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two things are different. Series 7 is a license that allows you to talk about and sell certain products. CFA isn't required to sell anything it's just a 'notch on the belt'
Do you need a company sponsorship for the CFA?
-- Hail to the Victors
no
you need 4 years of industry work experience
Putting the Series 7 and the CFA in the same sentence and/or category is insulting to the designation.
insulting to which? i'm kidding.
Side note - I'd had my Series 7 for 2 years before FT ib interviews. I believe it shows interviewers that you are focused on finance, but at the end of a day it is a useless memorization test, and everyone in the industry knows it. Mine will lapse because my new firm won't carry it (not a broker dealer), but if you are relatively intelligent you can study for 2 weeks and easily pass. I don't think you can say that for the CFA...
Thanks very much for the replies.
And in the interest of being clear, I wasn't suggesting that the CFA/S7 were even remotely similar. Even with my severely limited knowledge of banking I understand the many differences between the two. I was merely wondering how many people at BBs had either.
I did impliedly compare a CFA to a law degree in asking which would be more a more useful supplement to an MBA (assuming a goal of landing a position at a BB). Any thoughts on that?
Thanks again, very much.
CFA is irrelevant to the sell-side. Series 7 is necessary for ECM.
cfa is very relevant to sell-side equity research. not so much IBD, if that was your point.
equity research and investment management are the areas that the cfa are mostly applicable too.
it is irrelevant to the sell side. Series 7 is even more useless.
Not useless, just not anything special. If you get a job in capital markets, they will make you take the Series 7.
Series 7 is worthless, but is required of pretty much anyone is capital markets, even on the structured products desks that will never trade an actual security. But it's really only a minor inconvenience, I mean spend a week studying a few hours a day.
As far as the CFA vs. MBA, the CFA is probably just as valuable from a knowledge point of view for more traditional finance jobs. For more "cutting edge" stuff, for lack of a better term, that you'll see in S&T and structuring, they are both lacking.
Either way, the MBA offers more than just knowledge, it's the networking and opportunities to have recruiters come to you (at top schools, at least) more than anything else. Plus it's a hell of a lot of fun!
I'm sorry if I failed to make this clear. I'm asking about the CFA vs. a law degree in terms of their value in getting an associate position.
I am assuming that the MBA is a given. So the question:
Which combo would be more useful in terms of landing an associate position? Assume undergrad degree in finance and MBA specialization in finance.
Thanks again, very much.
Not exactly sure why banks would look at a JD.
As for a cfa (I just passed level 1), most bankers dont have one and dont really need one. In some cases, some groups such as FIG might like one particularly those dealing with hedge funds and PEs.
CFA is relevant for Asset Management (both institutional and retail) and for equity research. Some firms will straight out require that all of their analysts begin taking the CFA.
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