Credit Analysts

Job purpose

To analyse the credit data and financial statements of individuals and firms in order to determine the degree of risk involved in extending credit or lending money, and to prepare the credit analyses, summaries and reports on which loan committees rely, so that lending decisions are taken on a sound and documented assessment of risk.

Skills

• Applied knowledge of economics and accounting — financial statement analysis, financial ratios, banking and credit practice and the reporting of financial data — with the mathematics and statistics needed to model profitability, the laws and regulations governing lending and credit, and the office systems in which customer files are held. Written English of report standard is required. Almost all incumbents hold a bachelor's degree, a small proportion a master's, together with several years of related experience and on-the-job training.
• Consults customers to resolve complaints and to verify financial and credit transactions, and contacts customers to collect payment on accounts in arrears. Presents and explains credit findings to loan committees and colleagues in writing and in discussion, translating financial evidence for those who must act on it, and confers with credit association and other business representatives to exchange credit information. May instruct colleagues in credit analysis practice.
• Determines the degree of risk in a lending proposition from evidence that is incomplete and partly qualitative: income growth, quality of management and market share alongside liquidity, profitability and credit history, benchmarked against comparable establishments in the same industry and geographic area. Ratios and comparators give a framework, but the conclusion on risk and expected profitability is a matter of reasoned judgement that must be defensible on the file.
• Manages a caseload of applications, reviews and collections against committee timetables and customer expectations, determining own tasks, priorities and goals within them. Reviews customer files to identify and select accounts for collection and recommends payment plans based on earnings, savings data, payment history and purchase activity.
• Work is carried out at a desk using computers and financial software. No manual handling or dexterity demands beyond keyboard and document work.

Responsibilities

• No line management responsibility. Works within a credit or lending team and may train others in analytical methods; influence is exercised through the quality and clarity of the risk assessment rather than through authority over people.
• Assesses the risk attached to credit and lending, completes loan applications with credit analyses and summaries of the request, and submits them to loan committees for approval. Recommends payment plans and pursues sums due on accounts in arrears. Does not grant, decline or price credit — that decision rests with the committee — but the assessment shapes it and the exposure taken on.
• Ordinary care of a workstation and of the credit and financial analysis systems used.
• Handles confidential financial and personal information: customer credit files, financial statements, payment histories and credit reference material exchanged with credit associations. Prepares the credit reports and risk statements on which decisions are recorded, where accuracy is central and error affects colleagues' decisions and organisational results.

Effort required

• Close and sustained analytical attention to financial detail, with exactness required and a substantial repeating element in the analysis of each file. Decisions are made frequently, on evidence that is rarely complete, and each conclusion on risk must be reasoned and written up under time pressure.
• Personal accountability attaches to the risk view taken, which is subject to challenge by the committee and tested by later outcomes, in a commercially competitive setting.
• Predominantly seated desk work with some repetitive keyboard motions. No lifting or exertion.

Working conditions

• Indoor office work in controlled conditions throughout, without physical hazard. A high volume of contact by e-mail, telephone, letter and face-to-face discussion with customers, colleagues and external credit contacts. The demand is psychological rather than physical: exact analytical work under time pressure, with decisions taken frequently on evidence that is rarely complete.
• Almost all incumbents work a regular established schedule, with the working week evenly split between a standard week and longer hours, and a small seasonal element. Reasonable freedom to determine tasks and priorities within lending policy, credit criteria and committee timetables set elsewhere.