I'd like to give back to the community, which has been extremely helpful along the way. I have recently landed a credit investment offer at a large institutional AM. Thinking some fellows on this forum may have similar backgrounds and are trying to get into FO roles too, I am happy to share a bit of my experience. Background: • Finished an advanced degree in applied science and started finance journey by studying CFA, FRM and quant finance • Spent two years validating derivative pricing and market risk models at a bank • Moved to an institutional AM (asset owner $50-100B AUM) in portfolio
08 May 2021
I have seen a few posts on the Commodities Trading forum asking about how petroleum trading is priced, hedged, etc. I was reasonably high up in Risk Management for a "major" trading company in Houston for a few years and am now running a hedge book at a smaller company, so I thought I may be able to impart some knowledge (didn't burn out, just moved closer to family). My focus has been primarily on gasoline, so that is primarily what I will discuss. However, I have also done some jet fuel, naphtha, and LPGs. There is some variance between those products compared to Crude, Bunker Fuel, and on
03 Jun 2018
Hello monkeys, I was wondering whether some of you know something about energy trading. Normally, when purchasing for your own portfolio one adds different types of premiums (for example imbalance and profile risks) to get to an ITP for your company, but what risk components are added if you sell the electricity on markets like the APX/EPEX? For example, if I have a PPA and directly sell the power on spot, how is that price built up? Thanks for your help!
22 Apr 2021
Hi everyone! I'm applying to summer internships next year and thought it might be useful for me and others to find out which divisions are the most difficult to get into. What do you think? The divisions (randomised) are... - Risk Management - Asset Management - Compliance - Private Banking/Wealth Management - Equity Research - Corporate Banking - Sales and Trading - Investment Banking Looking forward to your responses!
13 Mar 2021
Hello all, I am a less of a contributor on this site but think it makes sense to post my experience in the field of Market Risk and everything around it from a career point of view if it ends up helping few members. Happy to take questions, ask away... I spent about eight years in this function working at a top risk solutions vendor company (Bloomberg/MSCI/BlackRock league). My role involved acting as a risk specialist for Hedge funds risk managers in UK, helping them with market risk measures, models, movements and best practices. This allowed me to learn their side of roles and other stuff
23 Jan 2016
Would someone with actual work experience at a MM platform (Millennium/Citadel/P72/BAM or similar) be kind enough to offer a high-level overview of common techniques that are used to contain (a) portfolio volatility and (b) draw downs, to the platform's required parameters for a pod? I am thinking L/S equity but feedback from any strategy (e.g. macro) would be great. Thank you!
24 Aug 2020
Recently I got accepted to CUHK's QFRM, my first choice in HK. A set of factors didn't let me apply for a business degree, and my passion for juggling numbers is not something I want to waste, so my choice fell on this program. What are my prospects in HK's IB? WSO zoo's views on this university are controversial af, and I see that CUHK consistently ranks lower than HKU and UST, but there still are people saying that CU is on par and sometimes better. Also, please note that I'm a Russian from Middle Asia, proficient in three languages, none of which is SE Asian. Although I can't say for sure
13 Mar 2021
Whenever I watch or read interviews with successful traders they always stress the importance of risk management. How exactly do professional traders calculate risk (formulas etc.)? Are they simply looking at VAR or are there more advanced risk management strategies used by professional traders that day traders are unaware of?
30 Jan 2019
Hey guys, i graduated last summer from a mediocre uni in Germany (in business and economics) and moved to the UK to pursue my dream job of being a pokerplayer. I started playing while being in school, therefore i played during my studies and because i have been making decent money of it i never wanted to do an internship or work in a regular job after finishing. For several reasons (while still having decent results in poker) this changed after moving to the UK pretty quickly and i started to look for internships in banking as it is the subject i picked all my electives in and found most
26 Aug 2020
"There she is, that beautiful blonde from Wharton", you say to your colleague as she comes in. She looks amazing and smells great despite being the only female in the trading pit. Yet she has a character of class, trades gracefully, and a strong resilience. After some time of trapping flies with your mouth, you stop gawking as your colleague leans over and says, "…not only is she like a nine, I've heard she's the best trader at her firm!" You give a sudden and noticed, "What?" Its true, research shows in fact that females are better at trading than males but now a famous London HF manager
29 Sep 2012
I have accepted a Risk Management job at a large (too big to fail) bank in NY, i-banking division. 1. What is the job like in terms of hours/pay/experience/exit opportunities? 2. How difficult is it to move into a hotter division, say, i-banking or LevFin? Do you know anyone who moved from middle office to front office (anyone from RM?)? 3. If it can be done any tips on what to do (if I feel unhappy about RM job, should I talk to HR right away or wait for first evaluation)? 4. If you were to rank RM jobs on prestige, 1 being BO ,say IT, and 10 being i-banking, what would you assign? 5. How driven are the analysts in Risk Management (based on your observation, experience)? Is it difficult to stand out? Thank you.
