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Month: March 2020

What Is a Credit Risk Analyst?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Before jumping over to who is a credit analyst and what are their roles and responsibilities let’s put things in context and understand the basics of the credit analysis process starting with credit risk.

What is Credit Risk?

Credit risk can be simply defined as the risk of default on the debt amount when the borrowers fail to make the required payments as per the contract. The loss accounted could be partial or complete leading to disruptions in cash flow for the lender and increased cost of collecting the loan amount.

In an efficient market, the cost of borrowing varies with the degree of credit risk associated based on the borrower’s profile. A credit check is usually performed by the lender before advancing any credit to the borrower; the credit assessment is based on various parameters that can help determine the repaying capacity of the borrower.

The process of credit analysis

For any lending institution, it is important to evaluate the credit risk profile of the borrower to minimize and cut down on its losses. The process of credit analysis helps in assessing an applicant’s credit request or debt issue from companies to establish the credit risk associated with them. It is a method that aids in evaluating the creditworthiness of an individual or a corporation.

On the technical side of it, the credit analysis process includes applying various financial analysis techniques, creating future projections and evaluating future cash flows. It also involves judging the candidate on multiple aspects such as credit history, collateral provided ability to manage the loan amount, other sources of repayment, etc. The probability of default on the debt and extent of loss in case of default is also calculated by analysts to depict a holistic picture.

Credit Analyst Roles and Responsibilities

Now that we are familiar with the credit analysis process let’s see what does a credit analyst does? To put things in context here, a credit risk analyst is a person responsible for carrying out the whole credit analysis process.

From a broader perspective, the role of a credit risk analyst involves reviewing and assessing the financial history of a person or corporation to determine if they are a good fit for the desired borrower profile. The job of an analyst here is to determine the risk of default to the lending party.

It’s not always black and white while determining the credit risk profile, there is a big grey area in most of the cases. A credit risk analyst can’t simply say yes or no to a loan application. After their comprehensive assessment, the loan is structured depending upon the creditworthiness of the borrower, a risky borrower could be given a loan at a higher interest rate.

The credit analysis process involves a series of steps to be carried out by the analysts to present a holistic picture. The first step deals with relevant information gathering; this includes collecting relevant personal information about the applicant, gathering information about the business for which loan is required and information regarding the source of repayment and the collateral pledged to the lending party.

The second stage of the analysis process deals with analysing the information collected. This includes analysing the accuracy of the information gathered, the financial stability of the borrower, the effectiveness of the project/business, the possibility of repayment of the loan amount.

The final stage deals with the decision making step by the analysts based on the credit risk associated with the applicant, if the credit risk is in the acceptable range then the loans are granted, if not, the request for a loan is denied by the credit analyst.

Corona Virus and Impact on Capital Markets!

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

The capital market involves investments for the long term in an entity’s capital constituents i.e., equity instruments and debt instruments. The entity uses these sources of funds to produce goods and services.

The COVID 19 disease, on the other hand, involves choking breaths, killing people, and adversely impacting investor confidence in capital market financial instruments. Consequently, COVID 19 has obstructed new investments and affected existing long-term investments. A system that cannot breathe cannot generate energy and in the absence of energy, all else fails.  Frozen sales activity due to increasing uncertainty is a boost for the savings driven economy, while consumption has reduced globally – from essential commodities like oil to trade of everyday requirements thereby reducing spending. Only time will tell if this is a working capital glitch which can be resolved or if there is much more to this than meets the eye.

Though the COVID 19 seems to be an Atlas that bears the brunt for everything wrong happening to the capital markets, the ever prevalent disconnect between entities that produce basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter, health and education and the financial system is just as much responsible for the ongoing misery. This disconnect has let COVID 19 seep through the openings and crumble supply chains due to social distancing, reduced activities, and the flow of data and information in our generally fast-paced era. On the other hand, consumption has reduced worldwide – from essential commodities like oil to trade of everyday requirements.

Inversion of yield curves is a primary indicator of a negative outlook to long term yields from investment in debt instruments. However, most other capital market representations, including the stock markets, in the current scenario are just as imperfect as the information available to them.

In light of the current scenario, cash, in line with the definition of financial assets (IFRS) remains the most preferred financial asset. The consequent liquidity crises in the investment circuit thus, due to a preference for cash, severe short-term losses, and uncertainty, have affected long term investments. New long-term investments have been blocked, and existing long-term investments are being sold off to recover for the losses incurred in short term trades.

