Abstract
This paper investigates desirable personal attributes of expert credit analysts. The empirical material consisted of interviews as well as responses to a measurement. In-depth interviews were performed with 26 experienced credit managers in order to learn more about important personal attributes of expert credit analysts. On the basis of the results on these interviews, a measurement was constructed. Two groups of subjects responded to the measurement: 93 experienced credit managers and 98 business students. The credit managers deemed the following five attributes to be the most important attributes of expert credit analysts: common sense, experience, responsibility, energy and interest, and current knowledge. The credit managers' responses were condensed by an exploratory factor analysis into three factors: capability, basic skills, and interpersonal skills. The empirical findings should contribute to our understanding of experts performing credit assessments.