16 Mar 2018
Hello, fellow primates. This is my first post here after months of just reading. We are a group of three friends from the same university. We have studied and developed some theses and investment models together. We found out that in Brazil, the country we are from (but we are currently studying in Europe), the financial regulatory authority allows the creation of something called a Investment Club. It is very similar to the Investment Clubs that exist in the US or the UK, for example, but with some particular rules that make it more like a fund. Anyways, we believe that it would be a good
09 May 2021
Hi everyone, I'm a recent graduate and am looking for some career advice. I graduated from a semi-target school with a 3.95 GPA in finance. Right now, I'm in a temp role at a bulge bracket bank (Goldman Sachs/JPMorgan type) and am mostly working on regulatory capital reporting (CCAR/Basel III, etc...). I'm interested in possibly making a jump into risk management (as an analyst) after my temp role ends, but I'm not really sure it's feasible given my current back-office position and with limited internship experience besides that. My other option would be to go to an MBA or Computer science
07 May 2021
I'll be working in risk management at a BB and I'm curious what type of exit ops are available after two years? This is a credit risk position, so it's IBD-focused (not a market risk position, which deals more with S&T). I've heard that risk management analysts can get into distressed debt shops, but I'm curious what other opportunities there might be. Thanks for the help.
03 Mar 2010
My situation is pretty complicated. Seems like I'm gonna pursue my undergrad at the CUHK (Quantitative Finance and Risk Management). Although I do consider going into sales and trading or quant, I also want to know if this degree and my language/culture profile would let me be a competitive applicant in London. I am Russian, speak Russian, Kazakh, German, pretty knowledgeable of the Eastern European and Central Asian business environment. Renaissance Capital is what might have popped up in your mind, maybe I have a chance there.
02 Apr 2021
Hi all. I did my bachelor's degree in Mathematics in Greece and now I am doing my master's in Financial Mathematics, at the London School of Economics (LSE). The application period has almost ended and I am worried a lot about my future. I have no prior working experience (no internships) and as a result it is all but impossible to find a full time position in a graduate scheme. At the same time, the majority of the internships are offered only for penultimate year students, which is not applicable to my case. My aspiration is to work as a Trader or Quant in a trading firm, but I am
21 Oct 2018
An HR lady at one of the top investment banks(think GS,DB,MS) approached me with this opening today. ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES: · Calculate the daily sweepings of the risks and book the transfer trades · Setup and run risk scenario analysis for X-Gamma exposure across all trading books globally · Create scenario / risk optimization runs for the funding book and the XCCY book. · Book the daily cash funding of the trading books in Europe. I am a fixed income trader at a prop firm and trade sovereign government bonds.I have absolutely no idea what this role encompasses or what might be the day to day responsibilities in this position.Does anyone have a clue? Thanks!
18 Oct 2012
Hey primates, Just found out I have a 30min phone interview this Thursday for an entry-level risk management position in London with Glencore. Anyone been through this experience before and care to share some advice? I'm guessing because it's a first-rounder it's mostly going to be fit questions, but they did ask a few questions like that on the online application. What else could they fit in 30 minutes? Any help is much appreciated!
