[Regent]

Or one with the best transferable skills and thus most likely to lead to a front office position.

[bmqib]

be an accountant

[Regent]

(Original post by bmqib)
be an accountant

in banking...

[PrincePauper]

its either FO or ops in BO tbh

[ginnzi]

Controlling, auditing-finance division? derivatives structuring? research?

[TomasK]

(Original post by ginnzi)
Controlling, auditing-finance division? derivatives structuring? research?

Structuring and research, both FO.

[ginnzi]

Ok I agree on research, but not sure about structuring

[PrincePauper]

(Original post by ginnzi)
Ok I agree on research, but not sure about structuring

FO, they work with the desk

[prospectivEEconomist]

Risk and Finance...Compliance is a growing area too..

[ibdprincess]

Risk!

[PrincePauper]

I believe this has now turned into a "name anything that isnt FO" thread... Finance wont get you into FO as this division is "on the side", even worse for compliance... The closer you are to the FO, the easier the move will be. So for example, anything that "actively" supports the trading desk has a small chance of making that transaction. Middle offices are the only ones with a realistic chance from BO

Also, "RISK" depends on what type of risk. For example "Market risk" is considered FO in some banks. And risk management are tasks performed by BO

[Jakeh]

Accounting at a big4 firm i guess.

[music2love]

R u referring to an internship or full time position? I don't think it is possible to switch from a non FO to FO so easily

[Regent]

(Original post by Jakeh)
Accounting at a big4 firm i guess.

How come this post was negged so much?

[Jakeh]

(Original post by Regent)
How come this post was negged so much?

Dunno? It's true though, outside of IB the accountancy big4 have people move over to FO IB roles.

[Teenage Pirate]

legal, aspects of finance (ie controlling which business units get how much capital, not the boring accounting stuff), valuation in operations (valuing your banks' positions for the sake of assessing collateral etc.), a lot of things in risk

[gangst]

BO roles meed to be viewed in their own respect, not comapred to FO roles.

For that reason risk and treasury are probably the best non FO roles, and given the state of the industry and how it is evolving these positions are only likely to have increasing power and importance within the bank.

[bluenose53]

I'm not sure about transferable skills, but if your a desk assistant (sales or trading) then you defiantly do have a chance to work yourself in if your good. You will know the systems, see and (hopefully) build an understanding of the trading they do and why. Obviously you'll be sitting with the team in very close contact, and most likley drinking and forming relationships with them (if your likable etc). I saw last summer that a couple of the trading assistants were in the process of/had taken some their fsa exams so they could start performing some of the more basic/standard repo/reverse-repo/stock-loan trades they did. And a friend at a BB in sales said it was defiantly known for sales assistants to get into the team when new vacancies came up.

I think its classed as MO btw