Business or Investment Banking?

Just curious about this bit. Could you elaborate on the illegality of executing trades for someone else.

So does that mean if someone trades for their parents/family without any regulation around them, it's illegal? Obviously, nobody would find out in that scenario but it just seems weird.
How could a start-up investment fund legally execute trades for someone else?


Also, surely it can't be that hard to make money at the moment. S&P500 with dividends came 32% last year and 16% the year before. I've always thought you should just invest in an index fund as over a longer period of time, very few investment funds actually beat them; it'd save you fees too. Then you could maybe personally short certain stuff you feel really uncomfortable about to cancel out those positions.

I don't know why there is still a misconception that IB requires quantitative subjects. Met plenty of people doing subjects from Classics, History, Languages, Politics etc.

I don't know why there is still a misconception that IB requires quantitative subjects. Met plenty of people doing subjects from Classics, History, Languages, Politics etc.

Go into Risk or F/O - S&T and see who doesn't have a quant subject.

I got into a graduate position at a HF, have a bull**** management degree...

It's all about pedigree, connections and you being quick with basic arithmetic if you're dealing with plain vanilla products.

Don't generalize.

Depending on the institution you studied, management degrees can have a fair bit of quant modules.

They can, but mine wasn't (can you even count accounting/basic statistics electives?). Point being that advanced mathematical knowledge will be more relevant to some positions but by no means a requirement for trading...

I got into a graduate position at a HF, have a bull**** management degree...

It's all about pedigree, connections and you being quick with basic arithmetic if you're dealing with plain vanilla products.

Don't generalize.

Here is a link to the FCA website which briefly talks about these regulations, the full legislation can be found through that website.

http://www.fca.org.uk/firms/about-authorisation/do-i-need-to-be-authorised

To answer the first question: yes that would be illegal.

Second question: Generally a start-up fund will have professional traders, who will already be FCA registered. They then register the new firm offering the fund, and switch the traders registration from their old institution to the new firm which offers the fund.

You have answered that one yourself I suppose, this is one of the reasons I would suggest the OP to not go down this path. What can he offer that other more established investment firms cannot?

Also, it's never actually easy to make money. It's easy for you to look back and say, heck, the S&P was easy pickings last year. Would you invest in it again this year with it being near all time highs and an increase in interest rates on the horizon? Imagine if you had the same viewpoint in 2005,06,07. Then in 08 you loose 38.47% and your clients are poorer than they were before they had the misfortune of meeting you.

Your last point in bold didn't make sense to me, could you elaborate?

Go into Risk or F/O - S&T and see who doesn't have a quant subject.

All the BB banking institutions I've done experience / insights at have had their recruiters advocate doing a quant degree at a target/semi to have a good chance of getting your foot in the door. Although I asked predominately for S/T & Risk Management positions. Albeit, I haven't even started university so I don't have much experience.

However nearly everyone on the risk floors at BAML had quant degrees. Engineering/Maths/Finance/Physics