Investment Banking in Asia from SOAS

I'm interested in doing a dual honours in an East Asian language (Japanese preferably) and Economics at SOAS, wishing to get into Investment Banking in Japan.Does anyone feel if this is likely? What about the prospects of Investment Banking in the UK itself, from SOAS?

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

I think those with a masters (in e.g. finance or something) from SOAS have been historically considered to have gone to a target uni, I'm not so sure that will be the case for undergrad though.

Reply 2

financeand

Very very difficult to get hired in Japan if you aren't fluent in Japanese by the time you start university. Japanese language in business has a lot of quirks (respect based language), and they won't tolerate anyone who doesn't know the required customs 100%.

I gather a lot of Japanese banks would prefer a Japanese person. Banking is competitive enough already, and the recruiters won't want to think about dealing with someone who may or may not be 10,000% fluent when they can go for a safer option.

If you're set on it, do the course and be prepared to absolutely MASTER the language. From there, aim for a bank like Nomura and perhaps 10 years down the line you can move internally.

My advice - get a job in London and go to Japan on your holidays.