Anna Rauhala

Anna’s career in finance started at Nordea Bank in New York after she graduated from university. After a period of living in France, she returned to New York and worked for another Nordic bank before being offered a job at ING Wholesale Banking in Brussels. A little while later, an opportunity arose for a transfer to Amsterdam.

“This was the start of some amazing opportunities within ING. At ING Amsterdam I initially joined a team responsible for clients in North America, but when I got pregnant I didn’t want to travel so much anymore. I already had a plan for a role switch: I was keen to reshape a team that I‘d been working with and thought would clearly benefit from some change. Although I didn’t have any real experience in change management, I was given the opportunity to go ahead and threw myself into it.”

Starting from zero

“Just as I began to feel it was time to move on again, I was approached for a role in the Structured Export Finance (SEF) department. Although I was flattered and excited, it was also a little daunting. This was a completely new area of the bank for me where I would be starting from scratch, with little direct experience and no authority in this domain. As I was already a Director at the time, the expectations were high, both from myself and among the people I worked with. The learning curve was immense.”

A surprising proposal

“SEF finances large projects like railway networks, solar parks and hospitals often in developing countries such as Ethiopia, Vietnam, Ghana, and so on… All the skills I learned and experience I gained in SEF originating, structuring and executing transactions came in useful for my next role: I was asked to become head of the department in Amsterdam. I didn’t see the proposal coming as I was working with some very experienced senior colleagues. Along the way we’ve grown into an unbreakable team, which is something I’m enormously proud of.”

Focus on talents

“I see myself as a facilitator to let the team grow and shine, and I will do anything to achieve that. Additionally, I’m striving for more diversity as I am a big believer in the strength of diverse teams. That’s also why I chose to be active on the Wholesale Banking Diversity & Inclusion board. I want us to focus on people’s talents, not on their background, gender, age or beliefs. I want to combat noticed and unnoticed biases.”

Support for success

“Given the fact that I’ve been given so many amazing and unexpected opportunities while being a single mother from a foreign country without a family network close by, I guess I myself am a pretty good example of just how unprejudiced ING already is, and how the leaders I have worked with are prepared to take risks on people. It’s true that I never chose the easy way, but part of my ‘success’ undoubtedly comes from all the support I got from ING. Even when my daughter was very sick and had to spend several weeks in hospital, I got all the freedom I needed to take care of her and be with her. I never ever felt pressure to be available for work. For me, this was more than I could have hoped for, and exactly what I needed and what I will promote in my current and any future role at ING.”