04 Oct 2011
Hi everyone, I few weeks ago I joined one of the biggest pension funds in Mexico (Over 50bn usd), specifically in the Private Equity division, as an Infrastructure&Energy Analsyt after being 2 years as a market risk analyst in another pension fund, so pretty good job in FO buy side as LP (Limited Partner). But now, almost at the same time I started my new job, I got contacted to start the recruitment process at GS in IBD as an Junior Analyst. I know the most common thing is going from IB to PE, but this PE is referred as KKR, Blackstone, etc. but what about PE from the perspective of a pension
10 Mar 2021
Row call! Who here is in Calgary (and more broadly Canada)? I work in business development for a midstream / marketing company. Been at it for just over 3 years now. It's been a great experience with lots of exposure and responsibility (crude oil and ngl/lpg). Been thinking about long term opportunities, may try to eventually make switch to trading physical and then financial (spec). Anyway, I'm interested in setting up a group for energy professionals specifically in Calgary. I've read some of the energy posts here, it seems like Monty has it all set up for Houston. Lots of info out there for the US side of things, seems like having a Canadian presence would benefit everyone interested in the industry and provide a great networking opportunity.
25 May 2011
Long term goal is to be in HF, perhaps portfolio mgmt. or PE Short term goal is to be in IBD. Currently a junior going for a summer intern position. Recruiting season is coming to a close for me. I am at target Ivy (harvard/Wharton, one of those two) What should I take this summer: equity research in TMT (below BB, above boutique/MM) or risk and quantitative analysis(RQA) at BlackRock? I personally want to try for the ER summer->IBD full time->HF/PE track. However, chances of me getting IBD full time w/o an internship is slim, even if my school is top recruited and I have good academics (magna cum laude)
03 Mar 2011
Nassim Nicholas Taleb's [NNT] latest book, Antifragility discusses how institutions can survive through chaos and diversity. In a lengthy interview with Reason's Nick Gillespie he indirectly promotes capitalism and simplifies his message by saying, "...I want errors to be multiplied, that's it." He then goes on to elaborate the overall theme of his book and relates it to banking finance, monetary policy, options theory, etc. So read on for my summary and to see the full interview as he shake's up the WS establishment yet again... WHAT IS ANTIFRAGILITY? A general analogy would be that any
31 Mar 2013
I'm offered to become a CFO of a tiny P/C insurance company and wondering whether I'm sure about philosophy of this business. Company market themselves as a professional service provider, wiki says it's a financial service, and I think it's an asset manager. Do you have a better definition? (I have no degree in finance, too).
10 Aug 2018
Hi everyone, I have been interested in working in investment banking since university but when applying in my second and final years, I had no luck. I was fairly well prepared, but just lacked the knowledge and experience, as my university course wasn't finance centric. I am still very interested in transitioning into the risk department of an investment bank, but I cannot see my route in at the moment. I worked in a central bank for a year for a job placement, where I worked in credit risk reporting for the trading operations, and I now have almost 18 months under my belt working in
20 Feb 2021
I am an engineer am starting my second year of MBA this spring. I have been concentrating in Energy Risk Mgmt to transition from engineering and break into S&T in Houston. My dilemma - I can tailor my program to concentrate solely in ERM by taking electives in Energy Futures, Swaps, Options, Derivatives, etc... Though, I have the opportunity to use my electives to manage a $7M investment fund (if my application is accepted). Only 16 students are chosen from all MBAs and MSFins to manage the fund (broken into 4 teams of four).
13 Jan 2011
So I networked my way into a prestigious Asset Management firm, I am a math major at a non-target that was planning on trying to break into S&T, but now trying to get an internship is Risk/Quant Analysis at this firm. My GPA is 3.2 and SAT is 680-V/760-M, should these be included? Thanks a lot.
