Hey guys, I got a structuring interview coming up and would like to know what the job would entail and possible interview questions that they may ask me. I understand that the job would involve creating, pricing, and executing exotic financial products, but more details about the job would be great. Also, is structuring a good place to be in given the current situation in the markets and the negativity that investment products have gotten from the whole Subprime mortgage crisis?
depends on what you’re structuring…equity or credit?
japped187 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hey guys, > > I got a structuring interview coming up and would > like to know what the job would entail and > possible interview questions that they may ask me. > I understand that the job would involve creating, > pricing, and executing exotic financial products, > but more details about the job would be great. > > Also, is structuring a good place to be in given > the current situation in the markets and the > negativity that investment products have gotten > from the whole Subprime mortgage crisis? 2004 just called. They said “Nice Job!”
^LOL
hi japped, i interned at Barclays last summer and met several people at various structuring desks. you need to find out which desk you’ll be interviewing with. Structuring on the Rates desk is very different from commodities structuring or FX structuring. The rates guys were really nice. they worked with products like structured repos and swaptions. they were looking for an undergrad with a strong quant background last summer so i’m guessing that skill set is still desirable. the FX structuring team was putting together a product that would mix currencies in an optimal weighting to produce a costless borrowing opportunity (short cheap currencies and invest in high yielding currencies) i forget what they called it but it was rather interesting. i think CS has a similar offering. the commodities structuring team was working with nat gas and electricity. i found the people on the rates desk significantly more personable. For any structuring gig i would work hard to highlight your quant/math skills and experience. Also you need to have as deeply an understanding of the products as you possibly can heading into the interview. come armed with questions targeted exactly to the products they work on. that will impress them.
iamemmit, is it fine if I get your email so we could talk in person?
The group is Investment Solutions Structuring, anyone have any insight?
ebu
you can email me at brian_roberts@hotmail.com the investor solutions group is the only group at the formerly Barclays Capital (pre-Lehman) that dealt with equities. They do OTC-derivatives for insurance companies that might wanna secure an equity-linked product for their clients. I worked briefly with several people on the desk. The desk head last summer was Philippe El-Asmar. Do a quick google search for barclays capital investor solutions group. Fund derivatives is another product offering on the desk. Barclays Capital’s Investor Solutions provides bespoke structured products based on a wide range of underlying assets including equities, commodities, foreign exchange, inflation, fixed income, hedge funds and hybrids to both financial intermediaries and institutional clients in the Americas. Investor Solutions is a global platform with dedicated teams in North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. We offer a global portfolio approach and are client centric and solution oriented. In North America, we are recognized as a market leader and innovator in structured products. Most recently, Risk named Barclays Capital as Structured Products House of the Year for 2007 and Derivatives Week awarded US Equity Derivatives House of the Year & Fund-Linked House of the Year for 2006.
i also very much liked the people on this desk. only good things to say so go in confident and relaxed but you still need to be on top of your game and knowledgeable about as many of their products as possible.
in case you don’t know what the word bespoke means (i didn’t last summer either) it basically means any product that isn’t widely traded in a standard form. so putting together multiple investments into one package to specfically meet the needs of a client would be an example of bespoke.