The uncertainty due to the newness of the situation to the present market gurus leaves prediction of outcomes merely a fool’s errand. In the absence of reliability in the current investment system, hoping for homeostasis; while we prepare for a further cut in consumer spending to hoard cash seems to be the only certainty.

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Apache Spark or Hadoop: Which one is Better?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

With the advent of the internet, data and its distribution have been in the prime focus. With millions of interconnected devices capable of distributing data anywhere in the world at any time, data and its usage is likely to grow in geometric progression. Such large sets of data, big data, has to be analyzed to learn about patterns and trends associated with it.

Data analysis has taken the business world to the next level and now the focus is on creating tools that could process the data faster and better. Apache Spark and Hadoop are two technological frameworks introduced to the data world for better data analysis. Though Spark and Hadoop share some similarities, they have unique characteristics that make them suitable for a certain kind of analysis. When you learn data analytics, you will learn about these two technologies.

Hadoop

Apache Hadoop is a Java-based framework. It is an open-source framework that allows us to store and analyze big data with simple programming. It can be used for data analysis across many clusters of systems and the result is generated by a combined effort of several modules like Hadoop Common, Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), Hadoop YARN and Hadoop MapReduce.

Hadoop: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages Disadvantages
Stores data on distributed file and hence, data processing is faster and hassle-free It is more suitable for bigger files. It cannot support small files effectively.
It is flexible and allows data collection from different sources such as e-mails and social media. It features a chain form of data processing. So it is not a choice for machine learning or other solutions based on Iterative learning.
It is highly scalable The security model is low/disabled. Data can be easily accessed/stolen
It does not need any specialized system to work, so it is inexpensive It is based on the highly exploited language – Java; so easier for hackers to access sensitive data.
It replicates every block and stores it and hence, data can be recovered easily. It supports only batch processing.

Spark

This framework is based on distributed data. Its major features include in-memory computation and cluster computing. Thus, the collection of data is better and faster. Spark is capable of hybrid processing, which is a combination of various methods of data processing.

Spark: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages Disadvantages
Dynamic data processing capable of managing parallel apps It does not have a file management system.
It has many built-in libraries for graph analytics and machine learning algorithms. Very high memory consumption, so it is expensive

 
It is capable of performing advanced analytics that supports ‘MAP’ and ‘Reduces’, graph algorithms, SQL queries, etc. It has less number of algorithms
Can be used to run ad-hoc queries and reused for batch-processing It requires manual optimization
Enables real-time data processing It supports only time-based window criteria, not record based window criteria
Supports many languages like Python, Java, and Scala Not capable of handling data backpressure.

Spark vs Hadoop

Feature Spark Hadoop
Speed fast slow
Memory needs more memory needs less memory
Ease of use Has user-friendly APIs for languages like Python, Scala, Java, and Spark SQL Have to write a MapReduce program in Java
Graph Processing good Better than Spark
Data processing supports iterative, interactive, graph, stream and batch processing Batch processing only

Conclusion

Both Spark and Hadoop have their strength and weaknesses. Though appears to be similar, they are suitable for different functions. Choosing Spark or Hadoop Training depends on your requirement – if you are looking for a big data framework that has better compatibility, ease-of-use, and performance, go for Spark. In terms of security, architecture, and cost-effectiveness, Hadoop is better than Spark.

What is The Best Way to Jump Into Data Analytics Within The Finance Industry?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Mayanka Chowkar talks about getting placed at a leading Data Analytics finance firm after her Imarticus stint.

I completed my B.Com, and M.Com as well, and was on the lookout for a platform to jump into the finance industry.

I felt Imarticus would be a great way to get into the industry.

Some of my friends have done this Big Data Analytics Training course already and landed good placements. Seeing that, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity for me to also get into the industry through this course and through Imarticus.

I’d rate my experience with Imarticus as a solid 4. I loved most of the concepts and information that are given during the course. The faculty is also excellent.

The Imarticus Learning placement system worked wonders for me.

The staff members and faculty on the course and in Imarticus, in general, have helped me by giving me placement opportunities even before the course ended! By doing this course, I got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about the industry and was placed in a good company, too. I’m really excited and happy about this.

I have been placed as an associate and have been tasked with handling the derivative operations. I will be joining my new workplace soon, and I’m so excited about it, I don’t have words to express enough!

Want to learn in-demand skills in the data analytics industry? Talk to an Imarticus counselor today.

Learning Vs. Training & Development!

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Have you ever wondered how learning is different from training? We often encounter such trivial questions with no prominent answer to address the question. From a broader perspective, those two seem interchangeable; hard to point out the difference but when we dive deeper into the subject, we will observe that we are dealing with two different things and how they complement each other.

