FAQ After Exam Questions about work experience

[aypy]

Hi,

I read in the earlier messages of this thread that GARP usually looks for positions of AVP and above, and currently wondering if my situation would qualify.

I have 2.5 years of experience in an insurance company. The first 2 years with a “Management Trainee” title but really, it is a full-time 40 hour/week permanent position equivalent to a Junior Executive role with the added advantage of being rotated to several divisions. I spent 1 year in Financial Risk Management, where I mainly dealt with company-level credit, market, insurance and strategic risks. Then I spent a couple of months with the Actuarial Pricing team and Investment Fund Management team. Currently I am back in the Financial Risk team.

Recently sat for the Nov 2018 Part 1 exam but was just thinking ahead if I am taking this exam too early, and might be rejected when I pass both papers?

Thanks,
Adrienne

 

[abhilashaa]

Hi,

I read in the earlier messages of this thread that GARP usually looks for positions of AVP and above, and currently wondering if my situation would qualify.

I have 2.5 years of experience in an insurance company. The first 2 years with a “Management Trainee” title but really, it is a full-time 40 hour/week permanent position equivalent to a Junior Executive role with the added advantage of being rotated to several divisions. I spent 1 year in Financial Risk Management, where I mainly dealt with company-level credit, market, insurance and strategic risks. Then I spent a couple of months with the Actuarial Pricing team and Investment Fund Management team. Currently I am back in the Financial Risk team.

Recently sat for the Nov 2018 Part 1 exam but was just thinking ahead if I am taking this exam too early, and might be rejected when I pass both papers?

Thanks,
Adrienne

Hi Adrienne,

After reading your post, I feel, give the exams first if you want to be in the Risk Field. Clearing both the exams usually takes an year (unless you are good at academics, which would mean you clear level 1 in Jan'19 and Level 2 in Jun'19). In any case, your financial risk field would be relevant for FRM. Also, once your clear both the levels, they usually give you 4 years to build 2 years of relevant experience.

If you want more clarity on the kind of experience GARP accepts, you can either write to them or take some guidance from one of the members here.

Thanks,
Abhilashaa

 

[abhilashaa]

HI @Nicole Seaman - need your inputs here. I have a Operational Risk experience in one bank for 1 yr and 8 months and then a gap for 1 yr and 4 months. Currently, I am back to working for the last 5 months.

So the total operational risk experience is 2 years but with a break. Will that be an issue for GARP?

 

[Nicole Seaman]

HI @Nicole Seaman - need your inputs here. I have a Operational Risk experience in one bank for 1 yr and 8 months and then a gap for 1 yr and 4 months. Currently, I am back to working for the last 5 months.

So the total operational risk experience is 2 years but with a break. Will that be an issue for GARP?

Hello @abhilashaa

We cannot provide advice on GARP's work experience guidelines, as we are not directly affiliated with them. In the past, GARP has advised us to have our members contact them at [email protected] to ask specific questions about work experience. If you contact them and do not receive a timely response, please let me know and I will see if I can help.

Thank you,

Nicole

 

[aypy]

Hi Adrienne,

After reading your post, I feel, give the exams first if you want to be in the Risk Field. Clearing both the exams usually takes an year (unless you are good at academics, which would mean you clear level 1 in Jan'19 and Level 2 in Jun'19). In any case, your financial risk field would be relevant for FRM. Also, once your clear both the levels, they usually give you 4 years to build 2 years of relevant experience.

If you want more clarity on the kind of experience GARP accepts, you can either write to them or take some guidance from one of the members here.

Thanks,
Abhilashaa

Hi Abhilashaa,

Thanks for your input. And yes, I definitely want to be in the risk field. I am mainly worried that I may not even get up to an AVP (or similar) ranking in the next few years seeing as I am starting from a fresh grad position now. And that my current experience might not be up to GARP's standards. But I will take your advice on asking GARP directly. Just cleared part 1 and will soldier on!

Thanks.

 

[Amarnadh D]

Hi David & Nicole, I've cleared FRM part 1 exam (wrote the exam in Nov'18) and currently preparing for Part 2 exam. Wanted to confirm whether my work experience is relevant as per GARP expected experience.

I've 10 yrs of experience in Financial industry - worked in multiple roles and profiles during this tenure. Worked for 4 yrs in Trade settlements reconciliation of Depository Trust Company (DTC) department (from 2008 to 2012) as Senior Analyst. 4 yrs into Asset services - Corporate actions department (was responsible for processing all corporate action event - as Process supervisor - from 2013 to 2017) and the last 2 yrs, i'm working with one of the top 3 banks in the world - into Funds remediation department - responsible for establishing the relationship b/w every fund of the client with the respective Investment Manager - as a Process supervisor.

