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Investment Banking

INVESTMENT BANKING CAREERS INVESTMENT BANKING JOBS INVESTMENT BANK COIN INVESTMENT BANK

Introduction

Investment bankers are the rock stars of the finance industry-their jobs are high profile, high pressure and high status within the finance field.
Investment banking, like rock stardom, is not for the faint of heart, as the profession demands long hours, working weekends and an often stressful, competitive environment. With the career's entire mystique, it's easy to lose sight of what investment banking is actually all about. Essentially, investment bankers help companies raise money by creating securities-stocks, bonds and other financial entities-to be sold in capital markets.
They also structure the complex financial details that accompany a business's choice to buy and sell assets or to acquire or merge with other companies.
Not only does investment banking require the fortitude to navigate high-stakes sales, it also demands a highly accurate combination of analytical and numerical skills. Even with these abilities, however, it is difficult to advance without an MBA degree. Many people put in a few years in a junior analyst position, then return to school to get a graduate degree, and then come back to the investment banking firm to continue their career at a higher echelon and with far less rigorous time expectations. Investment banking is certainly not for everyone, but those who fit the mold get paid exceedingly well in big base salaries and often bigger bonuses.

A majority of investment banks offer strategic advisory services for mergers, acquisitions, divestiture or other financial services for clients, such as the trading of derivatives, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodity, and equity securities. Investment banking is the traditional aspect of investment banks which involves helping customers raise funds in the capital markets and advising on mergers and acquisitions. These jobs tend to be extremely competitive and difficult to land, and, often, they are extremely stressful and degrading. Investment banking may involve subscribing investors to a security issuance, coordinating with bidders, or negotiating with a merger target. Other terms for the investment banking division include mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate finance. The investment banking division (IBD) is generally divided into industry coverage and product coverage groups. Industry coverage groups focus on a specific industry such as healthcare, industrials, or technology, and maintain relationships with corporations within the industry to bring in business for a bank. Product coverage groups focus on financial products, such as mergers and acquisitions, leveraged finance, equity, and high-grade debt.

Career

'Investment Banking' is the term applied to financial institutions active in the securities and foreign exchange markets. For example, raising capital for large corporations, trading and investing money for pension funds and wealthy individuals. These institutions range from the large global investment banks, including the U.S. 'bulge bracket' institutions such as
Morgan Stanley
Goldman Sachs
Merrill Lynch
HSBC
Barclays
Royal Bank of Scotland
Possibly better known for their high street retail branches that provide services for individuals. In addition, there are a host of smaller, specialized firms active in the financial markets including brokers, traders and money managers that, while not 'investment banks' as such, constitute an integral part of the financial markets and offer excellent career opportunities.

A person getting into an investment bank jobs has a diversified work portfolio. They can get employed in any of the following field.

Corporate Finance (debt and equity) - Once into an investment bank jobs, a person may determine the amount and structure of fund requirements of a client. The types of fund raising equipment may be equity, debt, convertibles, asset-backs, or derivative securities or an optimal composition of any two of them.

Sales (Equity and Fixed Income) - Sales is the indispensable part of investment bank jobs. Sales persons collect the form from classic retail brokers, institutional salesperson and the private client service representatives. Retail brokers are responsible for selling stocks and providing stock advice to individual investors. Institutional salespeople are obliged to perform the duty of developing business relationships with individual investors who manage large group of assets like MF or large corporations.

Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) - One working in this area negotiates favorable terms and creatively structures a merger between two organizations. In case of a buyout an investment banker helps finalize the price and structure of the deal and removes other hurdles to ensure a smooth acquisition. Merchant banking is nowadays commonly seen.

Syndicate (equity and debt) - This group links the sales people with the corporate finance group. One employed in this role of investment bank jobs places securities in a public offering. Syndicate also decides the apportionment of bonds in case of a corporate or municipal debt deal.

Trading (Equity and Fixed Income) - Traders undertake transactions in equities, bonds and foreign currencies. They also facilitate dealings of options and futures with traders, and large institutional investors. This kind of investment bank jobs calls for an exhaustive cognition of financial instruments, markets and human psychology.

Research( Equity and Fixed Income) - This is the most innovative part of investment bank jobs. Skilled persons are an integral part of banks as they ameliorate the working conditions for almost all the divisions of the bank by providing superb opinions. Research analysts continuously track equities and bonds to make recommendations on purchasing or selling a particular security. Analysts are of two types- quants or fundamentalists. Quants take care of the computer programs identifying undervalued securities whereas fundamentalists report the present situation through which the company is presently undergoing. Salespeople working for the same bank take advantage of these researches to discover new ways to influence their clients.

Famous Personalities

John J. Mack
JOHN J. MACK

Mr. Mack was elected Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley in June 2005. He previously had spent nearly 30 years at the Firm in various positions, most recently as President, Chief Operating Officer and a Director. Prior to his current role, Mr. Mack served as Chairman of Pequot Capital Management. He served before that as co-Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Group and Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Mack is a graduate of Duke University, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the University Hospital of both Columbia and Cornell, and as a Trustee of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. John J. Mack Mr. Mack was elected Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley in June 2005. He previously had spent nearly 30 years at the Firm in various positions, most recently as President, Chief Operating Officer and a Director. Prior to his current role, Mr. Mack served as Chairman of Pequot Capital Management. He served before that as co-Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Group and Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Mack is a graduate of Duke University, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the University Hospital of both Columbia and Cornell, and as a Trustee of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Charles H. Noski

CHARLES H.NOSKI

Mr. Noski has been a director since September 2005. He was Corporate Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Northrop Grumman Corporation from December 2003 to March 2005, and a director from November 2002 to May 2005. Prior to joining Northrop in 2003, Mr. Noski was a senior advisor to The Blackstone Group. Earlier, Mr. Noski was Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer as well as Vice Chairman of the Board of AT&T Corp. Mr. Noski has also been President, Chief Operating Officer and a director of Hughes Electronics Corporation and a partner with Deloitte & Touche. He is a member of the boards of directors of Microsoft Corporation, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., and Automatic Data Processing, Inc. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in accounting from California State University, Northridge, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters awarded by the California State University system.

Zodiac Signs

If you are interested in a career in this industry then just check out these sun signs which are in most favour of investment banking.

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