Investment banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions rely heavily on banking secretaries and PAs for administrative support.

clearlysecretarialjobs.co.uk promotes all the latest Banking Secretary and PA jobs in London and across the UK. Find vacancies for a variety of banking secretary roles which can range from supporting a busy trading desk to working alongside a busy analyst.

Search job vacancies for positions including Team Secretary, Team Assistant, Desk Assistant, Trading Floor Secretary and Float Secretary.

Job description

A Banking Secretary takes all the skills normally required for a standard secretarial role and applies them to the highly specialised world of banking and financial services. The role varies a lot depending upon which area of banking and finance you're working in but, regardless of where you're working, candidates are often expected to bring with them a sound understanding of the industry. You could be working in a large investment bank supporting a trading team, providing secretarial support in a back office environment or you could be working in an investment bank's compliance department.

Experience is sometimes paramount in these roles and it can be a chicken and egg scenario - how do I get experience within the banking sector when you need experience to get the job in the first place?! Well, a lot of banking secretaries work their way up through other roles. For example, a candidate may land a job as an office junior within a bank, gain a few years' experience in the role and then be promoted to a finance administrator role and so on.

Another way to get into the industry would be a candidate taking transferable skills from one sector to another - you may have worked as a secretary for a media company for example, but land a job doing a similar role within financial services which majors more on the secretarial side of things than the industry knowledge. You then gain financial experience and a fully fledged banking secretary you become.

As we've already discussed, the roles vary but a typical banking secretary would be involved in:

• Extensive diary management
• Travel arrangements including complex visa applications
• Maintenance of spreadsheets
• Powerpoint presentations
• Research for specific projects
• Client contact, both verbal and face to face
• Liaison with project support team
• Liaison with compliance department
• Competitor research
• Expenses administration, often in many different currencies

Most of the time you'll be working standard office hours, though as with any job, this can change, depending upon workloads.

Employers will usually require a sound educational background, with good GCSEs and sometimes A Levels. Other qualifications aren't essential, though as with many roles they can't do your chances any harm. If you go armed with a well-recognised secretarial qualification (eg Pitmans, RSA) you'll stand a better chance of landing the job, especially if you're lacking experience in the banking sector. As we've already discussed, experience within the industry is the main thing employers are looking for.

The skills needed to become a banking secretary aren't limited to the list below, but include:

• A good head for figures
• Top IT skills in the standard software packages
• Excellent audio/copy typing skills, sometimes shorthand
• A good team player
• A sound working knowledge of the financial industry
• Ability to work in a pressurised environment

Salary Information

A London based banking secretary can expect to start on about £18-25000 depending on which area of finance you're working in. Add a few years experience and a solid CV and you can earn over £30000 plus other benefits.