Profile: Diana Higgins, Director Crediten

Assessing counterparty credit can require the skills of a private detective, says Diana Higgins, talking to Stella Farrington about her credit risk career and the changing role of the credit function

Early in her career, credit expert Diana Higgins realised that assessing the creditworthiness of counterparties can involve more than poring over company accounts and conducting face-to-face interviews. At one stage, glossy gossip magazines were on her list of required reading.

"It can be like being a private investigator," she says. "You can sometimes find out more about a company head and what they are spending their money on in local press and gossip magazines than you would ever find on a