Jonathan Petty

BA Economics – Nottingham University
Jonathan Petty
BA Economics – Nottingham University


I chose Corporate Banking because of the strong client focus. You also get the chance to experience a range of different business models. You’re not restricted to a particular sector of clients.

It was RBS’ reputation as a ‘relationship bank’ that first attracted me. Then I did a little more investigating and found they also had a wider range of product offerings than their competitors, such as trade finance, trade products and risk management.

Relationship Directors know the business activities of their customers inside out. More often than not, they act more like a trusted advisor than a banker. That level of personal involvement wasn’t something I had expected.

I’ve had lots of training and development since I’ve been here. As well as various market awareness courses, there’s been specific training in IT and credit analysis. I’ve also had opportunities to improve my negotiation and networking skills.

Right now, I’m looking forward to progressing and getting as many experiences as possible. There are so many opportunities and places that I can take my career here. In five years time, I’d really like to be in a senior management position.

There are couple of pieces of advice I’d give to graduates thinking of applying. First of all, don’t be afraid to ask questions; they are never as stupid as you think they are. Secondly, read as much financial news as you can. The FT and Wall Street Journal are great places to start. They’re both very readable, and you’ll pick up more than you might think.


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What tips would you have for people joining now?

In terms of tips for people joining I think the biggest piece of advice I'd give someone is not to underestimate how important it is to network with people in the organisation. Because it's such a big organisation, there's so many different financial products, you'll never know all the products, you'll never be an expert at everything, what's more important is that you know someone in that department, you've got a relationship with them so when a problem comes in you can pick up the phone and very easily talk to them. So rather than being a jack of all trades and knowing bits and bobs about all the different products, concentrate on your area and form relationships in other areas that you can call upon when you need them.

What advice would you give to grads thinking of joining RBS?

I think if a friend of mine was considering joining I'd definitely have to talk to them about the past year, what's happened. It's been very difficult and that's clear from the press but I think what the press don't understand sometimes is that the group has now become probably a lot stronger as a result of those difficult times. I think the management's changed and we've got a really good new chief executive in there. I think RBS probably will outrun the competition due to that. I think the other banks that have stayed strong might not have learnt their lessons like RBS. So I think actually, joining RBS, although it looks – on paper – to be a difficult organisation to join is probably the right thing to do at this time.

How do you see your future with RBS?

I think in terms of my future at RBS, the graduates – like myself – are very much seen as the future of the organisation and I think that in a 5 – 10 year time frame I'd be looking to get to Director level where I'd be driving my own deals, perhaps looking after other personnel in the business. So I think in 5 years I'd hope to be at Director level.

What attracted you to working for RBS?

What first attracted me to RBS was the size of the bank. I looked around at all the competitors before deciding which banks to apply to and RBS stood out as a truly global bank. I liked the fact that there are a number of different operations within the group giving me the opportunity to maybe expand into different areas, giving me a more varied career potentially.