A bank operations manual is a crucial element of doing business when you are dealing with people’s money.

For any bank manager or officer, to overlook the importance of the bank operations manual would be a mistake. Whether the bank that is being managed is a full branch of a larger operation or a business entity that is subject to franchise law, the importance of the bank operations manual is not diminished.

The banking industry is heavily regulated. That is as it should be since, after all, they are dealing with your money.  A well crafted bank operations manual is there to keep the bank’s nose clean. It is there to make sure that the regulators and customers know that nobody is dipping out of anybody’s accounts and that they are handling your cash in a way that will convince you to let them guard it some more.

The tricky part of running a bank is administering fairly complicated and confusing polices and procedures and doing so while regular people work as employees or show up at your teller’s windows to deal with their money issues. The bank operations manual has to turn a neat trick of helping employees understand what is going on and what is expected of them while not talking to them in language that only a PHD in economics would understand.  To do that, a good bank operations manual must cover well the complicated issues of banking terms but explain them in plain English so employees can carry them out correctly.

Employees and customers alike rely on that bank operations manual even if they don’t know it.

To run a seriously efficient bank, you have to have employees that know their stuff. Training is at the core of how to develop a terrific team who can score with customers and live up to the many rules and regulations of the banking industry. Great training grows right out of a knock-your-socks-off bank operation manual. That resource can be your one stop shopping resource to put together a training plan. On top of that, by communicating loud and clear to employees that the bank operations manual is their best friend in doing a great job, you will find your facility copy of the bank operations manual always missing because someone will be using it every day.

The good news is that the development of your own bank operations manual can start from the experience of others.  There are a number of great operations manual templates that will jump-start the process.  Don’t be afraid to pick the brains of people who prepared these templates or of other banking experts who have the brain power you need to create a bank operations manual that can take your bank to the next level.