FRM and Career in Asset Liability Management and Stress Testing

[Hazel57]

I am a senior analyst (worked 5+ years) in the financial services industry in the Asset Liability Management and Capital stress testing group. From a size perspective, the organization is in the bottom quartile of the top 50 financial service providers in the US. My intent is to advance my career both in terms of additional responsibility (Senior Risk Manager or Senior Economist) and quality /size of organization (i.e, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Federal Reserve, etc). My strategy is to continue to develop my technical skills and knowledge so I can position myself for growth opportunities. I'm interested in the others' perspective on what credential (CFA or FRM) and/or graduate degree (Applied/Quantitative Economics) would best complement my strategy. Thanks.

 

[Ankur S]

Hi Hazel57,

Depending on which field you want to grow in i.e. Market or credit risk or any other, guess doing FRM is a good option. CFA is very broad and good but remember it needs a 3 yr time commitment to finish at the least. So you need to weigh your time in that.

If you have a quant bent, then try doing CQF (http://www.bionicturtle.com/career-guide/exam-guide/certificate-in-quantitative-finance-cqf/overview). I hear its good for quants.

Getting into big institutions or rather any good mgmt firm, besides qualifications, one needs to have a good networking (nothing beats that). So try to get in touch with people you know, ask for references and you may hit gold. Hedge funds are good place to start. They are small but full of risk mgmt and one learns a lot and they constantly upgrade their risk mgmt. After hedge fund, you can easily try big names.

Hope this helps in some way.

Regards,
Ankur

 

[Aleksander Hansen]

I am a senior analyst (worked 5+ years) in the financial services industry in the Asset Liability Management and Capital stress testing group. From a size perspective, the organization is in the bottom quartile of the top 50 financial service providers in the US. My intent is to advance my career both in terms of additional responsibility (Senior Risk Manager or Senior Economist) and quality /size of organization (i.e, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Federal Reserve, etc). My strategy is to continue to develop my technical skills and knowledge so I can position myself for growth opportunities. I'm interested in the others' perspective on what credential (CFA or FRM) and/or graduate degree (Applied/Quantitative Economics) would best complement my strategy. Thanks.

Unless you want to continue in a similar function/job you should change your function/group/employer. If you stay in the same function for more than a few years, your probability of getting a job in a different function declines rapidly. If you have been in the job for 5+ years and are not a senior manager yet, it's a good idea to go elsewhere.

As for the Fed, you should keep in mind that you will get paid a Government grade salary [read MUCH lower than in the private sector].

Without at least a Masters, or pref. a PhD or very strong quant/analytical skills, getting a [good/interesting] job at a hedge fund is hard, unless you have some other skills that will blow them away (much harder than with IBanks)..

CFA and FRM are both nice to have as professional accredidation but won't land you a job, less complemented by strong degree and experience.
Most important perhaps is whether you developed something on the frontier of finance during your 5 years with the company, that will set you apart.

If you are going to do a [quant degree] NYU, Columbia or Baruch are good places as the faculty/curriculum is strong. Most importantly perhaps, they all have very strong placement records. If you are leaning towards economics, University of Chicago is the place to go. Again, great placement record.

Have your company send you to relevant conferences in NY and elbow your way past the middle-managers and talk to the more important people. You have 30 seconds to make an impression.