KfW IPEX-Bank offers sound and long-term concepts for project and export financing. Our teams of experts devote their energies to analysing and assessing potential risks for the bank. We handle risk prevention and avoidance processes and, where necessary, develop restructuring measures for our clients.
Are you a risk management and finance expert and interested in financing products for export and project financing? Then a wide range of potential jobs await you at KfW IPEX-Bank.
We control transaction-related risks of new and existing transactions and take on collateral management tasks. Our jobs include giving a second opinion on lending transactions and maintaining our rating and pricing tools. We are responsible for controlling limits from an operational perspective and monitoring the risk methodology and management outsourced to KfW. We also implement operational risk and business continuity management and create reports on risk-relevant topics.
We cover KfW IPEX-Bank's complete spectrum of industries, but have fixed sector and client-related responsibilities. We create credit ratings for clients of relevance to KfW IPEX-Bank and their markets. Our work also involves assessing address risks by conducting corporate analyses, creating sector analyses and monitoring risk as part of an ongoing process.
Our goal is to recover financing projects by implementing restructuring and reorganisation measures as well as by adjusting credit.
When dealing with remediable projects, we support the financial and other restructuring processes, including the creation and checking of milestone concepts.
Creative thinking is a must when developing action alternatives, which is why we have to master the common restructuring instruments (including restructuring reports, searching for suitable investors, setting up special-purpose vehicles to make bail-out purchases and realisation of collateral, also abroad) and assess how suitable they are in each individual case.
Our goal is to prevent and minimise damage. The department's core task is to process transactions in the limited partnership (Kommanditgesellschaft or KG) segment of the E&P ship financing portfolio. These are purely asset-based ship financing products with cash flow risks, the equity for which is provided by institutional and private investors who have a stake in the holding company's limited liability capital.
I had serious doubts whether KfW IPEX-Bank would hire me.
Yes, I'd spent a total of eight years working for HypoVereinsbank in Munich as a project financer. And yes, I'd spent one year at the EBRD in London. But when I was talking to KfW IPEX-Bank's HR team on the phone, the first question I asked was: "Can lateral entry employees also work part-time at KfW IPEX-Bank?" I was immediately impressed by their response – a confident "Yes".
I then faced my next challenge – going to my initial interview when I was eight months' pregnant. How would my interviewers react? To my great relief, they weren't at all bothered by my delicate situation. Ultimately, I was offered a post as a part-time Risk Contract Manager – so in my eyes, KfW IPEX-Bank had just earned a great deal of advance goodwill as my new employer.
I've now been with KfW IPEX-Bank for almost ten years. I'm still really enthusiastic about my work and enjoying it greatly. A few years after starting with the bank, as a 70% part-time employee, I underwent the potential analysis process. I was soon given the chance to take on the role of acting head of the team in which I was responsible for loan commitments within Basic Industries. Everything was going swimmingly, but then the global financial crisis hit during late summer of 2008.
It was an extremely challenging time – to say the least – when many companies in this segment saw their economic situation take a drastic turn for the worse. But having a highly motivated team, cooperating with professional colleagues in the credit process and a department head who gave us constructive support, meant that we were able to find solutions to the difficulties our borrowers were facing – solutions which were acceptable to both the customers and the bank. A good six months later I was "my own woman", but then help came to hand as a colleague and I, working as a "management tandem", officially took over as well the management of a team consisting of around 15 employees. We are both very proud to be the first "management tandem" within KfW IPEX-Bank since February 2009. There's even a pair of "copycat wannabes" now too. ;-) Since the bank was reorganised in 2009, we have now been managing the Central Analysis department for five years. It's KfW's ratings agency, so to speak – a team that constantly assesses the credit risks of borrowers and guarantors from the Power, Renewables & Water and Basic Industries sector departments.
