Technical Specialist, Retail Credit Risk

The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.
The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.
On 1 April 2013 the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) became responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. The PRA was created by the Financial Services Act (2012) and is part of the Bank of England.

The PRA’s primary objective is to ensure the safety and soundness of the firms that it regulates, and to avoid disorderlym failure which has systemic consequences. For insurers, it has a specific objective to ensure that policy holders are protected through sound financial management.  In addition, it has a secondary objective to facilitate effective competition.

As a directorate of the PRA, the Supervisory Risk Specialists (SRS) provides deep technical expertise and applies judgement in specific risk disciplines in order to identify, analyse and mitigate material risks to the safety and soundness of PRA regulated firms.  SRS also supports the wider Bank through providing risk specialist expertise to a range of functions including policy development and implementation, the Bank's concurrent stress tests and the supervision of central counterparties.

SRS comprises five divisions:

• Credit, Risk, Analytics, Liquidity and Capital (CRACL)
• Investment Banking and Sector Risks (IBSR)
• Model Development and Review (MDRD)
• Operational Risk & Resilience (ORRD)
• Sector Resilience Division (SRD)

Department Overview

Within the CRACL division of SRS, the Retail Credit Risk (RCR) team comprises Retail credit industry professionals and is a centre of expertise across the Bank and the PRA. RCR is focused on supporting the Bank’s supervisory objectives. Key activities of the RCR team include the following:

• Horizon Scanning: Identify emerging and horizon risks pertaining to Retail lending portfolios and their potential impact on UK banks’ portfolios. Ongoing monitoring of UK banks’ Retail Credit Risks including assessing changes in reported portfolio quality and identifying areas of vulnerability

• Firm reviews to assess and challenge Retail Credit Risk appetite and strategy, as well as Credit Risk management, including governance and control processes across the entire Credit Risk life cycle.

• Asset Quality Reviews (AQRs) across Retail asset classes including Mortgages (Residential and Buy-to-Let), Credit Cards, Personal Loans, Motor Finance, and certain segments of SME lending.

• Support stress testing  processes to assess the firms’ resilience to extreme but plausible stresses. Review and challenge analysis of firms’ stress loss projections for UK and global Retail lending portfolios.

Collaborate with colleagues across the organisation to ensure that key risks are widely understood and to contribute to a coordinated regulatory framework.

As a Retail Credit RiskTechnical Specialist, the successful candidate will:

• Lead and review cross-firm or market reviews to evaluate firms' portfolio performance and risk concentrations (UK and International) .

• Scope and lead Risk Reviews across a variety of PRA-regulated lenders (both UK and International). Reviews would typically involve assessing a bank’s lending strategy, risk appetite, governance and control framework, portfolio management (Acquisition, account management, Collections and Recoveries management) as well as  impairment / provisioning practices, covering a range of Retail Lending portfolios.  The individual will also be responsible for developing relationships with Supervisors of these firms at the PRA, as well as interacting with senior management at firms, including Chief Risk Officers, Chief Credit Officers and Chief Executive Officers of divisions / regions.

• Provide technical guidance and thought leadership in their area of expertise and, plan and lead all aspects of work within the framework of Supervisory Risk Specialist’s engagement model with other Supervisory colleagues.

• Proactively scan the horizon for emerging risks and ensuring appropriate action is taken to mitigate these.

• Review a wide range of information including financial, regulatory and management information. The role holder will be required to challenge a firm’s interpretation of its credit metrics, provide insightful analysis and specify, over time, the links to policy and financial resilience / stability.

• Support stress testing with portfolio insights gathered from Asset Quality Reviews and periodic firm engagements.

• Support the development of analytical approaches to assess Retail lending asset quality.

• Own the Retail Credit Risk team’s engagement for Credit data initiatives.

This is a rare and exciting opportunity to join an impactful team of Retail Credit specialists at the PRA. 

·     Experience of Retail lending products, strategies for acquisition, account management, Collections and Recoveries as well as analytical tools and approaches.

• Experience of analysing and challenging Credit data, MI, and the policies and procedures which apply in Retail Banking and Credit Risk environments and in using experience to form judgments.

• Knowledge of IFRS9 and provisioning methodologies for Retail credit.

• Knowledge of the latest market developments and macro-economic environment and potential impacts on banks’ Credit Risk.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills. Strong experience of writing and delivering reports and presentations on technical issues in a way that can be easily understood by a non-technical audience. Ability to credibly present with influence and to defend views whilst being open to constructive challenge and feedback, to both internal and external senior counterparts.

• Ability to form relationships and work optimally with counterparts in other parts of the Bank.

Essential Criteria

·       Exposure to Retail Credit Risk management in multiple market and business model contexts.

·       A strong understanding of a wide range of data sources, including Credit Bureau data.

·       A track record of delivering through others.

Desirable Criteria

·       Familiarity with IRB and Basel.

·       Knowledge of stress testing methodologies and models with the ability to analyse and challenge the plausibility of impairments for Retail portfolios.

·       Experience in, or exposure to, one or more of the following: Credit Risk modelling; SME Credit Risk Management; Asset based or Motor finance.