The European Central Bank has launched:  Traineeship in horizontal banking supervision - analysis and policy.

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Your team

You will be part of a highly qualified multicultural team within the Directorate General Horizontal Line Supervision. Our Directorate General has 270 staff providing horizontal functions and specialised expertise for the supervision of banks. We are responsible for policy development and coordination and deal with regulatory and supervisory policy issues, working closely with other business areas in ECB Banking Supervision and with the Joint Supervisory Teams (JSTs) who carry out direct supervision of banks under the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM).

As a trainee, you will join the Supervisory Policy Division, the Credit Risk Experts Division or the Non-Financial Risk Experts Division.

The SSM is the system of banking supervision in Europe. It comprises the ECB and the national supervisory authorities of the participating countries.

The ECB is an inclusive employer and we strive to reflect the diversity of the population we serve. We encourage you to apply irrespective of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other characteristics.

Your role

As a trainee, you will:

• participate in work on the ECB’s strategic credit risk priorities and related projects, for instance in the areas of real estate vulnerabilities and loan origination-related risk and general credit risk management frameworks;
• participate in work on strategic priorities in the area of internal governance and internal control functions of supervised banks, addressing deficiencies in the functioning, composition and capabilities of their management bodies;
• participate in project-oriented work – such as the horizontal analysis and benchmarking of European and international prudential regulation of supervised credit institutions – to ensure that SSM business processes are properly conducted and well-supported;
• participate in policymaking and technical work – such as prudential requirements - and European Banking Authority guidelines, including accounting, own funds, market risk, credit risk and banking and financial regulation, as well as supervision more generally ¬– and providing policy and expert advice to JSTs;
• assist in the drafting and organisation of briefings and presentations for senior management ahead of meetings of decision-making and/or policymaking committees of the ECB, other EU and international institutions and fora and standard-setting bodies; 
• support horizontal assessments (i.e. thematic reviews, horizontal deep dives, impact studies, etc.) of supervised banks relating to credit risk, accounting-related topics, internal governance and risk management;
• participate with JSTs in dialogue with supervised entities in relation to horizontal assessments and in the preparation of horizontal supervisory recommendations;
• help to develop benchmarking, industry practices and supervisory expectations on financial and non-financial risks, accounting and own funds, crisis management, capital adequacy and business models;
• contribute to bank-specific assessments, providing expert support to JSTs.

The position offers you excellent opportunities to develop your analytical and technical skills in a number policy areas and contribute to the development of supervisory policies in EU regulations and international financial standards and to gain unique insights into the European banking system and its supervision. The horizontal nature of our role means your work will relate to the whole system and not be limited to individual banks. You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on the lives of European citizens. 

Qualifications, experience and skills

Essential:

• a bachelor’s degree or higher in economics, finance, accounting, law, mathematics, engineering or a similar discipline;
• a keen interest in bank-related risk analysis, financial regulation and the implementation of supervisory standards and practices, including governance arrangements, and credit risk and securitisation supervisory frameworks;
• a sound understanding of financial markets and the banking system and their supervision;
• a desire to work in multicultural teams;
• good knowledge of the MS Office package, in particular Excel and PowerPoint;
• an advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Desired:

• experience with data visualisation software (Tableau or similar) and data analytics;
• sound knowledge of accounting standards, financial statements of banks and financial products; 
• sound knowledge of banks’ governance arrangements and/or risk management;
• an ability to analyse credit risk features of financial products. 

You are curious and eager to learn, and want to further develop your ability to analyse complex information. You are keen to collaborate with others, pursue team goals and learn from other people’s diverse perspectives. You strive to know and anticipate stakeholder needs, and will signal any need for change and propose alternative solutions.

You are motivated to contribute to the ECB’s mission, to serve the citizens of the EU as a member of a public institution and to work with colleagues from all over Europe. You are keen to be part of our team and to use your skills and competencies to achieve the objectives of this position.

Who can apply:

EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme.

All candidates should:

• be a national of a Member State of the EU or of an acceding country;

• be at least 18 years old;
• have completed at least a first cycle qualification (minimum bachelor’s degree);
• be fluent in English and in another official language of the EU.

Following their most recent qualification candidates should:

• have a maximum of 12 months’ professional experience;
• have been a trainee for no more than six months;
• not have been an ECB trainee or have worked for the ECB previously.

Closing date: 08.03.2022

Working modalities

Playing a role in European banking supervision entails collaborating in multinational and multicultural teams and operating in the context of different national frameworks, for which a strong ability to use different EU languages for business purposes is an asset.

Further information

Traineeship of between 6 and 12 months in total.

Application and selection process

Further information on how to join us is available on our website.

The recruitment process for this position will include a pre-recorded video interview in the pre-selection phase and, if you are invited to participate in the subsequent selection phase, an online interview. 

If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months from the closing date for applications, from which you might be considered for similar positions within the ECB.