This educational guide will provide a comprehensive overview of all the prerequisites and stepping stones for a successful career in investment banking. For a more thorough explanation, click the link after this article.
What Do You need to Know About Investment Banking? Overview and Guide
1. What Do You need to Know About
Investment Banking? Overview and
Guide
Investment Banking is not a new term. It is one of the most trending career choices
today. But making a career in this field can be quite intimidating. There are certain
prerequisite qualifications, skill sets, and experiences to excel in this competitive field
of the financial sector. Hence, it is inevitable that you are well-versed and have a proper
guide to pursue a successful career in Investment Banking.
This learn guide will give you an overview of all the stepping stones and requirements
for a prosperous career in Investment Banking. You can explore the link at the end of
this article for a more detailed account.
Willing to learn all the investment banking concepts from scratch? Enroll in our
investment banking course, get certified, and grab the job and salary you deserve!
2. Link: https://www.careervira.com/courses/finance/investment-banking
What is Investment Banking?
Investment Banking is another component of a bank. Its primary aim is to serve
corporations, hedge funds, government, etc., by providing services like merger &
acquisition advisory services, Underwriting/ capital raising, sales and trading, equity
research services, etc.
It acts as a liaison in large financial transactions and caters to the financial needs of
big entities. But how can one step into this field to build a secure and stable career?
Skills Required
More than basic education and degrees will be required to excel in this field. You will
also need relevant skills and experience to climb that successful career ladder.
You will need a harmonical blend of soft and technical skills to excel in this field. Let's
see some of the soft skills required:
Soft Skills
Investment Banking is a dynamic field that requires certain skills to deal with problems
and public interactions. These skills can be acquired and honed with time and
consistency. Let's see some of the soft skills necessary to be a competent Investment
Banking professional.
● Quantitative Skills: As an Investment Banker, you will deal with numbers and
statistics daily. Hence having good quantitative skills is a prerequisite skill you
must have to thrive in this field.
● Analytical Skills: As an Investment Banker, one of your many responsibilities
will be to present analytical reports on investment plans, business ventures and
other prospects to cater to your clients' needs. Hence, having strong analytical
skills is inevitable.
● Communication Skills: An Investment Banker's primary job is to deal with
clients, pitch ideas, and present investment plans to clients. And for all this,
having strong communication skills is beneficial.
3. ● Entrepreneur Skills: Before any investment plans, the prerequisite is
understanding and judging a business model's potential. An efficient
entrepreneur skill set will ensure your competency as an Investment Banker.
● Networking Skills: As a beginner, you'll need to develop networking skills to
unfurl opportunities, and as a working professional, these skills will help you to
do efficient networking and broaden your client base.
● Management Skills: When you step into this field, you will have to manage
multiple projects, work in teams, and take responsibility. This means having
management skills is mandatory. Good management and leadership skills will
ensure your promotional aspect and success parameter.
Technical Skills
Technical skills are the next step after mastering the soft skills. Technical skills will assist
you to thrive and achieve in Investment Banking. It adds to your credibility and
enhances your growth as an Investment Banker. If you're wondering what all technical
skills are to be amassed, read on further to this next segment which is divided into two
parts.
Entry Level:
At an entry level, you must focus on strengthening the fundamental skills to set yourself
apart from the crowd. These are the mandatory technical skills that will help you
understand the logistics of Investment Banking.
● Fundamentals of finance and accounting: You'll require a comprehensive
understanding of the basic knowledge of finance and accounting. It would help
if you were well-versed with all the terminologies, functions, processes, etc. If
you're from a commerce background, you can take a refresher course to get a
hold of the basics. It'll help in effective accounting and financial reporting, which
is important in this profession.
● Financial Modeling: This is one of the primary requirements for an able
Investment Banker. Financial modeling refers to creating an abstract model
representing the real financial set-up.
● Business Valuation: An important function of investment banking is the
valuation of a business entity. You need to focus on three main methods of
valuation- DCF Analysis, Precedent transactions and Comparable company
analysis.
4. ● Technical Tools: As an Investment Banker, you will perform most of the tasks on
technical applications. Hence being well-acquainted with applications like MS
Word and MS Excel is a must.
● Comprehensive Courses: To become an Investment Banker, you don't need to
be from a particular background. You can enroll in various courses and get
certified to enter this field.
Expert level:
Now that you have embraced entry-level technical skills, it's time to step up and
acquire expert-level skills.
● Programming Languages: Today, programming languages are not restricted to
the IT sector. A basic understanding of popular programming languages is
beneficial in the financial sector, given the dynamic nature of the clients. Some
popular programming languages are JAVA, SAS, Python, MATLAB, and SQL.
● Advanced Technical Tools: You must primarily focus on tools like advanced MS
Excel and VBA Macros.
● Advanced Financial Modeling: Creating a finance model is a basic component
of this job profile. Therefore, you must focus on operating, merger and
acquisition, and leverage buyout models.
● Software System for Trading: You need to know software system trading tools.
One such popular tool you can focus on is the Bloomberg terminal.
● Comprehensive Learning Options: After acquiring the required skills, you can
choose a subject and specialize in it to further your career and add dimensions
to your portfolio.
You can also view our learn guide page on Careervira's website to understand more
about Becoming A Top Investment Banking Professional.
Link:https://www.careervira.com/advice/learn-guide/lg-learn-guide-for-everything-yo
u-need-to-know-about-becoming-a-top-investment-banking-professional
Career Prospects
The career path or the job profiles, if we put them in ascending order starting from
entry to expert level, it'll be as follows:
5. 1. Analyst
2. Associate
3. Vice-President
4. Senior Vice President/Director
5. Managing Director
Conclusion
Investment Banking comes with its challenges but has its perks and opportunities. This
field has the potential for immense growth professionally as well as personally. It
ensures high remunerative prospects and is currently proving to be one of the
high-paying job profiles available.
You can explore our complete learn guide if you want more investment banking
information. This learn guide will give you detailed information on educational
qualifications, work experience, skill sets, career prospects, and certification courses.
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