Antonia Brown

Name: Antonia Brown
Job: Policy and operations manager
Area of work: Operations
Employer: Bank of England
Qualifications: BA history and economics, Oxford University (2003); MA Chinese studies, SOAS (2006)

After graduation, I worked as a headhunter in a small media recruitment company for 18 months before leaving to do my masters. I wanted to work for a large organisation with a structured graduate programme; after studying Mandarin in China for ten months, I secured a place on my employer’s graduate scheme in London.

’I get a real buzz out of working on high-profile, topical projects – it’s fun to work on something and then see it on the news.’

My job

The Bank of England acts as the facility agent for the Treasury for certain loans relating to the financial crisis; my team manages the loans of, say, Northern Rock on behalf of the government. My tasks include reporting information and charging fees and interest on the loans. I work closely with the Special Resolution Unit, which was set up in early 2009 with the passing of the Banking Act; the division works with institutions in distress. When the Banking Act was first brought in and my organisation was given new powers, I was lucky to work on the first ‘test’ of these powers. This involved managing a temporary bridge bank, which oversaw Dunfermline Building Society’s ‘good’ loans before they were sold to the Nationwide Building Society.

Seeing your projects on the news

The ability to understand numbers, and decipher and interpret loan agreements, is important in my job. I tend to work around 45 hours per week, but can work flexibly when I need to. I like the immediacy of an operations-based role; I always feel I’ve achieved something at the end of each day. I get a real buzz out of working on high-profile, topical projects – it’s fun to work on something and then see it on the news. Working for my organisation gives me the chance to work in the City, while enjoying a public-sector style ethos.