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Tag: certification courses in finance

Why Is Chartered Financial Analyst a Good Career Option?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

In recent times, Chartered Finance Analyst (CFA) is a designation which is quite revered and regarded by most as a key certification for professionals in the areas of portfolio management and research.

The chartered financial analyst program is a certification from the CFA Institute. It is a globally regarded certification. It is essentially a self-study methodology, graduate level program for professionals who want to pursue a career in investment. A person coming out of any discipline or academics can pursue the CFA program.

Applications to the program are usually from students and undergraduates to an early professional who intent to get a boost to their career. Although it is important to note that just getting a certification will not guarantee the same.

Passing all the three exams of CFA in itself is a very daunting job when compared to the efforts and commitment of the time required as against other management programs like the MBA. In fact, there are many MBA pass outs and CA’s who join CFA to get into core investment banking jobs. CFA gives a great technical grounding and offers broad-based scopes suitable for investment banking, research analyst, equity research and portfolio management.

The CFA course focuses on ethics, portfolio management, accounting, corporate finance, fixed income and equity investments, so basically if one does not have a very specific choice but needs to build their career in the field of finance then they should opt for the CFA certification as it is broad-based, opening many career opportunities.

Passing a CFA exam shows that the person pursuing the same has the ability to show commitment, tenacity, comes across as a professional with resilience, and rigour. In addition to the learnings from the course, the charter holders are also considered internationally mobile as well due to their association with the global professional network.



Some of the most common jobs taken by the CFA professionals

Portfolio Management:
Since CFA focuses on essentially training you on portfolio management skills, this job becomes a no-brainer for most pass outs. Under this profile, you are responsible for making financial/investment-based decisions for people who have given the control of their money to you or to your company.

Research Analyst:
Here the profile is responsible for analysing the financial transactions and records of the firm for its clients. Here you need to prepare your observations and reports and primarily have an insight of what the client would want to know about the financial health of the organization in such a way that nothing essential is overlooked before making any strategic decisions.

There are many other nomenclatures for this role within the organization, such as investment analyst, rating analyst, financial analyst, equity analyst, to name a few.

Consultant:
Here the person needs to provide suggestions that will benefit the firm with professional advice. The CFA course covers corporate finance which will assist the professional to make alternative decisions and suggestions to the third party or the client satisfying their requirements.

Accountant/Auditor:
Here you are required to keep a track of all financial footprints and documents of the business or company that you are associated with.

Investment Banking Analyst:
Here a person needs to check all possible pit stops, analyse, evaluate, all possibilities before any investment is made. The person usually is responsible for directing and making the firm aware of mergers and acquisitions. The task can be efficiently performed by any CFA pass out as the course has a section on corporate investment, equity investment, economics and more which prepares them to handle such requirements.

These are just a few opportunities out of the many that you can take advantage of if you wish to pursue the CFA certification.

So to conclude, it is quite obvious that in recent times many organizations and individuals alike are getting highly interested in CFA. The fact that a CFA certification will benefit the organization and the individual in revenue growth and career growth, it is perhaps why most organizations are also considering sending employees usually from the start up a level for this certification as the long-term advantages cannot be ignored.

It is then true to say that the CFA designation does distinguish the charter holders from other counterparts in the eye of professionals and investors. As a successful CFA charter holder has already proved the test of time and their ability and intention of commitment to conducting their professional life according to high professional standards.

Why a short professional program is better than an MBA?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

By Reshma Krishnan
Over 50 percent of the students that come to Imarticus Learning and attend our FMVC, CIBOP, CIBIT programs are MBA students. During their counseling sessions as well as their interview prep and mock interviews, we always ask them what they learnt in their MBA and what made them attend Imarticus.

The answers are always the same – I learnt nothing in my MBA. Why is that? MBA’s are extremely popular, so why are they so futile? It’s not the MBA that is futile. The right MBA done at the right time and from the right school is useful, but the majority of MBA’s are not well designed. Here are our top reasons for why short professional programs are better than an MBA.

