5 Question Interviews: Patrick Schüepp

Patrick Schüepp is Member of the SRA and Head of Finance and Risk Management at Bank Avera.

❓𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 – 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞?
Life always is about taking chances. The more consciously taken and the more jointly agreed upon, the better the odds of success. This holds true for both business and private life.
 
Risk management is about understanding complex situations, listening to others, debating with passion and striving for common ground. Some build on their conscious mind, others more on their gut feeling, i.e., there is no “right and wrong way” of risk management.
 
❓𝐈𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 – 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝?
To me, there are three key concepts to managing risks:

1. At the onset: Designing things in such a manner that the biggest und least known risks are avoided from the very start, is an art and not a science.
2. In fair weather: Make sure that your models and limits do not blind you by mirroring actuals only, but rather provide you with a true backstop.
3. In bad weather: Responding to and recovering from a crisis requires discipline, humbleness and – most of all – communication, coordination and even more communication. It’s best to take step by step … if you look to far, you might feel overwhelmed.

❓ 𝐈𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 – 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧?
Give up the apartment, quit the job, pack 10kg of clothes and travel the world for more than an year … with a person that I had known for roughly a year only …
 
My “around the world backpacking” trip back in 2005/2006 with my (now) wife took quite some courage, but has been one of the best things in my life.
 
❓𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤?

• Stay curious: Being interested and curious about a broad range of topics helps you to stay up-to-date. Also, there is no one and only career track in risk management. So stay open, seize opportunities for learning new topics and “have it your way”.
• Listen well: Only parts of risk management can be learnt from books. Listen to others. There is hardly any easier way to learn,..  and there is hardly any more effective first step towards finding agreement.
• Be honest to yourself: Stay humble about your knowledge but firm about your values. Making mistakes is ok (and inevitable), giving up on your core values is not.

 
❓𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞?
Get input, share experiences and stay connected. Over my risk management tenure at three major Swiss financial players followed by a small regional bank, Swiss Risk Association has been a great place to learn in my profession, to discuss and share views, opinions and learnings, and to have a jolly good time together.