What exactly is front office in its strictest definition?
Forgive my ignorance but I'd like to argue that analysts in IB are technically not front office since they are in the "back" working with models supporting the VP and MD that are dealing with clients to generate business.
Traders arent front office if they are executing orders that come into the floor due to the salesman ship of a sales guy who called up a buy side firm and pitched and sold an idea. That trader is just pushing a button to make things grossly simple.
However a prop trader is making decisions on his own, his own actions produce revenue for the firm. So he is technically front office.
Financial advisors in PWM must prospect and earn clients and sell them products and thus generate revenue for the firm.
I'm realizing that those closet to the money or making the most money are truly client facing and not supporting the guys in anyway.
I think that everything really comes to sales a majority of the time, and anything else you're supporting that person
Value/fee generating.
But value is subjective in that an analyst might be paid 100k but its hard to pin down that his work actually added more than a 100k in value to the company.
Agree with Oreos with a couple thoughts to your post:
(1) Anyone in coverage or product in IBD is definitely front office, incl. analysts. Analysts do come to client meetings and help handle client interactions, though generally at a more basic level. While ultimately VPs and above are expected to drive revenue, they aren't the only part of the client machine.
(2) Traders decide the risk position of a firm including what to target to buy/sell from/to clients; they also are primairly charged with structuring trade ideas and actively hedging positions. Yes, client relationships are "owned" and maintained by the sales force, but sales also works for trading (ask a sales guy who decides how sales credits are paid). Both meet with clients, both develop trade ideas and both are certainly are fully front office; there is admittedly a careful partnership here between the two to get it right.
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