What Background Questions Do Banks Ask

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What Background Checks Do Banks Use?

Banks and fiscal institutions owe it to their customers, members, stockholders, and insurers to vet their employees thoroughly. Most depository financial institution jobs involve admission to both money and sensitive personal data. These factors make working at a banking company bonny for someone who might exist looking to steal money, commit identity theft, or both. Considering of these threats, banks tend to exist very vigilant in conducting background checks on all new hires.

When information technology comes to discussing the types of background checks that banks employ, the starting time considerations should be the FDIC and Department 19.

The FDIC, or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, is the organization that insures most banks in the U.s.. Section 19 is a mensurate of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act that limits who the FDIC can hire. Department 19 confined FDIC banks from hiring "any person who has been convicted of any criminal offense involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering." Candidates or employees who have "entered into a pretrial diversion or similar program in connection with such an offense" must likewise exist disqualified or terminated.

Banks will use criminal history checks to look for convictions that apply to Section 19. While crimes like identity theft, embezzlement, or fraud are tiptop-line cherry flags for fiscal institutions, they are not the only convictions that a bank is looking for on a background check. Most banks are also looking for past problems with violence or sex-related crimes equally a means of ensuring a safe workplace for employees.

Banking company groundwork checks will typically go beyond criminal history. Verification checks are mutual to make sure that candidates are beingness honest on their resumes about education, professional credentials, and past employment. Some banks besides use credit history checks to learn more most their candidates' financial habits—though credit checks for jobs are non legal in all parts of the country.

In designing their background checks, all banks must observe the same compliance guidelines every bit other employers, including following the Off-white Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Banks should also aim to follow Equal Employment Opportunity Committee (EEOC) guidance wherever possible. Yet, because banks are bound to follow Department 19, their hiring policies and handling of criminal history may sometimes have a disparate impact on minorities.

In 2018, a estimate ruled for Wells Fargo in an EEOC lawsuit that alleged the company's hiring practices were discriminatory. Despite the presence of disparate impact, Wells Fargo's responsibility to follow Section 19 ultimately took precedent.

Michael Klazema

Near Michael Klazema The author

Michael Klazema is Master Marketing Technologist at EY-VODW.com and has over two decades of experience in digital consulting, online product direction, and technology innovation. He is the lead writer and editor for Dallas-based backgroundchecks.com with a focus on human resource and employment screening developments.