An increasing surge of jobs in the banking sector

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These days wherever you turn it is hard to avoid hearing people talk about the financial crisis and its implications. Almost all news items contain some links to it, and within employment issues the consequences are still very much felt. But has the recession had any impact on the way job seekers perceive working within banking or finance roles?

Despite the crisis people still seem to be very keen to work within banking or finance. Amongst the majority of the population it is safe to say that the reputation of banks has taken a hit, but amongst job seekers working for a bank or a financial institution remains very much desirable. Jobs for these companies are considered to be very prestigious as they still have the best technologies, the best systems and the best rewards compared to other sectors. Because of this the highest achievers still look to work for banks or financial institutions.

What else attracts people to work in finance or banking roles? Relative to other sectors these types of roles tend to have more responsibility and involve a lot of problem solving skills. Besides that they get a chance to work with people, there are opportunities to travel and to go out for meetings, and these roles also tend to offer possibilities for fast advancement. All these factors combined make these roles very challenging and interesting for the highest achievers.

So what has changed within the banking and finance sector? There seems to be a change in the expectations of employees that broadly run along the line of the generations. You could say that the employee profile is slowly evolving from what is called -Generation X’ to -Generation Y’. Within these generations the expectations they have of their employers are very different. Generation X will want to know -What is in it for me’, while Generation Y expects great workplace flexibility as well as wanting extremely fast progression and are less willing to work their way up slowly.

The profile of employees within the banking and finance sectors is changing, however this is due to a change in mentality that runs alongside the generations more than being caused by the financial crisis.

Reuben Dennis is a PRO with a leading service sector company and for more on London jobs she recommends you to visit http://www.boycerecruitment.co.uk/

Can Singapore Private Banking Replace Swiss Private Banks

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Singapore private banking has grown massively over the past decade. Assets under management at Singapore private banks have grown to around 300Bn, 6 times what they were 10 years ago. It is estimated that Singapore manages around 5% of the world’s private wealth, while Swiss private banking manages around a quarter.

Singapore has benefited from tight bank secrecy regulation, in addition to a rise in the number of Asian millionaires, especially the type that want to invest with private banks and financial instruments rather than in property.

Yet in response to demand from the G20 group of developed countries, Singapore has promised to rethink its ultra private secrecy laws. Like Switzerland, Singapore has to walk the tightrope between keeping its sovereignty and international acceptance of its laws and banks.

One of the reasons why Singapore has grown is because it already was a large financial center in its own right. Unlike smaller tax havens and dependencies of other countries which have been accused of ”inventing” laws to benefit from capital flight, Singapore is a long-standing trading hub and center of international financial settlements.

There are several arguments in favour of Singapore keeping its privacy laws. Many private banking clients in Singapore are very powerful people among neighbours like China, Indonesia and Thailand. It’s in their interest to ensure that Singapore bank secrecy is not relaxed. Furthermore, Singapore is an international financial center – it cannot be blackmailed in the same way as other jurisdictions.

However Singapore has made concessions, and may not necessarily see its future in harbouring Western tax evaders. Singapore has signed TIEAS with a number of countries and promised to adopt article 26 of the OECD model tax convention on information exchange over tax matters.

After Swiss banking secrecy was put under the spotlight, it was widely reported that bankers were urging a massive flight of capital to Singapore, where bank secrecy rules still held strong. But in reality, basing any structure on bank secrecy is like building a house on a fault line, it’s bound to change. The smartest investors instead used techniques which do not depend on bank secrecy in any single country.

Savvy private banking clients are now using distinct structures which operate independent of bank secrecy such as investing through trusts or trust companies.

Further, the reasons for banking in an offshore centre like Switerland do not depend entirely on tax. In fact the biggest reason is security. Hundreds of banks have been going under in the US, not Switzerland. Investors are also escaping from currency devaluations, civil forfeiture and frivolous lawsuits.

Singapore wealth management is certainly growing in sophistication, but it is still in a learning phase. During the mid 2000’s when Singapore’s private banking industry was growing rapidly, it was alleged that ther were not enough bankers to meet demand. Singapore private banks were instead employing local hairdressers and carsalesmen with good people skills and turning them into private bankers.

Singapore private banking is modelled closely on Swiss private banking, even down to its family trust law. In terms of weathering geo-political events like the war on bank secrecy, Singapore may have to follow the Swiss lead also.

Cayman Islands Banking

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Welcome to the Royal Cayman Bank’s online services website center. Royal Cayman Bank offers online banking services to residents of the Cayman Islands and to non-residents. You can start the process of opening a bank account or the application for a credit card online by visiting the Apply Online page.

