General Information
Type of contract: traineeship
Working time: full time
Place of work: Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Who can apply: EU nationals eligible for our traineeship programme
Grant: The trainee grant is €1,170 per month plus an accommodation allowance (see further information section)
Closing date: 15.12.2025
The European banking system helps keep safe and sound as part of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), together with national supervisory authorities of participating countries. It directly supervises the largest euro area banks and oversees the supervision of all others, conducting day-to-day oversight and on-site inspections in areas such as governance, credit and market risk, operational, climate, cyber and geopolitical risk, business models and capital planning. The ECB grants and withdraws banking licences, assesses major shareholders and bank managers,, can impose enforcement measures and sanctions for breaches of prudential rules, and continuously improves its supervisory processes and tools, including through the use of artificial intelligence.
We are keen to draw on fresh perspectives for different areas of work and are looking to fill 100 traineeship positions in various fields through four traineeship campaigns running in parallel.
Your role
As a trainee you will gain unique hands on experience by carrying out day-to-day supervisory activities as part of an international team of experts.
For example, you may:
- participate in meetings about risks with supervised banks and banking supervisors;
- assess the impact of risk drivers on banks’ risk profiles;
- analyse banks’ reports and identify any undesirable developments;
- assess whether banks are complying with supervisory expectations and regulatory requirements;
- collect and scrutinise data, producing tables, charts, presentations and reports;
- support the efficiency of core business processes and systems;
- enhance and automate data processing tasks;
- contribute to projects and activities that implement supervisory practices and standards;
- contribute to one key supervisory process, e.g. planning, supervisory reviews, authorisations, developing supervisory technology, or vertical and horizontal analyses.
You will be working alongside international experts who look forward to benefiting from your enthusiasm and recent academic experience.
The traineeship offers you excellent learning opportunities, such as training courses and workshops. You will also be able to hone your communication and collaboration skills, contributing to memos and presentations and interacting with internal and external audiences. You will be assigned a mentor to help you further develop these skills.
You will be part of a multicultural team that strives for continuous innovation to make a positive impact on the lives of European citizens.
As part of the ECB trainee community, you will have the opportunity to build your own professional network.
Qualifications, experience and skills
Essential:
- a bachelor’s degree or higher in law, public administration, business administration, European studies, banking or a similar field (or having obtained at least 180 academic credits under the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System – ECTS – by the closing date for applications);
- in-depth knowledge of banking, finance, banking supervision and/or financial regulation (i.e. the SSM Regulation, the SSM Framework Regulation, the Capital Requirements Regulation and the Capital Requirements Directive);
- experience in applying legal requirements and provisions to practical cases, drafting assessments and conducting legal research;
- analytical, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, teamwork and adaptability;
- a keen interest in working for a European institution and protecting the stability of the banking system;
- motivation to make the most of the development opportunities that this traineeship has to offer;
- an advanced (C1) command of English and an intermediate (B1) command of at least one other official language of the EU, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Desired:
- broad academic knowledge of and/or work experience in any of the following fields: risk analysis, supervisory standards and practices, implications of the digital transformation for the financial sector, banking, finance, banking supervision and/or financial regulation;
- project management skills;
- a strong interest in working in a multicultural environment or gaining experience abroad, as demonstrated through, for example, language skills, education, work experience and/or volunteer work.
Further information
We will be offering traineeships with an initial duration of six months, with a possible extension of up to 12 months in the same or another business area in ECB Banking Supervision.
Other details on the conditions applicable to traineeships at the ECB can be found on our website.
The ECB is an inclusive employer and we strive to reflect the diversity of the population we serve. To achieve a more representative spread of nationalities for these traineeships, we may adjust our initial filtering of applications to bring them more in line with the relative size of the EU population.
We encourage you to apply irrespective of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other characteristics.
Application and selection process
The recruitment process for this position will include a pre-recorded video interview in the pre-selection phase and – if you are invited to participate in the subsequent selection phase – an online interview.
For the ongoing traineeship recruitment in ECB Banking Supervision, we have published four different traineeship campaigns, covering four profiles. We advise you to only apply for the one you consider yourself best suited.
Please include in your application form your proficiency in the skills mentioned above.
Further information on how to apply is available on the website:
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/before-you-apply/how-to-apply/html/index.en.html
If you are not selected for this position but are still considered suitable, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months from the closing date for applications, from which you might be considered for other traineeship positions within the ECB.