Remember, this career centre is aimed at aiding you in your career development and you are not expected to understand everything straight away. If you are committed to achieving in Banking and Finance it is about learning a little every day and compounding your knowledge. Above all ask questions and get curious. What guarantees your success is your commitment to self-development and your passion about the banking and finance industry.
This career centre is aimed at clearing up the confusion and giving you focus so you can channel your time and effort into the right direction rather than doing lots of things badly. From meeting thousands of graduates and banking and finance professionals we come across some common questions and most people are confused about similar things.
Saying you want to work in Banking and Finance is not enough!
"Banking" and "finance" is not just two different jobs and saying that you want a career doing anything in banking and finance, unfortunately sends out a signal to employers that you don’t know what you want, you haven’t done your research and you are not really that keen on working in the sector. Banking and finance are two sectors that have hundreds of different roles within them all suitable to different personalities.
Don’t be held to ransom by your degree subject
You don’t necessarily need a finance degree or an MBA to work in banking and finance. What will help is a good degree with commercial awareness and a good understanding of financial markets, not necessarily obtained through a finance degree. The banking and finance sector is crying out for IT professionals, those who studied a language, engineers, marketing professionals etc. who have an understanding of how the banking and finance sector work.
Investment Banking: UK vs USA
Investment banking in the US refers to all activities that occur under the roof of an investment bank eg. trading, sales, research and corporate finance etc. In the UK it refers to the raising of capital eg. Corporate finance, M&A etc.
Some analysts don't analyse:
The major investment banks call their juniors "analysts" (whether they work in trading, research or sales for example) who get promoted to 'associates'. Don't confuse this with a research analyst who researches for the bank.
But it's different in research!
In research a junior is called a research associate and gets promoted to a research analyst, the opposite of other investment banking roles.
Don't focus on the market - focus on the role!
If you work in currency trading or commodity trading the function of your role will be very similar – trading. If you're good at currency trading you're probably good at commodity trading so don’t restrict yourself to a market, rather the function of your role.
REMEMBER, focus on the role!
Likewise if you work in foreign exchange, debt capital markets or equity capital markets - the roles you perform will be pretty similar ie. sales trading, institutional sales, market making and research are similar in debt, forex or equity. If you are good at one, you're probably good at the other given some training. It is much more important to focus on a role's function rather than a market.
Don't always believe what you read
Roles are often dressed up to sound more glamorous to attract more talent. You need to learn to spot the real function of the job. For example, sometimes 'foreign exchange' might refer not to a forex trader but to the cashier on a foreign exchange desk (think Heathrow airport!) Salespeople are often termed 'product consultant' or a 'financial advisor'. You need to learn how to spot the core function of the role.
If you have any questions or would like to add to this list of common confusions please contact us.
