Career as an Investment Banker

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Career as an investment banker

A career at an investment bank has everything that creates an interesting job role… However, despite the continued success, a career in investment banking does not necessarily require experience and effort. It’s a journey where you will learn a lot of things and come across several ups and downs. Therefore, before deciding on the path to becoming a successful investment banker, you must first become familiar with the subject of investment banking.

For individuals seeking to enter the investment banking career path, one of the main functions of an investment bank is to act as an intermediary between a company that wants to raise funds by issuing stocks and bonds and an individual or institutional investor who can provide funds in exchange for stocks. Investment bankers handle several aspects of this process. Investment banks benefit from fees and fees charged for providing such programs and other forms of market and financial advice. These institutions mainly offer a variety of activities, including:

  • Capital security and survey underwriting
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Trading and sales
  •  Commercial and retail banking

Key responsibilities of an investment banker

  • Develop a relationship with existing and new clients to expand the business
  • Conduct review and preparation of materials used in client finance such as pitchbooks, management presentations, and investment memoranda.
  • Perform several valuation methods
  • Develop different types of financial models to value equity and debt for mergers and acquisitions,  and transactions related to capital raising.

Key skills of an investment banker

While you enter the investment banking career path, you are obliged to have several skills  such as:

  • Team Players: Individuals must have good teamwork and leadership skills.
  • Analytical Skills: Employees must have strong numerical, analytical, and spreadsheet skills
  • Confidence: This job requires confidence and the ability to take quick actions, usually with a time limit.
  • Communication: Job seekers and current employees need to make sure that they have strong networking and communication skills with high emotional intelligence.
  • Highly active: An individual seeking an investment banking career path must be able to work in a team-based and fast-paced work environment with minimal supervision.
  • Good experience in several software tools: Employees and candidates seeking a job in this path need to have proven proficiency in MS Office products, especially VBA and MS Excel.

Knowledge and experience of an investment banker

  • A bachelor’s or master’s degree in business administration, finance, accounts, commerce, or any other related field.
  • A minimum of three years of experience as an associate in accounts, finance, or any business background especially on the quantitative side.

Typical credential of an investment banker

The nature of jobs in this field is fast-paced, dynamic, and changing so is the demand for such professionals. Several candidates end up getting rejected due to cut-throat competition. Holding a degree is not enough to get into this field, you require to work on your networking skills along with earning investment banking certifications offered by several institutions such as:

  • Certified Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst
  • Chartered Investment Banking Professional
  • Mergers and Acquisitions Professional Certificate
  • Professional Certificate in Corporate Finance