Economist-Statistician (ESCB/IO) - Hoofdinhoud

Function

The Directorate General Statistics (DG/S) of the European Central Bank (ECB) develops, compiles and disseminates the statistics and related statistical indicators that are required by the ECB to conduct its monetary policy and perform other tasks, including those related to the support provided to the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB). The Monetary and Financial Statistics Division is one of five divisions that form DG/S and is responsible for developing, compiling and disseminating euro area monetary and financial statistics and indicators.

The Division is seeking (Senior) Economist-Statisticians for two short-term assignments in its Financial Statistics Section, which is responsible for statistics relating to bank interest rates, financial stability analysis and the statistical support provided to the ESRB. These statistics include consolidated banking data and structural financial indicators. The Section also compiles financial integration indicators, payment statistics and statistics and indicators on financial markets (prices and volumes, including the euro area yield curve, as well as securities issues statistics, the Euro Money Market Survey and Short-Term European Paper (STEP) statistics). The Section also maintains and further develops a register of financial institutions. It relies on source data that are provided primarily by the EU national central banks, and also by other official (e.g. supervisory) sources or by commercial data providers.

The first assignment would involve contributing to the ECB’s provision of statistical support to the ESRB. The second would entail contributing to other aspects of the work of the Section. Eligible candidates must be working for the national central bank of an EU Member State or Croatia, for a European institution such as the European Commission or for an international organisation such as the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The successful applicant for the assignment relating to the provision of statistical support to the ESRB will be entrusted with the following main tasks:

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  designing and developing new statistical datasets and indicators covering the EU financial system (and/or improving existing datasets) and ensuring the smooth running of production rounds - including dealing with complex confidentiality regimes - to support an analysis of the financial system’s strengths and vulnerabilities;
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  contributing to the ongoing development of international and European standards for financial stability statistics, in particular to the development of their methodological framework, as well as monitoring the interaction of these statistics with developments in other standards, financial markets and institutions, as appropriate;
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  assisting in the presentation of DG/S positions on statistical issues to the ESRB and its sub-groups with a focus on ensuring effective coordination for the statistical support provided to the ESRB and relations with the European System of Financial Supervision;
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  keeping abreast of, and contributing to, the development of international statistical standards, accounting standards, regulatory and supervisory legal acts and enhanced compilation methods related to financial stability statistics.

The successful applicant for the assignment relating to other work of the Financial Statistics Section will be entrusted with the following main tasks:

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  compiling statistics on monetary financial institution interest rates, payment systems and/or securities issues and/or other statistics developed, produced and disseminated by the Section (this will involve addressing any conceptual and compilation issues that arise, and working closely with other parts of DG/S, as well as with the national central banks, the European Commission and other stakeholders, including representatives of the financial industry; it may include contributing to the provision of statistics on the euro area and the 27 (soon to be 28) Member States of the EU for the ECB’s internal booklets and external publications, and to the maintenance of data production systems by keeping procedures up to date);
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  conducting conceptual analysis for the preparation of new or larger datasets and responding to questions from internal and external users within the scope of the Section;
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  preparing briefing material for members of the Executive Board and the Governing Council of the ECB, as well as notes for the meetings of the Statistics Committee of the ESCB and its Working Group on Monetary and Financial statistics; ·
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  keeping abreast of, and contributing to, the development of international statistical standards, accounting standards, regulatory and supervisory legal acts and enhanced compilation methods related to financial statistics.

Qualifications and experience

Applicants must have the following knowledge and competencies:

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  master’s level university degree in economics, finance, statistics or a related discipline, or a proven ability to perform the tasks required by the position;
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  at least two years’ professional experience in the development or production of financial statistics or supervisory datasets, and, ideally, familiarity with European statistical and supervisory standards as well as with accounting standards;
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  professional experience with any of the datasets for which the Financial Statistics Section is responsible, including those relating to bank interest rates, financial stability and financial integration, payment systems and financial market developments (prices and volumes) would be an advantage;
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  a sound knowledge of FAME statistical software and database management, including experience of regular data production and data quality assessment in FAME or with other statistical database software) would be an advantage;
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  sound analytical and quantitative skills including ability to define and apply statistical concepts, procedures and methodologies, experience with the use of complex data management techniques and applications, and, ideally, good programming skills;
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  fluent command of English with a proven ability to draft texts;
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  a working knowledge of at least one other official language of the EU;
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  a good working knowledge of standard MS Office applications.

Behavioural Competencies

The successful candidate will have the following behavioural competencies:

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  has analytical and quantitative skills, with a proven ability to deliver results; · provides innovative solutions to address new problems;
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  communicates effectively, presenting complex issues in a clear and concise manner (both orally and in writing) for presentations both at the ECB and in other (international) fora;
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  is able to work within a highly motivated team, independently managing his/her own workload while supporting the team;
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  establishes and maintains cooperative relations with other divisions, business areas and external parties;
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  expands and applies knowledge and skills to improve effectiveness in response to a rapidly changing environment;
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  has a breadth of awareness and understanding of the wider context within which the assigned tasks are undertaken and is aware of the impact that his/her actions have on others;
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  prioritises tasks and delivers results within tight time frames; · manages multiple assignments and tracks progress on numerous processes simultaneously.

Duration of contract / Closing date

Short-term contract for a period of six months which may be extended up to a maximum of 24 months subject to individual performance and organisational needs.

Closing date for applications: 13 February 2012

Further information

Applications are to be made in English and submitted using our online application form. An “Applicants' Guide” can be downloaded from the “FAQs & Help” page.

The recruitment process may include a pre-screening exercise, a written exercise and a panel interview.

Applications are accepted from nationals of Member States of the European Union and Croatia.

This is a call for expressions of interest from members of staff of ESCB institutions and international organisations - i.e. an applicant’s current employer should be: (i) the national central bank of an EU Member State or Croatia; or (ii) a European or international institution (e.g. the BIS, EBRD or IMF).

Applicants are encouraged to discuss their interest in being seconded to the ECB with their line management prior to applying.

Further information on the ECB’s conditions of employment for short-term positions can be found at http://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/jobs/html/index.en.html.

This position has been allocated to salary band F/G.