Model Validator, National Australia Bank

Three questions for Behrooz

What has your career looked like to date?

I completed my Bachelor and Master degree in mathematical physics. I followed this with doctoral studies in applied probability, graduating in 2023. During my last year of doctoral studies, I joined the National Australia Bank’s risk unit as a model validator.

What do you do in your current position?

I am part of the team responsible for validating models arising from the operations of the bank’s treasury and the bank’s activities in capital markets. Models in these spaces are used to price financial instruments, calculate interest rate risk, and calculate liquidity risk, to name a few examples. These models often involve sophisticated mathematics and to review and challenge them effectively, expertise and understanding of the underlying mathematics is required.

How does your company employ mathematics and statistics graduates?

Banking and financial services companies regularly use mathematical and statistical models in their operations. Such models could be used to prevent financial fraud, assess the quality of credit applications or price financial instruments amongst other things. To ensure their accuracy and robustness, these models must be validated independently of the teams or individuals responsible for their development. Through this process, the models’ assumptions and definitions are reproduced and challenged to ensure they operate as they should. To have useful models and to ensure their continuous operational efficiency, banks need to employ teams of quantitatively skilled individuals, many of whom have degrees in mathematics or statistics.