5 Things I Learned From a Year and a Half in Banking Operations

I joined HSBC in March 2025 as a Customer Service Executive in first direct banking operations. I was the youngest person on the team.

Today I’m the Primary Contact and Process SME for our 1st Account Opening team, and the RPA SME for Regular Saver. I also study data science at SLIIT on weekends.

Here are some of the lessons I learned, and how I changed along the way.

1. Slow down on purpose#

My first assumption was that this job was about speed. UK service levels are strict, and the clock is always running.

That’s partly true. But speed isn’t the skill. Knowing what to slow down for is the skill.

Most cases are clean. You move through them quickly because you’ve seen the pattern many times. The valuable moment is when something doesn’t fit: a document that’s slightly off, a detail that doesn’t match. That’s where you stop.

I also learned that checklists are wonderful, until you stop thinking. I’ve ticked every box and still felt uneasy about a case. When that happens, I trust the feeling and look again.

Takeaway: Be fast on the routine and slow on the strange. The hard part is telling them apart.

2. Write it down#

When I became RPA SME, my first job was to draw the AS-IS process map.

I thought it would take an afternoon. Everyone knew how the work was done.

It took about one to two months. “Everyone knew” meant everyone knew a slightly different version. One person did a check before a step, another after it.

The map wasn’t documentation. It was a conversation my team had never had.

Takeaway: You can’t improve a process you haven’t drawn. Draw it with the people who do the work.

3. Hope is not a procedure#

Early on, I held back an odd-looking case for a while, hoping the explanation would turn up on its own.

It didn’t. The case got older, and so did my discomfort. When I finally escalated, the answer took a few minutes.

I’d been protecting my pride. I didn’t want to raise something that turned out to be nothing. That’s a bad trade. Now I escalate early, and I make it easy for the next person: what I saw, what I checked, what I need.

Takeaway: An early “this might be nothing” costs minutes. A late “I noticed this earlier” costs much more.

4. Say “I don’t know” fast#

I used to feel I had to have the answer before I opened my mouth. That’s a trap, especially as the “SME” in the room.

Being the point of contact doesn’t mean knowing everything. It means knowing who does, and being honest about the gap. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out” gets respect. Guessing doesn’t.

Takeaway: Honesty about the gap builds more trust than a confident guess.

5. It’s okay to change your mind#

I had a personal habit of checking things in a fixed order. I’d done it from day one, and I was proud of how consistent it was.

Then I noticed it wasn’t ordered by risk. It was ordered by the way I’d learned it. I reordered my own habit so the highest-risk items came first. The controls didn’t change at all. I just caught things sooner.

It was hard to admit my habit was a habit and not a principle.

Takeaway: Change your routine when you learn something. Keep the controls.

Following the work I enjoy#

The one constant has been curiosity. I enjoy figuring out how things work, writing it down, and making it easier for the next person.

I’m grateful to the people who taught me, and to the managers who gave me room to take on process work early. I’m excited to see where this goes.