Job Description

The Associate Director, Head of Corporates, Equity Risk Team is also responsible for ensuring that their team manages the risk review workflow for all the clients in its portfolio, which includes proactive monitoring of the portfolio, maintaining relevant risk-owned data, confirming valuations for the Bank’s accounts, proposing portfolio actions including exit strategies and communicating trends in the portfolio and lessons learned to management and peers for their broader strategic decision-making and bottom-up stress-testing.

The incumbent has a high degree of autonomy in making operational decisions, and designs and implements, together with the Director, Equity Risk Management, processes to ensure effective risk identification and management to optimize the Bank’s equity investing and management, as well as enabling the Bank to comply with external regulatory requirements and Bank-wide policies. The jobholder supports the Director in fostering and maintaining the Bank’s credit culture, influencing equity strategy, key procedures around equity approval, portfolio management and valuations, as well as optimization of team resources.
You are responsible for the independent identification, reporting and mitigation of risks. The Equity Risk Management (ER) is responsible for managing EBRD equity and quasi-equity transactions throughout the entire project lifecycle. ER is responsible for conducting independent risk assessments to ensure sound banking, providing structuring and entry valuation guidance to Banking, making recommendations to senior management on approval of new investments, managing all issues that arise during investment period, and dealing with broader portfolio management issues around the Bank’s equity and hybrid portfolio.

The Associate Director provides advice and presents recommendations to the Operations Committee, Small Business Investment Committee (SBIC) and Equity Committee and carries out together with the Banking department certain project approvals which are delegated from those committees.

They are responsible for the group of Senior, Principal and Associate Risk Officers involved with the equity and hybrid operations, providing line management, hires, sets objectives and targets, undertakes performance evaluation and provides regular feedback, as well as coaching and development of those staff over time.

Accountabilities & Responsibilities

• Supports the Director in their leadership of the broader ER team and the delivery of the team's strategy and objectives.
• Deputizes for the Director as and when required.
• Takes a leading role in defining the key risk considerations for the Bank’s Corporate Equity portfolio, and proposes mitigations and changes of strategy to counterbalance those risks.
• Maintains a relationship with a wide range of internal stakeholders, including at a senior management level.
• Manages a team involved in equity and hybrid transactions in Equity Risk within Risk Management, including the recruitment, objective setting, training and appraisal ensuring all their direct reports are aware what is required to achieve and how they are performing against their objectives.
• Drives development of new processes, procedures and policies as well as other initiatives to deliver improvements to optimize the Bank's equity risk/return, also inputting to the more general credit risk processes which impacts other products in addition to equity and hybrids clients regardless of sector.
• Manages their team to ensure that all deadlines are met, that staff are motivated and developed and that staff engagement is kept as high as possible.
• In liaison with others in Banking and others in Risk, consider acceptability of portfolio concentrations, in particular in relation to Corporate sub sectors and advise on constraints if appropriate.
• Establishes an independent and unbiased view on projects proposed to the Operations Committee / SBIC / Equity Committee and make clear recommendations, or approvals on each proposal.
• Analyses the equity case for each proposal and advise on acceptable entry value and/or target return along with structuring including shareholder rights, exit strategy and for hybrids risk mitigation measures, structures, tenor, security, covenants and condition precedents, to the project teams and via credit notes.
• Review integrity and anti-money laundering issues to ensure compliance with internal guidelines and advise on referral to the Office of the Chief Compliance Officer as required.
• Appraise the validity and reliability of key assumptions of each proposal, including via involvement in the commissioning and review of independent due diligence and travel.
• Ensures projects comply with any relevant risk guidelines, prudential limits set by the Bank, and that appropriate risk-owned data is assigned, including inter alia ratings for probability of default and loss given default.
• Have the ownership of Risk data in the area of responsibility.
• Exercises independent delegated authority regarding portfolio actions, and recommendations to senior management on matters requiring higher level approval (including transfers to Equity Special Assets or Corporate Recovery, exits and more significant restructuring, etc.).
• Leads proactive and regular monitoring of the assigned portfolio counterparties, countries and market developments.
• Actively and constructively engage with Banking and other relevant staff to ensure adequacy of front-line monitoring and coach Banking when appropriate (including through Banking staff rotation in Equity Risk Management).
• In liaison with Risk Policy and Reporting and other Credit teams provides input to portfolio stress-tests.
• Collaborate with other members of staff and functions, especially with Banking, Equity Portfolio Management, Finance, Legal, Economics-Policy-Governance, Integrity and Compliance, to ensure effective cross-departmental and business functioning.
• Participate in various executive Bank committees - including the Operations Committee, Equity Committee, Risk Committee, etc.
• Participate and contribute positively to various initiatives and projects within Risk Management, as well as Bank-wide.
• Be an agent of credit culture dissemination, including managing and mentoring of bankers on rotation.
• Maintain an external network of contacts to ensure good understanding of market practices, maintain contacts with functional counterparts at IFIs and wider commercial and investment banking community.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong influencing skills in challenge to the Banking team’s selection, structuring and portfolio management of the transaction and ability to articulate different views.
• Extensive experience of analyzing corporate/equity investments, as well as a range of quasi-equity and hybrid products including mezzanine, convertible bonds, listed and private equity.
• Act as the risk expert for equity/hybrid projects and provide operational guidelines to the Banking teams and provide input into project selection and prioritization.
• Knowledge of -or direct experience investing in- emerging markets, CIS, CEE and SEMED is a plus.
• Deliver clear authoritative conclusions in the context of large volumes and tight timeframe.
• Proven skills and track record in autonomous decision-making capacity at a senior level in credit and/or investment risk in high-risk environments.
• Strong written and spoken communication skills and very good Excel knowledge
• Experience of modelling and valuation methodologies such as DCF and multiples, and of scenario planning.
• Advanced degree in finance, business, economics or equivalent on the job training.
• Have the required people management skills for senior and junior staff under their responsibility.

The Associate Director is expected to be authoritative and influential, provide well-judged advice and guidance across the entire business.

• Ability to analyze and size up projects rapidly and to make authoritative recommendations.
• Ability to build trust, relationships and common understanding with bankers and with all interfaces within the Bank.
• Gain respect by presenting sound arguments based on evidence, being able to be both assertive and proactive depending on the assessment of the situation.
• Ability to deliver information in the right format to different groups by having effective writing and verbal skills.
• Willingness to find and share technical knowledge about international best practice, specific industry, country or projects.
• Solution-oriented approach with a collaborative working style, ability to understand and awareness of the perspectives of others.
• Lead by example in terms of integrity, respect, inclusion and diversity, fostering an open minded and enriching work environment for both juniors and seniors in the team.