Bank Accounts

Cayman Island BankRoyal Cayman Bank offers personal and business bank accounts. With our online account services you can conduct your bank account activities 24 hours a day 7 days a week. To see what bank account products and services are best for you please visit the Apply for a Bank Account Online page.

Credit Cards

Credit-Cards-Cayman-IslandsYou can now apply for credit cards online without having a bank account at the Royal Cayman Bank whether you are a resident or a non-resident of the Cayman Islands. For more information about our credit card products please visit the Apply for a Credit Card Online page.

Banking Cayman Islands Bank of Cayman Bank of Cayman Islands

Banking Backlogs and Inconsistencies Plague the Mortgage System

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As a REALTOR in Williamsburg, VA, I have seen many of inconsistencies with mortgage companies during a down market. Frankly, this frustrates buyers and sellers, me, my staff and colleagues.

I have mortgage company incompetencies, slowdowns and backlogs to share. I have collected some stories from other agents in my RE/Max Capital office in Williamsburg, too. These snafus in the mortgage approval system impact buyers and sellers in a negative way.

Short Sales Frustrations
It is common for a seller to short sale a property, and to have the lender(s) make the seller wait six months for approval and then deny it! More often than not this crucial decision leaves the seller in financial ruins. The sale of the home is never closed, and the property now exists as bank inventory and may not even hit the real estate market for a year or two. Wasting time on short sales leaves homebuyers and home sellers hung-up in financial limbo, and real estate agents without a closed deal. This cannot be good for the economy.

FHA Owned Properties: HomeSteps and HomePath

The FHA is a government agency, backed by tax dollars. If a buyer happens to put an offer on an FHA owned property, they have to use the recommended program. The federal government, in its infinite wisdom, has instituted the HomeSteps program through Freddie Mac and HomePath through Fannie Mae as public loan programs for the home buyer to help assist in the process of closing deals on FHA owned properties. Private lenders work through the program while adhering to government guidelines.

Though the HomePath and HomeStep Programs are enticing for what they offer, the process is slow and unwieldy. Some real estate agents have found the formula applied to each loan approval is not always the same. One agent in my office had a buyer turned down because HomePath indicated they did not have enough income. When the agent confronted the loan officer, she wanted to know why the 10-month income verification was not applied, instead of 12-month verification. She said her clients would qualify with a 10-month formula, and the loan officer agreed it was allowed. Her complaint is that formulas are not being applied consistently. Even those with good credit and stable work histories are finding it hard to close on HomePath loans.

HomePath Lending Program
Fannie Maes HomePath program offers a traditional mortgage with 3% down, and no appraisal or premium mortgage insurance (PMI) is required. In addition, Fannie Mae offers another 3% down loan that includes home purchase and light to moderate renovations on primary or second homes or investment properties. A separate loan funds manufactured homes with the same 3% down payment.

HomeSteps Lending Program
The Freddie Mac Loan Program, HomeSteps, is stricter. The HomeSetps website recommends a 5% down payment with the possibility of qualifying for special programs offering down payment assistance. An appraisal is required on HomeSteps property purchases. Only certain homes will qualify for this program. A public review on the HomeSteps loan program is just as discouraging as HomePath. According to one buyer who complained publicly on CityData.com, the lender was Wells Fargo and the buyers made an initial offer on a Homesteps property, then made a lower offer once it was determined the house had illegal problems. She inquires, “Is it normal to wait three weeks for a reply?”

Often buyers become frustrated with these slow moving property deals and move on. More often then not, the sale never closes.

Bank of America Backlog on Foreclosure Contract & Loan Approval
The Bank of America foreclosure department also drags its feet on closing real estate sales. I had a buyer ready to close on a Bank of America owned foreclosure and it took them two months to produce a contract. My buyer had an 800 credit score, but it took so long to approve his application, he became frustrated and pulled money out of another investment to pay cash for the property. I was lucky he had assets and was not totally reliant upon bank financing.

Bank of America Loan to Income Ratio Askew?
Another client I had was prepared to close on a property with Bank of America financing and he had a 780 credit score. The loan officer waited until one week before closing to inform him he did not qualify because his debt to income ratio was too high. When we considered lending alternatives, five other banks approved his loan, and even the USAA approved it. Why was Bank of Americas loan to income ratio different than the rest?

The backlog in application requests, slow customer service, and inconsistencies with loan approvals are all reasons for concern about the mortgage lending industry today. Everyone involved in closing real estate deals becomes frustrated: real estate agents, buyers, sellers, lawyers and contractors. Even the federal government has become suspicious of Bank of Americas (and other mortgage lenders) incomplete foreclosure paperwork and processes.

