Management presentation:

Group Investment and Asset-Liability Management (“GIA”) is the central team of AXA in charge of investments as well as the management of assets and liabilities. The team works in close collaboration with AXA’s worldwide investment teams and top-tier investment managers including AXA IM to deploy capital across various asset classes. Overseeing over EUR600bn of Assets Under Management (“AuM”), GIA is composed of seasoned investment, ALM and data professionals engaged on important themes such as Responsible Investments (financing the transition, reduction of carbon intensity of portfolios, etc.) and the acceleration on alternative assets (Private Equity, Infrastructure Equity, Private Debt, Venture Capital, etc.). GIA is divided in various teams (c.50 professionals) under the leadership of the Group Chief Investment Officer:

• Group Credit Team (“GCT”): in charge of all credit/fixed income activities (including investment, research and strategy teams)
• Group Solution Team: in charge of investment solutions implementation and management (derivatives, FX, etc.)
• Group Asset Liability Management team (“ALM”): in charge of managing all aspects related to ALM (duration, duration gap, capital charge, etc.)
• Monitoring & Reporting: in charge of monitoring all investments across the group and is notably composed of data analysts leveraging both in-house and external solutions to allow the proper steering of investments

Main purpose:

The Emerging Market (“EM”) Credit Analyst is part of the Fixed Income Strategy and EM team within the Alternatives & Credit Team (“ACT”). 

The mission of the EM Credit Analyst is to perform in-house, in-depth, first opinion credit analysis on a set of EM issuers relevant to AXA Group’s credit portfolio or to AXA Group’s credit-sensitive insurance activities. The outcome of the credit analysis is an investment recommendation on those issuers to be presented to Investment Committee or to the Head of Fixed Income Strategy and EM Research. The EM Credit Analyst will also be in charge to review some EM Quasi Sovereign issuers. 

The EM Credit Analyst must demonstrate strong and seasoned credit expertise and skills. He/she is instrumental in supporting the Head of Fixed Income Strategy and EM Research to assess and monitor the credit quality of the EM exposure. The EM Credit Analyst may supervise on punctual basis interns, contribute to any ad-hoc requests related to EM corporates. 

The EM Senior Credit Analyst reports to the Head of Fixed Income Strategy and EM who reports to AXA Group’s Chief Investment Officer “CIO”. 

Dimensions:

The position is based in Paris within the Alternatives & Credit Team (“ACT”), which is part of AXA Group Investment & ALM department (“GIA”), headed by AXA Group CIO. The Fixed Income ans Strategy and EM, within ACT, consist of 2 EM Sovereign Credit Analysts, 1 Credit Strategist, 1 EM Bank Analyst and the Head of the-team.

Total EM investments stand at EUR 26 billion consisting of EM Sovereigns, Quasi-Sovereigns and Corporates. 

The contribution from EM investments is important in achieving the Group’s objectives in terms of investments revenues and income. Managing well the risks of these EM investments is extremely important. 

The total AXA exposure to Investment Grade (“IG”) EM issuers is spread over 100+ issuers. The EM Credit Analyst will cover 40 to 50 issuers. 

Context:

The EM Credit Analyst has the responsibility to cover a set of EM issuers decided by the Head of Fixed Income Credit Strategy and EM, which are relevant to AXA Group’s credit book. He/she needs to:

• perform a fundamental credit analysis of issuers under his/her coverage
• monitor the credit profile and newsflow of issuers
• to alert in case of rating migration risk
• to carry out punctual ad-hoc reports or analysis on EM corporate issuers 
• to supervise interns on punctual basisThe EM Credit Analyst needs to form an in-house, first opinion view on the issuers under his / her coverage based on various sources of information, discussions with AXA Group’s asset managers, meetings and/or calls with the issuers and various market participants as well as rating agencies. The position requires to work autonomously in a rigorous manner as well as to interact with other team members. The EM Credit Analyst needs to form a credit opinion on the name based on various sources of information, discussions with the Group’s asset managers, meetings with the company and various market participants as well as rating agencies. The EM Credit Analyst needs to monitor credit markets and any relevant events related to the names in her / his coverage. The EM Credit Analyst needs to understand financial markets (participants, offer and demand, liquidity, risk levels, volatility etc).The EM Credit Analyst needs to support his/her credit opinions thanks to detailed credit assessment. The EM Credit Analyst needs to communicate his / her to various audience and committees.Upon request by the Head of Fixed Income Strategy and EM, the EM Credit Analyst may carry out ad-hoc reviews for AXA EM local entities, for the Group Risk Management (“GRM”), or senior management’s request. Priorities in terms of name’s review are reviewed and agreed together with the Head of Credit Research and EM Research (N+1). These priorities will be adjusted depending on credit events and other changes in the markets or senior management’s request.
   
   Core Activities:
  • Write in-depth, first opinion, in-house credit assessment with recommendations on investment status for the issuers under his / her coverage
  • Produce reports or and notes in case of relevant credit events 
  • Integrate ESG themes that are credit-relevant for issuers under coverage
  • Take a critical role in calls with AXA Group’s asset managers 
  • Support his/her recommendations in front of peers, management and other departments.
  • Contribute to define AXA Group’s approach for EM investments
  • Provide feedback, information or alert in case of changes in economic, financial conditions of issuers under coverage
  • Ad-hoc team task related to EM corporates
  • Build strong relationships both internally within AXA and outside the Group (with rating agencies, issuers, brokers etc).  
    Purpose:The EM Credit Analyst focuses on the resilience of AXA credit book, notably on the credit worthiness and ratings of issuers under his / her coverage. His / her performance is measured based on the relevance of his/her recommendations given the Group’s objectives of the resilience of the credit exposure. The EM Credit Analyst’s capacity to communicate his/her views, by oral and written, is an important point in his/her performance appraisal. 

CANDIDATE PROFILE

The EM Credit Analyst must have strong and seasoned credit analysis’ skills. His/her strong analytical and technical skills enable him/her to perform the fundamental credit analysis.

The EM Credit Analyst needs to understand the stakes and objectives of AXA Group to better fit his / her recommendations.

He/she needs to be able to work autonomously in a rigorous manner to perform his/her fundamental reviews.  He/she needs to be well organised and to know how to deliver under tight deadlines.

He/she needs to have good listening skills to seek dialogue with his/her peers to take in account the different aspects of often complex issues.

He/she needs to have good communication skills to communicate clearly his/her convictions.

The targeted background for the EM Credit Analyst includes:

• Master’s degree in Economics, Finance or Business
• At least 5 years of experience in credit analysis 
• Fluency in written and spoken English: a pre-requesite
• CFA or equivalent can be a plus