It would be a great help if you can please advise me whether my role qualifies for the GARP Approved work experience or not. If not, please advise the relevant profiles and roles i need to be part of. So that, can plan accordingly in the coming days.

Thanks for your assistance in advance.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @Amarnadh D We are not supposed to opine specifically, apologies; it could create tension if a candidate referred back to our opinion, as you can imagine. That said, you obviously have several years of related (aka, relevant) experience. I personally cannot imagine you not qualifying, is as strongly as I probably should word my opinion If your experience doesn't qualify, what are all we all doing here?!

@Nicole Seaman GARP previously published "Qualifying Job Titles" per the link to which I referred here https://forum.bionicturtle.com/threads/questions-about-work-experience.7207/post-25646 (although this was before GARP's web redesign; should we ask if they meant to "hide" such knowledge?) ... the new site is not giving candidates sufficient "prospective clarity" with respect to Work Experience Qualifications (in my opinion of course). Given the serious commitment that is the FRM, rational people want to have some confidence before the end of the exams. I think maybe we should convey this to Lisa ....

 

[Amarnadh D]

Hi David, As you said GARP site doesn't providing the Qualifying Job titles. Will liaise with GARP member service team. Thanks.

 

[kevinbui0206]

Hi everybody,

I have one question that I would like to ask. I have sent my question twice to the memberservice team but I haven't received the response, I guess this is a busy time of the year, so they may be late (it has been around 2 weeks, though)

Here is my question:

I passed the FRM exam part 1 on 17/11/2018.

I work in the strategic planning and performance management for the insurance division of a bank (it is quite a big bank in Vietnam with $5 bil in market capitalization). We signed an exclusive partnership with Manulife Asia for many years to provide the insurance service.

My main job is to
- Gather, assess, data and making report on insurance performance (revenue, income, employees...) of our bank
- Make strategic advice, create plans, budgets...
- Building IT system, listing out all key components (there is risk involved as well)
- Control the key risk assessment (basically what could go wrong when partnering with Manulife, actions to take...)
...and many other responsibilities

My title in the job is "Insurance Strategic Specialist"

I wonder if this would qualify as experience to get the FRM certificate.

I also understand that we could not say this in a definite way that "My experience counts", I just want it in probable term.

Something like: "there is a high chance that your experience will/will not count" would be good enough.

Thank you very much

 

[abhilashaa]

Hi everybody,

I have one question that I would like to ask. I have sent my question twice to the memberservice team but I haven't received the response, I guess this is a busy time of the year, so they may be late (it has been around 2 weeks, though)

Here is my question:

I passed the FRM exam part 1 on 17/11/2018.

I work in the strategic planning and performance management for the insurance division of a bank (it is quite a big bank in Vietnam with $5 bil in market capitalization). We signed an exclusive partnership with Manulife Asia for many years to provide the insurance service.

My main job is to
- Gather, assess, data and making report on insurance performance (revenue, income, employees...) of our bank
- Make strategic advice, create plans, budgets...
- Building IT system, listing out all key components (there is risk involved as well)
- Control the key risk assessment (basically what could go wrong when partnering with Manulife, actions to take...)
...and many other responsibilities

My title in the job is "Insurance Strategic Specialist"

I wonder if this would qualify as experience to get the FRM certificate.

I also understand that we could not say this in a definite way that "My experience counts", I just want it in probable term.

Something like: "there is a high chance that your experience will/will not count" would be good enough.

Thank you very much

Hi Kevin,
From what I have figured out reading other posts, most finance related work ex goes through without any problems. Yours is insurance based, looks fine. Go ahead and start preparing for Level 2.

Good Luck!

 

[Rishikesh.P]

@David Harper CFA FRM @Nicole Seaman I have some queries regarding my work experience. Currently, I'm working as an Actuary Associate in a life insurance company in India. My role includes shareholder reporting where I work on Pricing and Prophet models of various insurance products (Prophet is a software used in insurance field to map real time cash flows of policies) along with analysis of the impact of changes in yield curve, mortality, lapse and other variants. The work is mainly concerned with market, liquidity and life risk.
I am not sure if this experience is valid for FRM designation.
Please help me out with this.

 

[Yasser10]

Hi. I have 2 questions.
The 2 years required expernce to get the FRM Certificate, does it have to be after passing the 2 part or a previous expernce is still valid?
And does internal audit experience count as relevant and accepted experience?

Thanks

 

[Nicole Seaman]

Hi. I have 2 questions.
The 2 years required expernce to get the FRM Certificate, does it have to be after passing the 2 part or a previous expernce is still valid?
And does internal audit experience count as relevant and accepted experience?

