Full profileYour role
Also known as Credit manager · Assistant credit risk specialist · Branch credit administrator · Consumer credit managerand 8 more
Credit administration manager · Credit and collection manager · Credit control manager · Credit control supervisor · Credit department manager · Credit policy manager · Credit risk consultant · Credit risk controller
A credit risk analyst assesses the risk that borrowers and counterparties will not repay. The role analyses financial statements and business risks, assigns or reviews internal ratings, gives independent opinions on credit applications, monitors portfolios and early warning signals, and supports expected credit loss provisioning under IFRS 9 (International Financial Reporting Standard 9) and capital calculations under the Basel framework, including IRB (internal ratings-based) approaches. It sits in the risk function of banks and other lenders.
The morning often begins with the watch list and early warning report: clients with overdue payments, covenant breaches, rating downgrades or negative news. The analyst reviews each new alert, contacts the relationship team for context and decides whether the client should be moved to closer monitoring. The main task of the day might be a credit application for a corporate client. The analyst reviews the financial spreads, checks the cash flow forecast and the assumptions behind it, looks at the industry outlook and the collateral, and assigns or challenges the internal rating. A written opinion goes to the credit committee with conditions, for example a lower limit or an extra covenant. After lunch there may be portfolio work: concentration by sector, rating migration, or input to quarterly IFRS 9 staging and provisions. Requests also come from model validation, internal audit or supervisors asking for files and explanations.
The EFO level names are the common scale; job titles differ between employers.
| Level | What the work looks like | Typical years | Typical job titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 Starting out | Analyses financial statements, prepares rating inputs and monitoring reports, checks data and learns credit policy, rating models and IFRS 9 rules under supervision. | 0-2 | Banks: Analyst, Junior Analyst, Associate (asset servicing), Trainee, GraduateAsset servicers: Junior, Specialist (entry), Officer |
| L2 Independent | Owns credit reviews for a client portfolio, writes independent opinions on standard deals, monitors early warning signals and trains new analysts. | 2-5 | Banks: Analyst / Senior Analyst, AssociateAsset servicers: Specialist, Senior Specialist, Senior Officer |
| L3 Senior or specialist | Handles large, complex or distressed exposures, challenges business on structure and terms, contributes to policy and model reviews and represents credit risk in projects. | 5-9 | Banks: Senior Associate, AVP, Assistant ManagerAsset servicers: Senior Specialist, Expert, Team Lead (small team) |
| L4 Leads a team or an area | Leads a credit risk team or sector, holds delegated approval authority, owns portfolio monitoring and policy compliance, and is the escalation point for difficult credits. | 8-14 | Banks: VP, Manager, Senior ManagerAsset servicers: Team Lead, Manager, Head of Section |
| L5 Leads the function | Accountable for credit risk in a legal entity or region, sets credit policy and risk appetite proposals, chairs or sits on credit committees and reports to the board and supervisors. | 12+ | Banks: Director, Executive Director, Managing Director, Head of functionAsset servicers: Head of Department, Director |
Specialisations share most of the role and differ in the skills listed here.
Also known as Consumer Credit Analyst · Credit Analyst (Retail) · Credit Underwriter · Loan approval officer
Critical skills: Mortgage and consumer credit underwriting, Credit analysis and creditworthiness, Consumer credit and consumer duty rules (CCD, Consumer Duty, TILA)
Critical skills: Credit analysis and creditworthiness, Financial statement analysis and ratios, Credit risk models (IFRS 9, IRB)
Each role lists its skills with a tier and a weight. The weights of one role add up to 100 percent.
Source: the EFO role catalogue, built from the ESCO classification and reviewed by the editors.
The percentage is the skill's share of the role; the bars are drawn relative to the anchor skill, which is shown full.
The work the role takes part in.
Spreading of financial statements, data gathering, early warning monitoring and first drafts of credit memos are increasingly automated, and machine learning is used in scoring for retail and small business lending.
Spreading of financial statements, data gathering, early warning monitoring and first drafts of credit memos are increasingly automated, and machine learning is used in scoring for retail and small business lending. The European Banking Authority reports that credit scoring is one of the main AI use cases in EU banks, and the EU AI Act classifies creditworthiness assessment of individuals as high risk. The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025 ranks analytical thinking as the top core skill. Value moves to judgement on complex borrowers, challenging models and explaining decisions.
The L3 salary range for this role, with its sources, will appear here when the salaries section opens.
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