounts and credit cards. Branch managers can make decent money, but there is no way you are becoming a branch manager in a year. If you want to do commercial banking be a credit analyst. You'll learn credit underwriting and can easily move to to Corp banking or being a RM. Working in retail is just tough.

Keep in mind that there's a lot more to retail banking than just working in the branch. They use financial analysts to evaluate policies and programs, consumer and B2B marketing experts, internal tech managers...you name it. Since it's a consumer facing business almost all business majors are covered in a commercial bank.

The biggest downside is the lack of the same upside. Commercial banking folks aren't going to have the same PE/HF opportunities that a lot of the kids here believe is the only place to be.

And well, some of them can be a pretty decent gig if you don't mind being away from a deal oriented environment(which is a deal-breaker for me).

For example, here's a link to JPM's commercial banking internships.

Also another note: It's a great fallback option to IB. I've got a classmate who worked as a credit analyst for a commercial bank pre-MBA, and he got enormous interest including companies reaching out to him. He was the first one to get an offer and signed with a very well reputed firm.

OP, what do you mean by retail banking? Are you talking retail as in working in an actual branch? There are tons of positions and functions that fall under the retail umbrella but you seem to be talking about in branch retail. As others have stated, wso is probably the wrong place to pitch retail because everyone's wrapped up in prestige but personally I would find it boring as shit interacting and selling shit to consumers and managing bank tellers, if you're actually talking about working in a branch.

But, managing a retail branch on the North Shore of Kauai, in Vail or the Virgin Islands would be a pretty sweet gig.

Are you seriously asking about why it sucks to work in retail banking?

They deal with little old ladies who haven't figured out how to use the Internet. Open savings and checking accounts. Truly mundane shit that requires no intelligence or drive. I don't know why so many people are humoring you. Personal bankers are basically tellers with a desk.

It may not be the worst job on the planet, but it's certainly not a job anyone strives for.

Why is it looked down on? Because it's not high finance. Everyone here is obsessed with High Finance, so everyone will shit on anything that's not >. It's just how WSO is.

I have a few friends in the retail banking area and my buddy's brother in law does retail banking as well. My friends doing Retail Banking are "private bankers" meaning they handle all the loans, branch advisory accounts, credit cards, etc. and make a nice chunk on that, plus the money they manage for clients (they all have their licenses) and the insurance trailers. My one buddy covers 5 branches in the area as their local private banker and does well for himself. My buddy's brother in law does credit and mortgage financing for a major US Bank and has had numerous offers to jump from "Retail & Commercial" to various Real Estate funds and developers.

It's not a bad job if you like it. WSO caters to those who want to be Investment Bankers, Consultants, and folks going down the VC/PE/HF Route. There are retail bankers on here though.

Entry-level sales jobs are held in relative distaste on this site, so retail banking is already off to a bad start here. But in terms of sales jobs, retail banking has to be just a step above Amway and door-to-door vacuum cleaner sales.

You're selling commoditized products, so most of your actual "selling" is just explaining products to customers, really never a need to make a hard sell. You're not going out and getting your customers, your marketing department does that. You just sit there behind your wooden desk all day, hoping for some schmuck to walk in and want to move some cash from his savings to a CD. As such, you gain no tangible finance skills and at the same time don't even really develop your sales ability like you would in a job where you're actually selling.

The majority of long-term posters on this site have a certain personality type, that when coupled with an interest in finance, draws them towards the more complex, higher-return side of finance (i.e. IB, PE, HF, AM, S&T, etc.). Retail banking doesn't really fit that bill, so no one here wants to talk about it. I could also argue that if this were a sales-focused forum with the same exact membership demographics, you would still find very little interest in retail banking. It's a very low risk, low return field, which just doesn't appeal to the masses on WSO.

New member here so take it easy on me but what are the key differences between working at a local credit union vs a giant like Citi, Chase, Wells Fargo, etc. ? I have friends who say the credit unions are MUCH less sales-heavy. When I go to my credit union it seems like they just sit in their glass cubicle 9 hours a day hoping for a new client.

You need to remember that a huge amount of members here have little to no intention of staying in banking. They see Investment banking as a springboard to either prestigious Business Schools, or other prestigious/more lucrative and fun jobs. Same with Management consulting.

Not to say that retail banks aren't important, especially in smaller cities. If you're the head of a retail bank(or similar exec position), you will deal with most serious local businesses and industries, especially if you're out in nowhere. I'm from a very small town (pop. around 40k), and the head of my retail bank (pretty small branch, around 80 workers) was compensated around $700k including bonuses. Less than what his regular IB peers would be making at the same age (nationally), but with a lot less stress and much more manageable hours. Throw in dirt-cheap housing prices (compared to financial centers), and life must be pretty good.

Lol.

My town has a population of 3 people and we pay our retail banker $10 million.

Total BS on the idea that some Retail Manager managing 80 people can make $700k. I started my career at a community bank ($3bn in assets) and the CEO only made $240k base with options and bonus taking him to $500k. The bank had 920 more employees as well.

Retail branch managers make around $50-$70k with good ones hitting $100k. Assistant Branch Managers make $35-$60k. Tellers make $12/hr. Retail banking today is informing my grandmother how to use mobile deposit and the fancy new ATM outside that will take her checks. Brick and mortar branch banking will continue to be downsized into smaller branches with only one or two "universal bankers" inside. Most ATM's today can handle about any transaction you may have.

For someone who is interested in commercial banking, I would recommend getting into a corporate development program out of college with a top 10 bank and try to get placed in a corp banking team, on an equity sponsor group team, or on a capital markets team after the development program. Corporate banking probably isn't quite as challenging as IB or PE, but as others mentioned, you make a decent living with a great work/life balance.