Handling the case question: walk a credit decision out loud
When a bank or NBFC interviewer says 'talk me through a deal', they are scoring your sequence, not your answer.
Case-style questions are now standard in lending, risk and investment roles across Mumbai and Singapore: price this facility, size this exposure, decide whether you would renew this relationship. There is rarely one right answer. What is being scored is whether your reasoning has a spine.
State the frame before the math
Strong candidates declare the decision frame first: the borrower's cash engine, the downside scenario, the security, the exit. Weak candidates start computing. Interviewers would rather hear "before I size this, I want to know where the repayment actually comes from" than a fast, fragile number.
Show your kill criteria
Every experienced credit person carries conditions under which they walk away. Naming yours - leverage beyond a point, opaque group structures, audited statements you would not rely on - signals real reps. Candidates who try to make every deal work read as salespeople wearing a risk costume.
Close with the memo
End the case the way you would end a credit note: recommendation, conditions precedent, and the one piece of information that would change your mind. That last line is what separates interview answers from professional judgment.
- Frame first, numbers second
- Name what would make you decline
- End with recommendation, conditions and the fact that would flip you