Q&A With BHI’s 2023 Rookie of the Year Award Recipient

Each year, BHI honors 2 to 3 employees who have less than 2 years of service by bestowing the Rookie of the Year Award.  Criteria for the award include performance, service, development of personal relationships, compliance and risk awareness, and ability to provide value in their short tenure at BHI. For 2023, Elliot Yong was one of 3 Rookie of the Year recipients.

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Q&A with Elliot Yong, Assistant Vice President, Treasury Analyst

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First, congratulations on your Rookie of the Year award for 2023! Tell me a little bit about your role at BHI:

My role in the Treasury Dept entails monitoring and projecting the bank’s liquidity and stable funding ratios, monitoring other regulatory (e.g. FDIC) ratios, helping to manage the investment portfolio and funding levels, reporting cost-of-funds rates for loans and deposits, and FX trading. We in the dept work closely with Treasury Operations, Risk, and Accounting, as well as loan/deposit businesses for client-facing activities.

What do you like best about your job? About BHI?

The best part of my job is that I am encouraged every day to find opportunities to add value and efficiency. My favorite part about BHI is the people with whom I get to work, especially in the Treasury Dept.

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What did you do prior to joining BHI?

Prior to BHI, I worked in asset-liability management at Bank Leumi for 2.5 years. Prior to that, I worked at an economic consulting firm in Washington DC called The Brattle Group.

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You participate in some great volunteer work. Two that come to mind are the Cristo Rey High School’s Corporate Work Study Program and teaching at NEW through Marline Alexander’s CRA efforts. Would you like to tell us about both?

As part of the Cristo Rey HS Corp Work Study Program, I mentor a junior or senior from Cristo Rey for a school year. They come in once a week and we work together on assigned tasks (e.g. deposit analysis, VBA coding for report generation) as well as go over the basics of the banking industry and other financial topics. It’s valuable experience for me as well, i.e. mentoring someone who hasn’t yet reached higher education much less the professional workforce. As part of the Non-Traditional Employment for Women (NEW) program, I get to participate in a financial literacy teaching presentation to women in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades. My co-workers and I, who volunteer on a session-by-session basis, take turns presenting on topics ranging from debt management to credit scores to retirement investing and much more. It’s a very rewarding experience and it helps fulfill the bank’s CRA requirements. I encourage anyone to sign up for a session the next time it’s announced.

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What are your goals for 2024?

My main goals for 2024 include improving my knowledge of financial products and becoming a CFA charterholder.