I’m a credit analyst in Global Corporate & Investment Banking Credit for the EMEA region, and one of our main responsibilities is assessing loan applications from large organisations. Whether a company is looking to acquire another business or expand its operations, we analyse the fundamental credit risk and advise the bank on whether to lend, as well as the duration, pricing and conditions of a loan.
50% of my job is analysing new transactions, and the other 50% is monitoring current clients. That means checking to see if they’re in the news, reviewing any management accounts or financial statements, assessing and evaluating our internal risk rating and then reporting these updates to my seniors. We have an equivalent team based in the bank’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, who I’m regularly in contact with too.
The fact that you get experience across a variety of clients but that you’re also working with different people all the time. As part of my graduate programme, I had the opportunity to do three rotations over the two years. I’ve already worked with a lot of senior managers and learnt a lot from really diverse teams.
I think the diversity and inclusivity we have is unique, especially after speaking to friends at other firms. In my first team, we had 17 people from 17 different backgrounds, and we decided to learn about each other’s cultures in informal, sociable ways. For example, we started going out for ‘cultural dinners’ where I tried Jewish kosher, Polish, Sri Lankan and authentic Italian dishes. It’s enabled us to work together in ways that are more comfortable and trusted, and opened up all kinds of conversations.
There’s definitely a big focus on learning and development. Within the division we had new joiner sessions as well as training in Charlotte, North Carolina for the graduates (this was pre-Covid 19). Bank-wide, there's a women's leadership council that you can join. I attend their events and am looking to take an active role as soon as I can. They give talks on career mobility, internal mobility, how to work towards promotions, and just generally help you to connect with female leaders within the bank.