Though the federal government has been investigating some issues, lender inconsistencies and slow or no customer service are rampant in this real estate market. Buyers need to build extra time into their home sales process and agents need to exercise patience and attention to details for property deals to close.

For more information about purchasing bank owned properties, residential or commercial properties, or listing properties for sale, visit http://www.voncannonrealestate.com.

Document Software, a Path to an Ecological Banking Document Management

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Banks were among the early adopters of implementing document software in their banking document management processes.

One of the biggest changes that society has experienced in recent years is the awakening to the importance of the environment. Although there is still a long way to go, no one is indifferent to the effects of climatic change. Warnings that before were dismissed as apocalyptic hysteria are now being taken more seriously and there isn’t a citizen or company that isn’t adopting ecologically sustainable measures in their daily activities.

Proof of this is found in corporate social responsibility programs that are being announced by organizations of all kinds, new developments that have led to the rise of the technology known as Green IT and policies in which many companies are obligating their employees to adopt related to reducing printing and paper consumption.

In Spain more than 270,000 tons of paper were consumed last year and a large portion of this was devoted to printing and copying business documents. Many organizations from all sectors are now turning to technology to minimize this practice, while others have already been relying on document software for this for some time.

Banks profitability resulting from innovation

Banks and other financial businesses have been standard bearers in adopting emerging technologies and document software is no exception. Twenty years ago it was common to use pre-printed banking forms, static forms that didn’t allow hardly any modification and that consumed large amounts of resources in banking offices.

The most innovative banks opted for document software to resolve this issue. This technology allowed them to eliminate their use of pre-printed banking forms with applications that made it possible to easily design of any kind of form. Thus, thanks to the implementation of banking document management solutions, when customers requested bank statements, invoices or contracts, their data could automatically be merged with the appropriate forms and much more professional looking documents could be delivered.

This method of producing documents not only improved the image that customers had of the financial institutions with which they worked, but it also served to reduce the paper consumption and costs dedicated to these tasks.

It could be said that the banking sector was one of the first to implement ‘green technology’ to establish ecologically sustainable operating policies, banking document management policies which also increased employee productivity and profits.

Endless options for implementing software solutions in the banking sector

With the passage of time and given the positive results, the banking industry continues to consider Information Technology as an integral motor of its business. Hence, it has initiated projects including the most modern technologies. Server virtualization, adoption of service oriented architecture or opting for business intelligence initiatives are clear examples of the innovation that this sector is advocating.

In most cases, these innovations have not only meant optimization of internal processes in bank offices or increased profits, they have also led to adopting more environmental policies that reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption.

The adoption of banking document software solutions perhaps have contributed the most to banks maintaining environmentally friendly policies, not only for eliminating pre-printed forms, but also for the evolution of recent years that the banking sector has welcomed with open arms.

Banking document management software – A global solution

Financial organizations interact with their customers with printed documentation in their office networks, mass mailing and mass emailing information and using Internet portals. In everyone of these processes, quality document software can make a difference in making organizations more competitive and considerably reducing their costs.

If documentation is mostly printed at different delegations of a banking organization, a printing control system that can be installed locally or as a central server, can be a determining factor in fully optimizing the organization’s printing system. With the printing control software solution that modern document software provides, print quotas can be assigned to users and departments and detailed reports can be generated with which an organization can control the amount of resources it consumes in terms of hardware and supplies.

It’s only logical that being able to control the number of prints and copies will also encourage employees to personally adopt more responsible consumption habits, and as a consequence, the printing costs for the organization will be even further reduced.

Electronic banking and environmentally friendly storage

The Web also offers many possibilities and banks should take advantage of them to increase their productivity. It is much more efficient to send a mass emailing than to print hundreds of pages, batch them, stuff them in envelopes and mail them to their respective recipients.

Real-time document generation on the Internet is another advantage that document software provides. Previously, customers had to go to an office to get bank statements, where in the best scenarios they were printed and delivered in a few minutes. Now, they only have to access a bank portal to make their requests. And in a matter of a few seconds, they can see them on their computer screens, all in a manner that is environmentally friendly and profitable for the organization.

Once documents are generated and distributed, financial institutions must store them in the event that they have to be retrieved in the future. Storage has always been an authentic headache for any organization, especially for those that manage large volumes of documents.

Digitalization reduces the space formerly required for archiving paper. Combined with document management software enabling easy search and retrieval of the electronically stored information, an essential process is gained for achieving authentic ecologically sustainable and profitable banking.

By implementing document software the banking and insurance companies have given multiple examples for how document management solutions help saving costs and at the same time improve customer satisfaction, employee efficiency and being more responsible with our environment.