Let’s delve into the details of the same.   

The Process Of Learning 

At the very core of the learning process resides the desire of a person to gather knowledge about any given agenda or topic. The internal inquisitiveness drives the learning zeal rather than an external force or command. The innate quest to know more about a particular stream, agenda, phenomenon, etc. fuels the learning process. The process of learning entails the absorption and retention of information with context. It could be to achieve a particular goal or just to quench the knowledge thirst.

Learning is more about the whole experience of boosting your knowledge, which later will be applied to unknown and unforeseen circumstances. Learning results in enhanced skills and increased knowledge. Since learning is about absorbing important information, the way the knowledge is imparted has a lot of impact on how efficiently the learning takes place. In short, it is linked to the process of training, how well you are trained influences, how well you learn.

The Process Of Training & Development

What comes to your mind when you hear the word training and development? Well, the first thought is that of a strict curriculum and an instructor to facilitate the same. The process of training involves communicating relevant information and knowledge through the means of speech, written manuals, presentations and other such techniques in a manner that instructs the trainee and helps fulfill the objective.  Training is more process-oriented and focuses on skill up-gradation using contextual knowledge sharing.

Corporations use training methods to boost productivity by focusing on delivering important information regarding job roles. After joining a corporation, every new employee goes through a rigorous training process that helps them to be aware of their organization, objectives, day-to-day operations, departmental functioning, tools required to do the job, etc. The end goal is to teach the individual how to perform their job and the process they need to follow for optimum results. The process of training and development is more goals oriented.

Comparing the two

Now that we have established what both the processes are, let us compare and find out how they differ from each other. At the center of our discussion is the force of motivation that differentiates both the processes. When we talk about learning it is propelled by the inner motivation of the individual rather than the force of an external curriculum.

Training and development, on the other hand, are external forces that guide the process of learning a particular skill through a robust curriculum and discipline with an end goal of personal skill development. The process of learning is more knowledge-oriented whereas the process of training is more skill-oriented.

Training is mostly used by corporations to impart individuals with skills that will help to do the job or complete the objective. Learning, on the other hand, is the absorption of information that can be used in multiple contexts and scenarios based on individual understanding.

The process of training and development has a standard way of imparting relevant knowledge whereas the process of learning is subjective and depends upon the individual capacity to absorb and retain information. Even if a group of individuals is trained using the same instructor and information their learning curve might be different depending on their strengths and weaknesses.

How Big Data is Implemented in Business?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Big data is everywhere, and behind every organized solution, you face on the daily. The term refers to massive sets of data that inundate businesses during day-to-day operations– but it’s not the data dump itself that matters to businesses, but the goldmine of insights it reveals once it’s sifted through, analyzed and put into plain and simple words.

The amount of data an average business sees in a day is torrential. Big data scientists find themselves having to deal with the ‘three V’s’ as they’re called:

  • Volume: tonnes of data from a dozen different sources including social media and daily transactions
  • Variety: structured and unstructured data; numeric or stock; video or audio
  • Velocity: Breakneck speeds at which data flows in from all channels into the dump

Big data is highly complex and interrelated, which means sifting through and making sense of it can be quite the herculean task. However, the insights gathered through the process of going through the dump can enable reductions in costs, effort and time. It can also open up new revenue streams, enable the development of new products and bolster analytical and strategic business decision-making.

How is big data implemented in business?

The traditional method of storing data is by using relational database software, built for Structured Query Language (SQL). However, the future of big data began looking too complex for businesses to be able to control, which led to the introduction of NoSQL.

NoSQL is customizable and scalable, making them ideal solutions for businesses both big and small. It’s made specifically for big data, and stores data in the following ways:

  • Document storage
  • Graph storage
  • Key-value storage
  • Column family storage

NoSQL provides real-time, super-quick access to data, without the need for schemas and columns. This allows the running of real-time programs towards furthering business processes. Without the schema middleman, data scientists can directly interact with tonnes of data, which in turn saves any business a lot of effort, time and money.

Why is big data important in business?

Industry professionals and students alike are looking to learn big data analytics and science because of the plethora of job options it opens up in the world of business.

Access to information

Bug data opens up new avenues for businesses to explore, be it in terms of generating revenue, introducing new products or strengthening marketing. It enables real-time data monitoring and allows for A/B testing where necessary without too much of an impact on ‘business as usual’ if the strategy doesn’t work out.

Faster decision-making

Hadoop and other in-memory analytics software allow businesses to conduct analyses on information immediately, further enabling them to come to crucial decisions faster and based on data instead of speculation. Big data can also be leveraged to lookup more updated and dynamic data, allowing decision-making to be accurate as well.

