The RF Private Banker TheRF private bankerfunction was designed to pro-
vide each customer with a well-trained and seasoned community banker
who is well-educated, responsible, and reputable in the community to be-
come the point of contact between the client and the RF bank. The RF pri-
vate banker is responsible for maintaining continual contact with bank
customers to understand who they are, and to get to know their families,
their businesses, and their detailed financial situation including any changes
that might come up in the future. The RF private banker is trained to be-
come the ‘‘financial doctor’’ of the family, responsible for the articulation
of the family’s current financial situation and their goals and aspirations.
He/she is responsible for guiding the family towards its financial goals, be it
their retirement, the children’s education, or financial independence and
business growth. The RF private banker aspires to add new family members
to the bank’s expanding family. The RF private banker makes sure that he/
she is available to serve our customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The person best suited to being an RF private banker is a professional in
his/her mid-career who has decided to change his/her career or has lost his/
her job. These staff members are handpicked from the community, were
extremely successful in what they did before they joined us, are active in the
community, are responsible, with high moral and ethical values, and have
wisdom and life experience. The ideal RF private banker is a person who is
real, sincere, and who is believable and trustworthy.
The RF private banker is trained to read financial statements, financial
newspapers, and publications like:The Wall Street Journal, andThe Finan-
cial Times(London). Naturally, the RF private banker will not be the expert
who recommends how to finance things, but he or she will be the trusted
guide who holds the clients’ hands and presents the client to qualified bank
experts in the needed fields.
The RF Credit Analyst TheroleoftheRF credit analystis to conduct a
thorough analysis of the credit application, using the most sophisticated
tools in financial analysis and applying RF financing models that use
marking-to-market techniques. The RF credit analysts draw on their busi-
ness, analytical, and banking expertise to reach the most educated and
well-thought-out recommendation on whether to approve or decline the
credit application.
It is also important to note that the objective of the analysis is to make
sure that the customer will be able to service the debt and that the investment
the customer wants to embark on makes—in our best judgment—prudent
investment sense. The most important factor in the credit analysis step is to
make sure that we do not ‘‘help’’ the client dig a deeper hole of debt for him-
or herself. We want the client to succeed, and the bank will be an important
326 THE ART OF ISLAMIC BANKING AND FINANCE