Colleagues at Metro Bank, the UK’s best community bank, have become the first in the UK to complete the Masters level apprenticeship for senior banking professionals. The course is a fully funded Masters programme and the UK’s first Masters level apprenticeship for senior banking professionals funded from the Apprenticeship Levy.
After much hard-work and studying on top of their everyday jobs, the first colleagues have completed the Masters programme which Metro Bank launched with Cranfield School of Management in 2018. 14 colleagues from across the bank, including the digital, products and finance teams, have completed the two-year part-time degree.
The course - which covers retail and digital banking, product management, financial markets and industry disruption - also provides students with training in concepts and theories, as well as their in-business application.
“We’re delighted to see our hard-working colleagues complete their Masters degrees with flying colours” commented Carol Frost, chief people officer at Metro Bank. “We support our colleagues’ learning and development so they’re able to provide the very best banking experience for our customers and the communities we serve.
“Many of our colleagues on the programme have received well-deserved promotions and continue to grow professionally and we look forward to seeing colleagues achieving this qualification in the years to come.”
In 2019, Metro Bank welcomed its second cohort of colleagues to join the programme and the degree was opened up to applicants from other banks, with a third cohort recently joining in March 2021.
Metro Bank prides itself on its unique culture and approach to recruitment which is focused on hiring for attitude and training for skill. The Bank gives colleagues the opportunity to learn from hundreds of courses as part of its Metro Bank University, which has eight sites across the country and most recently has gone virtual to adapt to the past year’s events.