I work in credit risk division in the bank. So what is credit risk? It is the risk of someone not honouring the promise — example when someone is not paying the money back, or not paying on time.

There are various types of risk - credit, market, liquidity, operations, enterprise. I work in the credit risk division at a bank. In my team, we assess the counterparty (the opposite party in a contract or financial transaction) credit risk. Counterparties can be a corporate, hedge fund and private equity. A bank trades with different legal entities which include other banks, hedge funds or corporate entities. I cover real estate and Asian hedge fund. I provide trade approval. E.g. when a firm asks can you sell me a particular product, I ask questions and analyse credit risk. I need to determine the payment repayability. I spend time to understand accounting, balance sheet, financial metrics of the counterparty and then decide whether the counterparty has an appetite to repay. Before making a decision, I need to provide a rationale for a particular transaction. Different people in the team can audit the transaction and analyse why a specific approval has been made.

For Hedge fund clients in Asia, you should have a pretty good understanding of credit, the fundamental analysis in Europe (e.g. London) would be the same. Hedge funds in the US are more sophisticated. In industry across the globe, there are a lot of similarities.

I chose commerce in high school and wanted to get into Finance, and this allowed me to study interesting subjects. I couldn't get the hang of organic chemistry in school, and in middle school didn't like science that much too. I was fascinated by Finance, and I was attracted to the impact that Finance had on individuals (both fortune and misfortune). I believe nothing can be achieved without the efficient allocation of capital. Most people think my role is just sitting on a desk and doing some work, I feel like an individual, you have a lot of power in deciding the future of the world through the allocation of capital. Do I fund renewable energy or invest in oil power generations? This kind of impact is not felt by people who are not connected to the industry. The effect on the global economy is phenomenal.

Confidence is key, it is not science. You can have the same set of facts, and multiple people can have a different opinion. You need to defend your position. It is just what you interpret and adding an amount of foresight. Networking is essential for Finance though it is essential for all industries. In Asia, from what I have seen, people value you when you are from the finance industry. There are also people from engineering background who take up CFA (Charted Financial Analyst) to gain more knowledge. In western countries, people can join Finance from any degree. You can pick up these skills within a year once you join a firm.