National Bank Foreign
Exchange Bureau: Interview Questions
Who is responsible for what activities?
The cashier is responsible for the opening of the bank and is accompanied by the manager in order to obtain access codes. The teller is responsible for comparing the money in hand to the money displayed on the terminal. The manager recounts if there is an error. If there is no error, documents are made and sent to the Centre. The teller also receives the previous day’s transaction report. The teller is also responsible for serving the clients in the daily operations.
What kind and what levels of funds do you function with when you start your operation?
The most important is to have a healthy stock of National and French currency since these two are the most active type of funds. If the bank is short in these types of currency an order is placed and arrives the next day. Thirty other Foreign currencies are also kept in stock, these are mostly European. A special order is placed for those types of currencies that are usually not kept in stock. The reasons being, countries usually place governmental restrictions. It also cost too much to keep certain types of currency.
What functions are automated? Which are not and why?
The National rate is always automated and automatically updated. The Foreign rate, however, is entered manually.
How many National and Foreign transactions occur per day?
Depending on the time of year, the transactions occur at a different rate. The national transactions occur more frequently in the summer and winter (Christmas) seasons – approximately 40 transactions. The Foreign currency transactions are limited to approximately 20 during those seasons. On regular days the National transactions occur at a rate of about 10 per day whereas the Foreign occurs at a rate of 3.
What is the difference between managing National transactions with Foreign currency transaction?
The National transactions are much easier to handle since they are calculated and balanced automatically.
If managing National transactions is easier, why?
The National accounts are much easier to handle since they are automated. The Foreign currency accounts are much more difficult since they must be kept manually
.
Was it easier to learn how to manage National transactions or Foreign currency ones?
The National was much easier to learn since all the National banks were already operating with Canadian and U.S funds. In terms of foreign currency, no new division was created to handle it.
Most errors (detected and undetected) deal with which type of currency (Foreign and National)? Why?
The currency with the most activity is usually the one with the most errors. On a general note since the buy and sell rate code is manually entered it is easier to make a mistake. The Foreign currency transactions creates more room for error since, the exchange rate can also be incorrectly punched in.
One must correct and redo a transaction; how long does it take to process a transaction? And how long does it take to correct one?
Four to five minutes for any regular transaction. Eight minutes for travelers cheques. If a transaction must be redone it would take another extra minute or two along with the initial four to five minutes.
At the end of the day, does it take longer to balance National transactions or foreign currency transactions? How much time for each and why?
Foreign transactions take longer since it must be balanced with a manual ledger. This is done twice a week. If it does not balance the manager must make a fictitious sale for that amount. In other words, the bank takes the loss in Canadian funds. The national transactions are balanced automatically. Errors are not dealt with at that moment -the bank has a certain range in which it could be over or under.
How long did it take to learn how to operate the Foreign Exchange Bureau alone?
On average, it took most of the employees a week.
What flaws do you see in your present system? What are the major gaps in your software?
One of the problems is that it is DOS based. The fact that the foreign currency transactions are not automated also causes a problem.
What measure of error detection do you take in your daily operations?
The bank makes sure never to have any American cents since it costs too much to keep.
How would you rate your system –in terms of user friendliness (scale 1-10)? And generating appropriate information?
Close to 0. It is friendly as long as the employees know what they are doing.
How does/do the main units (Center, International, and Foreign Exchange Bureau) interact? Any weaknesses in relaying data/information efficiently?
Communication is done via phone or fax. One of the main problems here is that sometimes there is no real time information.