Most of the times we all read or hear about the recruitment drive for probationary officer in both public and private sector banks but most of us don’t know the exact role of Probationary officer, Strange but True. In bank interviews this is a common question asked to the candidates but candidates are not able to answer it correctly as they themselves are confused about PO role in Banks.
Here, we tried to explain Role of PO in banks which can help candidates appearing in interviews.

Who is a Probationary Officer?

Probationary Officer (PO) in the bank is the starting level appointment for bank officers. The PO’s have a one or two years probation period during which they are given exposure to various important functions of the bank such as Loans & Advances, Foreign exchange, Credit Rating, Treasury, Risk Management, IT, Marketing etc.
They have to report to their immediate senior officer,who is responsible for the closely monitor & evaluate the performance of him/her for a certain period of time.

Responsibilities / Role / Functions of PO:

Following are the Duties/Role/Responsibilities/Funtions which a PO must perform as indicated by their immediate senior manager-

  • Good communication skills and an ability to resolve conflicts calmly are normal expectations from everyone.
  • Actually a Bank PO can be asked to do anything related to banking till the completion of its probation period. During training or probation period they are trained for accounting, marketing, finance, investment as well as billing.
  • After the Completion of Probation period, the Bank PO becomes Assistant Bank Manager and may be posted in any branch across the country to handle daily customer transaction like passing a cheque, cash management, draft issuance etc.

After certain experience and depending upon skill/aptitude, the person would be given an opportunity to work in other areas like

  • Handling the loan department, the mortgage and finance divisions of the bank.
  • Handling customer complaints and related issues.
  • Assigned the task of selling bank’s products and thus to generate high returns
  • Also, in Investment management, Budgeting, Planning areas.

Career growth prospects both in terms of salary package as well as post is high. Promotional prospects are quite higher for those who perform better.

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