1 June 2021
'Nothing is greater than chasing success together. Uniting IT and business with the aim of marketing a healthy, growing portfolio of financial products. The closer the collaboration, the better IT can come up with innovative solutions to support the process. What is good today can be improved tomorrow. That's my biggest challenge.'
Lester Tersteeg is a Business Analyst at ABN AMRO Asset Based Finance, a subsidiary of ABN AMRO. 'Asset-based is the term used for financing with collateral. This can involve leasing machines or financing stocks and debtors. This type of financing enables companies to keep sufficient liquid assets free, so that these funds can be used for further growth. We also encourage the purchase of sustainable business assets by proactively advising on this.
Despite the fact that there is collateral against the loan, as a bank we run the risk that instalments will not be paid or that the loan cannot ultimately be repaid. Managing this credit risk is the essence of banking. In my role, I support the business and convert their wishes into software solutions. We do this centrally from our office in Utrecht for all European branches.'
Lester studied Business Information Management at Erasmus University and ended up at ABN AMRO through a two-year traineeship. 'A lot is changing within the bank due to the pressure of new laws and regulations. The European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority are imposing increasingly strict requirements on being in control of your loan portfolio. Just like our own management, they require information about the risk of the entire portfolio. In order to get a good idea of the actual risks, this means that we have to monitor clients more intensively, so that action can be taken on time. Needless to say, our credit managers are well aware of how to do this, but they don't know which technical support is available. I bridge that gap by putting myself in their shoes with IT knowledge and by critically reflecting on their wishes.'
Developing tooling
'In the past, credit monitoring focused on files. In recent years, developments in IT have made it considerably easier to do this on a portfolio level. In this context, we have developed tooling with our team for recording, approving and testing risk indicators. We develop the software for this within scrum teams. It's a wonderful way of working, because you are very close to the action alongside everyone involved and you can keep up the pace.'
Development
I found the traineeship that brought me to ABN AMRO through a secondment agency. When I was asked to join ABN AMRO Asset Based Finance, I didn't think twice. The bank offers lots of opportunities for personal and professional development. In addition to setting out a personal development path (in consultation), you have every opportunity to take matters into your own hands. For example, I heard that they were looking for a Business Analyst for the international implementation of a new software package. The analyst would come to our office in Haywards Heath to learn about the software package and how to implement it. Although I was still in the middle of my traineeship, I was given this opportunity and travelled to England several times. It was a great experience! I am now taking a number of training courses and am being coached in order to take the next step in my career; the position of Product Owner is a dot on the horizon for me.
