Following the successful launch of the Women in Clearing Network, in March 2024 the EACH’s Women in Clearing Series was inaugurated. This is an initiative with the objective of featuring a key female leader on a regular basis to inspire other professionals in the industry.

For this month, we are honoured to host Viktoria Hackenberg, Vice-President Regulatory Affairs, Group Regulatory Strategy, Deutsche-Börse Group. Having joined Deutsche Börse Group (DBG) as one of the leading European financial market infrastructure providers in 2015, Viktoria is currently responsible for managing legislative and political initiatives in the clearing space and the regulatory strategy for her group’s CCPs Eurex Clearing and ECC. In that capacity, she coordinates strategic regulatory projects and engages with regulators, authorities, peers as well as clients on national, EU and global level. Viktoria also represents DBG and, in particular, Eurex Clearing in various industry associations and serves as Vice-Chair of EACH’s Policy Committee.

Viktoria has volunteered to share with us her personal and professional journey by responding to three questions:

• What was the aspect of yourself that you had to work on the most to get to where you are now?

When I started my career, it was certainly things like leaving my comfort zone, building the confidence to take up space and share my thoughts, and feeling comfortable with getting visibility for my work. Notably in an industry where 10 years ago, I often found myself being the only woman in the room and felt like I didn’t belong and needed to put in 200% to earn my seat at the table. However, I found role models who I watched organising their own and their team’s work, dealing with different situations, prioritising and picking their battles to reach their goal, and supporting others during their journey. This inspired me to explore my own key strengths, define my own priorities, challenge my self-limiting beliefs, and identify those areas where I wanted to further develop and what I needed to do to get there. In some instances, this could mean to be very detailed oriented and become an expert in a certain topic, in other instances it could mean to learn a new skill, to invest in the potential of others, or to bring the right people together and provide them with the vision and structure to make the magic happen. Overall, this helped me understand that building my career and my personal style is not a sprint but a marathon which requires continuous self-reflection and the ability to adapt to different roles and expectations whilst staying true to yourself.

• What key tip would you give for professionals to successfully develop in their careers?

Stay curious yet authentic. There is a German idiom which says “man wächst mit seinen Aufgaben“, suggesting a growth mindset. While it is already a great achievement to reach a level in your career and role where you feel you are mastering your current field, try to stay curious, be pro-active, change perspectives, think strategically, learn new things and help others to do the same. Don’t shy away from leaving your comfort zone, tap into new territories, and speak up when you can add value. At the same time, try to develop a good understanding of your key strengths and how you can tone them along the way. Learning from others – peers, networks, mentors – is always useful and inspiring, but try to also understand what works for you personally and that this may change over time as you grow.

• How do you see the future of clearing in 10 years?

The last decade was determined by ensuring stability, transparency, and resilience, as authorities, CCPs, and market participants were trying to live up to the G20 commitments and implemented respective regulation and market standards after the financial crisis. The recent periods of market stress have proven that we have come a long way and that the crucial role of CCPs in this respect has been recognized. Also in the future, the clearing ecosystem will certainly remain at the center of regulatory initiatives with a view to maintaining the level of robustness we have achieved. At the same time, we can observe that more and more market participants tap into clearing not only due to regulatory requirements but also due to CCPs’ risk reducing nature and economic benefits that can be realized. If we want to foster that trend, we need to allow the clearing ecosystem to be agile, meet market demand and respond to new market as well as technological developments quickly. While it will be important to maintain the robust regulatory clearing framework and address new emerging risks, for instance when it comes to operational resilience or non-traditional market participants increasing leverage, it will also be more and more important to cater for that agility. Europe’s changing regulatory agenda to tap into an era that focuses more on growth and competitiveness on the basis of the established resilience is a welcome step in the right direction. I hope in 10 years from now, this has translated into greater access for market participants to central clearing and allows them to benefit from innovative solutions and unlocked efficiencies.

Learn more about Viktoria by reading the attached document and using this link.

We are entirely grateful to Viktoria for enlightening us with her enriching contribution and we look forward to continuing the EACH’s Women in Clearing Series by hosting many skilled women leaders to inspire other professionals in the clearing sector!

The Women in Clearing network takes the form of a LinkedIn group that participants may use to connect with each other.