13 Jul 2011
Hey guys, I've been following WSO for a while now, and I think it's an excellent resource for those of us trying to make it in the banking industry. I was hoping to get some feedback regarding my options. I haven't found any discussion regarding the best of the worst vs. the "worst/okay" of the best. My question: Which should I choose? 1. M&A at a tiny no-name regional boutique (unpaid internship) in DC 2. Risk management at a Bulge Bracket Investment Bank in NYC My background: 1. Studying MS Quantitative Finance at a well-known private university (non-target for BB IBD) 2. Internship in Trading at a well known market-making firm 3. Internship at a Hedge Fund in risk management My goal: IBD or Consulting for full time and interest in eventually pursuing a top B-School
09 Apr 2009
I'm having a really tough time deciding between continuing with my unpaid search fund internship or pursuing a paid fixed-income risk management internship in LA. The partner I'm working for at my search fund told me I need to think about the long-term vision of my career (My end goal is HF/PE) and heavily encouraged me to stay onboard (he invested time to train me), but I'm worried that I'm passing up a great opportunity to get paid and learn a MO role which I can leverage for an IB internship next year. Am I being short-sighted for wanting to get paid this early on in my career? Can anyone
16 Mar 2018
Hey everybody, I have a dilemma between two internships set up for the spring. I have no relevant work experience in finance and I am a graduating senior. Which internship will help me boost my resume? A Research internship for a small M&A advisory firm or Energy Risk Management for an energy company
12 Jan 2012
Hey all, wanted to ask opinions on an offer I received 2 weeks ago. I go to a semi target state school, and received an offer from a top BB (GS, MS, JPM) in credit risk management, where I have the option to work on product management with a specialization in a product (Equity derivatives, FX, rates) and the role would be analyzing trades sent from the desks, and I think it sounds pretty interesting. Given that the firm is one of the best, and the salary is competitive, what do you all think? It was not my first choice of positions originally, but I like some (not all) of the people I met there throughout the process. Thanks a lot!
23 Dec 2011
So, interviewers will commonly ask what role are you searching for. This is easy when the job is awesome and you want the challenge/money/prestige and your goals line up with the job description and career path, but gets harder with support roles that most people use as a stepping stone and want to get out of. The job is for entry level risk management and you're asked "what kind of job are you looking for and why?", what should you say?
19 Jul 2011
I'm looking into risk management, specifically with a BB. I've searched through some threads but It looks like not a lot of people here went down that road. I'm talking about credit risk not market risk. Any insight? hours/lifestyle/pay/exit opportunities? From what I've learned so far... Hours 9-6ish? Pay lower than street - how low? how is pay progression? lifestyle culture - middle/back office exit opportunities to f500 corporate development, PE/VC? Thanks
24 May 2011
I received full time offers from Deloitte Consulting's Strategy & Operations arm and JPM's Risk Management division. I know they're very different, so it's hard to compare. But if anyone could shed light onto what the culture/vibe of each firm is like, how they vary, exit opportunities, skillsets each side requires, the pros&cons of both, types of people, leadership, prestige, etc. that would be great.
12 Jan 2021
Does anyone have any info on BoA's QMAP program? What they ask in the interview, comp, exit opps etc?
14 Sep 2010
Stress testing in the context of Bank Holding Corporations (BHC) or what is formally known as the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) is an annual exercise conducted by the Federal Reserve (or relevant Central Banks) and refers to the series of assessments and tests that examine the ability of an organization to withstand adversities such as Macroeconomic instability (e.g. Sudden surge in unemployment rates) and Market risk (e.g. Devaluation of company assets due to the Stock Market Crash) or Operational Risk (e.g. Legal Risks ). The intuition behind this acid test being to ensure
05 Sep 2014
Hi all, I accepted a job for a large commercial bank (top 6 or so) doing quantitative portfolio management on MBS, mortgages, home equity loans, etc. I spend most of my time valuing whole loan portfolio deals between us and other banks and leading the macroeconomic analysis for our team. Prior to this position I was on the macroeconomics team at a large financial institution (non-bank). I have an MBA from a top-25 or so school (part-time so not much help with career services), have passed CFA level 1 and will be sitting for CFA level 2 in June. My question is how difficult is it for someone
04 Dec 2015
Interviewing at two funds right now, one is Bridgewater for a Client Services Associate position, the other fund York Capital is for a Risk Management role. Which would be the better move for trying to land into the investment strategy/trading side of the PM industry? Any thoughts/opinions are greatly appreciated.
