(iv) Merchani banking - includes transacting business with institutional investors, international finance and public issue management. As the very title suggests, Merchant Banking relates to investment management: management of Mutual Funds, public issues, trusts, securities, international funds and other such instruments. To offer advisory services to corporate clients on capital structure decisions, public issue management, underwriting, raising funds through public issues and from overseas markets etc. are some of the prominent functions of merchant banking.

(v) Rural banking- includes transacting business with banking and credit needs of the people in the rural sector.

(vi) Investment Banking: Securities underwriting, markets and arranging mergers, acquisitions and restructuring are banking jobs related to financial activities covered under investment banking. Functional areas of investment banking include retail banking, working with corporate clients and institutional banking. These banks have large financial assets as they have to manage dealer activities and in trading and distribution of securities. Investment Banks take part in direct markets by bringing financial claim for sale with the objective of helping businesses and governments sell their new security issues.

RBI requires a wide variety of personnel ranging from graduates of different disciplines (usually first class) to computers/IT engineers, MBA's, CAs. Banks hire marketing, human resources and general management professionals and not just finance and accountancy specialists. Lately, certain postgraduate banking programmes have also come up. Aspiring bankers are expected to be familiar with the computer operating systems like DOS and Windows mode, knowledge of word processing like MS Word, spread sheets like MS Excel etc.

K. Ram Kumar, Head HR, ICICI Bank, stated in one of his interviews, "As a general graduate, you will start as a trainee where as a banking graduate you can start as a junior manager getting atleast 50% premium over a vanila graduate. Students who have MBAs with banking will be given a preferential treatment as compared to a general MBA."


Details about the recruitment to various posts in banks viz. posts, pay scales, eligibility conditions i.e. age, qualifications, experience etc., selection procedure for posts at clerical cadre, office cadre including Probationary Officers, in the SBI, some nationalised banks, etc. have been included in a separate chapter on Sample Job Profiles.