Thanks for your input. At the same time, it doesn't seem high intensity or as "baller" as one imagines a market-maker to be on the trading floor. Do you by any chance know what exit-opps might be like for a position like this? Other than staying on internally?

 
Best Response

The treasury team's floor is a lot quieter than the trading floors with the sales guys and market makers, if that's what you mean by "intensity." If you're good you could probably exit to a hedge fund or portfolio management role. Most of the treasury traders at my firm came from hedge fund backgrounds. A few even had a PhDs.

 

I used to be a treasury trader at MS, so I sat next to all these guys. BRM used to have a decent risk mandate, but it really has been taken away these days. It is about funding the bank, and facilitating some low margin business to keep the clients happy. You can learn a lot there, but it isn't a red blooded high risk trading role, and the switch to equities or FX is going to be a LOT harder than the obvious route to a bond trading desk. Arguably being a trader in a treasury function is better than BRM, IF and ONLY IF your treasury department is a profit centre. Which in some places (like MS)...it is not.

So yeah, BRM is good, but market making is probably ahead. BRM won't give you a particularly large risk mandate, it is mostly just doing day to day stuff, in a smart, efficient and safe manner. There is plenty to learn and for smart people to get their teeth into.

 

Thanks for the insight. Do you happen to know the XVA desk under BRM? I see that they’re recruiting from market risk teams of other banks. Is it a risk-focused role?

My friend is there and her title is XVA trader, but to me it sounds like she’s just charging risk-adjustment spreads from other desks internally. Do they really bring revenue to the firm?

 

Xva desks are not profit centres, it is quite an interesting and technical role pricing default and funding risk on derivative trades. It can lead on to options trading, credit desks etc...pay will be lower than proper trading teams but it's certainly interesting and challenging.

 

BRM is not the actual Treasury (govie) desk.

The treasury desk at MS has had lots of ups and downs. Some years the desk makes 100mm...other years the desk loses money. Trading Treasuries can be a risky business, and MS has had some wild swings (usually accompanied with changes in desk management). While MS sees a decent amount of flow...flow doesn't really make much money anymore...desk P&L is all prop trading (in disguise of course)...so when you change traders (and MS changes treasury traders pretty frequently) you completely change the P&L profile of a desk.

 

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