Introducing Emma Bennison, Credit Risk Manager for B2C2. Dive-in to get an inside look at what her day-to-day looks like, her mindset towards her role, and what she is most excited about for the future of crypto!

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Tell us a little about your path before and leading up to B2C2.

After studying for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a BCom at the University of Otago, I started my career as a commercial analyst in a top Australasian bank in New Zealand. I moved to London at the end of 2019, and joined an FX brokerage as credit manager before joining B2C2 in Oct 2020 as the credit manager tasked with building out the credit function.

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Describe your role at B2C2 and what a “normal” day may look like

Working in crypto, which is still a young industry innovating at scale, means no two days are ever the same. As an institutional OTC liquidity provider, a big part of my role is assessing and monitoring counterparty risk, which involves reviewing and deciding what trading limits to set for each new client. In addition, I help onboard new clients, crossboard existing clients for new products as well as help evaluate and launch new exchanges, tokens or products. Essentially my role is about making judgement calls based on the information available to me, filtered through my experience and guided by the company’s strategy and evolving policies.

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How have the recent events in crypto affected your role/how you approach the role/your mindset toward the role?

Following the overextension of credit during 2021 into early 2022 and a lack of proper governance and risk management across large parts of the industry, leverage increased to what proved to be unsustainable levels. 2022 ended as potentially the most challenging year ever for crypto and painful lessons were learnt. Being a principal-at-risk liquidity provider, risk taking and management has always been the core of what we do. B2C2 embraces real time risk monitoring and is literally always ready to respond. Crypto trades 24/7, so our risk management has to be 24/7 too. Our risk management approach passed the many tests 2022 presented, although we still continue to find ways to improve our approach and systems.

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What element of risk management do you feel is often overlooked or misunderstood?

It’s unfortunately the case that in some firms risk management is seen as the sole responsibility of the risk team. The truth is that the best risk managed firms embrace a culture where everyone in the firm contributes to and feels responsible for managing risk. This is what we have at B2C2 and beyond the risk team, everyone across the firm feels empowered and is encouraged to raise any risk concerns, speak up and feel heard by leadership.

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What has struck you as unique at B2C2? What is your favorite thing about working at B2C2?‍

I believe it’s the people and culture of B2C2 that differentiates us against the competition. While we are a growing team of experts who work hard and want to be successful, we are also incredibly collaborative and supportive of each other. Our structure is incredibly flat and a meritocratic mindset is universal. I’m regularly on calls where one moment I’m talking with colleagues and the next talking to our Group CEO, but it always feels the same. We respect expertise and smarts more than title, while still recognising leadership are the ultimate decision makers. This is especially so during a crisis, when time is of the essence and everyone comes together to create forums of knowledge, idea generation and problem solving. There is this innate understanding that we succeed or fail together, as one team.

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What is one thing you will take away from your experience at B2C2?

The one thing that has astonished me is the level of adaptability, resilience and fortitude that has been required to work in an industry that is constantly moving through uncharted territory in an ever evolving landscape. I’ve learnt so much about myself and what I’m capable of achieving in the past 2 years at B2C2. I think the key to my and B2C2’s success is the collegiality of the team, complete openness and willingness of everyone within the firm to share and impart their wealth of knowledge and experiences - it makes all the difference.

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How do you like to spend your free time?

I’m driven by experiences and I like to spend time with family and friends exploring London’s many pubs, restaurants, shows, exhibitions and cultural events. I also have a major travel bug, so I am always trying to make the most of ‘Europe on my doorstep’. In the spirit of the new year, and new years resolutions, I have a lot I want to accomplish in 2023 as well, including a half marathon, learning a new language and of course more travel.

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If you had to have a career completely unrelated to what you are doing now, what would you do?

If I had to have a career doing something completely different to the world of crypto and finance, I would want to run my own event planning business.

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Thinking about this upcoming year, what excites you the most about the future of the crypto industry

The opportunity to help rebuild the market in a more sustainable way. Despite the year we’ve had, I think there’s huge potential for the evolution of the market. We’ve all seen and learnt the lessons about excess leverage and concentration risk of a few key players. Hopefully in this next chapter, the industry can evolve in a more measured way with a more diversified landscape and more sensible and balanced regulatory oversight.

About B2C2

More than just a liquidity provider, B2C2 is a digital asset pioneer building the ecosystem of the future.

The firm has unlocked institutional access to crypto by providing reliable liquidity across market conditions. B2C2’s success is built on crypto native technology and continuous product innovation, making it the partner of choice for diverse institutions globally.

Founded in 2015 and majority owned by Japanese financial group, SBI, B2C2 Ltd is headquartered in the UK, with offices in the US and Japan.

B2C2 Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 07995888 with its registered office at 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE.  B2C2 Ltd is the parent company of the B2C2 group of companies. Products may be provided by different members of the B2C2 group of companies, depending on the jurisdiction of the client and the regulatory status of the product and/or B2C2 group member. B2C2 is a registered trademark.