mbs research associate
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Congrats on landing the interview. I have experience in the asset-backed space, so I can probably provide some guidance/color here.
Normally, you would be assigned to cover either the agency or non-agency mortgage market. Agency RMBS has several areas of focus including pass-through securities (Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac / Ginnies) and agency derivatives (CMOs, IOs, POs, etc.). Non-agency MBS is anything not issued by Fannie, Freddie, or Ginnie (i.e., private label MBS). The focus in agency space is on prepayments, whereas non-agency space is about both prepayment risk and credit risk. Research desks publish periodicals covering everything from general market color (e.g., supply and demand fundamentals), policy/regulatory proposals that affect markets (e.g., fed policy), relative value (i.e., vs. benchmarks and other securities), new products, and performance.
Most shops have analysts (all titles) specialize in particular areas in one space until they are more senior. For example, if you're on the agency RMBS team you could focus on new issue securities (e.g., specified pools) or conventional pass-throughs (freddie/fannie MBS). On the other hand, if you're assigned to the non-agency desk you could focus on either legacy credit (pre-crisis MBS) or the new issue market.
Generally, guys/gals in these groups have good quant and programming skills (most have master's degrees in an applied science... two guys at a BB i worked for had PhDs from MIT). To be good at the job, you have to be comfortable with what drives the models (e.g., rates, volatility, prepayment, credit) that are used to value MBS and how to interpret differences between what the market and models are telling you.
I would say that this is very different from typical equity research and is more technical/quant oriented.
Hope this helps.
Wow thanks for info. It would seem like an advantage of this type of a role over an equity research type position would be that its much more broad and you aren't necessarily pigeon holing yourself into a particular industry. Does this seem correct? Do you know how the exit opportunities would compare versus an equity research position and any cons that I should consider before jumping into it?
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