Credit Analyst, Manager – Contingent Liability Central Capability

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At UK Government Investments (UKGI), we create value for society from government’s most complex commercial interests. What we do is unique, and so are we. Wholly owned by HM Treasury (HMT), our team comprises 150 experts drawn from the public and private sectors who work together to provide high quality advice to departments.

Our work is delivered in four areas:

Governance: Promoting best-practice stewardship on behalf of 9 departments for 24 publicly owned businesses which together employ over 158,000 people, generate around £30bn of gross income and manage over £1trillion of assets.

Corporate finance: Advising departments on corporate finance matters, including all major government financial interventions into distressed corporate structures and corporate finance negotiations. This year we have undertaken a key advisory role in some of the most high-profile transactions and situations facing government, including the sale of Chelsea Football Club, as well as supporting departments with matters arising from the ongoing war in Ukraine and supporting the launch of the Energy Markets Financing Scheme.

Asset Realisation: Preparing and executing all significant corporate asset sales by the UK Government, including supporting the policy to return NatWest Group to the private sector.

Contingent Liabilities: Improving management of fiscal risk by strengthening expertise within government. This involves undertaking a new, cross-government data collection and analysis project that will help map the current contingent liability landscape.


Background to Contingent Liabilities Central Capability (CLCC)

As set out in the “Government as Insurer of Last Resort” report published by HM Treasury (HMT) at the March 2020 Budget, a key opportunity identified by HMT’s Balance Sheet Review launched in 2017 is to establish a central capability to advise on the management of contingent liabilities across government.

The government takes on risk that the private sector cannot to protect the population and provide stability when unforeseen events occur. This can create potential liabilities that are uncertain but might lead to future expenditure if specific conditions are met or specific events happen. These liabilities are known as contingent liabilities. Contingent Liability Central Capability (CLCC) is an analytical and advisory unit, established to build on the existing approval framework and further strengthen contingent liability expertise and risk management across government. It began providing support to government in April 2021. The team comprises actuaries seconded from the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD), credit risk experts, policy professionals and analysts.

The role

UKGI is looking to hire a credit analyst (Manager) for the Credit Risk branch of the CLCC, which is focused on analysing the credit risk associated with financial guarantees provided by the government to the private sector to achieve certain policy outcomes. In addition, the role requires supporting workstreams across the three CLCC branches (Credit, Insurance and Portfolio Analysis & Engagement), with a key focus on providing analytical input for the CLCC annual report on the UK Governments' contingent liabilities. Occasionally work also involves assessing single name counterparty risk, but that is a very minor and infrequent part of the role. The role will involve working closely with the head of the Credit Risk branch and other team members across a number of work streams:

• Provide expert, authoritative and timely analysis of the risk associated with proposed contingent liabilities to support better contingent liability structuring, decision making and reporting across government
• Examine and report on the financial risks (including assisting with estimates of expected losses) associated with contingent liabilities across government to support better decision making by HMT, departments and arm’s length bodies, to improve the understanding of contingent liability risk exposures across government, and to feed into more holistic central fiscal risk projections
• Build and maintain a network of contacts across government to support contingent liability management
• Ensure best practice methods are adopted across government to assess the financial impact of contingent liabilities more consistently and accurately, including evaluating the level of premiums that could be charged
• Provide guidance to HMT and departments on ways to manage the financial risks from contingent liabilities more efficiently (for example risk pooling arrangements)
• Assisting in developing and executing a robust governance and risk framework for contingent liabilities
• Assisting in the development of the CLCC’s processes and analytical systems


Experience

• Credit risk management of financial instruments like loans, bonds, or financial guarantees across a range of sectors,
• Experience in a financial institution; rating agency, advisory firm, or within the public sector
• Excellent analytical capability and numerical skills, good understanding of financial and/or risk modelling
• An advantage (but not essential) would be basic experience in quantitative risk management, ratings, assessing expected loss (PD/LGD/EAD analysis), or pricing of financial instruments.
• An advantage (but not essential) would be knowledge of the housing sector in general and financing structures in particular.


Competencies & Personal Attributes
• Strong credit and financial analysis skills
• Ability to write clear, useful, technical analysis
• Ability to work in the context of uncertainties and lack of data, and to apply expert judgement, drawing in wider industry experience and subject matter expertise with the support of your team
• Knowledge of numerical methods is an advantage
• Structuring and legal documentation for credit exposures is an advantage but not essential
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Demonstrable inclusive, collegial, and commercial approach
• Proactive team player
• An excellent and creative problem solver
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy


Diversity Statement

UKGI has a strong commitment to equality and diversity. Our aim is to be an open and inclusive organisation, recruiting and retaining diverse, talented and high-performing people who support and develop one another.

UKGI is a Disability Confident Employer. This means we’ve been recognised as an employer which is confident and leading the way in recruiting and retaining staff with disabilities. We will offer an interview to any applicants with a disability who have indicated they wish to take part in the disability confident scheme, provided they meet the essential criteria for the post set out in the person specification. If you need any reasonable adjustments to take part in the selection process, please tell us about this in your application.

UKGI is also part of the ‘Great Place to Work for Veterans’ initiative. This means that as part of our commitment to diversity and equality in our recruitment and retention policy, we will offer an interview to any eligible applicants from His Majesty’s Armed Forces provided they meet the essential criteria for the post set out in the person specification. Please indicate on your application that you wish for your application to be considered as part of this initiative.

In line with company policy, we will be employing a hybrid working model based, with 40% of your time being home-based. At UKGI we place a high degree of value on work life balance and as such applications from individuals seeking flexible working, reduced hours contracts and job shares are also actively encouraged.

If you wish to learn more about how your data is used, please click on the document attached to this role.