Laura Martinuka, Credit risk analyst, Latvia

The old Latvian proverb goes: “Don’t judge a man by his hat”. We could paraphrase it and say: ”Don’t judge a girl by her hat” when speaking about the winner of honourable Hansa Badge 2006 Laura Martinuka, the leading analyst of the Credit Risk Analysis Department.

What is your education?
I have the Bachelor’s degree in economics and Master’s degree in finance and crediting.

Was Hansabank a deliberate choice?
It was a coincidence. At the beginning I preferred social activities and studying, but then for family reasons I had to look for a job. When I was a third year student a friend of mine was resigning from Hansabank and suggested that I should apply for her position. I was recruited.

How long have you been with Hansabank?
I started seven years ago as a secretary at Financial Markets Division. I had been working in that position for one year until I was noticed by the head of another unit who invited me to try as a credit risk comptroller or credit auditor. It was a new position in a new structural unit of the bank. It is now interesting to observe that the colleagues still use the methods we introduced then. Of course, the unit has experienced improvements. Three years in the position of credit risk controller my job was related to travelling all through Latvia and auditing the branches until I was invited to take the analyst’s position. I have worked as a real estate analyst for three years.

Could you specify the area of your competence?
My job is to assess the credit risk of the real estate development projects. I work only with corporate entities, very large enterprises and major projects. Those are loan requests for realty development. In this type of transactions there is a confrontation of a customer’s point of view, customer’s expectations regarding the particular funding and protection of the bank’s assets and interests, or the so-called risk assessment. Both standpoints form the basis of the decision regarding the amount and conditions of the loan.

For what merits have you been awarded Hansa Badge?
For good work. As the diploma says – for outstanding work, meaning contribution that exceeds the eight working hours and the expected input.

And not for any specific achievement?
My work probably cannot be defined in very specific terms. It doesn’t involve one particular project, neither can it be measured in terms of quantity. I am the real estate analyst. Real estate sector is extremely important to the bank. My responsibilities include the assessment of risks related to real estate financing, especially housing development projects. The real estate market is rapidly growing, or as we say –booming and requires additional monitoring in order to ensure that eventual losses of the bank in future would be brought to a minimum. In fact – ideally the bank shouldn’t have losses at all, but still – we must ensure that even in case of any changes in the market, we would have chosen the right customers and the proper structure of transactions, thus safeguarding ourselves from eventual loss.