Thanks

Hello @Yasser10

You can read more about GARP's policies regarding work experience on their website here: https://www.garp.org/#!/frm/frequently-asked-questions. Your work experience before passing the exam is valid, however, it cannot be more than 10 years prior to passing Part 2. You also have 5 years after passing Part 2 to submit your work experience so any experience that you have during that time is also valid. This is from the GARP website:

"Demonstrate 2 years of professional full-time financial risk management work experience. A candidate demonstrates work experience by submitting a minimum of 4-5 sentences describing his/her professional role in the management of financial risk. The application to submit your work experience can be completed online. The work experience submitted cannot be more than 10 years prior to having passed the FRM Exam Part II. Experience completed during school will not be considered, including internships, part-time jobs, or student teaching. A candidate has 5 years to submit their work experience after they sat and passed the FRM Exam Part II."

Regarding your internal audit experience, GARP has advised that any specific questions about work experience be directed to them, as they are the ones who approve work experience. Internal audit experience may qualify, but GARP may look at other factors such as the depth of responsibilities within the position that you held. You can email them with questions to [email protected]. I hope this helps!

Thank you,

Nicole

 

[emmawxn]

@[U]David Harper CFA FRM[/U]
@[U]Nicole Seaman[/U]
Hi David/Nicole,

I have some queries regarding work experience. I submitted my working experience on Jan 6th but got rejected by GARP last Friday because 'Your FRM CV Submission is incomplete'. GARP requires more info about my role as Senior Customer Service manager in a well-known commerial bank. The exact words in the email GARP sent to me was 'Senior Customer Service: Elaborate on financial risk mgmt tasks so we can better understand your role in financial risk'

I rewrote my working experince in the past 2.5 yrs as below to be more specific and uploaded to GARP last Saturday.
'1.In charge of ongoing due-diligence and reporting of PEPs(politically exposed person) at divisional level. When existing customers become domestic/foreign PEPs, reassess the risk of the customer and business relationship. Apply enhanced due-diligence measures on business relationships with high risk PEPs such as senior management approval, reasonable measures to establish the source of wealth, and enhanced ongoing monitoring or termination of the business relationship. Maintain a dynamic PEP checklist and report to internal Financial Crime Compliance Department on a monthly basis.

2.Monitor downgrade accounts and ECL impairment of the division under IFRS 9 on a daily basis. Check the downgrade status, liaise with the account manager and assess if there is significance increase in credit risk, and suggest proper measures to mitigate the risk.

3.Key member of liquidity stress testing team of Global Corporate Banking Department in the past 2 years. Work with the team to draw stressed scenarios, for example, market crisis combined with credit lines granted are drawn by corporate clients, assess liquidity risk and reputational risk of the bank, and define a contingency funding plan accordingly and review periodically.

4. Summarize human errors and conduct internal trainings for relationship managers on a regular basis. For example, trainings on common errors on credit model selections or false identifications of final destination of loan investments, aiming to mitigate operational risk at divisional level.

5.Conduct risk analysis on doing business in Southeast-Asia countries for the division and review on a regular basis. Analyze political risk, foreign exchange risk, legal risk and economic policy changes, and suggest proactive measures to manage the risk such as adjusting the credit limit or asking for additional collaterals.'

It would be a great help if you can please advise me as in whether my role qualifies for the GARP Approved work experience or not.

Btw, it took 8 weeks for my first submission to get reviewed and rejected by GARP previously. I submitted the revised version on Mar 2nd. Would you please advise if it is possible that I get certified by the end of March?

Regards
Emma

 

[Nicole Seaman]

@[U]David Harper CFA FRM[/U]
@[U]Nicole Seaman[/U]
Hi David/Nicole,

I have some queries regarding work experience. I submitted my working experience on Jan 6th but got rejected by GARP last Friday because 'Your FRM CV Submission is incomplete'. GARP requires more info about my role as Senior Customer Service manager in a well-known commerial bank. The exact words in the email GARP sent to me was 'Senior Customer Service: Elaborate on financial risk mgmt tasks so we can better understand your role in financial risk'

I rewrote my working experince in the past 2.5 yrs as below to be more specific and uploaded to GARP last Saturday.
'1.In charge of ongoing due-diligence and reporting of PEPs(politically exposed person) at divisional level. When existing customers become domestic/foreign PEPs, reassess the risk of the customer and business relationship. Apply enhanced due-diligence measures on business relationships with high risk PEPs such as senior management approval, reasonable measures to establish the source of wealth, and enhanced ongoing monitoring or termination of the business relationship. Maintain a dynamic PEP checklist and report to internal Financial Crime Compliance Department on a monthly basis.

