What is a banker?

A banker is a financial advisor and relationship manager within a bank or credit union. Their role extends beyond the handling of routine transactions and into more complex, consultative services. Bankers typically focus on the long-term financial needs of their customers.

Some of the duties of a banker include:

• Assisting with account management: This involves helping clients open and manage various accounts, like savings and checking accounts.
• Providing loans: Bankers may help clients secure mortgages, auto loans or other types of loans.
• Offering investment advice: They may recommend investment products, help with retirement planning or guide clients through the investment process.
• Facilitating transactions: This includes tasks like processing deposits, withdrawals and payments.
• Providing customer service: Bankers handle customer inquiries, resolve issues and ensure a positive banking experience.
• Selling financial products: They may promote and sell various banking products like certificates of deposit or other investment options.
• Referral to specialists: Bankers may refer clients to other financial experts within the bank for more specialized needs.
• Administrative duties: This can involve tasks like data entry, maintaining client records and organizing paperwork.
• Investment banking: Bankers may be involved in complex financial transactions like mergers and acquisitions, underwriting securities and managing initial public offerings (IPOs).

Bankers typically work at desks or in private offices, where they can have in-depth conversations with customers. Bankers usually require strong interpersonal skills, the ability to explain complex financial information in simple terms and a proactive approach to customer outreach.

What is a teller?

A teller is the face of the bank’s daily operations. They are often the first bank employee a customer interacts with during a visit. Their focus is on processing financial transactions quickly, accurately and courteously.

Typical teller responsibilities include:

• Handling transactions: Tellers process deposits, withdrawals, loan payments and transfers.
• Cash handling: They are responsible for managing cash, including counting, dispensing and securing it.
• Customer service: Tellers greet customers, answer questions and provide information about bank products and services.
• Security: Tellers must be vigilant about security and fraud prevention, verifying customer identification and reporting suspicious activity.
• Administrative duties: In some cases, they may also handle administrative tasks like answering phones or managing paperwork.
• Record Keeping: They maintain accurate records of all transactions and update customer information in the system.
• Identifying Fraud: Tellers are trained to identify and report suspicious or fraudulent activity.

The teller’s workspace is usually the front counter, and the interactions tend to be shorter and more transactional than those of a banker. The most critical skills are attention to detail, accuracy in cash handling and the ability to follow strict banking regulations and security procedures.

Key differences between a banker and a teller

Although both roles work toward serving the bank’s customers and ensuring smooth operations, their focus and working style differ significantly.

Bankers concentrate on relationship building, financial advice and the sales of products, while tellers focus on processing transactions quickly and accurately. Bankers usually have longer, in-depth conversations with clients to explore needs and recommend solutions to financial problems. Tellers typically engage in shorter, high-volume interactions aimed at completing specific transactions efficiently.

Bankers and tellers also have different skills and qualifications. The following is a list of different skills each role has:

Banker:

• strong sales skills
• in-depth product knowledge
• problem-solving skills
• post-secondary education in finance or business

Teller:

• attention to detail
• accurate mathematics skills
• customer-service skills
• high school diploma and on-the-job training

These distinctions create a natural complement between the two positions: Tellers ensure the smooth daily flow of transactions, and bankers guide customers through more complex, long-term financial decisions.

The importance of bankers and tellers

Whether distinct or overlapping, both bankers and tellers play critical roles in a bank’s success. Tellers ensure the daily movement of money happens accurately and efficiently, maintaining customer trust in the institution’s reliability. Bankers cultivate deeper relationships, help customers achieve financial goals and generate revenue through loans and product sales.

In large banks, specialization allows each role to be performed at maximum efficiency. In smaller banks, blending the roles offers flexibility and personal service. Both models have advantages, and both rely on the professionalism, integrity and customer service skills of the employees.

Banker vs. teller

When looking for new staff, you might need to decide between hiring a teller or a banker. Here are a few things to consider when doing this:

• Evaluate staff: Look thoroughly at your current staff to see how efficient your bankers and tellers are, so that you know if one area is lacking.
• Customer needs: If customers are complaining about waiting in line for too long, you might consider hiring a new teller. If your current banker’s schedule is full, you can think about hiring another banker.
• Financial constraints: Keep in mind that tellers make a lower salary than bankers, so it may be better to hire a teller if you need to pay attention to your bottom line. On average, tellers make $47,214 per year, while bankers make $51,208 per year.
• Goals of your company: If you are trying to promote more financial products, there may be a need for more bankers, as they are in charge of signing clients up for those products. If you are working towards greater customer satisfaction, you might want to hire more tellers.

The difference between a banker and a teller comes down to focus: Tellers are transaction specialists, while bankers are relationship managers and advisors. Ultimately, whether customers interact with a banker, a teller or someone who serves as both, the goal is the same: to provide reliable, knowledgeable and trustworthy financial service. The bank’s success depends on each role fulfilling its unique purpose while working together to meet the needs of the people they serve.