What it does: Corporate, investment, Islamic, personal and retail banking services.
Best known for: American Express chose The City Bank as their sole franchisee and card distributor in Bangladesh.
Staff stats: More than 3,800 employees.
The good bits: The company has a strong brand presence in Bangladesh, partly because of its 10-year partnership with American Express.
The not so good bits: Entry-level roles at the bank earn as low as BDT 15,000 per month.
Hiring grads with top marks in: accounting, banking and finance; business and economics; marketing and sales; engineering and information technology; communications and media; human resources and law.
The City Bank is among the oldest banks in Bangladesh. A group of 12 business professional founded the company in 1983, with The City Bank being a first-generation, private commercial bank. In 2008, The City Bank rebranded its corporate image and services by launching a new logo, the City Wallet and brokerage services. They also secured a franchise deal with American Express in the same year.
The agreement allows The City Bank to be the sole distributor of American Express cards in the country. The bank has catered to more than 1.7 million customers in 130 branches nationwide. It’s also one of the few banks in Bangladesh with a centralised infrastructure that includes over 360 ATMs and 24,000 POS machines, seven priority centres and two airport lounges.
The company follows a seven-step procedure for recruiting and hiring applicants. It starts with an initial screening based on the job listing followed by written tests and evaluations. You should expect a structured panel interview if you pass the first three stages. A medical exam after the final selection will be necessary before you receive a job offer with the details of your employment.
Students can apply for internships through campus job fairs. Some of the interview questions will focus on your reason for joining The City Bank, details about the company’s history and job expectations. The panellists may also test your knowledge on the bank’s products and services. Applicants should expect the hiring process at the company to last between a few days and more than four weeks.
You can explore different career paths through the company’s five operational segments: business, branch banking, risk, operations and support. Some of the entry-level roles at the bank include customer service executives and bank officers. The company’s size also indicates a slow career progression, especially in the branch banking segment.
Individuals with at least one year of experience in the banking and financial services industry can apply as retail sales and territory officers. A management role becomes possible once you acquire at least eight years of experience. Upper-management positions such as the head of the service delivery unit require 10 years of experience or more.
A management trainee at the bank earns between BDT 39,000 and BDT 42,000 per month, which is above the minimum industry average of around BDT 37,000. The median salary in the banking industry, though, is approximately BDT 65,000 per month as of 2019. Graduates with no work experience should expect to earn below these figures for their initial jobs at The City Bank.
For instance, customer service executives earn BDT 15,000 per month. Employment benefits depend on the role, such as financial incentives for retail call centre agents upon achieving monthly targets, commissions for sales officers, and medical coverage for immediate family members of permanent employees.
Some employees believe that the work conditions at the City Bank can be improved, including the distribution of workload and coordination among different branches. You should expect a hierarchical organisation and fast-paced work environment at the company, but most people are friendly despite the supposed lack of employee engagement.
There are plenty of learning opportunities at the bank, particularly in the treasury department. Employees can expand their knowledge of working local and foreign banks. They also acknowledge the company’s strong brand value due to the partnership with American Express.
The City Bank’s peers in the private commercial banking sector include AB Bank Ltd, Bangladesh Commerce Bank Ltd, Community Bank Bangladesh Ltd and Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd.
The bank’s corporate social responsibilities include anti-terrorism partnerships, disaster management support, services for children with special educational needs, local community development, health and education campaigns.
In 2016, the company donated BDT 22.5 million to the Honorable Prime Minister's Relief Fund for victims of natural calamities in Bangladesh. The donation is part of the bank’s yearly projects for disaster response and rehabilitation.
Your first job at The City Bank may look good on your CV because of the company’s easily recognisable brand across Bangladesh. The company’s constant development of banking services, such as pioneering the Citytouch digital banking, provides employees with different learning opportunities.
The trade-offs for working at the company are below-average salaries, uneven work-life balance and project distribution, and a conservative management style that’s typical for a banking and financial institution.