2.Monitor downgrade accounts and ECL impairment of the division under IFRS 9 on a daily basis. Check the downgrade status, liaise with the account manager and assess if there is significance increase in credit risk, and suggest proper measures to mitigate the risk.

3.Key member of liquidity stress testing team of Global Corporate Banking Department in the past 2 years. Work with the team to draw stressed scenarios, for example, market crisis combined with credit lines granted are drawn by corporate clients, assess liquidity risk and reputational risk of the bank, and define a contingency funding plan accordingly and review periodically.

4. Summarize human errors and conduct internal trainings for relationship managers on a regular basis. For example, trainings on common errors on credit model selections or false identifications of final destination of loan investments, aiming to mitigate operational risk at divisional level.

5.Conduct risk analysis on doing business in Southeast-Asia countries for the division and review on a regular basis. Analyze political risk, foreign exchange risk, legal risk and economic policy changes, and suggest proactive measures to manage the risk such as adjusting the credit limit or asking for additional collaterals.'

It would be a great help if you can please advise me as in whether my role qualifies for the GARP Approved work experience or not.

Btw, it took 8 weeks for my first submission to get reviewed and rejected by GARP previously. I submitted the revised version on Mar 2nd. Would you please advise if it is possible that I get certified by the end of March?

Regards
Emma

Hello @emmawxn

Unfortunately, we are not able to tell you whether or not GARP will approve your work experience or not. Although it looks like you have relevant experience in the risk management field, we do not know what GARP's specific requirements are. They do not provide any of that information to the exam prep providers. Other members on the forum may be able to tell you if they had similar work experience that was approved, but GARP has requested that any specific questions about work experience be directed to them. We also do not have any way of knowing how long it would take for GARP to approve your experience or if you would be certified by the end of this month. I recommend that you reach out to GARP at [email protected] to see if they can answer your questions. I'm sorry that I couldn't be more helpful and I hope that you are able to get some answers from GARP.

Thank you,

Nicole

 

[emmawxn]

Hello @emmawxn

Unfortunately, we are not able to tell you whether or not GARP will approve your work experience or not. Although it looks like you have relevant experience in the risk management field, we do not know what GARP's specific requirements are. They do not provide any of that information to the exam prep providers. Other members on the forum may be able to tell you if they had similar work experience that was approved, but GARP has requested that any specific questions about work experience be directed to them. We also do not have any way of knowing how long it would take for GARP to approve your experience or if you would be certified by the end of this month. I recommend that you reach out to GARP at [email protected] to see if they can answer your questions. I'm sorry that I couldn't be more helpful and I hope that you are able to get some answers from GARP.

Thank you,

Nicole

Thanks so much for your kind help Nicole! I'll wait for a couple weeks and see if I'll get certified this time....finger crossed...

 

[vasan_mnm]

I have been in IT industry working in banking and Financial service vertical as Test Analyst for the first 5 years and Business Anlayst for the last 8 years. I have 6 years of experience in Credit card operations process and 7 years of experience in Investment Banking (Security Services - Clearing/Settlement and Corporate actions). If i do a FRM now, how do you think it would benefit me in terms of my career. Do you think my experience is too much for a profile change or is it normal for FRM candidates? If there is recruiter will he choose someone with lesser experience over me? I wanted to be very clear before investing my time and effort.

 

[Pradyuman]

Will this qualify ?

I am working as a financial Advisor from 2 years and my responsibilities are as follows:-

1. Portfolio management/ Financial planning of high net worth individuals over a vareity of consultancy services ranging from stock market operations to mutal funds/ bonds/ equities/ IPO/ derivatives/ Alternative investments and therefore providing the best advisory services for wealth creation and monetary diversification.

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

HI @Pradyuman I don't think we supposed to render an opinion but I must say: of course, yes of course your experience will qualify! Your experience is very directly with multiple areas of risk, it is not even a difficult question!

 

[aditya_khatri]

Hi David

Please find below my work experience. I am not sure if it will be accepted by GARP. Please share your views on the same
My experience is in the field on wealth management and in HSBC and ICICI Bank.

Advise HNI and UHNI on a range of investment opportunities for their financial growth. Offer specialized services concerned with asset allocation and budget control
Advise clientele on financial products like Mutual Funds, Retirement plans, capital protected schemes, and portfolio management services
To perform competitive and cross-analysis of various investment products and monitor their returns
To conduct weekly and monthly meetings with investors either to address any of the relevant questions or concerns related to macro factors, trends, and market dynamics impacting their investment returns
Update risk and financial profiling of every client and devise various investment strategy as per the risk appetite of the clients

Thank You