UK
Sector: Trading
Salespeople are hot, traders aren’t. Rates traders may be especially challenged
The big news this morning is that Goldman Sachs no longer loves its traders, it loves its salespeople. Feeling unloved, Reuters points out that its traders are leaving, especially in rates where has been a lot of movement of heartbroken traders seeking affection elsewhere (eg. Nomura). We pointed out banks’ enthusiasm for salespeople last year. [...]
Great big growth area: collateral management?
Traditionally, collateral management wasn’t at the sharp end of interesting jobs in financial services. A support and operations function, it used to be about managing reconciliations and margin calls, usually on a business-by-business or desk-by-desk basis. This, however, is changing. New liquidity and financing requirements are prompting the emergence of collateral management as a centralised [...]
Is this going to become the new transformative qualification for careers in financial services?
If you’re not a recent graduate and you want to show your mettle to financial services employers, you’ve traditionally had two main choices: the CFA or the MBA. Or if you’re in London, you’ve had three: the CFA, the MBA, or the Masters in Finance from London Business School. However, both an MBA and the [...]
GUEST COMMENT: My new life as an interdealer broker
I spent 11 years working as a trader in UK equities. I did programme trading – I’d trade some stocks myself and would use brokers to trade the rest. Earlier this year, it got to the stage where I wanted something different. I knew trading, but wanted to try something else. In London I joined [...]
A disturbing omen from Goldman Sachs with regards to job prospects in fixed income
Last week, Gary Cohn of Goldman Sachs made a largely ignored Investor Presentation at the Sanford Bernstein banking conference. Buried amongst it was a worrying fact about headcount trends in the equity markets. Cince 2000, Cohn said, revenues in Goldman’s equities business have tripled. Over the same period, he said headcount in its equities business [...]
12 key high frequency trading operations that may provide you with a job
If you want to work in high frequency trading but are at a loss for where to send your CV, the formation of Europe’s first high frequency trading lobby provides a convenient answer. There are 11 members in total, constituting the key companies in the European high frequency trading industry. Even better, they appear to [...]
Given a choice, would you rather move to Switzerland or Singapore?
Despite the hype, the flow of financial professionals from the UK to Switzerland (in particular) and Singapore is more like a trickle than a flood. Nonetheless, if you’re considering a move, which is the best option? In the opinion of French newspaper L’Express – which assessed each country’s desirability based on corporate tax, income tax, [...]
Has Jan Sramek quit Goldman for entrepreneurship?
Remember Jan Sramek, wunderkind extraordinaire, deemed one of the world’s top three traders under 30? He may have left Goldman Sachs to take up the life of an entrepreneur. According an update on his Facebook page (yes, yes, all very tabloid) Sramek has handed in his notice at Goldman, where he’s worked for nearly two [...]
GUEST COMMENT: Sorry, but women can’t trade
As it’s International Women’s Day and everyone’s bemoaning the fact that women don’t have a better deal in life, I’d like to make a brief point: I have tried to employ women as traders; it doesn’t work. Much as it pains me to say so, the reality seems to be that women can’t trade prop. [...]
The interview questions of Lex Van Dam
Lex Van Dam is not known for acts of extreme niceness. Head of hedge fund Hampstead Capital and a former trader at Goldman Sachs and GLG, he was the forthright investor in the BBC’s million dollar trader programme a few years ago. Based on the assumption that an interview with Van Dam is likely to [...]
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