What is an MBA? An MBA is a multi disciplinary course of study that helps you understand the various facets of running a business, ergo the name, a master of business administration. An MBA assumes that you have come far enough in your career to put the theories you learn during the course– marketing, finance, and operations, into some sort of context. A context that cannot be built without some understanding of how a business functions.

MBA’s are useful but only to those who come in with 5-6 years of relevant work experience. Having already worked on a shop floor of a store or coded for a company, they do an MBA to understand the other facets, which they can then apply to their experience.

This is what generally happens abroad. In India however, the stress on academics and degrees mean that most people do an MBA right after college without any experience leading to a two-year course of study that adds no value, not even to the resume.

But then, you ask, how do we stand out against others during a job hunt? You stand out by doing a course that is tailor-made where the curriculum has been designed in conjunction with specialists and endorsed by companies. A short course does not expect you to have work experience and it’s sole purpose is to help you find a job, and it does that by training you specifically for a role which makes you more employable as you are able to add value to a company from day one.

1. Short professional programs are job-specific – all our programs have been designed by industry experts and tailor made to job requirements. For instance the CIBOP program is designed for Investment Banking Operations roles. For three months, you will be taught by domain specialists, who have worked in these roles giving you real life examples.

2. Professional programs are shorter – Because you spend only three months, you start working sooner and spend less time in the classroom and more time gaining valuable work experience that you can then use to apply to a more prestigious and useful MBA program

3. Short programs focus on getting you a job– our short programs are tailored to a job, which attracts companies because they know our candidates are job-ready.

Imarticus Learning offers the internationally-accredited CIBOP program, designed for careers in Investment Banking. This program provides you an in-depth understanding of complex financial products and their Trade Lifecycles, along with Operational Risk and Regulations.

Financial Markets And Their Roles

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A financial market, unlike the other markets, is more of an intangible concept and basically refers to a marketplace where buyers and sellers usually participate in an exchange of assets such as equities, bonds, derivatives and currencies. The basic characteristic of any financial market comprises of transparent pricing, basic regulations regarding costs and fees and a number of market forces, that determine the prices of securities that trade. These financial markets can be found almost in every single country across the world, some of these may be small, with a very few numbers of participants, while some are huge in terms of the amount of money they trade, for example, the New York Stock Exchange.
It is basically investors, who have an access to a great number of financial markets and exchanges, that deal with a vast array of financial products. Some of these markets have always been open to private investors, while some have always remained, pretty much exclusive in terms of catering to major international banks and financial professionals. There are a variety of financial markets, which make up the field of finance.
Certification in Capital MarketsCapital Markets

These markets are where individuals and various organizations, deal with the trading of financial securities. There are a number of organizations and companies, that sell securities on these markets, in order to raise funds for themselves. This is why the capital markets consist of both primary as well as secondary markets. Any organization or corporation requires capital in order to finance its various operations, as well as to engage in long-term investments. In order to accomplish this, the corporation raises money through the sale of securities, basically bonds and stocks; all of which is in the name of the company.
Stock Markets

These are markets, which allow all of the investors to buy and sell the shares in publicly traded companies. They are popularly known to be the most vital area of a market economy, this is because they provide companies, with the access to capital and all the investors, with a chance to have a percentage of ownership in the company. This market is divided into primary markets as well as secondary markets.
Bond Markets
A bond refers to any debt investment in which, an investor loans money to an entity, this can be either corporate or governmental. This entity basically borrows the funds for a specific period of time Bonds are usually used by a number of companies, municipalities, states as well as governments, in order to finance a variety of projects and activities. This markets basically deals with buying and selling of bonds on the various credit markets, all over the world. This market is also referred to as the debt market or credit market or fixed-income market. The many types of bonds are corporate bonds, municipal bonds, notes and bills which are also known as treasuries and so on.
All of these markets require a financial professional, wither a corporate banker, investment bankers or portfolio manager and so on, to deal with their various aspects. The various attractive benefits that these markets offer are a result of a lot of finance aspirants seeking positions in the field of financial markets. Imarticus Learning is one of the best institute for finance and investment banking training and very much preferred by these professionals, in order to get a hang of how the markets work, through various certification courses in corporate finance, investment banking and so on.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is about to Reshape the Workplace. How?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Of late, a great topic of discussion is on the true meaning of Artificial Intelligence. As the field is witnessing progress there is a constant evolution in the meaning as well. In simple words, artificial intelligence is the ability of the computer to perform tasks commonly associated with intellectual human beings. It is predicted to fundamentally reshape the way in which organizations work.

