28 April 2023
Going away and returning. Renske Couwenberg began at the bank as a trainee, then left for a company for which she travelled halfway around the world before finally returning to her home base. And she's never regretted this for a second.
What do you do at the bank?
'I deal with the smart handling of data on behalf of Risk Management. My official job title is Cluster Lead for Data Compliance & Strategy. You know what they say, "Data’s at the heart of everything." "Data’s everything." That’s true, but we have to deal with the data so that it meets all the internal and external requirements and makes sense. That's our job.’
Who are we?
'I have a team of thirty-five. It's come to people's attention that, relatively speaking, a lot of us are women. But in this specific field, people come from all manner of backgrounds. In any case, I've noticed that people tend to have a certain idea about data and how to work with it. People are quick to shout "complex, complex," but it’s also just a question of sitting down and doing the work. I find working with data very challenging. It’s also incredibly socially relevant. There are so many debates about the accessibility and privacy of data, as well as its proper usage. Data offers many opportunities, provided you know how to take advantage of them. That’s why we interface with so many different parties. Almost everyone, be they inside or outside the bank, understands the importance of data; nobody’s against it. But it's about how the data is handled. This field’s still evolving, and we’re right in the middle of it. We're innovating on the job each and every day. It’s super challenging.'
What do you deliver in concrete terms?
'A report or a dashboard, for example, so that colleagues have greater insight into the data and see which buttons they can push. Or a particular model that’s used to calculate risk. Risk management’s not about avoiding all risks, but about taking them consciously. That's why it’s so important to understand data. Will loans be repaid? Are we maintaining sufficient capital? Another important aspect? The path that data takes from the source system to the report to be delivered. So many operations are performed on the original data that it's important to be able to track and verify the results. We opt for one version of the truth for risk steering.'
Why did you return to the bank?
'I learned a great deal at the company I joined after working several years at the bank, but it also had a fairly tough corporate culture. I wanted a better balance between my professional success and well-being, and to work in the Netherlands again. As an employer, ABN AMRO always emphasises the importance of this balance. Of course, you have to wait and see exactly how that works out in practice. But I now know: they walk the talk. I had just returned to work at the bank when my husband died. At that time, I received so much support from my workplace. There were also practical solutions that allowed me, as a single parent, to combine caring for my children with my career. I’ve since advanced into a managerial position, and I find that I'm very attentive to my staff's well-being.’
How could the bank improve?
'It strikes me that, at the bank, we sometimes revisit decisions a little too often. We consider everything yet another time. That has its positives, but sometimes, we need to just get on with it. We need doers. People who make it easy for our internal clients to deal with the data. Because even for them, if they don't know how to do something, it can be tempting to just not do it. But we won't let that happen, of course.'
Renske now has a new position of Head of Credit Risk Change & Control.
Would you like to apply for a vacancy on Renske's team or in another department at ABN AMRO? You can apply here!
