FAQ
What are bank apprenticeships?
Like all apprenticeships, apprenticeships in banking lead to high levels of competence in a profession through a combination of work-based learning, productive contributions to goods and services, and academic courses. Since banks employ professionals in a variety of professions, bank apprenticeships can yield occupational excellence in such occupations as accounting, lending, information technology, auditing, and risk managers.
Why consider bank apprenticeships?
Apprenticeship programs offer banks a cost-effective way of developing and retaining talent that are critical to the success of banks. Apprentices learn occupational skills by doing and by performing productive tasks in the context of a bank’s distinctive operations. The apprenticeship approach helps banks diversify their talent pool in ways that assure all employees have sufficient work experience and expertise to help the bank success in its diverse missions.
Where to start?
Banks can start building quality apprenticeship programs by contacting apprenticeship intermediaries that help structure, register, and implement apprenticeships. Working together, the banks and intermediaries can identify the skilled occupations that banks require, agree on competencies and standards, register programs with a state or federal apprenticeship agency, and recruit, hire, and mentor apprentices.
What government programs are available?
Many states and the federal government offer tax credits, tuition subsidies, and other financial benefits to employers that operate registered apprenticeship programs. State and federal apprenticeship agencies register and provide a stamp of approval for employer programs.
Can a bank adopt a program not registered with the federal or state government?
Yes, but the apprenticeship certifications are not as portable as registered programs and government funding is generally unavailable.
What are the occupations, standards, and competencies in banking?
Bank apprenticeships are rare in the US but quite common in the United Kingdom. For example, the compliance and risk officer apprenticeships in the UK are sponsored by a variety of financial institutions, including Lloyds Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Santander, and Cabot Financial (see UK standards for this field here). The UK’s Institute for Apprenticeship lists a range of other fields used in banking which can be found here.
What resources are available?
Occupational frameworks for US registered apprenticeships in selected information technology positions banks require can be found on the Urban Institute website, here. Standards for other relevant occupations, including accounting, will soon be available.
What role will Urban Institute and BARC play?
Urban Institute is an apprenticeship intermediary with the ability to help banks create and implement registered apprenticeship programs. BARC can connect bank managers interested in pursuing the apprenticeship strategy to enhance and diversify their talent with peer support from other banks and with connections to Urban Institute and other intermediaries.
Who to email or call?
David Baris
dbaris@aabd.org
301-938-1887
Robert Lerman
blerman@urban.org
202-261-5676
Andrew Baris
abaris@aabd.org
301-938-0752