A day in the life of a Relationship Manager

The relationship manager in this context is not a life or love coach but a relationship manager in a bank. This job title may differ or vary based on the institution or geographic norms. For instance, in commercial banking, a relationship manager may be called an account manager or loan officer.
The relationship manager is in the relationship team of an institution. The relationship team is the front office of the financial institution and they are responsible for understanding their client's needs as well as understanding and communicating the bank guideline and policies to the client's finance team. This includes guidelines, policies, and procedures around credit risk, any money laundering, due diligence, pricing structure, and any other important terms of a credit transaction that are made easily understandable to the client finance team by the relationship team of the commercial bank.
The relationship team is under constant pressure to deliver strong growth and financial results. This requires sales and service skills as well as the ability to negotiate and communicate effectively while being experts at underwriting credits.


To understand the need for specific roles of a relationship team, we need to first understand the purpose of a commercial bank. How do they sustain the banks, what are their major sources of revenue, what is the essence of a commercial institution, and why does a commercial bank need all these expert roles to be in business?

Clients come to the commercial bank because of their credibility, instead of stashing their money under their beds. The essence of a commercial bank is in their ability to provide credit facilities and prove its credibility.
The major function or purpose of a commercial institution is to function on behalf of its clients, to hold money, move money, and lends money. The commercial institution holds money by checking accounts used day to day like saving accounts and supports corporations with treasury functions. They move money in many markets globally by facilitating the movement of funds through centralized clearing houses. They also help clients build online payment and credit cards. In the case of lending money, they are best know for interest income which is a major driver of its revenue, this is one of the way the commercial bank sustains itself.. Once a borrower has multiple credit facilities, it is less likely they will leave for another bank.

Analysing credit risk and understanding commercial credit facilities are the most important skills that a commercial bank must master.