Last updated on February 26th, 2021 at 09:32 am
SAS is a Statistical Analysis programming tool. Gaining proficiency in the SAS domain helps you make those complex statistical calculations. It is a desirable certification to get especially for risk-analysts in banks. A risk-analyst with an Investment Banking Career relies on SAS, for assessing investment risks that have the potential for default, foreclosure or termed bad loans. Such loans are poor risks and the banks have to ensure the borrowers pay the loan and interest in time.
An Investment Banking Career and SAS Certification involve a high degree of proficiency in mathematics, data engineering and a very good understanding of statistical analysis. You can do a career-oriented course at a reputed institute like Imarticus Learning for a credit-risk analyst. Normally the IB courses and working in IB do not use SAS extensively. They learn the languages and skills of an investment banker. However, if you plan to be an analyst in retail banking or risk-analyst in the investment banking division then SAS learning is a priority. Courses such as these also prepare you for measurable certification of technical skills. The Investment banking certification measures your skills in the services of an investment bank. Namely,
- Acquisition and mergers.
- Advice on buy-outs and acquisition of firms.
- Trading in securities.
- Corporate finance.
- AMC.
- Services involving Custodianship.
- Restructuring of debts.
- Capital market investments.
- Other allied services.
Education:
The career progression in IB requires sound financial knowledge. A graduation degree is not mandatory though IB encourages disciplines like finance, economics, business administration, and mathematics which do give you an upper hand. Doing an Investment banking certification endorses and enhances your skill sets for the job and your resume. Certification also serves the purpose of being a measurable index of practical implementation skills in the basics of IB. The career progression ladder may also have an odd-ball who starts as an Intern, moves to an Associate role, and then upwards to Vice President, CFO, MD job roles etc.
Skills Required:
The Investment Banking Career field’s crucial skills are a mix of soft skills and technical skills. The basic attributes are
- A graduate degree for Associate roles.
- Financial and business modelling knowledge.
- Conceptual knowledge of accounting and financial issues and solutions.
- Adept at Microsoft PowerPoint presentations and Excel manipulation techniques, and MS Office and Word suites.
- Ability to work extremely long working hours of 80 hours with hardly any holidays.
- Being a team player and effective learner from feedback.
- An eye for details and data organization.
- Investment banking certification course.
Technical skills required:
Your degree in science, social sciences, psychology, pharmacy and such could be short of crucial subjects like mathematics, machine learning, algorithms, and computer engineering techniques which form the pillars of data science. But, you do have a huge advantage in your own domain. And that is a plus when you understand where and how to apply the algorithms to your field.
If you are a developer in the IB domain then most HR recruiters want to see the languages of the C suite like C , C#, R, Python, Java, and Matlab on your list of technical skills. In other words, an Investment Banking Career need not be just as a financial analyst, you could also be a BA, developer or full-stack developer and your technical skills required will depend on the job role.
SAS is used for financial reporting and is a good tool for the retail bankers, the equities market specialists, corporate bankers, in mergers and acquisitions and literally anywhere where the probability theory and the theory of regression modelling applies. Most legacy systems of banks use the C language which is not so common today. But, banks are transitioning to more modern and effective infrastructure to stay afloat and profitable amid rapid changes in AI, ML, data sciences and the sheer volumes of data generated.
Conclusion:
SAS is not a technical requirement for an IB career. However, SAS is a fantastic tool wherever probability, risk-analysis and statistical analysis applications are present. In parting, the Investment Banking Career does fetch some fantastic pay-packages. The demand for them is high. If you want to be in IB then do the apt course at Imarticus Learning who even offer assured placements to the deserving trained aspirants in this hallowed field of IB.
Also Read: Investment Banking Career Path
