October 31st, 2010, 10:06 pm
@ Twofish: yeah maybe I can become the expert in moroccan yield curve forecasting, since according to my MD, it has been done before but it failed: with an inefficient, illiquid market, pure mathematical models are bound to fail, so I am trying to incorporate relevant macroeconomic variables on top of a statistical model to attempt a fairly good short-term prediction (3-6 months). Wether it will succeed or not, I don't know, but the effort shall be worth it. Islamic finance is not very developped, although it has started recently in my bank with some Halal products. Morocco is one of the most westernized muslim countries, so islamic finance is not on the agenda right now, and we don't have much links with the oil states apart from real estate projects. However, the bank I am interning in is currently aggressively expanding in Africa, my MD is developing capital markets activities in several french-speaking African countries. That could be of some interest, don't you think ? @meniscus: India, China, Brazil can be major financial centers in 20 years, but from what I've seen (didn't research for all banks), international banks have their emerging markets activity in headquarters (London/NY). I have tried to see opportunities in Brazilian banks, but without Portuguese, you're lost. Also, I would like to choose a place where my learning curve is the steepest, after which all locations with tremendous potential could be considered. Another issue with going to second-tier centers, as mentionned in Mr Dominic Connor's blog, is the issue for newbies to get a good brand and to learn the business, and that's why I would definitely be interested to what extent it restricts your chances of moving to NY/London. I will definitely consider getting international exposure elsewhere if it doesn't hinder your career prospects. Thanks for your answers !