Bank PO examination is a competitive examination that is conducted to select the best candidates for lower and middle level management roles in banking sector (at various nationalized banks). The number of candidates turning up for such exams exceeds 10 lakhs. Bank PO exams are administered by two agencies - IBPS and SBI.
This career offers various lucrative benefits and opportunities to advance to higher levels of management. An entry level Bank PO officer may rise to the position of GM in just 15 years. This is a much faster rate as compared to other professions.
Bank Probationary officer (PO) is an entry level position in the officer cadre in banking sector. Every year the recruitment of Banks POs are done through a written exam, followed by an interview. Every bank has a different selection process for the Bank PO exam. Some banks only do by written exams and some other bank have a process of interview after clearing the written competitive exam. SBI follows a three stage selection process and conducts GD before scheduling an interview.
Bank Probationary officer (PO) is entry level position into banking sector, where candidates have to work on probation period for two years. The performance of the Bank POs during these two years decides his/her next apportionment. The Bank PO exam is conducted whenever the need for fresh recruits arises in banks.
Bank PO exams are conducted by two main agencies IBPS and SBI.
IBPS started its operation in the year 1975 as Personnel Selection Services (PSS). Till 2011, every state-owned bank used to conduct its own entrance exam but in the year 2011 IBPS made it necessary for all 19 major public banks to conduct the national level eligibility exam for selection to these banks.
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) became an autonomous agency as per the directions laid down by RBI and Public Sector Banks. The institute has governing members from the Reserve Bank of India, Ministry of Finance (Govt. of India), National Institute of Bank Management, Public Sector Banks, Insurance sector and academics.
The banks that make up a part of the governing body are:
• Allahabad Bank • Andhra Bank • Bank of Baroda • Bank of Maharashtra • Bharatiya Mahila Bank • Canara Bank • Central Bank of India • Corporation Bank • Dena Bank • Exim Bank • IDBI Bank • Indian Bank • Indian Overseas Bank • Oriental Bank of Commerce • Punjab National Bank • Punjab & Sind Bank • Syndicate Bank • Union Bank of India • United Bank of India • UCO Bank • Vijaya Bank • Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India BankIn order to get a job as a probationary officer in any public sector bank, one has to qualify the entrance test i.e. IBPS exam or SBI PO exam. However, these exams are conducted whenever the need for fresh recruits arises in banks.
Bank Probationary officer's starting salary is same as the other public and private sector banks. All newly recruited Bank Probationary officers are placed in the following scale at the 1st stage of the same. Although, some banks such as SBI, ICICI and other private sector banks have different pay scale for Bank probationary officers (POs).The revised salary for Bank PO as a date on 1st January 2016 will be as per Scale I that is mentioned below:
The starting basic pay is INR 2370 (with 4 additional increments) in the pay scale of
Scale I - | 23700 - |
(980 x 7 ) - |
30560 - |
(1145 x 2 ) - |
32850 |
(1310 x 7)- |
42020 |
The official will also be eligible for the following special allowances such as:
Dearness Allowance (DA):
House Rent Allowance (HRA):
Capital Cost Allowance (CCA):
Special Allowance:
Selection procedure for SBI Bank Probationary Officer
The selection process for SBI Bank Probationary Officer exam consists of three stages, which are:
The first stage of the selection process for SBI Bank PO is the online preliminary test, which comprises of 100 questions, carrying 1 mark each. The duration of the test is one hour.
Serial No. | Online Test |
No. Of Questions |
1 |
Reasoning Ability |
35 |
2 |
Quantitative Aptitude |
35 |
3 |
English Language |
30 |
|
Total |
100 |
The main examination will comprise of two parts:
The main examination will comprise of 200 questions, carrying 1 mark each. The examination will be of two hours' duration. The questions will be from the subjects mentioned below,
S. No. |
Section |
No. of questions |
Marks |
1 |
Data Analysis and Interpretation |
50 |
50 |
2 |
English Language |
50 |
50 |
3 |
Reasoning |
50 |
50 |
4 |
General Awareness, Marketing and Computers |
50 |
50 |
|
Total |
200 |
200 |
Descriptive Test will be conducted to test candidate's knowledge of English language. The questions will cover letter writing, essay writing etc. The descriptive test paper of only those candidates shall be evaluated who clear the main examination.
Candidates clearing the main examination shall be called in for group discussion and interview, which is the final stage of the selection procedure.
Group discussion will carry 20 marks and Interview will carry 30 marks.
The marks obtained by the candidates in group discussion, interview and main examination shall be summed up to create the merit list.
Selection procedure for IBPS Bank Probationary Officer
The selection process for SBI Bank Probationary Officer exam consists of three stages, which are:
The first stage of the selection process for SBI Bank PO is the online preliminary test, which comprises of 100 questions, carrying 1 mark each. The duration of the test is one hour.
