any bankers amongst us ?

N

nightyard

Senior member
I'm applying for a job with the co operative bank and one of the application questions is as follows....

"In your view, what do you consider to be the key challenges facing the Co-operative Bank at present? What steps do we need to take in order to overcome them?"

other questions have a 300 word limit but this one has no word count limit so I'm guessing they are expecting a substantial piece of writing.

anyone able to chime in with cohesive challenges and solutions?
 
Doesn't sound like they're asking for a massively detailed answer as such, probably just seeing if you as an applicant are in touch with the latest public information present about their current state as a corporation and to see if you follow the industry to a degree that you're able to suggest potential improvements to their level of service.

Would be worth to touch on in your answer:

a) The state of their in branch customer experience
b) their web presence and how easy their mobile website works with it's users
c) their company image and local advertising, i.e. the message they're portraying to the public

Other than that im not too sure?
 
Co op banks got alot of problems Brad so I'm thinking they want something a bit more substantial.

pretty sure they postponed their annual report twice to raise £400m to meet minimum tier 1 capital requirements.
they lost £1.3bn in 2013


this is why I'd like some banker insight who know the situation better then I can just read online
 
Staff and customer retention.

Financial competences.

Rebuilding Client trust

Centralisation of business back from the diversification of the recent times.



Just a few I can really hang out there...
 
anyone else got an insight? :D
i know a few areas to look at but surely someone has some decent knowledge to impart
 
I would go along the lines of recent results and reports in the press have harmed both investor and consumer confidence and a public show of commitment to change, cost savings and growth of the business would help to install some of the lost confidence and help strengthen the business.
 
I think Nelly Welly has git the nail on the head. Their challenge is to rebuild customer trust after the scandal of their Chairman Paul Flower smoking crack, and having not the faintest clue about banking. Oh. And of course the couple of billion black hole on the balance sheet....

You'll need more than 300 words. Good luck

Ps - used to work in product development for a investment firm and bank....
 
Adamski said:
I think Nelly Welly has git the nail on the head. Their challenge is to rebuild customer trust after the scandal of their Chairman Paul Flower smoking crack, and having not the faintest clue about banking. Oh. And of course the couple of billion black hole on the balance sheet....
You'll need more than 300 words. Good luck....
Click to expand...

Sorry can't offer any advice but loved the first paragraph of this post :rofl:

Good luck with the interview :thumbsup:
 
I think the other challenge they have is that they are now hedge-fund owned and how does that sit with their customer base and what steps can they take to reassure their customers that as well as rebuilding the financial strength they will retain their ethical investor status?
 
The advice given above is very good however I wouldn't go over board and write too much. My suggestion would be to pick a couple of specific issues with COOP but also a couple of general challenges within the industry i.e. competition, bad press etc.

It will most likely be a HR person reviewing your answers so don't get too technical and keep it a reasonable length so they don't get too bored with it.

I applied a few years ago and cannot fully remember what I wrote but I'm sure it wasnt over 500-600 words. My suggestion would be not to write an essay lol. Keep it precise and straight to the point i.e. Challenge faced, its potential impact and how to overcome it. 3/4 challenges at most should be sufficient. (I got through to the assessment centre for the finance role a few years ago).

Sorry I couldnt give you specific examples related to CO-OP but try not to spend too much time on this so you can apply to many other jobs.

Just remember, even though they may give you a deadline for end of August (or whatever it is), the sooner you do it the better. Many firms start closing jobs early because they get so many applications and feel they have found suitable candidates.

Good luck and let us know how you get on! :thumbsup:
 
Pm'd responses as discussed over the last few days.
It you need more let me know.

One comment in line with others is keep it short. I would even bullet key issues and possible solutions as it shows your concise to the point, etc. makes it easy to read too.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
To be honest, unless someone has Coop specific knowledge (by maybe working in some sort of inter-bank role, or direct dealings with Coop), you'll want to speak to someone who works for them to get the best insight into the current 'mood' in the firm.

I think the obvious is the recent CEO scandal, but that may be a little obvious (and has already passed.. so they're already working on that).

If i wnated to know how things are in coop, and what's currently the main problems - i'd walk into a coop branch. and ask the branch manager. Explain you're trying for a job, and they've asked you to guess at current challenges facing the bank - so you've used your initiative to find out what they actually are. Arguably a branch manager may not have a scooby about the national banking business, but unless you know someone more suitable they could be a first step. Simple research!

Other simple research - google news search for "coop bank" :

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/08/co-operative-bank-to-ask-customers-over-ethical-criteria
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/22/cooperative-group-terrible-year-growth-slowing-movement
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27939373
Probably the most relevant to your question .. a woman who's been hired to help address current problems in the bank:
http://www.ftadviser.com/2014/06/30/ifa-industry/companies-and-people/co-op-s-latest-hire-to-tackle-pay-at-troubled-bank-qM7koWZc67upIVysSxgs8H/article.html
 
at the gym yesterday, I seen an acquaintance off my course and he said he had applied for the same job and he said his friend worked in the co op and that they had lost alot of business accounts because of high costs compared to competitors.... its not something I've seen much about online though??

anyone heard about the co op losing SME accounts?
 
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