When a person applies for a job with a banking or financial services institution, employment screening should be conducted. Employees who work in financial institutions have access to so much personal and fiduciary information that hiring them without conducting a screen would be foolish. Incidents of embezzling and fraud within a financial institution can easily ruin the company.

A financial institution usually houses all of its customer information on a database. The database is protected by firewalls and accessible only by authorized employees. However, one of those authorized employees could be a potential criminal. Conducting employment screening on all job applicants, as well as periodic screens of existing employees, will provide a safeguard against employing someone who is a potential risk.

Employees of financial institutions have access to customer contact information, Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and transaction information. Many also have the authority to reverse, correct, or make transactions within customer accounts. It would be very easy for a less than ethical employee to withdraw money from a customer's account. It may be days, weeks, or months before the situation is discovered, and the employee may have quit and ridden off into the sunset by that time.

Financial institutions should conduct an employment screening comprised of a credit and criminal background check, as well as education, identity, and employment history verification. References may also be checked, but should not be relied on too much because it is rare that an applicant will provide the name of a reference who will speak poorly of him or her.

Due to the access to financial and personal information that most employees of financial institutions have, it is important to conduct employment screening on these individuals. It is absolutely essential to do this screening as part of the pre-employment process. However, credit and criminal checks should also be done on an intermittent basis throughout the period of employment.