Conclusion
As a good data analytics course will show you, big data is in use across several burgeoning industries, each with their own means and end goals. Be it manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, retail or even governments, there is no place big data can’t be implemented– which means there is no place big data specialists can’t go.

How Does Imarticus Learning Help Students Place at Top Companies?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Aman Jain explains how he got placed in top-tier companies after Imarticus Learning’s CIBOP course.

I just completed my B.Com and after which I got enrolled in the CIBOP course from Imarticus Learning. The course is excellent, and I got placed in CITCO almost immediately after the completion of the course.

The Imarticus Learning placement assistance process was very smooth. The placement team at Imarticus is helpful and supportive, and the communication between the placement team and the candidate was top-notch.

The course prepared me for my future career.

I have given two interviews so far, both of which were organized by Imarticus Learning. I was selected for both companies but opted for CITCO.

My overall experience at Imarticus Learning was pretty amazing. The one thing that I appreciated the most about my time at Imarticus Learning was that I gained heaps of knowledge which will prove very valuable as I transition into my professional career. As a bonus, I also made many new friends!

If anyone wants to make a career in investment banking, then Imarticus Learning is the best place to start.

I would rate the faculty 5 out of 5 because the teaching methodology at Imarticus Learning is unique. While I was pursuing the Post Graduation Program in Investment Banking, the faculty taught with both a practical and theoretical focus. It helps students understand the concepts very efficiently.

As this is my first job, I would like to thank Imarticus Learning. I am very excited to start my new role as it’s an entry point into the larger corporate world. I hope to learn as many new things as possible.

 Ready to springboard into the investment banking world? Chat with our counsellor to find out how to start.

Retention and Training Go Hand-in-Hand!

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Today’s corporate world is very vigorous; to stay ahead in the game businesses need people who are multi-talented and dynamic who can handle the technical as well as the non-technical evolutions in the industry and can come up with creative solutions to those challenges.

Realizing the importance of human resources, corporations have started incurring huge expenditure on account of the training and development of their talent. In this competitive industry retaining a talented workforce is another challenge for corporations, training and retention stats have shown a positive correlation in the past. Let’s delve into the importance of training at work and how it helps with employee retention.

Why is training important at work?

It’s not to assume that trained personnel will be better at doing the job when compared with an individual who hadn’t got any training for the job. From a broader perspective, training can be seen as a method to instill discipline to perform a given task in an organized manner. So, how does it change things?

Imagine doing a task without any predefined instructions or training manual, you might be able to complete the task but what’s important to observe here is the time taken to complete the task. That’s how efficiency is defined and measure, for big corporations it’s not about just doing the task it’s all about efficiently doing the job that would save time and money for the company.

Training new employees in the company help them to understand the work culture and the company’s expectations. It helps to align their performance and expectations from the work creating a pool of satisfied workforce. Initial training programs are work-oriented, they give emphasis on skill development and knowledge building that will help the employee to do the job effectively. Apart from developing new skills training also helps in honing the old ones. The improved know-how to do the job benefits the corporations in the long run by the means of increased employee productivity.

In addition to this, training also helps corporations to save money that they would otherwise spend on hiring new talent from outside by developing a competitive in-house human resource pool. Leadership is among one of the most important factors when it comes to the longevity of the business, a robust training curriculum also helps with nurturing the leadership qualities in employees who can expand the business even further.

How does it help employee retention?

Employee retention can be understood in the context of employee turnover ratio, the employee turnover ratio can be defined as the percentage of workers who leave the organization and are replaced by new employees. It can be calculated by dividing the number of employees who left the company by the average number of employees during a given time frame. Employee retention can be understood as the ability of an organization to retain its talent pool.

So how exactly does training help with employee retention? Well, starting with on-board training experience, research studies have shown that a well-designed on-board training experience increases the probability of employee retention for companies.

Imagine a scenario where the newcomer has to find out about everything without any guidance, compare this to a situation with a well-balanced onboarding program that provides the recruit with all the information about the company and the departments within. Naturally, the second scenario will lead to a satisfied and productive employee.

As per statistical data, the worldwide turnover rate is around 11%, the turnover rates vary for different industries with the securities industry having the highest turnover rate at 100%. This further increases in the case of nascent stage start-ups with a turnover rate of over 400%. Start-ups are not very structure and they don’t have a robust training program in place, partly due to budget constraints. This has an impact on their sky-high turnover rates.