Looking back, I'm struck by the fact that KfW IPEX-Bank's working environment is very much characterised by team spirit and collegiality. We are primarily motivated by our goal of collectively selling good products, in the sense of loans – structured according to risk – for financing infrastructure projects around the world. Each individual employee demonstrates professional commitment within the context of their specific tasks and respects the contributions of everyone else involved in the division of labour. Even when we're all busy and hard at work, I can't think of anyone who doesn't respond to colleagues' requests. Since the number of employees (a good 600 at present) is still manageable, this also means that everyone gets to know one another after a while, making communication and cooperation easier.
All in all, I personally think that KfW IPEX-Bank is an employer that demands a great deal, but also has a lot to offer, such as an extremely interesting business model, a diverse and varied range of tasks and – above all else – co-workers with class, both as specialists and people.
Why did I decide to apply to KfW IPEX-Bank? Because of its international presence, the fact that it offered specialist financing instead of bulk business and had a corporate culture of appreciation.
After completing my studies in International Business Administration and holding a variety of posts in the investment banking sector, I joined KfW IPEX-Bank in 2006. My main job was to support and acquire companies in the commercial and consumer goods industry, as well as to structure needs-based financing. The particular highlights for me included financing in Istanbul (Turkey) and West Bengal (India).
My two-year secondment to the Federal Ministry of Finance in Berlin followed in 2011. This was another high point in my professional and personal career. In the "Federal Government Overseas Guarantees" division, I was working at both national and international level and was able to apply my knowledge of banking in a variety of committees. I really enjoyed being involved in making economic and political decisions. This knowledge has proven to be a particular asset since I returned to KfW IPEX-Bank, as export loans covered by Federal guarantees are one of the bank's core business areas.
As a Risk Manager, I now check the credit viability of planned financing in a variety of sectors. This gives me an interesting overview of the credit process that has been implemented, KfW IPEX-Bank's portfolio and the current market conditions.
At KfW IPEX-Bank, I value working with motivated employees, the diverse employment opportunities and the fact that you can have a good work-life balance while holding down an interesting and demanding job.
I found my way into KfW IPEX-Bank in April 2012 through the credit analysis trainee programme. During this 15-month programme, I learned about the bank's key departments and followed the lending process in my everyday work. In this time, I've done more than simply build on my specialist knowledge. I also forged key contacts with colleagues in what would be my interfaces at a later stage. This made it easier for me to start in Credit Analysis in July 2013.
On my very first day in Credit Analysis I was given a portfolio of my own, and I've been independently managing it since then with respect to credit analysis operations. My activities focus on international corporates and asset-based cash flow risk transactions in the Maritime Industries department. At the moment, for instance, I'm working on a new business rating for financing a special offshore vessel built to maintain oil platforms in the North Sea. To this end, I'm assessing the transaction's cash flow risks and the credit ratings of the shipbuilding company and other enterprises involved and determining appropriate ratings.
In addition to providing new and existing customers with credit ratings, I continuously monitor risk. I devote a great deal of my energies to my sector. I love the fact that I communicate on an equal footing with international companies of all sizes, international banks and global investors. My regular work also involves conducting industry analyses of the industry segments that fall under my area of responsibility. For the bank, these analyses form the basis of qualitative corporate assessment and serve to forecast how relevant opportunities and risks will develop.
KfW IPEX-Bank encourages its employees to deepen their requisite analytical skills and to expand their knowledge of the sector by attending regular internal seminars and external conferences. When I go to visit customers' premises, I get to know the customers and their business models in person.
The Group as a whole attaches a great deal of importance to networking with the bank's customers and also with colleagues at KfW IPEX-Bank and KfW. Lunch in the canteen and the company's wide range of sporting activities offer perfect opportunities to do just that. Take today, for instance. I had an exciting discussion with a colleague working in Development Cooperation over lunch – he was telling me about the education project he's currently working on in Afghanistan. Every day, I can't help but marvel at and feel enriched by how diverse our colleagues are. In some cases, they come from completely different backgrounds and lead very different lives. Oh, and the food in the canteen is fantastic too!
I'll close my experience report on that note and wish all the interested applicants the very best of luck in their application.
