The Massachusetts Bankers Association School for Financial Studies was in session last week at Babson College’s Center for Executive Education in Wellesley.

What would happen if the senior management of all the banks in one community were flying to Washington, D.C., the plane disappeared and was never found? That was one question posed to 44 junior bank executives last week at the Massachusetts Bankers Association School for Financial Studies.

Each year, junior-level bankers who likely have a career path leading them to senior management attend the school to learn about banking, examining the broad picture of running a bank instead of simply focusing on a particular department or single area of expertise.

“They’re getting to learn the basic fundamentals of the business of banking and understanding the bank as a holistic type of operation,” said Santo Pasqualucci, who is retired from Falmouth Bank and has been an MBA school facilitator for 30 years.

The session in June, which is held at Babson College’s Center for Executive Education in Wellesley, was considered “senior” year for the students, who began the program in May 2004 with a full week of classes. Subsequently, they worked on five different assignments over the course of the year and assembled again a year later to complete the program with a final week of schooling. The class of 2005 graduated on Friday.

Outside of lectures, the students work in groups managing a hypothetical bank and must deal with potential disasters, while also keeping up with quarterly results.

William Wilkinson, trustee and retired chief operating officer at Natick-based Middlesex Savings Bank, said students undergo “real life” sessions that would occur in the banking world. Wilkinson has been a facilitator at the school for four years.

“The projects consist of different topics,” Wilkinson said.

The topics include portfolio management, human relations, marketing and general economic forecast. On Friday, students presented a mock annual report to “stockholders” before graduating.

All of the students are already employed at a bank and are recommended to attend by senior management, but despite their hands-on experience many still enter the program with some trepidation.

“There is a lot of uncertainty as to how to move the ‘bank’ in the direction of the goals and objectives they set on the first day,” Wilkinson said. “But after the first resident session, they [are] very enthusiastic about getting their projects and working on those during the course of the year.”

The school isn’t intended for the weak, nor is it a holiday camp. Wilkinson said students are working by 8 a.m. and can easily work as late as 10 p.m.

Theresa Solomon, vice president of project and systems management at Stoneham Bank, said missing meals wasn’t uncommon last week.

“We didn’t even eat dinner [Monday] night,” Solomon said. “It’s really about time management.”

Wilkinson said students learn about the sense of urgency that can exist at the senior executive level in banking.

“The student has to make a real commitment to get through this,” Wilkinson said.

Many Middlesex Savings employees have attended MBA’s school over the years. Wilkinson said typically three or four students attend each year. It’s important for banks to send employees because many banks can’t provide such education within the institution, Wilkinson said.

“Most banks would not be able to do that in-house,” said Wilkinson.

‘Reality’ Show

MBA’s School for Financial Studies began in 1960 at the old Hotel Belmont on Cape Cod. A few years later it moved to another Cape location, where it remained until 1990. Kathleen Jones, senior vice president of education and management development at MBA, said the first class to graduate from the Babson location did so in 1990. The site has been an improvement, she said.

“[Babson] is more conducive to education,” Jones said.

Besides gaining knowledge from the program, Jones said the school is accredited and students can earn up to 15 undergraduate credits and three graduate credits toward college degrees.

Tim Smith, chief financial officer at Beverly Cooperative Bank, has been a group facilitator for 14 years and helps keep the groups on track.

“We guide them [students] on the impact of their decisions,” Smith said.

For instance, last Tuesday Smith’s group was working to determine why its model bank was experiencing an increase in checking accounts but not savings accounts. Smith said that to determine the answer, the students must review interest rates and examine the products offered by the competition, and then they must make decisions and act to solve the problem. Smith said it is most important that students understand the process and the ramifications of their decisions.

All of the information is compiled using a computer program called BankExec. Each day of the week symbolizes a bank quarter, so if students make decisions on Monday, the data is entered into BankExec that evening and the results are shown on Tuesday. The data students review also show what decisions other groups, or “banks” are making.

“There is a certain amount of reality built into the model,” Smith said.

Pasqualucci said BankExec has been useful in order for students to fully grasp the concepts being taught.

“It’s a hands-on method of teaching; it’s a supplement to teaching,” Pasqualucci said, adding that BankExec lets students see the projected results of their decisions.

While making decisions regarding the model bank’s financials, the students also are dealing with human resource issues. Each group has a chief executive officer, chief financial officer, loan officer, retail officer and head of treasury. On Tuesday morning, one group was reviewing fictional profiles of bank employees to determine who should be placed in senior management positions.

“A lot of the folks here are not sitting in a global perspective in their day-to-day work,” Smith said, but they are able to experience the big picture through the simulations.

Solomon, who works mainly in the technology arena at Stoneham Bank, said being able to see the bank from a holistic point of view has helped her understand the finance side better.

“I’m learning how the bank runs,” Solomon said. “The simulation [BankExec] is fabulous.”

With such a rigorous schedule, students have ample opportunity to display their strengths and identify their weaknesses. Smith said students can be too demanding on themselves.

“The biggest weakness is probably their own impatience,” Smith said.

However, adapting to the hectic schedule while maintaining a regular life has proven to be a strength for many of the students.

“By having us write these five papers [over a period of one year between classes] Â… we had to take back what we learned and write about it,” Solomon said.

Laura Rochon, branch manager at Middlesex Savings in Westford, also was chosen to attend the school. She said it was intimidating, but she was excited to learn how banks determine goals for individual branches. Rochon said the hardest part was analyzing the bank’s numbers each day. However, she said, it has been a good experience.

“It’s not as scary as people say it is,” Rochon said of the program.

Solomon and Rochon are two of the many women enrolled in this year’s graduating class. Both Jones and Pasqualucci said the influx of women in the school is reflective of what is going on in the industry.

“Over time there are more and more women coming [into the school],” Pasqualucci said.

According to Bruce Spitzer, director of communications at MBA, 20 percent of Massachusetts banks are headed up by women.

Because the industry is evolving, the school’s curriculum also has changed over time, Jones said. Pasqualucci noted there are more bank regulations today and more competition with non-bank companies and credit unions.

“It is more complex to run an institution than it ever has been,” Pasqualucci said. “[Banking in the past] wasn’t challenging to the degree it is today.”

Each of the facilitators said that when the students leave the program, they are walking away with the fundamental skills needed to manage a bank and make sound decisions.

“They are professional bankers when they leave,” Pasqualucci said.