Transition Year students who set up their own lending institutions could win laptops and software for themselves and their schools, reports Louise Holden.

Watch your Ps and Qs in class this year - you could be sitting next to your bank manager. Transition Year students are setting up their own lending institutions as part of the AIB

Build A Bank Challenge. The project ran as a pilot in Cork last year and, because the interest was so high and the standard so impressive, AIB decided to go national.

Now mini-bank branches in schools all over the country will be taking hard-earned money from students and putting it to work in current and savings accounts. Each school bank will have a staff of six, recruited by the local AIB student officer. A bank manager, assistant manager, auditor, marketing officer and two tellers will work together to market the school branch and bring in as many customers as they can over the life of the competition.

Given that thousands of Irish students will take jobs in the banking sector, it's a valuable opportunity for some to learn the ins and outs of a working bank branch. There are opportunities for students with design and communication flair as well as those who have a good business head or a way with numbers.

All accounts set up are actually with AIB, so what does the banking group's Sheila Mulqueen say to the charge that Build A Bank is just an ill-disguised recruitment drive?

"Many of these accounts will be closed again at the end of the project, and the truth is that most students open accounts in the same banks as their parents," she says. "The point of the Build A Bank Challenge is the get students thinking about money management, and to familiarise them with the banking system."

In each school, the six students directly involved face a steep learning curve. They are interviewed, recruited, trained and running the business within a matter of weeks. They are responsible for issuing accounts, taking lodgments, handling paperwork and marketing their bank. Because they are competing with other schools for some valuable prizes from Cara/NEC and Microsoft, the pressure will be on to get the numbers in.

"The winning banks will not necessarily be the ones with the most customers," says Mulqueen. "We are looking for creative marketing initiatives, like the school that ran a jingle competition last year. We are also looking for evidence of effective teamwork, good business practices and eye-catching presentations."

One winning school in Cork last year used a portion of the lodged money to invest in another Transition Year mini-company. The venture succeeded and the bank made a profit.

To win laptops and software for themselves and their schools, bank "staff" will have to find solutions to two specific assignments set by AIB. Regional winners go on to make a formal presentation to a national panel of judges. The winners of this leg go on to the national finals at AIB head office.

Transition Times will return to the

Build A Bank Challenge in May to find out what makes a winning banker and just how many accounts are opened - and closed - in Irish Transition Year classrooms this year.