A member of the personal customer risk modelling team, Jimi is satisfied with his team’s encouraging work culture. “In the risk modelling unit, employees’ professional development is a priority and future career goals are actively taken into consideration.”

Risk Analyst Jimi Ranimäki has worked at OP for just under two years. Jimi first joined OP two years ago for a summer internship while studying economics and statistics. “After my first summer at OP, I was offered the chance to stay on part time and here we are now,” says Jimi, who currently works full time as part of the personal customer risk modelling team.

According to Jimi, risk modelling has to do above all with evaluating the different components of credit risk. “By using the models, we can calculate the expected credit loss of each portfolio.” The results of the analysis are used to calculate adequacy and capital requirements, for example. Jimi’s work is focused particularly on IRB modelling of default among personal customers. “The models can also be used for pricing, as they allow credit risk to be assessed at the level of individual customers or agreements,” Jimi says.

Diverse and challenging tasks

Jimi’s weeks at work are rarely identical. “Our projects can be long in scope, even up to a year, but they are always very varied. Over the course of a project, we perform different analyses based on data collected on customers,” Jimi says. “With the help of data, we then try to identify risk factors and use them to form risk profiles. Another important area is calibration – when models are calibrated yearly, they remain up-to-date and effective in the future.” Right now, Jimi’s team is living in exciting times, with several internal development projects underway. “One of the goals of the projects is automating our work so that we can make more efficient use of our resources,” he says.

Learning new and applying knowledge play an important role in Jimi’s team’s day-to-day work. The aim is for team members to be given opportunities for trying out different new skills and develop their expertise. The 70/20/10 model by OP used by the unit supports the team’s method of work. “We learn a great deal from past projects and by studying the methods used in them. There are also different training courses related to areas of our work that we are free to take at our own pace,” Jimi says. He is also satisfied with how much attention is given in the risk modelling unit to team members’ career goals. “We invest in professional development and opportunities for growing into new duties through our work with the help of both short and long-term goals,” Jimi sums up.

Open feedback culture supports development

Jimi describes his team’s work culture as open and encouraging. “In my opinion, good dialogue and the ability to share knowledge are essential in this work. For example, we regularly hold workshops together and share information between team members. Our unit’s supervisors also actively offer support in the form of sparring discussions,” Jimi says. According to Jimi, besides proficiency in statistical programming and Excel, good communication skills are also essential to his work. “Our work culture supports and encourages transparency. As I see it, our culture allows us to be confident about ourselves and our skills in a positive way. No-one is expected to know everything, and help is always available” he says.

Jimi gets his greatest feelings of success from challenging himself. “It feels especially good when I’m able to complete a new and challenging task,” he says. The team’s feedback culture is supportive of learning new. “We try to give feedback as openly as possible, and it’s very helpful to receive almost immediate feedback on finished work. Real-time feedback also helps ease the slight feeling of uncertainty that may come from jumping into something out of one’s comfort zone,” Jimi says with a smile.

Jimi is currently finishing his master’s degree. Combining work and studies has been seamless thanks to an understanding and supportive team. “I got the topic for my master’s thesis from OP, and we’ve agreed that I can use one day of the week on working on it. Even my master’s thesis itself feels more meaningful as it helps me develop as a professional and brings added value to our unit,” Jimi says.