I am a CFA qualified and have recently got a job in transaction advisory services in one of the Big 4 CA firms as a valuation and business modelling expert. In my department we primarily make feasibilities, impairment testing, valuation, due dilligence and a lot of financial modelling.
But later on in my career I want to move to investment banking or any financial advisory firm but I have no idea whether this experience will help me in getting there or not. Moreover, since I have some spare time on weekends I am planning to pursue FRM just to add a certification to my name. I have no idea where the jobs of FRM are or any thing about it. So guys if you have any knowledge please help me out just keeping in mind that I want to stay in consultancy like M&A and valuations.
Given this dream job of mine to work in an investment bank, do you think that my current job will take me there?
Would you guys recommend me to pursue FRM given my desire to work in investment bank and provide consultancy of M&A, valuations?. Would it help me in my current job promotion, apart from just adding a certification to my name?
If you dont recommend me FRM, what is the certification I should pursue because I want to be competitive with all others in my firm.
I don’t know about the situation in Pakistan, but in the US/Canada, investment banking people have their own specialized certifications. You can’t obtain those certifications (required by government regulatory agencies) on your own without already working for an investment bank. Unless you are a lawyer, an accountant or a very rich and well-connected business person who can bring in a lot of new clients, there is practically ZERO chance of transitioning successfully into investment banking. The very competitive and unfair hiring practices at investment banks was recently publicized with JPMorgan in China, where they were/are hiring a lot of Chinese businessmen’s children just so they could acquire them as clients. In Pakistan it may be different, I don’t know. I assume you are talking about US-based firms that have huge clients in every country, though.
If you want to work in Pakistan , don’t bother about FRM, very few professionals know about it and even few take it seriously (just 1 bank out of Big 5, and that too if they are hiring in risk management dept. and even then they prefer CFA over FRM).
There are several routes to getting in IB. Getting work experience at Big 4 is one of them. Getting MBA from IBA is another (and arguably the better way). It’s also pretty common for people to get into corporate banking or credit risk and transition into IB. IB in Pakistan is nothing like what you read here or on WSO, it’s just glorified corporate banking. Most of the banks (HBL & UBL being an exception) just work on debt financing. Few shops (Arif Habib/AKD) work on IPOs (there were like 8 transactions last year if I’m not wrong) and one shop that works on M&A transactions (KASB), which are also few and far between.
I used to work in research, got offer from IB but moved to corporate banking (against the advice of really nice people here) just because I think there is much more growth (not to mention better bonuses and pay with more stability) in corporate banking than IB. Anyway, if you want to work in IB, move to Karachi if you aren’t there already.
Big 4 job will certainly help you. The experience is relevant and you’ll know the modeling stuff (which banks outsource to Big 4 anyway). But make sure to make the switch early in your career, like after getting 2 years of experience because they’ll have to teach you all the paper and legal work involved in transactions.
If you want to work in risk then yes, go ahead with FRM. I know ABL risk dept. values it but it has limited to no recognition in IB.
If you seriously think that you need additional qualification on your resume then get 2-3 years exp and get MBA from either LUMS or IBA. It’ll help you land better job with better grade (Asst. Manager/AVP is norm for post-MBAs).
I work in M&A advisory myself, and no one in my department has a FRM designation. My bosses value the CFA but i don’t think they would care about FRM. I know some people that have CBV but that’s most of the time folks that did not want to go through the CFA program.
So in my opinion pursuing the FRM wouldn’t add much value to your resume. Some people don’t even know what the FRM is. I think the experience you will acquire from working in M&A is much more valuable. So work hard and try to get promotions at your firm. that will be more impressive for a potential future employer I think.
Nabigha I work in an Investment company , and I take guidance from our PM and he is saying me to pursue CFA and start looking job in Big 4 TAS and once I’ll have transaction expertise that would be my ticket later on to IB/Asset Management/PE here in Middle East. Please note that whatever you read about ‘market’ here on AF means West and Far eastern regions. IB and related fields are still very premature atleast in Middleast / Pakistan and the picture is totally different. I know a guy thru linked in who spent good time in Big4 TAS and now he is Director in Jadwa Investments (very known in KSA). So buddy you are surely at the right track.
