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player
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Joined: August 5th, 2002, 10:00 am

risk management

January 29th, 2008, 10:07 am

CAn someone explain the pros and cons of working in risk management for a bank and what are the better roles in these areas? In addition what is the pay like/ bonus like and what kind of work in involved and where do most people go on from risk management.
 
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ZmeiGorynych
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Joined: July 10th, 2005, 11:46 am

risk management

January 29th, 2008, 11:53 am

Cons: far from the money. Correspondingly, I'd expect reasonable but not exciting salary and bonus=SmallRandomNumber() . Pros: a reasonably quiet life, from what I hear, compared to front office.
Last edited by ZmeiGorynych on January 28th, 2008, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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player
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risk management

January 29th, 2008, 4:17 pm

2 questions then1) By reasonable but not exciting pay what are we looking at 2) is it a good place to be to move elsewhere later on? By move elsewhere I mean go and work as a trader in exotics..(Not Delta One desk)
 
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diogenes
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Joined: November 1st, 2006, 4:58 pm

risk management

January 29th, 2008, 10:58 pm

You could end up looking at cash flow analysis, which from what I looked at seemed terribly boring. Yet, you could be the “enforcer” and call in traders;thus getting closer to the money in that way and earn the ever-lasting approval of your CFO.I see you want a trader role, that could be very hard at a different bank than the one you started at.
 
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ZmeiGorynych
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Joined: July 10th, 2005, 11:46 am

risk management

January 30th, 2008, 8:54 am

QuoteOriginally posted by: player2) is it a good place to be to move elsewhere later on? By move elsewhere I mean go and work as a trader in exotics..(Not Delta One desk)I wouldn't think so. If you want to be a trader, try to get yourself hired as a junior trader. Getting hired as a quant, especially back office, when you really want to be a trader, is a recipe for bad nerves and disappointments all around I'd say.
 
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cryptic26
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Joined: February 18th, 2002, 9:39 am

risk management

January 30th, 2008, 6:08 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: ZmeiGorynychQuoteOriginally posted by: player2) is it a good place to be to move elsewhere later on? By move elsewhere I mean go and work as a trader in exotics..(Not Delta One desk)I wouldn't think so. If you want to be a trader, try to get yourself hired as a junior trader. Getting hired as a quant, especially back office, when you really want to be a trader, is a recipe for bad nerves and disappointments all around I'd say.Back office quant roles are not necessarily bad. It depends what role it is. If you are into cash flow analysis or similar risk management roles like Basel 2, then it is a waste from a trading stand point. At the same time, if you are into analytics role like building models or tools for measuring portfolio risk, especially tail risk, then there are huge plus points. If the portfolio is of options or some other exotic instruments, then all the more better. On the other hand, if you have a research quant job like equity research, fixed income research involving statistics, econometrics of advanced level, then you are already a strong candidate for a portfolio management sort of roles. It would still be difficult to find a trading job but many banks hire quants for their research and later these quants get to be traders or PMs. You need to keep in mind as to what you want to be in the long run. A boring risk management role may not be a bad idea today but if you are still doing the same for next 5 years, then you are only lowering your probability of seeking your goal.
Last edited by cryptic26 on January 29th, 2008, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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player
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risk management

January 31st, 2008, 3:14 pm

Quoteif you are into analytics role like building models or tools for measuring portfolio risk, especially tail risk, then there are huge plus points. If the portfolio is of options or some other exotic instruments, then all the more betterThat is exactly the kind of role I want. Essentially what Im looking for is role which in 2/3 years time gives me enough of a knowledge base such that I can go into risk/trading/quant role. (I should add that right now I'm not sure what I want to be doing in 5 years time)