Area of work: Corporate and Transaction Group

Studied: Law, University of Cambridge (Called to the Bar 1981)

Joined: 2004

Working in: London

I was at Deutsche Bank in various guises for 17 years, mainly working in the capital markets business. BNP Paribas had a commitment to corporate business in the UK, which appealed to me, and I joined to do corporate coverage.

I started out managing a coverage team and was then asked to take over the Corporate and Transaction Group (CTG) - which consists of about 20 people. The team has three separate activities within it. These include corporate coverage - developing business with corporates in the UK; cash management - whereby we provide companies with cash services; and trade finance. Our clients are all large corporate entities (i.e. not financial institutions).

I deal with clients and with the team. Day to day, this principally means problem-solving, sorting out how to do something or dealing with a series of issues that need to be resolved. I also deal with the companies directly.

I don't think BNP Paribas is an organisation where people expect to be given a huge amount of undue reverence - I think it's part of the culture that people are approachable and I try to be like that myself.

I think we want people to feel valued, to feel that they are making a contribution. We don't expect graduates to do just administrative work; they are involved in tasks that have real value and intellectual bite. We give people responsibility as soon as we feel they can handle it.

The more junior members of the team are involved in activities that give them exposure to clients and to the senior management of the bank. We encourage them to engage with people and get involved. On the client side, we deal with CEOs, FDs and Treasurers, and this is where it can get more difficult. If you are a graduate trainee you can talk to the Treasurer pretty happily in most companies, but once you are talking to CEOs about strategy, then you probably need someone with a bit more experience and gravitas. Part of our job is to get you to that point as quickly as possible!

Our expectations of graduates are high and we ask a lot of them. They are expected to think on their feet and to be extremely accurate and diligent in everything they do. In my view, the most under-rated virtue in banking is persistence, with imagination a close second.

You need to be reasonably numerate but the main requirement is 100% accuracy and attention to detail. You need to be able to express yourself well in writing and have the basic people skills, but above all, you need to get things right first time. No one will ever be shot for asking an intelligent question. Making mistakes is a good way to learn, but asking is even better.

The recession has had a huge impact on our business but the effects on BNP Paribas have not been wholly malign. We have weathered the crisis pretty well compared to some, and we have moved up the relative rankings - both with our clients and in terms of our appeal as an employer - for that reason.