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Senior Economist

The World Bank Economics logo

The World Bank
Washington DC - United States
S: Competitive

Background

WORLD BANK GROUP CONTEXT:

The World Bank Group (WBG) comprises the five institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It uses financial resources and extensive experience to help poor nations reduce poverty, increase economic growth, and improve the quality of life. The World Bank Group's work focuses on achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The World Bank is the world's largest funder of education; the world's largest external funder of the fight against HIV/AIDS; a leader in the fight against corruption worldwide; and the largest international financier of biodiversity, water supply, and sanitation projects.

RISK MANAGEMENT CONTEXT:

The Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Vice Presidency of the World Bank Group is the core unit responsible for institutional risk oversight, including: (i) strengthening risk governance, (ii) helping articulate risk appetite, (iii) evaluating, monitoring and reporting financial and operational risks, including formulating risk management policies, guidelines and limits; (iv) disseminating risk knowledge and creating risk awareness, and (v) reporting to the Board and executive management. CRO assists management with identifying and managing Group-wide cross-cutting risks, enhancing risk response decisions, reducing financial and operational surprises and losses, seizing opportunities and improving deployment of capital.

The CRO VPU has three departments: (i) Credit Risk Department (CROCR) responsible for ensuring that the Bank's sovereign credit risk exposure is commensurate with the risk appetite of stakeholders and strikes the appropriate balance between financial and development objectives; (ii) Market and Counterparty Risk Department (CROMC) responsible for market, commercial counterparty credit, and model risk management frameworks; and (iii) Operational Risk Department (CROOR or the department) responsible for assisting business units in identifying, assessing, and managing operational risks.

CROCR manages the credit risk inherent in IBRD and IDA's loan portfolio. Since the IBRD lends only to sovereign governments, or with a sovereign guarantee, the only credit risk that IBRD accepts is that of sovereign governments. CROCR's core functions include, among others (i) Assessing and rating country credit risk for all IBRD and IDA borrowers; (ii) Assessing country eligibility for IBRD and IDA resources; (iii) Assessing lending plans against lending allocations, including as established through the exposure management framework: (iv) Anticipating countries that are vulnerable to crises; (v) Participating in arrears workouts for IBRD and IDA borrowing countries, as appropriate; (vi) Engaging with the Paris Club of bilateral creditors; and (vii) Ensuring IBRD and IDA hold adequate loan losses provisions for probable losses; and (viii) Assessing/Monitoring the size of credit shocks (unexpected losses) as part of IBRD and IDA's risk-based capital adequacy framework.

Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 3 year term appointment.

Duties

CROCR is currently seeking two Senior Economist(s) who will play a central role in assessing the creditworthiness of IBRD and IDA borrowing countries, and in determining the risk of their actual and potential exposure for the IBRD and IDA balance sheets, including those related to IBRD and IDA guarantees. The successful candidates are expected to have a good understanding of sovereign credit risk concepts and practices, be familiar with the drivers of the risk appetite of IBRD and IDA stakeholders and investors, and have an understanding of the balance between the financial and development imperatives of the World Bank's mandate.

The individuals will have a strong command of global economic, systemic, and financial issues, and external financing sources and instruments available to developing countries, excellent quantitative skills with a demonstrated aptitude for analyzing economic and financial data, and extensive on-the-job experience of assessing the macro-economic and financial policies of emerging market economies. The Senior Economists will join CROCR at the World Bank's headquarters in Washington, DC, USA.

Together with members of the current credit risk team, the accountabilities of the Senior Economist will be focused on the areas set out below:

• Play an important role as part of the current team in ensuring the department's credit risk framework and policies for managing small and large exposures are applied coherently and comprehensively within the financial framework of IBRD and IDA, including the institution's role as a counter-cyclical lender, its uniform loan pricing policy, its provisioning and capital adequacy framework and its AAA rating status;
• Produce rigorous analytical work on the macro-economic and financial situation of IBRD and IDA-eligible borrowers and countries transitioning from concessional to market-based finance and present the findings in credit risk reports and creditworthiness analyses;
• Write reviews of lending proposals and Country Partnership Strategies, and represent and present this written work, as the department's representative, at departmental and Bank-wide meetings;
• Work on credit risk issues for policy and Board papers and briefing notes for senior management; and
• Liaise and engage with senior Bank staff to enhance their understanding and support of IBRD and IDA's credit risk function and related policies.

In addition the selected candidates would have specific functional responsibilities, which might involve one or more of the following:

• Together with other team members contribute to the Department's work program in the area of loan loss provisioning and credit and portfolio risk modeling and measurement, including the design and development of new credit risk measurement and management frameworks and models, and the use, maintenance and periodic recalibration of existing models;
• Contribute to the work of the team that engages with the Paris Club, including periodically representing the Bank at Paris Club meetings; and
• Conduct other quantitative analytics, including applied econometrics, and complex modeling projects.

Selection Criteria

• Master's degree with concentration in quantitative fields such as Finance or Economics or a related discipline; or comparable, demonstrated, on-the-job experience.
• Relevant work experience, strong analytical skills and a proven track record of achieving high-quality substantive results over an extended period (typically 8 years) in the field of macro-economic and financial analysis with recognition by peers and managers for excellence and innovation.
• Strong and proven mathematical, statistical and analytical skills.
• Familiarity and experience with econometric and financial modeling techniques, including in the areas of sovereign credit and portfolio risk measurement
• Current knowledge of global economic and political developments and evolving trends in global capital markets and what they imply for the macro-economic outlook of borrowing countries looking to transition from IDA to IBRD, the credit risk to the IBRD portfolio, the potential for revisions to Bank lending policies and practices.
• Understanding of (or the ability to quickly assimilate) the financial framework underpinning IBRD and IDA's AAA financial framework and its implications for formulation of credit risk policies to guide IBRD and IDA lending practices and exposure limits
• Excellent inter-personal, communication and presentation skills, including the capacity to communicate complex technical issues in simple terms, verbally and in writing.
• Ability to interact effectively with other Bank staff and senior management and to convey departmental position clearly and tactfully; but with the capacity and readiness to stand firm on difficult and sensitive issues.
• Proven ability to work effectively in a complex, multi-cultural team environment, share knowledge and experience with other colleagues, and to work across organizational boundaries in a team based environment.
• A high degree of self-motivation with the ability to work across a broad range of concurrent tasks, to set priorities and to achieve results in a demanding work environment.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing emerging events and changes in the work environment.

Job summary

Employer:

The World Bank

Location:

Washington DC, United States

Education:

PhD/Doctorate

Sector:

Economist

Salary:

Competitive

Job Type:

Permanent

Hours:

Full-Time

Posted:

19th August 2016

Apply By:

12th September 2016

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