Barclays.comA day in the life of Paul
I'm responsible for getting the infrastructure, people and processes in place to ensure Barclays is managing its wholesale credit risk exposure in Western Europe, in line with targets agreed with leaders from across the business. A customer is classified as wholesale if it is a sovereign state, a bank or a corporate with a turnover greater than £5m.
Name
Paul
"In the past 10 years, Barclays has changed dramatically to become a more internationally focused business and the pace of chance has been dynamic."
Role
Head of Commercial Credit Risk
Works in
Global Retail and Commercial Banking (GRCB), Western Europe
Location
London, UK
My working day
Travel is an important part of my job so I’m often overseas, visiting teams in one of the four Barclays Western Europe countries, working more closely with the people based there and building relationships with them.
In the morning, 09:00 to 11:00
I usually start my day reviewing information which has come in from countries across the Western Europe region – that includes France, Spain, Italy and Portugal. I’ll assess how updates relate to our performance targets and will discuss the data with relevant business leaders from the countries concerned to advise them on how to minimise their credit risks.
Around lunch, 11:00 to 14:00
I’ll often spend a large part of the day in calls with colleagues overseas. For example, on a monthly basis I have a conference call with our team in Portugal to discuss their risk performance over the previous few weeks. It’s useful for identifying potential issues and taking quick action.
Early afternoon, 14:00 to 17:00
We’re a growing business so at the moment I’m spending a lot of time interviewing potential new recruits or advising colleagues across the Western Europe region to ensure they’ve got the right candidate profiles for vacant positions. Along with other members of the GRCB Western Europe leadership team I also help recruit for other areas of the Business Unit.
End of the day, 17:00 to 18:00
I’ll often finish the day with a catch-up with the Head of Commercial Credit Projects, to discuss the progress of projects we’re running across Western Europe, which can range from training programmes to IT infrastructure development.
My career at Barclays
I joined Barclays in 1998 on the graduate scheme and moved into the Finance department, working my way up from Analyst to Project Head on the creation of a corporate credit business in India over the years. I later became Head of Credit for the Emerging Markets region, and joined the Western Europe region in 2007.
How I started out
Barclays was my first employer after graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in Economics. After spending six months playing cricket in Australia I came home and wanted to join a graduate scheme at a big company which offered exciting opportunities and a breadth of experience. Barclays was my first choice.
Experienced professionals
Barclays offers unrivalled opportunities in the financial services sector for candidates with a record of professional excellence.
