Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Banking Analyst

🎯 Role Definition

The Banking Analyst is responsible for delivering high-quality financial analysis, credit underwriting, portfolio monitoring, regulatory reporting support, and stakeholder reporting that enable relationship managers, risk teams, and senior leadership to make data-driven credit and product decisions. This role blends technical financial modelling, data analytics (Excel, SQL, Python), regulatory and accounting knowledge (IFRS/GAAP, Basel III), and client-facing communication to ensure credit quality, profitability, and operational resilience across loan and deposit portfolios.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Financial Analyst or Junior Credit Analyst intern
Treasury or Operations Analyst (banking operations)
Recent graduate with internships in corporate banking, retail banking or financial services

Advancement To:

Senior Banking Analyst / Senior Credit Analyst
Relationship Manager or Corporate Banking Associate
Credit Risk Manager or Portfolio Manager
FP&A Manager or Product Manager within bank
Head of Credit / Vice President of Banking

Lateral Moves:

Compliance Analyst (KYC/AML)
Business/Data Analyst (BI, analytics teams)
Treasury Analyst or Capital Markets Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Conduct detailed credit underwriting and financial statement analysis for corporate, commercial, or retail lending opportunities, including cash flow analysis, debt service coverage calculations, and sensitivity/scenario testing to determine credit risk and recommend appropriate risk mitigants and covenant structures.
Build and maintain dynamic financial models (3-statement models, cash flow projections, covenant monitoring and sensitivity analyses) in Excel and/or Python to support credit approval memos, pricing proposals, and portfolio stress-testing scenarios.
Prepare clear, persuasive credit memos, risk summaries and presentation materials for internal credit committees, relationship managers, and executive leadership that outline collateral analysis, credit structure, covenants, and recommended terms.
Monitor portfolio performance by conducting ongoing borrower surveillance, covenant compliance checks, early warning indicator tracking, and quantitative portfolio trend analysis to identify deterioration, concentration risks, and remediation actions.
Execute comprehensive loan documentation reviews and work with legal, compliance and operations to ensure proper documentation, collateral perfection, syndicated structures and closing conditions are completed prior to funding.
Support loan origination and onboarding by preparing due diligence checklists, coordinating KYC/AML requirements, verifying source-of-funds documentation, and ensuring regulatory and internal policy adherence during client onboarding.
Collaborate with relationship managers, product specialists and treasury to structure financing solutions (working capital, term loans, asset-based lending, trade finance) that align client needs with bank risk appetite and profitability objectives.
Perform regular portfolio valuation and impairment assessments (IFRS 9 / CECL or applicable accounting standards), estimate expected credit losses, and prepare supporting analysis for accounting and finance teams.
Lead or contribute to periodic regulatory and management reporting (credit concentration reports, Basel III capital impact analysis, liquidity and interest-rate reports) ensuring accuracy, controls, and timely submission.
Analyze market, industry and client-specific trends (macroeconomic indicators, commodity prices, sector stress) and incorporate those insights into credit reviews, scenario analyses and early-warning frameworks.
Execute stress-testing and scenario modelling for single-name and portfolio exposure under baseline, adverse, and severe scenarios to support capital planning and risk appetite assessments.
Reconcile and validate portfolio data across core banking systems, data warehouses and reporting platforms; identify data gaps, correct errors and escalate systemic issues for remediation.
Develop pricing recommendations and returns analysis by evaluating funding costs, risk-adjusted return requirements, cross-sell opportunities and competitive dynamics to maximize net interest income and fee generation.
Coordinate with internal audit and external examiners during credit and compliance audits by preparing documentation, walkthroughs, and remediation plans for identified control gaps.
Design and implement process improvements and automation (macros, SQL queries, Python scripts, or BI dashboards) to accelerate reporting cycles, reduce manual errors and improve decision-making speed across the credit lifecycle.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of regulatory developments (Basel III/IV, IFRS/GAAP changes, consumer protection rules) and translate regulatory impacts into changes in credit policies, pricing, or reporting.
Manage end-to-end syndicated loan administration tasks including allocation tracking, covenant monitoring, agent reporting and secondary market support to ensure administrative compliance with syndication agreements.
Conduct counterparty and third-party risk assessments for correspondent banking, payment providers and treasury counterparties, incorporating credit and operational risk factors.
Prepare client-facing financial analyses and treasury/working capital recommendations that support business development and cross-sell of bank products while aligning with credit limits and covenants.
Serve as a subject-matter expert on credit policy interpretation, approving exceptions when delegated authority allows and documenting rationale and risk mitigation for escalation.
Mentor and train junior analysts, interns and relationship management staff on credit assessment methodologies, financial modeling best practices and compliance requirements to build team capability.
Partner with technology and data teams to define reporting requirements, implement new credit risk tools (loan origination systems, credit workflow platforms) and validate model outputs against business expectations.
Investigate and resolve daily operational issues affecting loan booking, fee processing and client statements, liaising with operations and IT to ensure timely and accurate client service.
Conduct post-transaction reviews and portfolio deep-dives after credit events (restructurings, covenant breaches, downgrades) to capture lessons learned and update credit playbooks and monitoring frameworks.
Identify cross-selling and relationship expansion opportunities by analyzing client profitability, product usage and business plans, and relay qualified opportunities to relationship managers and product partners.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Assist treasury and ALM teams with interest rate risk (IRR) analysis and duration gap reporting as needed.
Serve on cross-functional project teams for product launches, system migrations and regulatory implementations.
Support client servicing escalations by providing timely financial clarifications and internal coordination.
Participate in vendor selection and due diligence for analytics, credit decisioning and reporting platforms.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, advanced formulas, VBA/macros) for building and auditing financial models and credit analysis workpapers.
Financial modelling and valuation (discounted cash flow, consolidated projections, sensitivity and scenario analysis) applicable to corporate and commercial lending.
Credit analysis and underwriting expertise: covenant design, collateral analysis, structure optimization, and documentation review.
Working knowledge of accounting standards (IFRS, GAAP) and impairment frameworks (IFRS 9 / CECL) used to estimate expected credit losses.
Experience with SQL for data extraction, data validation and ad-hoc analysis from core banking systems or data warehouses.
Familiarity with scripting languages (Python or R) for automating analyses, running Monte Carlo or scenario simulations and improving reporting efficiency.
Experience with BI and visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BI or Qlik to develop dashboards and executive reporting.
Understanding of regulatory and capital frameworks (Basel III/IV, liquidity coverage ratio, net stable funding ratio) and their implications for credit and capital management.
Practical knowledge of KYC/AML processes and regulatory compliance requirements for client onboarding and ongoing monitoring.
Exposure to loan origination systems, core banking platforms and credit workflow tools (e.g., Moody’s Analytics, S&P Capital IQ, Bloomberg, FIS, Finastra).
Strong data reconciliation and control mindset, including experience with audit-ready documentation and control testing.

