In recent years, the banking sector has had to face challenges of such magnitude—many of them still unresolved—such as restoring adequate profitability to make the business sustainable, and adapting to a demanding and stringent European regulatory agenda aimed primarily at promoting financial stability and consumer protection, while at the same time demonstrating its ongoing contribution to the country’s economic growth.
The complexity facing the sector goes beyond these challenges and is expanding in step with technological progress, shaping trends that will undoubtedly end up transforming the banking sector in Spain and worldwide. These trends require institutions to anticipate the change demanded by customers, to focus on data and technology to become more efficient and, above all, to better understand consumers; and if regulation does not level the competitive playing field, banks will have to adapt to an environment in which the exclusive relationship with customers will gradually be diluted in favour of new competitors.
In short, this is a comprehensive transformation that requires changes to processes and culture, so acquiring digital skills and knowledge will be as important as changing the way people think and behave, especially in such a complex, uncertain and rapidly changing environment. However, regardless of the organisation, the sector or the size of the institution, there is always one factor that must be taken into account: organisations do not produce change—people do, employees and managers—so commitment, motivation, vocation, values and knowledge must serve as the engine of change.
For this reason, organisations must revolve around the customer responsibly, without forgetting that for this relationship to work effectively and be sustainable and long-lasting, the employee, beyond technical knowledge, must convey trust, just as the consumer must be willing to make an effort to acquire a minimum level of financial knowledge.
The need for training and education in banking—or in any other sector or institution—is not a one-off convenience arising from technological changes or new regulatory requirements and, in particular, from the European Union Directive known as MiFID II (for which, incidentally, Spanish banks have trained all their employees on time and in full). On the contrary, every organisation, whatever it may be, must promote education among its workforce at all levels and design mechanisms to ensure it is continuous, effective and comprehensive training. Training that covers everything from the most technical and up-to-date aspects of the business to other areas that are equally relevant, linked to non-cognitive or competency-based skills, or even to the core values that the organisation wishes to share with its customers and with society.
Spanish banks are aware of these needs and have been working for years on this sustainable transformation, as demonstrated by the effort they make in training per employee, which has recorded average annual growth of 5.4% (8.4% in 2017) since the start of the recovery in 2014. This effort covers areas as diverse as regulatory compliance, banking techniques, the development of personal skills focused on understanding and meeting customers’ needs and, above all in recent years, digital competencies. It is not enough to have staff profiles trained in their respective areas. It is vital that bank employees receive strong competency-based training (autonomy, self-regulation, motivation, experimentation, etc.) and know how to integrate technical knowledge with more practical learning that can be adapted to different contexts and transferred easily.
In parallel, at the Spanish Banking Association, we echo this need for training, and we have therefore stepped up the promotion of financial education, as we consider it essential that consumers are also informed and equipped to make the best possible decisions. In turn, and in this way, we help to increase the stability of the financial system.
In sum, investment in human capital is crucial to achieving skills that make technological progress complementary rather than substitutive. The sector is aware that an appropriate balance must be ensured between institutions, employees and customers so that this triad supports a path of sustainable results over time. Training is key to this objective, something the Financial and Insurance Institutions Training and Development Group (GREF) knows very well. An institution that is now celebrating its 45th anniversary and whose contribution to understanding these needs has been, and must continue to be, decisive.
Juan Carlos Delrieu, Director of Strategy and Economic Analysis.
