Over four hundred and fifty applications and ten candidates selected: the second edition of the Master’s degree in Credit Management organised by illimity in conjunction with the Milan Polimi Graduate School of Management got under way in the second half of April. Two months of training and immediate entry into neprix: in this respect an apprenticeship contract that turns successful applicants into illimiters from their very first day on the Master’s course.

The study plan

Three hundred hours of classroom training given by university lecturers and neprix managers are included in the study plan created under the scientific supervision of Laura Grassi, the Scientific Director in charge of the Master. A course with an extremely practical approach, one designed to form specialised professionals but also to ensure that a solid foundation of theoretical expertise is provided, essential for managing distressed credit.

The course covers two main areas, one based on economics and the other of a legal nature, but both focus on the real estate sector.

It begins with an overview of the servicing market and continues with an analysis of a company’s financial statements and the way that secured distressed loans are accounted for, enabling students to learn to assess the potential of a business through the support of specialised consultants who take pupils through the classification of the various asset classes.

Legal skills cannot be ignored: among the subjects included is a comprehensive overview of the Consolidated Law on Banking (TUB) and the basics of civil and insolvency procedure. Lastly, a special focus is reserved for the management of judicial loan recovery, the various forms of expropriation and the judicial governance of business crises. Given the distinctive nature of neprix’s business, a specific module on lease agreements is also included.

The curriculum is completed by lessons on client management and communication, which place the emphasis on the psychological aspects of the work of an Asset Manager, a profession in which across-the-board skills count a great deal.

What does an Asset Manager’s job consist of?

We let two students from the first edition tell us.

According to Vittorio Gambara, one of the students who took part in the first edition of the Master and is now an Asset Manager in neprix, working as an Asset Manager "means finding a balance between the client’s possibilities and the bank’s needs, seeking to satisfy all the parties involved” Vittorio continues "In the first part of their experience, asset managers manage credit portfolios that are entrusted to them in all their various aspects: you start with the analysis and the due diligence, in order to check the quality of the underlying property, to arrive at the drafting and proposing of a strategy designed to enhance value and maximise returns. The final stage of reviewing the results is fundamental”.

"It’s not all in the numbers” added Giusy Grammatico, Vittorio’s class-mate in the 2021 edition. "The nature of this profession leads us to interface each day with debtors, outside lawyers and organisations involved in the procedures. Which is why it is very important to have good communication and negotiating skills, enabling a relationship of trust to be built with our clients” in addition "It is essential to work with a collaborative spirit with the other business functions”, ranging from the commercial to the technological areas.

An experience to remember

Going back to the classroom, though, does not only mean studying texts and slides: however demanding the course may be, spending two months side by side is an excellent basis for creating ties which, sometimes, may also develop into outside-work friendships.

"It was an intensive period”, Giusy added, "but I was lucky enough to share it with a group of people with whom I succeeded in creating sincere relationships, ties that I am sure will remain over time. And this should be added to the fact that I had the opportunity of entering an environment of great professionals, people who were immediately open to passing on their experience in the field”.

The final summary arrives from Vittorio. "I succeeded in carrying out tasks that I never imagined possible. The Master’s was a challenge that enabled me to overcome certain limits. In short, an encouragement to never be satisfied”.