The Student Room Group
Reply 1
Product control is very market based and working very closely with the traders. Unfortunately, it is very process based and involves doing pretty much the same job day in day out. It is a good place to learn about markets and products though, and talk to traders, and its often possible to blag quite a bit of time on the floor. No idea about risk management I'm afraid.
Reply 2
Risk management is middle office and concernes the monitoring of front office staff e.g traders' transactions. This is designed to ensure that the IB is not over-exposed to eventual adverse market movements, and that customers do not default on loans provided by the IB. RM is also there to prevent any damage to the IBs reputation and to minimise the operational risk of computer software failures etc.

Hope this helps.
Reply 3
thanks guys
szeles
Risk management is middle office and concernes the monitoring of front office staff e.g traders' transactions. This is designed to ensure that the IB is not over-exposed to eventual adverse market movements, that customers do not default on loans provided by the IB. RM is also there to prevent any damage to the IBs reputation and to minimise the operational risk of computer software failures etc.

Hope this helps.


Woeful explanation.


First, split risk management into what it is. Credit and Market. Then proceed.

Credit - counterparty risks. Market - largely driven by derivative risks, especially the greeks. Generally, you gather the positions of all your desks. Test the correlations between them all. See what will happen to the net P&L if xyz happens.

(including, decorrelation)

Then you get a nice matrix to look at. And then you can make some graphs of that. You show your boss in management that because of some maths, some desk needs to change position or else there is a % probability (confidence intervalled) that the firm loses $$$£££.

(another graph gets shown)

Or more normally, you say 'Yeah, everything is fine Bob, can I go home now, it's 5/7pm and I want to catch Neighbours/Eastenders'
Reply 5
President_Ben
Woeful explanation.


First, split risk management into what it is. Credit and Market. Then proceed.

Credit - counterparty risks. Market - largely driven by derivative risks, especially the greeks. Generally, you gather the positions of all your desks. Test the correlations between them all. See what will happen to the net P&L if xyz happens.

(including, decorrelation)

Then you get a nice matrix to look at. And then you can make some graphs of that. You show your boss in management that because of some maths, some desk needs to change position or else there is a % probability (confidence intervalled) that the firm loses $$$£££.

(another graph gets shown)

Or more normally, you say 'Yeah, everything is fine Bob, can I go home now, it's 5/7pm and I want to catch Neighbours/Eastenders'


What do you reckon, which part of your explanation will he/she be able to comprehend?-If you don't have a clue about mid-office operations, why jump in the deep end? Sometimes less is more.
If they care enough, they ask more questions. If they don't - good for them. They can live in the world of 'wrong is right'.
Reply 7
thanks buddy, i have been informed though that product control is quite a good job if you cant get front office. risk management seems quite good but i havent and probably arent going to uni so i dunno if that would be a possibility for me.

what do you guys reckon is the best position after front offfice
Reply 8

what do you guys reckon is the best position after front offfice
I can't fathom how anyone can sincerely, accurately and constructively answer that question. To each, his own. You will have your individual strengths which may be demanded by different F/O roles. No number of people other than yourself can tell you what's best, and that's all there is to it.
Reply 9
marcus123
thanks buddy, i have been informed though that product control is quite a good job if you cant get front office. risk management seems quite good but i havent and probably arent going to uni so i dunno if that would be a possibility for me.

what do you guys reckon is the best position after front offfice


Believe me, product control is the most tedious, predictable, repetitive job you could ever imagine.

And people who think they can easily hop forward to trading from here... people get stuck here.
Reply 10
lol so you reckon risk management is the one to go for its just peeps were saying that product control is where its at ? if you cant get into FO
I reckon risk management is probably going to give you the best shot at getting into a trading role, if not in sell side, then possibly in buy side. It is not unknown for risk managers to jump between roles, and in buy side the risk managers seem to pull a fairly decent package anyway.
Reply 12
what are working hours like in product control compared to big4 auditing? what other positions offer reasonable working hours for an ACA.
econ/maths
what are working hours like in product control compared to big4 auditing? what other positions offer reasonable working hours for an ACA.


8.30 to 6pm normally and beyond as necessary.

Compared to audit, it will be a lot more structured, no real late nights, but more stress around quarter and year end.