Serial No. |
Online Test |
No. Of Questions |
1 |
Reasoning Ability |
35 |
2 |
Quantitative Aptitude |
35 |
3 |
English Language |
30 |
|
Total |
100 |
The main examination will comprise of 200 questions, carrying 1 mark each. The examination will be of two hours' duration. 0.25 marks shall be deducted for every wrong answer. The questions will be from the subjects mentioned below,
S. No. |
Section |
No. of questions |
Marks |
1 |
Quantitative Aptitude |
50 |
50 |
2 |
English Language |
40 |
40 |
3 |
Reasoning |
50 |
50 |
4 |
General Awareness (with special reference to banking industry) |
40 |
40 |
5 |
Computer Industry |
20 |
20 |
|
Total |
200 |
200 |
The marks obtained by the candidates will be considered for short-listing them for the interview.
The marks obtained in the interview and the main examination will be summed up to create a merit list. This will conclude the selection procedure for IBPS Bank PO recruitment. The weightage ratio between interview and the main examination is 80:20.
The interview will carry 100 marks and to qualify the interview the candidates must score 40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PWD categories).
Probationary Officer's role in a bank is very significant as this is the period wherein the candidate is put into different sectors of banking industry to get acquainted and gain knowledge about these sectors.
The responsibilities of Probationary Officers in banks are not limited. Bank Probationary Officer's Job Profile includes Administrative Task, General Banking, and any other task given by the bank whenever needed. The Bank PO goes through rigorous training to understand fundamentals of banking. Bank PO has various training centers spread across the country. As a Probationary Officer in a Bank, your job role will be to:
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection is an autonomous body which conducts the IBPS Probationary officer (PO) and Management trainees (MT) recruitment exams to fill in vacant PO and MT posts in public sector banks. It is one of the largest bank recruitments conducted every year. Almost all the major Public Sector Banks are participating in the Common Written Exam (CWE) except for SBI. SBI conducts its own exam for recruitment in IBPS Probationary officer (PO) and management trainees (MT) posts.
Eligibility Criteria for Probationary Officer/ Management Trainee (PO/MT)
Age of Relaxation:
Selection Process:
SBI Special Executive Management exam is an entry level test conducted by State Bank of India for the recruitment of Special Management Executive (Banking) - MMGS III and Special Management Executive (Banking) - MMGS II posts. The online entrance test comprises of an objective type test of 200 marks and a descriptive type test of 50 marks. Both the tests are conducted online. Candidates can attempt SBI Special Executive Management exam for a maximum of three times
Eligibility Details for Special Management Executive (Banking) - MMGS III:
Or
A public sector/listed Financial MMS /MBA/PGDBA/PGPM/PGDM/CA/ICWA/ ACS, passing these examination is adequate.
Post qualification experience:
Candidates should have at least 5-years of post-qualification work experience in executive Supervisory or Management role in
Selection procedure:
Eligibility Details for Special Management Executive (Banking) - MMGS II:
Or
Post qualification experience:
Candidates should have at least three years of post-qualification work experience in executive Supervisory or Management role in:
Making series / analogy |
Clock |
Data interpretation |
Time and work geometry |
Boat and stream |
Area |
Square roots and cube roots |
Mixture and allegation |
Profit and loss |
Pipe and cistern |
Algebra |
Problem on trains |
Compound and simple interest |
Proportion |
Percentage |
Surd and indices |
Average |
Surd and indices |
Probability |
|
Number system |
Clock |
Data interpretation |
Time and work geometry |
Boat and stream |
Area |
Square roots and cube roots |
Mixture and allegation |
Profit and loss |
Pipe and cistern |
Algebra |
Problem on trains |
Compound and simple interest |
Proportion |
Percentage |
Surd and indices |
Average |
Surd and indices |
Probability |
|
Abbreviations |
Current Affairs (National and International) |
Budget and Five Year Plans |
Sports |
Books and Authors |
Science – Inventions and Discoveries |
Banking & Financial Awareness |
Important Days |
Major Financial/Economic News |
Awards and Honours |
|
|
Error correction |
Vocabulary |
Sentence rearrangement |
Synonyms |
Comprehension |
Unseen passages |
Idioms and phrases |
|
Modals and Articles |
Spellings |
Antonyms |
|
Your academic skills are already tested by IBPS officials in the written test conducted by them. Interview is done to judge the personality of the candidate. Don't lie to the interviewer as nobody wants to hire a liar in the interview.
You have to calm as the banking officials due to this reason IBPS officials hire those candidates who are calm and patient. They want those candidates who can deal successfully with the customers and make a greater contribution to the bank.
Your attire plays the most important role in the interview as it gives your first impression to the interview panel. The dress code must be formal.
Interviewer may ask you the technical questions related to the bank and questions about what is happening in the banking sector. You must be well prepared for these types of questions.
Your personality matters a lot at the time of interview. Always, wear a smile in front of your interviewer. If you don't know the answer of any particular question just say no the interviewer.
The results for IBPS Bank PO exam held in February 2016 will be released in the month of March by IPBS. Every year IBPS hires about 16000 PO's according to the need of the associate banks. Students who clear the written exams are eligible for the interview. Merit list will be created on the basis of cut-off list.
Here is the list of cutoffs for the Bank PO exam for the past years:
|
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
General |
135 |
61 |
36 |
37 |
OBC |
135 |
60 |
32 |
37 |
SC |
127 |
50 |
32 |
31 |
ST |
106 |
26 |
32 |
18 |
Visually impaired |
110 |
30 |
32 |
10 |
Hearing impaired |
108 |
28 |
32 |
9.5 |
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