Banking Sector - Career Path

[Agravaine]

Become entrepreneur la.. bank ops do not offer you a big money..

120k a year peak income is enough for me

 

[sailSIN87]

more importantly, bank ops is also boring.
from my impression there is relatively little to learn. are you sure you want to be doing that for 10 years or more?

 

[Agravaine]

more importantly, bank ops is also boring.
from my impression there is relatively little to learn. are you sure you want to be doing that for 10 years or more?

With 10 years experience, you should be in a supervisory/managerial position liao mah.

Anyway...a lot of other jobs are also full of boring work leh.

 

[sailSIN87]

so let me get this right...you want to go from doing what is in all probability a relatively mundane job to supervising a bunch of people doing mundane jobs? okay, glad we got that cleared up

while bank operations are without doubt crucial to the running of any front office set-up, there is also a reason why voluntary staff attrition is very high ie people who are not fired but choose to leave. i am sure it is not just the money here.

this is not the same as certain technology roles in the bank fyi. while a good portion of IT troubleshooting has been outsourced, there is still a need for software development. much of the programs that are used in IBs/brokerages are proprietary and i'm sure that this field could actually be quite lucrative.

anyway, with regards to the money...a peak income of 120k per annum will only be enough when you get to 80 or 90k per annum. i'm not sure what you are doing now but you are probably in school or in your first job and as such, that money seems like a lot. at a certain stage i am sure you will want more than 120k because no one really ever gets satisfied with his pay.

 

[Agravaine]

so let me get this right...you want to go from doing what is in all probability a relatively mundane job to supervising a bunch of people doing mundane jobs? okay, glad we got that cleared up

while bank operations are without doubt crucial to the running of any front office set-up, there is also a reason why voluntary staff attrition is very high ie people who are not fired but choose to leave. i am sure it is not just the money here.

this is not the same as certain technology roles in the bank fyi. while a good portion of IT troubleshooting has been outsourced, there is still a need for software development. much of the programs that are used in IBs/brokerages are proprietary and i'm sure that this field could actually be quite lucrative.

anyway, with regards to the money...a peak income of 120k per annum will only be enough when you get to 80 or 90k per annum. i'm not sure what you are doing now but you are probably in school or in your first job and as such, that money seems like a lot. at a certain stage i am sure you will want more than 120k because no one really ever gets satisfied with his pay.

If you get a decent pay for the role, why not? And in my opinion, lots of jobs are boring too, but pay worse.

Regarding the pay, I had the following in mind when writing it:

1) Front office positions are extremely competitive/limited
2) Not everyone wants that kind of work/hours
3) High-paying jobs in other industries are also very competitive, with crazy hours

The 120k scenario is just an example, but it's a practical one for non-superhuman local uni grads or undergrads like me. It's difficult to compete against the best of the local crop, or the scores of high-flying grads from overseas unis for the top jobs.

I'm also viewing it as a balance between work and leisure hours; even with the pay in IBD, I'm sure not everyone is willing to work 80-100 hours a week.

 

[ctzehock]

i was just thinking of this:

Ish there a job out that, that help to invest in the company funds??
How can i be one of them? As in what sort of qualifications do i need??


What are these re called?

 

[Rushifaa]

i was just thinking of this:

Ish there a job out that, that help to invest in the company funds??
How can i be one of them? As in what sort of qualifications do i need??


What are these re called?

Trader.
Qualification?
Phd and CFA.
And years of Experience.

 

[Agravaine]

i was just thinking of this:

Ish there a job out that, that help to invest in the company funds??
How can i be one of them? As in what sort of qualifications do i need??


What are these re called?

Prop trader. Best to have a quantitative background.

 

[ctzehock]

Prop trader. Best to have a quantitative background.

My bad, but i dun understand what you are saying :-(

anyway, i google it, do u mean proprietary trader??

And what do u mean by quantitative background?? any example??

 

[Ice_Milo1987]

just wondering issit easy for a fresh engineering grad wif no relevant experience to get into the banking sector?

 

[Rushifaa]

just wondering issit easy for a fresh engineering grad wif no relevant experience to get into the banking sector?

Depends which banking job u are looking.
They take anyone for Financial Consultant.

 

[Yaco99]

My bad, but i dun understand what you are saying :-(

anyway, i google it, do u mean proprietary trader??

And what do u mean by quantitative background?? any example??

Yep that should be what he meant. Anyway it's not invest IN the company fund but rather you are using the bank's own fund to invest. You will require quite a lot of experience for them to trust you to invest their money. It's more likely that you will move to this experience after you have experience as a trader in other position. And you do need rather high qualifications to get there.

Ice milo, just wanting to get into the sector is too wide so you may want to research and narrow down into your field of interest. but anyway, most banks are quite happy with engineering grads.