Soft Skills

Exceptional written and verbal communication skills to synthesize complex financial analyses into concise credit memos and executive presentations.
Strong stakeholder management: ability to work with relationship managers, legal, operations, compliance, and senior leadership to drive approvals and risk mitigation.
Analytical mindset with high attention to detail and accuracy under tight deadlines.
Problem-solving and critical thinking: propose pragmatic solutions for credit remediation, restructuring and operational challenges.
Time management and prioritization skills to balance multiple live deals, portfolio reviews and regulatory deliverables.
Collaboration and teamwork: experience working in cross-functional teams and mentoring junior staff.
Ethical judgment and professional integrity when handling confidential client and portfolio information.
Adaptability to changing market conditions, regulatory requirements and internal process improvements.
Presentation skills and the ability to influence decision-makers in credit committees and executive forums.
Project management aptitude for leading process improvement initiatives, system rollouts, and remediation plans.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration or a related quantitative discipline.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree (MSc, MBA) in Finance, Economics, or related field; or progress toward/possession of professional certifications such as CFA, FRM, CPA or similar.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Finance
Accounting
Economics
Business Administration
Mathematics, Statistics, or Data Science (for analytics-focused roles)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

1–5 years for mid-level Banking Analyst roles; 0–2 years for entry-level/junior positions; 4–8+ years for senior/lead analyst roles.

Preferred:

2–4 years of hands-on experience in commercial or corporate credit analysis, banking operations, treasury, or risk management.
Proven exposure to credit underwriting, portfolio monitoring, regulatory reporting, or loan servicing in a bank or financial institution.
Prior experience with credit committees, loan documentation processes, and interacting with external auditors or regulators is highly desirable.