Artificial intelligence and Machine intelligence is often misunderstood as a substitute for each other. Machine learning is basically getting the computers to program for themselves, here it allows the data to internally train the data sets. Machine or Artificial intelligence on the other hand means ‘intelligent computers’, computers without human intervention capable of pattern discovery, discerning context, to reason, and to learn and improve themselves over time.

What’s in the future……?
In the future with this type of evolution, it will not necessarily be Humans v/s Computers, but man and computers working alongside in harmony to improve the way we work. So the employees who do routine manual or routine cognitive job roles will have a high chance that their jobs will be replaced with computers and they will have the availability of time to invest in areas that they are interested in or jobs that require advanced skills.

Making machines responsible to do the repetitive tasks can go a long way. It will take the creativity and innovation quotient of the human race to enhanced levels. Furthermore, this technology is not only set to impact the workers with routine repetitive jobs, if your job is of routine cognitive nature then artificial or machine intelligence will play a role of a digital advisor, but it will also play a role where man and machine collaboratively work in tandem for betterment. Artificial learning and automation of certain jobs will then to a large extent become a good thing.

There are some researches that predict that artificial intelligence will be responsible for making workers more productive and create new jobs. There is a belief that AI will help with automation that will not only assist companies to focus on higher-skilled tasks and more creative jobs but will give them insights that will enable workplaces to use that knowledge in ways that cannot have been imagined so far.

Some stats on Artificial Intelligence:

  • By 2020 85% of customer interactions will be handled without a human
  • 44% of executives believe “artificial intelligence’s most important benefit is that automated communications that provide data that can be used to make decisions”
  • By 2018 ‘customer digital assistance’ will recognize customers by face and voice across channels and partners.
  • By 2020, smart agents will manage 40% of mobile interactions.
  • 9% of business data technology has artificial intelligence solutions deployed.

The artificial intelligence market is estimated to reach $40 billion by 2020
In the future, you will witness an Artificial intelligence revolution in marketing, where smart data and machine intelligence in collaboration will use artificial intuition which ape’s human intuition. For e.g. creating advertisements whose images and phrases evolve based on viewer response.

However, reaching the state where organizations will be machine intelligence is not so easy. The majority of our efforts at present is on supervised learning, where we are training the computer on instances that are labeled with reinforcement, and doing that takes time. Also, there is the impending challenge of embedding technology into existing enterprise applications.

In doing that we will one day make the computer as intelligent as the human brain. 25 years ago the internet impacted the wider world, it revolutionized the way we existed, and changed the way organizations functioned. We are at the identical brink of time wherein the next 25 years Artificial Intelligence might have the same impact on the way we work and live.

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Blockchain: The Possible Answer to Trade Finance Modernization