 

[Agravaine]

My bad, but i dun understand what you are saying :-(

anyway, i google it, do u mean proprietary trader??

And what do u mean by quantitative background?? any example??

Yep proprietary trader, though it might be harder to get into that job in the banks now with the Volcker rule, as well as future developments in the industry.

Quantitative background like math, statistics, hard science/engineering. Just be comfortable with figures I guess.

 

[sailSIN87]

Trader.
Qualification?
Phd and CFA.
And years of Experience.

it is funny how people just immediately think of trading and put in on a pedestal. it is not the be all and end all. his job description better fits that of an asset manager. in fact, asset management is a field which is a lot larger than that of prop trading and can be equally as lucrative especially considering the restrictions that the will have on prop trading these days.

i realize that asset management typically involves management of client money. but given the nature of this forum i am pretty sure that the number of fund managers who will emerge from this thread will far surpass the number of prop traders, if there are any at all!

there are many companies that require investment of their available cash. the most famous of which (in sg) would be the govt fund managers - temasek and GIC. sure this is not 'company' money per se but in general it requires putting money to work. so too big companies like SIA although their investment arm is fairly limited in what they can do.

and don't forget that there are dedicated fund managers who look to raise funds from clients and to invest them where they see fit - ie the traditional asset management model.

 

[ctzehock]

it is funny how people just immediately think of trading and put in on a pedestal. it is not the be all and end all. his job description better fits that of an asset manager. in fact, asset management is a field which is a lot larger than that of prop trading and can be equally as lucrative especially considering the restrictions that the will have on prop trading these days.

i realize that asset management typically involves management of client money. but given the nature of this forum i am pretty sure that the number of fund managers who will emerge from this thread will far surpass the number of prop traders, if there are any at all!

there are many companies that require investment of their available cash. the most famous of which (in sg) would be the govt fund managers - temasek and GIC. sure this is not 'company' money per se but in general it requires putting money to work. so too big companies like SIA although their investment arm is fairly limited in what they can do.

and don't forget that there are dedicated fund managers who look to raise funds from clients and to invest them where they see fit - ie the traditional asset management model.

Well, how do i be one then, a fund manager?? what kind of degree do i need??

 

[ctzehock]

Yep proprietary trader, though it might be harder to get into that job in the banks now with the Volcker rule, as well as future developments in the industry.

Quantitative background like math, statistics, hard science/engineering. Just be comfortable with figures I guess.

Does Accountancy counts as Quantitative background?? it deals with number too.

 

[Agravaine]

Does Accountancy counts as Quantitative background?? it deals with number too.

Pardon me, but the math you use in accountancy is actually pretty straightforward isn't it? It's not as 'hard' as the other disciplines I mentioned.

 

[Rheinl]

...Seriously some of the questions here are ridiculous

You expect to get into one of the most lucrative fields in finance by requesting details in this forum?!

You dont have the effort to google and you expect to be trusted with the management of hundreds of millions of dollars?!

How about you start off with reading "The Intelligent Investor" (Its 600+ pages btw, if you can't be bothered to read 10-20 pages on the net.. I am not sure how are you gonna finish it) and "Building a Profession"? . And if you can stomach those, you just might have something to talk about at the job interview.

Mind you, you are fighting with people who have devoured the entire finance section of the most prestigious universities in the world.

The least you can do is to have a faint idea of the field you are going into.

 

[amerell]

Does Accountancy counts as Quantitative background?? it deals with number too.

U gotta be kidding man. Accounting is just a framework with rules, where got maths/stats involved at all? Its just basic plus minus subtract divide.

Please don't ever think that accounting will guarantee you a prestigious job in a bank.

 

[ctzehock]

...Seriously some of the questions here are ridiculous

You expect to get into one of the most lucrative fields in finance by requesting details in this forum?!

You dont have the effort to google and you expect to be trusted with the management of hundreds of millions of dollars?!

How about you start off with reading "The Intelligent Investor" (Its 600+ pages btw, if you can't be bothered to read 10-20 pages on the net.. I am not sure how are you gonna finish it) and "Building a Profession"? . And if you can stomach those, you just might have something to talk about at the job interview.

Mind you, you are fighting with people who have devoured the entire finance section of the most prestigious universities in the world.

The least you can do is to have a faint idea of the field you are going into.

I finish that few years back, and i dun think that my knowledge in stock selection got anything to do with getting a job.. Cos i believe you can babble all you know, but unless you got some sort of proof, a degree, or smth, they are not going to hire you

And 2ndly, i'm trying to select a degree for the right job. I believe that Finance and accountancy is drawn by a very thin line.. And i'm not so sure what kind of career in difference would i have with the different degree