| From Markets to Treasury. How to take control of your career.
We spoke to Geert Wijnhoven, former Global Treasurer, at ING about his own career and his advice to those keen to pursue a career in treasury. When Geert enrolled on a traineeship at ING Bank in the mid-2000s, he had no idea where his career Tell us about your career to date: I started at ING as a markets trainee and quickly learned that in pre-global crisis era banking, it was all about survival of the fittest. After a brief stint in relationship banking and the peso crash, I spoke with my old manager and made the move back into financial markets, focusing specifically on the role played by treasury. I believe luck plays a large part in anybody’s career, and thankfully, it was on my side during my formative years. In 2008, as the global financial crisis was unfolding, many senior staff were unfortunately let go. That left me as one of the most senior people in my field, leading a team through the crisis. I did that quite successfully as it turns out, and I believe this share of luck provided the foundation for the career that I have subsequently built on. In 2008, post-crisis, I was invited to become part of a team that drew up a transformational blueprint for ING. Prior to the crisis, treasury was organised differently at various banks, often in a scattered way. Frequently this was a non-business function, some parts risk and some parts sitting within the business. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) made one thing clear, we could no longer rely on sourcing liquidity and capital at the flick of a switch, which was largely the perception of bankers pre-2008. After the GFC we began drawing up a plan for a treasury, its objective was to focus on ALM, IRRBB, Liquidity and wider financial risks and they’re impact on the balance sheet. The blueprint would have a single book structure, a strong function management model whereby entity treasury personnel would have reporting lines to a centralised group function and would allow After a short period as Deputy Treasurer/Co Head I was appointed as Global Group Treasurer in 2016 and it was at this point we came up with a blueprint 2.0. This facilitated the birth of ING’s group treasury department, including capital management, which I worked in until last year when I decided my professional career needed a further change of direction. What skills did you take from markets to treasury? A market profile is not necessarily a good basis for a move into treasury. The same goes for a risk profile. Instead, you need to be a hybrid – to be both a good risk manager and a risk taker. A market trader is a true risk taker. When certain asset classes start to widen or funding elements become shaky, they see an opportunity to make more basis points. Whereas, in the same situation a treasury trader will front-load risk finances because it will become more expensive. That skill of being able to either front- or back-load the risk to create a stable price for funding is essential in any treasury role. You mentioned you had a mentor. Is that something you encourage for others? I was lucky. I had a mentor at an early stage in my career who was the Co-Head of Financial Markets and he was instrumental in how I developed and grew within those formative years. When that mentorship came to an end when he retired, I exchanged a mentor for a sponsor at board level. It was incredibly helpful to have a connection with someone who appreciated me and With that in mind, it’s important to evolve with a company, and the wider society, and remain true to yourself. A few years back, I came to the realisation that I didn’t need a sponsor anymore and am now in a position to be an advisor to board members. Having the support of a mentor or sponsor through your career is truly invaluable and I would encourage anyone looking to make a move into treasury to secure a mentor if possible. If you have a talent in banking or treasury, they will help you progress. Equally, if your talent lies elsewhere, they can help you cut your losses and move on. How have you seen regulation change over the years? When we created our first blueprint, we only had a few people allocated to regulatory engagement. By the time I left, circa 50% of ING’s treasury staff were in regular contact with regulators. While I found this incredibly frustrating, I’m also a realist. You only have to look at the very recent situation with regional and smaller banks in the US – where they had the checks in place, but forgot the balances – you can see the huge benefits a tighter regulatory framework brings. If anything, we should be grateful to our European regulators. It is a time-consuming process, but it stops situations like we’ve just seen in the US How can someone take control of their own professional destiny? You need to be clear about what it is you want from a future role. I always look for certain elements when searching for a job. For me, a role needs to:
What capabilities do you need to be a successful treasurer at a bank? First up, you need to realise that whenever there is an existential threat to the company, people will look at you as the go-to person to find a solution. With that in mind, you have to be able to deal with stress, to stand up to board members, and be able to articulate the risks associated with their decisions. The latter is perhaps the biggest key to success. If you’re able to translate the technical treasury jargon and dynamics into a language that the people above you understand, you’ll go far. It’s definitely a case of less is more… Advice for those hoping to carve a career in treasury? You need to make a conscious decision about your future. You could spend ten years in treasury, and then move into the business side of things. Or, you may prefer to remain in treasury. In which case, you should get as much knowledge and experience of that field, gaining a truly diverse skillset, before working your way up into a more senior position. How have you been in control of your career? Today, lifelong employment is no longer sustainable; employees are in charge of their own careers. As I see it, there are essentially three career path options within treasury:
For me, the decision to take my career in a new direction happened during lockdown. Up until then, I had chosen the second of those three options. But it was time to take my destiny into my own hands and find a new challenge – namely the role of Chief Transformation Officer at ING. |