Credit Risk – The Bank Data Challenge In Frontier Markets

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

The contemporary world is powered by data and advanced technology. The concept of the global village has been further strengthened in the past decade with the proliferation of internet technology. Every industry that relies on the use of modern technology is leveraging data to grow exponentially. Be it the e-commerce industry, the marketing industry or the finance industry, they have all changed drastically in the last decade. Today we have tools like contextual banking and Robo-advisors only because we have a huge database to rely upon. Let’s delve deeper into the role of big data in banking.

Big Data In Banking

Banks and financial institutions today rely heavily on data to make more informed, improved and result-oriented decisions in the business. From analysing customer behaviour to predicting market trends and improving organisational processes, there is a whole lot that the banking industry is using data for. With the advent of AI and Machine Learning, improving internal process and increasing general efficiency has been a piece of cake. Robotic process automation technology also helps to automate a whole lot of work that was earlier performed by using human labour. This helps the organisation to save a lot of time, money and reduce the error to zero which is highly beneficial to players in the banking and finance industry. In addition to this, it also helps in boosting cyber security and eliminating the risk elements.

Data Challenge In Frontier Markets

After the global financial crisis, the banking and finance industry has been very rigid in terms of regulatory requirements to avoid any kind of unfair practice that may lead to future crises. Minimizing the credit risk has been a priority for all financial institutions. From a broader perspective, the process of credit risk assessment includes gathering relevant information about the borrower, analysing the information collected and then making a decision as to whether the credit risk profile of the borrower is acceptable or not. On the technical side of it, this requires applying various financial analysis techniques and predicting future cash flows based on the data obtained.
The whole credit risk analysis process can be only as good as the information collected about the borrowing party. In the case of frontier markets, collecting the relevant data or information is a challenge. The accuracy of information gathered is questionable, which further adds up to this blunder is the challenge of consistent analysis across the credit management system. A truly effective credit risk analysis requires the right kind of information

The Basel committee guidelines have set certain standards and regulations that are to be followed by banks to maintain a healthy global economy. These measures include maintaining the required capital reserve amount, putting a risk evaluating methodology in place and explaining the same to authorities. As a result of these benchmark standards, players in this industry require sufficient data to back their judgment, satisfy the regulatory bodies and maintain their presence in the global markets.

Apart from the seasoned players, there are many newbies in the industry especially in the frontier markets where there is comparatively less competition. The big players already have years of experience and relevant data to adhere to guidelines and make accurate predictions. When it comes to the nascent players in the industry they face the challenge of default data shortage for various asset classes and other relevant data from clients.

Another challenge that the banks or other financial institutions face in the frontier markets is having a proper model in place to analyse both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the data gathered. Quantitative data can be easily evaluated and assessed, when it comes to qualitative measures it’s a tough nut to crack. For example, how do we compare and incorporate the effect of weak management vs. robust management practice? The need to build models that can easily incorporate qualitative aspects of information is paramount.

How is Imarticus Placement Assistance Helpful?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Ayush Shahi spills the beans on the switch from Engineering to Investment Banking with Imarticus Learning.

I did my graduation in Mechanical engineering, after which I joined Imarticus Learning. At Imarticus, I opted for the CIBOP course, which focuses on investment banking operations. Right after having completed the course, I got placed in the CITCO group of companies. I’ve been given a really good package, and I’m ecstatic to have achieved all my targets.

The Mentorship at Imarticus Learning was great.

The Investment Banking Training program not only developed me as a person but also as a professional. The various case studies that I came across during the course, developed my thought process and this will definitely help me in my career. I’ve gained a lot of confidence throughout the duration of this course.

Imarticus’ Placement Assistance was of great help to me.

Today, as students, the biggest challenge we face is getting placed/hired. Imarticus really takes care of this aspect during the course. Despite coming from a different background, I got hired in the very first interview with a great company and got a fantastic package. I’m thrilled with the placement services that Imarticus provides.

My life has changed a lot since I joined Imarticus. I have an entirely new set of targets and goals in my life now. I have developed a professional approach to whatever I do and have become a more confident person overall.

Imarticus is beneficial for both fresher graduates and working professionals.

Imarticus has well-equipped training facilities with experienced trainers who have a sound knowledge and understanding of the subjects they teach. The institute thrives on developing professionalism within you, which is beneficial for freshers and working people alike. If I were to give my Imarticus Learning reviews as a score, I would definitely give Imarticus full marks!

As I come from an engineering background, everything I learned from CIBOP was completely new to me. That really nurtured my excitement and bolstered my interest in financial markets. Even now that I’ve been placed, I would like to keep learning as I move forward in my career, all thanks to Imarticus Learning!