Following our “Behind the Scenes” series featuring the Operations, Sales, Credit, and October Connect teams, we now turn to our Risk team. Joining us is Virginia, a Risk Management Analyst and member of Eugenio Brambilla’s team, Chief Risk Officer at October.
Are you interested in learning about the members of the Risk team, their key collaborators, and the goals they aim to achieve as a group? Visit the Who we are section of our website to meet the entire October team!
Follow us and dive into the interview to learn more.
What does the Risk Team do and what objectives must it achieve?
The Risk Team at October manages risk across the entire lending process, from origination to credit portfolio monitoring. The team focuses on both borrowers and investors to ensure that risk is managed effectively.
To what extent do you work with the international team and the specific country teams?
Our team is cross-functional within the company and collaborates with both international teams and those of individual countries. It is important to have an overall view of the company, but it is also crucial to know and manage the specificities of each country. The cohesion between these two dimensions enables us to operate effectively in different countries while maintaining a single identity.
How much do you collaborate with other teams and who is most involved in daily work?
Interacting with other teams is crucial to achieving our goals, and requires continuous exchange and contribution in both directions.
One of the teams with whom we collaborate daily is the Institutional Investors team. This collaboration is necessary for proper management of funding sources, performance monitoring, and resource utilization in line with lenders’ requirements and interests. It is essential to best meet the demands of new investors in the due diligence processes.
Furthermore, our work is data-driven, and therefore we interface daily with the Internal Operations team. This team is responsible for all of October’s database management. We draw from these databases for analysis, monitoring, and report preparation activities.
In addition, part of our work involves coordinating with Credit teams in different countries. Collaboration with local CEOs is also essential regarding individual countries.
Collaboration with the Data and Tech team is also important for tasks such as the implementation and management of credit scoring models. In essence, we can say that collaboration is a key element for the Risk team within October!
How has the work of this team changed between the pre and post-pandemic period?
Our work can be effectively managed remotely, which is why our team located in Italy can serve all countries. A fundamental aspect of risk management is having a good understanding of internal processes and interacting optimally with all teams.
The difficult economic context has presented the company with a great challenge, which has been transformed into an opportunity for our business goal, borrowers, investors, and partners.
In Italy, in particular, requests for financing by SMEs have significantly increased during this period, with needs and purposes that are often different from the past. October has been able to support a large number of companies in this difficult phase by adapting its offer quickly and helping them cope with changes and restart.
What aspects do you love the most about your job?
One of the things I love most about this job is its diversity. I have the opportunity to address various aspects and topics, which allows me to combine analytical approaches with the ability to interpret and understand different perspectives and ideas. This stimulates me to improve, learn, and find new solutions every day.
What perspectives do you see for the future in the market?
The current market is complex, but October is a dynamic company that can quickly adapt to changes and captures and respond to new market needs.
Our DNA is made up of technology, innovation, and progress. What sets our lending platform apart is the speed and simplicity of the service we provide. We also make our technology available to third parties, which is another critical element.
Through Embedded Finance, we enable non-specialized operators to offer an additional service and reach a wider customer base. Through October Connect, we provide other companies with the technological tools we have developed to strengthen and integrate their processes. This increases their ability to identify fraud attempts and adopt specialized credit scoring models.
These different paths lead my team and me to the same goal: to create a real impact on our community by supporting SMEs, which are the heart of the European economy.