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Recently, a study was conducted by the capital financial technology giant, C2FO, regarding European treasures. Herein, it was found that 75% of these treasurers are supposedly focussing on investing in trade finance technology, in the following year of 2017.
Colin Sharp, who holds the position of senior vice-president, EMEA at C2FO, is of the opinion that the shifts within the microeconomic environment, are resulting in the pressuring of corporates, in order to refocus their efforts to trade finance. He further goes ahead to say, “Treasurers are facing a lot of uncertainty, both from the United States of America and as result of the on goings around Brexit. This is putting immense pressure over the supply chain, and with the demand increasing and decreasing. Treasurers want the ability to use their assets to make returns and give some certainty.”
There have been more and more efforts, which are offering insight into, finding out how blockchain can supposedly be used, in order to benefit small as well as medium size ventures. Any said digital trade chain, supposedly wants to achieve a perfect balance, between identification of opportunities and connecting them with each other and their banking partners. This would be made even simpler, when banks would bring in their own client bases herein, thus eliminating rigorous on-boarding.
Anne Claire Gorge, who holds the position of the head of the product management department, trade services, and finance of Societe Generale, is of the opinion that, treasurers believe that more control over trade finances, can help them greatly in the other areas of business. She says, “Better use of trade finance helps theses treasurers, to have a greater overview of their working capital positions. Offering financial solutions to suppliers, for instance, in order to improve the terms of payments, helps greatly in guaranteeing cash flow.” She is of the firm thought that the deployment of latest technology will definitely end up simplifying the process. In her words, “Trade happens to be very heavy on letters of credit or invoicing solutions, making it complicated to finance receivables and payables. Doing all this, as a part of a digital solution, has great potential of making it easier”.
trade finance marketThe experts believe that a little rocking, cannot cause any harm to the ship, in financial jargon, they are basically hinting at the climate of uncertainty. Especially when it comes to Banks, a little uncertainty does not seem to be a negative thing. This actually makes for a rather encouraging temperature for the requirement of trade finance tools, in order to offer stronger guarantees. The solution for the entire thing can finally come from block chain, is the combined belief of all the trade finance gurus. But for this concept to see the light of the day, there needs to be a rigorous industry wide effort, in the direction of implementation.
As many changes take place, in order to develop and strengthen the field of Trade Finance, the number of aspirants herein also multiplies. This is why professional training institutes like Imarticus Learning seem to be getting popular by the day.

The Benefits of a CISI Certification with Imarticus Learning

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments is considered to be the leading professional body, globally, for securities, investment, wealth and financial planning professionals. Founded in the year 1992 by the London Stock Exchange, today, it has taken up the role of a global community, spanning around 116 countries and boasting of about 40,000 members. It was conferred the title of ‘Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment’ in the year 2009 when it was granted a Royal Charter. Headquartered in London, this global professional body has its offices spread over various countries, including Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, Dubai, and Dublin.

This professional body is known to offer close to 40,000 CISI qualifications every year in around 70 countries, to qualify for which candidates have to take the Computer Based Test in the various centres worldwide. Apart from this, it is also the chief examining body in the industry and thereby, offers a number of industry memberships and training to the qualifying candidates. Apart from offering qualifications, the CISI is also known to offer, the CPD scheme, also known as, Continuing Professional Development scheme, which is basically rewarded to the members of, every level of seniority, geographical location, as well as industry specialization. The institute is known to have certain charitable objectives, which are as follows;
“To promote, for the public benefit, the advancement and dissemination of knowledge in the field of securities and investments to develop high ethical standards for practitioners in securities and investments and to promote such standards in the UK and overseas to act as an authoritative body for the purpose of consultation and research in matters of education or public interest concerning investment in securities.”

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Being a member of this prestigious organization, sends out a message to all your clients and colleagues, including the wider public, that you as a professional, are committed to professionalism, integrity, and excellence. Becoming a CISI endorsed member is the most beneficial in terms of networking for a professional. One can easily access the international network of 40,000 financial practitioners.
Apart from this, the CISI body organizes a number of formal mixers, like forums, events, and other social media activities, which involve and encourage their members to build an array of networks and connections, with similar professionals from across the country. Any professional who is affiliated by the designations of CISI can meet up and keep abreast with the current happenings in the financial markets, while at the same time can also discuss them, with the top level delegates from across the world at any given point. The CISI body also offers a number of training courses apart from its social events and conferences. In order to get an entry into this elite bunch of people, one has to acquire the much coveted CISI certification.
International Certification & Placement You will receive the industry endorsed Certified Investment Banking Operations Professional (CIBOP) certification and the optional CISI certified IOC (Investment Operations Certificate). The Imarticus Learning Career Services and Placements team provides you guidance and assistance throughout the program, giving you the best career opportunities in leading international firms.

Understanding Financial Leverage the Physics Way!

