Corporate Treasury VP taking questions
(Senior Monkey, 86
Points)
on 11/23/11 at 10:30am
Hi WSO,
In case anyone is interested in learning more about the Corporate Treasury function of large banks (i.e. nature of work, recruitment process, exit opps, comp etc.), I'm here to take some questions.
1) What does your day to day
1) What does your day to day work look like?
2) How do you drive/add value within the structure of your bank?
3) What should someone do to set themselves up to work in Treasury pre or post MBA
Asking these for the good of the group and to get the conversation started
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
How would you compare exit
How would you compare exit opps to those of front office, and is there mobility to front office?
Also, what are typical bonuses starting out and normal working hours?
Thanks
1. Are you at a BB? 2. Is
1. Are you at a BB?
2. Is this considered a Middle Office job? Exit ops?
3. Pay/Hours? Analyst-Associate-VP
4. How competitive in getting into Treasury groups at BBs compared to Banking or S&T? Both at the Analyst and Associate levels.
5. To get into Treasury as an Analyst, do you need a highly quantitative major? And how much of a "target school" do you need to have gone to?
I might have repeated some questions already asked.
1. What does your day to day
1. What does your day to day work look like?
This is a little hard to answer because I don't have any routine daily responsibilities. I'm involved with a few special projects that are taking up most of my time these days (i.e. attending project steering committee meetings, due diligence, analysis, reports for senior execs). Some of the projects I'm currently involved with are regarding the new regulatory climate regarding liquidity standards and how they would affect our overall ALM strategy.
2. How do you add value
2. How do you add value within the structure of the bank.
It's difficult to quantify because I personally don't own any PnL (although there are groups in Treasury that do, i.e. Balance Sheet Management, Money Markets desks, private equity investments etc.). Nevertheless, the work I'm involved with is important for several reasons: a) it's required to meet regulations (by the Fed, FSA etc.) and because it helps strengthen the bank's balance sheet.
3. What should someone do to
3. What should someone do to set themselves up to work in Treasury pre or post MBA?
I think this depends heavily on the bank. For example, Morgan Stanley has a Treasury Analyst program (last I checked), but my bank does not. We have several openings at any given time though for different levels and depending on the role, we look for different things. Straight from undergrad, we look for either strong business or analytical education with good grades. Post MBA its a lot more varied where I am. Some people have come in at the Associate level, some have started as VPs depending on how much and what type of experience they had before the MBA (and also the quality of the MBA).
Short answer, the overall recruitment in Treasury is a lot less structured than it is in IB or S&T for example. At least that's the way it is at my bank.
4. How would you compare exit
4. How would you compare exit opps to the front office and is there mobility to the front office?
Well, the exit opps are certainly different, and not nearly as lucrative. Not a lot of people join treasury because of the exit opps, but those who leave usually do something similar (but more senior) at a competing bank, or they go join the treasury department of a F500 (there are some pretty interesting and lucrative opportunities here). Some have even gone into government.
There is quite a lot of mobility to the front office depending on what you do in Treasury and where in the front office you want to go. I personally know people from my group have gone joined trading desks (repo in particular) or gone into DCM etc.
5. What are bonuses
5. What are bonuses like?
This once again depends on the group. I imagine the groups that have PnL get more but I can only give you concrete data from my team.
For me, on a base of 110K, I can expect 40K in an average year, 20K in a bad year, and 50K in a great year.
Analysts can probably expect about 10K on a base of 60K, and associates can expect about 20K on a base of 80K.
It doesn't compare to the front office, but it's not bad because I only work 50 hours a week.
6. BB? Competition compared
6. BB? Competition compared to the front office? School and major?
I'm not at a BB. My bank is one of the 50 largest banks in the world by assets. It is not based in the US.
Getting into Treasury in general is not nearly as competitive as IB or S&T, but some positions are more highly sought after than others. The recruiting is less structured and is more on a need basis. But as an example, getting into the private equity group is very competitive (usually impossible to come in externally).
And yes, I would consider my job a middle office role. Regarding exit opps for me personally, I'm not interested in leaving. My plan is to stay here long term and move up the ranks.
Do you know where the money
Do you know where the money market desks in your treasury get their traders from?
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7. Where do the money market
7. Where do the money market desks get their traders from?
I haven't met anyone at the Associate or VP level (never needed to) so I don't have any fresh information, but I know one of the MDs and he was trading munies like 10 years ago, and a Director used to be in market risk. This probably isn't representative of the industry in general. My bank is just very open to people moving around internally. In fact, they encourage you to try something new every 3-4 years once you get to my level.
Did you answer the question
Did you answer the question about major and quantitative requirement?
Can you speak about the
Can you speak about the opportunities some of your colleagues went to at F500 treasury management ?
1. Do global macro funds ever
1. Do global macro funds ever pick up professionals from corporate treasury?
2. Do you work with repo funding?
looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
8. Major and quantitative
8. Major and quantitative requirement?
Sorry guys, this was asked before and I missed it. I've personally hired a few analysts to report to me so I can walk through my thought process.
a) I usually get 15-20 resumes when an entry level position opens up so the first thing I check for is major. If it's economics, business, commerce, math, statistics etc, it's fine with me. I don't really care that much as long as it's not too artsy.
b) Next I look at GPAs. Out of the 15 resumes, I'm left with about 10 after filtering for major. So I usually call in the top 4 GPAs for interviews. I don't really care all that much about school, but if it's something I've never heard of I usually don't bother.
c) In the interview, I test for 3 things. General intelligence, interest, and fit. I ask a few simple brainteasers and some questions about current events that are relevant to banking. Once I figure out the smartest/hardest working, I ask myself "can I stand having this kid next to me for 10 hours a day?", and if the answer is yes, I make an offer.
How good the offer is depends on the overall picture (GPA, School, other offers, how much better the guy is from the next best person). I've offered analysts as little as 50K base, and much as 65K base.
9. Can you speak about the
10. Do global macro funds
11. Do you work with repo
Quijibo -- Thanks for the
12. Is there anything that is
Great thread, happy to read.
A lot of people do certain things to add days to their life. I do things to add life to my days.
Major thanks for doing this.
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Happy to help!
Hi all, I am new to the
quijibo wrote: 11. Do you