A day in the life of an export credit multilateral finance associate at Crédit Agricole CIB
Anna is an associate in the Export Credit Agency (ECA) & Multilateral team at Crédit Agricole CIB in London. She joined two years ago from Deutsche Bank, where she spent three years following university. She studied Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford before getting into finance. This is a day in her life.
06:30 – I generally wake up at around six or seven. I take my time in the mornings, but I like to get in quite early. We have colleagues around the world, in different time zones. I like to exercise in the mornings – I commute by bike– so I tend to have breakfast when I arrive at the office.
08:30 – The time I get in varies quite a bit depending on the agenda for the day. If there's a call first thing, say 8am, I'll come in ahead of it to go through my papers and work out what I want to get done; if the morning's more relaxed, it might be closer to nine.
09:00 – What I do during the day varies a lot on where we are in the life cycle of a deal – the makeup of the day can change a lot. I'm in export finance, which means that we arrange the financing instruments for major projects all over the world alongside export credit agencies, which are quasi-governmental institutions that offer funding, loan guarantees or insurance to help boost international trade and exports. Sometimes I'm doing research to sharpen our origination strategy, or staying on top of industry themes, seeing what's moving in the market and, more broadly, keeping an eye on the geopolitics of the places we're trying to operate in.
But, if it’s a live deal, everything is focused on that: running pricing, putting materials together, doing risk analysis, negotiating documentation, planning out the deal and everything that comes with it. This has been one of the key changes from analyst to associate - as an associate, you take charge a bit more, leading some of the internal discussions, setting the direction on certain projects, and having more of a say.
11:00 – If we’re not all hands on deck for a live deal, my time tends to go on two things. The first is research, making sure I'm properly dialed in to what's happening across our industry. Because export finance touches an enormous number of jurisdictions and players, and the people involved aren't just corporates and banks, but sovereigns too. ECAs support large investments in projects around the world, so there are a lot of stakeholders to keep in mind.
We’re also encouraged by the bank to attend seminars and lectures on big trends in the industry. These lectures are in-depth sessions that teach you a lot about the ins and outs of a particular sector or technology. Big topics include renewable energy: how we upgrade grid infrastructure, and what national infrastructure needs to look like to deliver reliable energy in the future. Staying up to date on these trends matters a great deal in what we do.
The second side is product knowledge. We need to really know the ins and outs of our own products; how they're built and how we can best structure a financing to fit whatever the client or the project needs. There's a huge breadth of structures to get your head around, so it's something you're always working at.
12:30 – I usually have lunch around this time. Our office is in a brilliant spot for food; you can get more or less any cuisine you can think of within a short walk at the markets nearby, so lunch is a nice chance to go and try something and catch up with colleagues away from the desk.
13:30 – Like the mornings, the shape of my afternoons depends on where in the deal cycle we are. If it’s a busy period, we will focus on execution. If it’s not, then it's a good opportunity to sit down as a team, go through the pipeline and make sure everyone's aligned and up to date on what each part of the team is working on. You get a lot of insight from your colleagues that way.
It's also when things like mentoring happen. When I joined, I was paired with a mentor in a different division, and those regular catch-ups have been really valuable for career advice, how to approach different challenges, and how to make the most of current opportunities. Being a mentor to others just starting out in their careers is great too, as I think you learn as much from giving advice as you do from receiving it.
16:30 – We’re a global bank, and we work closely with our team in Paris especially. As the day winds down over in continental Europe, things tend to get a little quieter here, and that's often when we pick up the tasks that don't need to happen in the thick of it.
Things really do vary, though – the role is very cyclical. When we are closing something, the global side of the bank really comes into its own. It's rare that we look at something purely from London. We’re always collaborating with colleagues in France, Korea, Germany, etc - wherever it might be. We all take on slightly different roles: one hub might lead on the client relationship and manage that process, another might handle the documentation and negotiate directly, and others focus on the risk analysis and pulling together all the approvals a financing needs. Everyone takes their piece and brings it together to get the deal done.
18:00 – On a calmer day, I'll wrap up at a reasonable time and will go to socialise or exercise or whatever else I want to do in the evening. On a busier day, if we're in the middle of closing a deal, I'll tend to stay in the office with the team to get the last pieces over the line for a deadline, though I can also just go home and pick things back up from there in the evening.
You are in different modes depending on how busy things are. There's a mode where you're actively working, sending an email or drafting a document, and another where you're simply online, reachable if you're needed. It lets you fit the busy periods around the rest of your day. On occasion it'll run late, but I can usually finish up by around nine even on a long day, and we've got a good way of splitting the work between us.
19:00 – I'm not from London, and I still enjoy exploring the city as there’s so much going on. You could find something to do every night of the week here. Sometimes that's a show or event, sometimes it's catching up with friends or making the most of the food scene here, and it’s fun to get involved with things like book clubs too (we just read There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak) or heading to a climbing wall. With the nice weather at the moment, it's hard to run out of things to do.
23:30 – I usually start getting ready to sleep around this time – seven hours is enough for me.
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