risk management

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

[Cross-posted from IB forum - this is my first time using WSO, so please let me know if this is allowed] Hi all, I'm a current junior at a T25 university doing the internship search for next summer. I just received offers from a T2 consulting firm (think EYP or Deloitte S&O) as well as GS for the Risk Summer Analyst position in Salt Lake City. I know risk is considered more "middle/back office" and not as "good" as IB/anything "front office", but I was wondering how GS risk compares with T2 consulting and which offer I should take for next summer. I'm open to working in most industries and

03 Nov 2021

Hi! I'm currently a financial engineering graduate student with a concentration in financial risk engineering. I started applying for full-time jobs already as many students have a job offer in hand when they graduate. I'm a little confused as to how to approach the right job position. I see many of my friends struggling with this as they apply to 40-50 companies everyday with a response rate of 200:1. I'm skilled in python and R programming languages and interested in quantitative roles be it pricing, volatility modeling or risk analysis. A major drawback in my resume is that I lack work

31 Jul 2021

JP Morgan Risk Management summer analyst question ( just a generic question about IB Risk management) Hi! So I'm a college student studying industrial engineering that surprisingly got past this stage to a risk management superday coming in 1 week. However I mostly applied to these positions because I still am not sure what I want to do but I enjoy everything from engineering to data science to finance. I've been looking at mostly data science/ analysis recently. I looked at the different risk teams that JP Morgan offers and I saw CTC, country, credit and market teams. I know some finance that

09 Jan 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hi guys, I've recently got an offer from an index/risk firm (S&P/Bloomberg/MSCI). I'd like to hear any career advice/warning you have for me. I'm thinking of enrolling in an MBA program (hopefully top 20. I took a free mock test and was 700 and 3.6 GPA so I think not impossible especially if I work on my GMAT), so I'd appreciate if you have advice especially on that. Also I'm curious about the exit ops for this industry. thanks in advance

19 Jul 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

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

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

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

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

Any fellow commercial insurance brokers on this site? I've seen the occasional discussion with commercial P&C and reinsurance underwriters, but interested to find out how many are on the brokerage side. I'm a year-and-a-half into a training program with a global insurance brokerage, where I support both client advisory and large P&C placements for companies with $500M-$1B+ in revenue. So far, I'm really enjoying the learning experience, the industry, and the colleagues I work with. To some of the more experienced brokers/client execs on this forum, how has your experience been to date? What

15 Mar 2020

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

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

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

"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

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30 Jan 2019

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

A long shot but maybe someone here might know somethign about Frankfurt? My company is moving some jobs from UK to Frankfurt via brexit. Mid level VP in Risk with 11y of experience. Live and worked in NYC. I'm curious owhat i should expect for salary in Frankfurt? I know COL is much cheaper than NYC and salaries are probably lower too. However, They need someone there very soon as brexit happens in 6mo, no one wants to go, and I'm also the SME for the new role so I feel like there is room for negotiation. Have done lots of research online but can't seem to find a definitive answer and want to

15 Oct 2018

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, 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

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

The work is mostly Basel risk management consulting for banks, funds, and insurance firms. What do you think about this gig? Is this better than FSO audit? Could this lead to a top 10-15 MBA? MBB consulting perhaps? Or switching to corporate banking? I know it says risk management so FRM is a no brainer... does studying for the CFA help on the job (in case I want to switch to AM or other investing jobs)? Thanks guys, any help is appreciated.

11 Jul 2018

I am a sophomore at Baruch College majoring in Applied Math. And I am interested in a career and a summer analyst internship next year in credit risk at a BB IB. I heard that Baruch is recruited heavily for middle or back office. Front office not so much. Since risk is middle office I want to know if the BB IB recruit from Baruch for credit risk/ risk management?

25 Jan 2016

The deadline to submit applications for the 2018 FINCAD Women in Finance Scholarship is Saturday, June 30 at 11:59pm EST. Please plan accordingly. -- 2018 has been a significant year for women, who have been at the center of various political, economic and social changes across the globe. FINCAD recognizes this is a time of growth in the industry, and would like to see more women be a part

19 Jun 2018

FINCAD is now accepting applications for the [Women in Finance Scholarship 2018, a program designed to promote outstanding women in the field of finance, particularly those pursuing careers in the capital markets and/or financial risk management. This has been a significant year for women, who have been especially influential in driving many political, economic and social initiatives across the globe. FINCAD also recognizes this is a time of growth in the industry, and would like to see more women be a part of this growth. If you are a woman pursuing graduate-level studies in Finance, we

06 Jun 2018

FINCAD is now accepting applications for the Women in Finance Scholarship 2018, a program designed to promote outstanding women in the field of finance, particularly those pursuing careers in the capital markets and/or financial risk management. This has been a significant year for women, who have been especially influential in driving many political, economic and social initiatives across the globe. FINCAD also recognizes this is a time of growth in the industry, and would like to see more women be a part of this growth. If you are a woman pursuing graduate-level studies in Finance, we

06 Jun 2018

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

Hi everyone, I am very new to Wall Street Oasis, and have decided to join the community for some advice/second opinion. I am currently on my second year as an Institutional Credit Risk Management Associate in a renowned multinational bank, and I would like to know how I can make the shift to Hedge Funds or Private Equity. For context, I was previously a Relationship Associate for Institutional Clients for 3 years and I decided to delve into Credit Risk for a more manageable schedule while I complete my CFA exams. Currently, I am about to take the LIII, and am thinking how I can actually get

22 Feb 2018

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

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

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

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

Hello, What would be an appropriate salary for an investment risk manager with 3-4 years of experience? This is for a hedge fund.

10 Aug 2018

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

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

Is the P/E ratio the next head to roll off today's market guillotine? What are the new market metrics which will mark the next generation of financial analysis? As usual the critiques are more abundant then proposed solutions.

Ben Levisohn:

The stock market's average price/earnings ratio, meanwhile, is in free fall, having plunged about 36% during the past year, the largest 12-month decline since 2003. It now stands at about 14.9, compared with 23.1 last September, based on trailing 12-month earnings results. Based on profit expectations over the next 12 months, the P/E ratio has fallen to 12.2 from about 14.5 in May.

22 Sep 2010

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

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

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

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

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

I have 4 offers on the table from different firms in varied industries. The two that I am torn between are a large cards company for a Senior Manager role and E&Y Manager role in FSO Advisory (risk focus). Both are relatively comparable offers but different locations. I want to know how E&Y experienced hire process works for Manager roles. I had interviews, did well, got a tentative offer but I did not like the comp. After some back and forth with the recruiter, I had a personal call from the lead partner to talk to me about it and asking what he can do to make it happen. I also have a lunch

14 Aug 2016