Working Abroad - Matthew Webb - Center for International Business Studies Blog

After working here at MetroBank for a few weeks now, I think I have a good idea of how everything works. To start, the very first thing I learned was that MetroBank started as a bank targeted to high net worth individuals. Now, the bank is starting to expand into other practices, and branch away from private and commercial banking. In 2020, MetroBank launched retail banking. Because the primary target of the bank has been corporations or high net worth individuals, over 80% of its funds are time deposits. Having large sums of money sitting is not good for banks because factors like inflation create the effect of losing money. That is where my job comes in. I work in the MetroAsset Management part of the bank. My department works not only managing the assets the bank has, but also of private customers. The decisions made by the asset management department have an effect on all parts of the bank, because if investments are not made properly the bank loses other people’s money.

Regarding Panama itself, business transactions don’t differ too much from how they would in the United States. The main reason for this is that Panama uses the US dollar as its currency. Since the currency used is the US dollar, it is easier for the bank to partake in transactions in the United States, without having to deal with the hassles of exchange rates. I learned that in the corporate banking part of the bank for example, when working on syndicated loans in foreign countries, there can be a lot of laws and regulations around the transaction. One thing I found interesting is in some cases a lawyer from the foreign bank has to fly to Panama to physically witness the CEO signing the documents allowing the transaction. Overall I think this experience has already taught me so much not only about finance and banking, but how other cultures and parts of the world do business.