12 Apr 2012
Hi, Im a math major, and have managed to network myself into a big financial advisory firm. Im trying to get an internship doing Risk Management. Since I switched majors this year, I dont have any related experience, except working for my dad, an accountant with his own firm that focuses mostly on corporate accounting. Is it really cheesy for me to use my Dad as my only prior experience? thanks
12 Jul 2011
I have just started to work for a boutique investment bank in Asia. This question struck me when I'm filling up gym membership application form as it comes down to the "designation" part. Nonetheless, filling form story aside, this question has always been on my mind since the day I join the investment banking industry. What should Credit / Market Risk guy called themselves when threw with questions like "what you do for living?" or "what you working as?". This may sound a bit melodramatic question to ask, but is it "ethically" wrong to call ourselves as investment banker?
16 Jul 2015
What is a typical salary for a first year analyst in risk management and bonus at a BB?
27 Feb 2011
Hi, I am a current student studying Math and Econ. After I graduate from my current school, I will be studying Operations Research two more years. I have been pursuing the actuarial field, but I also want to break into the finance industry at the same time. 1) I have passed two actuarial exams (P and FM) and will take the third one (MFE) in March that deals with options pricing (Black-Scholes, Ito calculus, delta hedging, etc). Would those exams be helpful if I want to get an internship in the risk management division within an investment bank? 2) I have heard that the FRM exams would be
03 Dec 2015
I am starting to read Trading in The Zone by Mark Douglas. I read it last summer during my SA stint and was not trading. Was just curious if anyone else had read it or is interested. The book is about the factors that influence traders and differentiate good traders and bad traders and why the best traders truly excel. Personally I really do agree that the internal factors are what determine the winners from the losers. I would like to dedicate a thread to talking about the psychology of trading. I think far too many people on this board look at trading as overly quantitative and fail to realize that there are so many other factors that are more important than your ability to understand complex math.
30 Jun 2009
What is best for ALM?
26 Mar 2013
recently listened to what i thought was an interesting discussion between Nassim Taleb and Russ Roberts (turns out i cannot post links as i am new to this site, but if you go to econtalk and search "Taleb on skin in the game" you should be able to find the podcast) in it, taleb argues that ethics are fundamentally a part of risk management in finance. he draws on hammurabi code, with the example of a home builder who, under a scenario where the house he builds collapses to kill the owner, is put to death himself. this is the well known eye-for-an-eye mantra you hear about growing up, and is
05 Jan 2016
As a Dane from Copenhagen business school, getting a job on wall-street seems quite tough, so thinking about internship/analyst position in East Europe where the competition is much smaller. Clearly the salary is a joke, but you got a foot in the door of the bank. Are these people working there looked down upon in Morgan Stanley etc? How about intermovability?
12 Jun 2013
Hey guys, Recently interviewed for a performance attribution/risk management job at a large investment manager (Janus, Franklin Resources, StateStreet, PIMCO, etc.), and was wondering what the going rate for entry level hires would be in this capacity? The job is not in NYC, so I'm struggling to find market value without NYC inflation. Also, I've checked the Company Research on here - looking for more opinions/discussion. I feel confident about getting the job - the interview went quite well. As far as the actual description, it reads a lot like RQA @ BlackRock:
08 Oct 2012
So I just graduated college with a degree in Accounting (I know, I know) with a pretty solid GPA. As most of you know, in order to get the CPA license, you would need 150 credit hours, which most people do with a MAcc. However, my school has a new program, MS in Risk Management with a concentration in Accounting, which looked very interesting to me. I decided I would go this route because I will still be qualified to sit for the CPA but possibly have more opportunities in areas other than accounting. In fact, my RM classes are 100x more interesting.
23 Aug 2012
Here's the deal - I completed undergrad in 2008. Top-25 school, 3.5, varsity athlete, ran a successful business in college. Last December I passed CFA Level I. Right now I work in a dead end job. It's financial reporting, nobody has ambition or has gotten raises in forever, and 2 of my coworkers didn't even go to college. Literally, it's a bunch of soccer moms and they are all (including my boss) lifers. This week I got passed over for a Front Office position in Asset Management (I made it to the final round). A friend of mine says he can get me into the door of a BB for credit risk management - they really need people and my skillset fits their need exactly. My comp would be higher (40%+ all in), and the people I'd be working with would be much smarter than my current coworkers. The exit opportunities would be much better as well, but not Front Office. I would not be working with Traders or PMs, but I'd be working with Research Analysts - I don't want to do research.
11 Jun 2010
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