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We have often heard of Leverage in various Financial contexts such as a Leveraged Buyout, Leverage ratio of a Hedge fund etc. What does it mean?
Lets get to Physics first, for it is more common-sensical and straightforward
We define Torque as the radios vector multiplied by the force vector.
This finds application in as mundane a thing as opening a door.
The force we apply is of course the FORCE =F and the distance between the knob and the axis about which the door rotates is the RADIUS =R.
Imagine for a moment if the knob were to be fixed or engineered to be operated from the middle of the door instead of the end as we conventionally have it. This would mean that we would require more force for the same output. The output here being the door being opened. Say 45 degrees.
In the Financial scheme of things, the force that we apply is the monetary effort coming from ownership.i.e, say equity. The inherent radius is analogous to the inherent effortlessness involved of not having to ‘own’ or in other words, not having to raise equity but debt. The torque here could be considered as the revenue/profit/return
This situation of having more debt than equity is akin to having more radius and the knob of the door hence being attached to the end of the door. This makes the door opening rather relatively effortless.Or gaining profit effortlessly or by leverage.
So does that mean that a high leverage or debt is always the go-to choice of investment? I am afraid NOT necessarily.
Imagine the flip side of the door story. If someone were to have kept the hand at the edge of the door, while it is being closed .A given amount of force (equity) will definitely do more harm to the innocent hand when the radius is more (debt) than it would if the radius were less due to the door knob located unconventionally in the middle.
Needless to say financially it could go as far as saying “He burnt his fingers venturing into the business”!
Imarticus Learning offers short term courses in finance that not only train students to become investment bankers, or learn to manage their own finances via wealth management courses. Imarticus Learning is a leading industry expert trainer in financial services.

Author Bio :
Kumar Simha is an NIT Graduate with an MBA, Finance from HULT, Boston, USA, Kumar has more than 8 years of experience across Financial services, Business management and Training.

Why is the Japanese Finance Market 2016’s Biggest Comeback Story?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

In The News

Buoyed by a weak yen and a favorable monetary stance from the Bank of Japan, Japanese stocks have rebounded 20% showing the best gains among developing market peers. The Topix index was poised to join the Nikkei 225 in a bull market on Monday and the broader stock gauge will be up more than 20 per cent from its low in February. The benchmark Nikkei 225 ended up 104.78 points, or 0.59 percent, at 17,967.41, at its highest close since January 6.
This is quite the recovery for a market that had fallen 18 percent in the first have as the yen strengthened Shinzo Abe’s ‘Abeconomics’ received tepid response and was unable to revive economic growth.
Trump Victory– There is increased feeling that the shocking Trump victory will now lead to higher spending that will in turn fuel a rise in US interest rates and lead to a stronger US dollar. That would of course mean a weaker yen and a excellent outlook for Japanese exporters like Sony and Toyota. The Yen has dropped 6 percent against the dollar in the last month itself, much more than any other Asian currency.
Bank of Japan monetary policy– The Bank of Japan also restrained itself and refrained from lowering rates, which allows us to infer that they believe the Japanese Economy is about to bounce back after stalling in the second quarter. “The bigger picture is that spare capacity is shrinking gradually: gross domestic product expanded by 0.9 per cent over the past 12 months, which is above potential growth,” said Marcel Thieliant, analyst at Capital Economics in Singapore to the Financial Times. The surge in growth came on the back of favourable balance of payments. Exports rose and Imports fell. The BOJ capped 10-year bonds at 0 percent.
But it’s best not to celebrate too soon because nominal growth, which does not adjust for price changes, was weaker at 0.8 percent vs the real growth of 2.2 percent. This could mean Japan is sliding into a period of deflation – a contraction of in the supply of circulated money, leading to increased purchasing power and wages higher than would have normally been.


This, and a lot more, is one of the topics we discuss in our Investment Banking Courses in India. You can also watch the video on our students discussing about what goes on in our classes.

 

Fundamentals of Forecasting – Basic Modeling Hygiene – III

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

By Reshma Krishnan
We are continuing to understand the Fundamentals of Forecasting. Please click here for Part 1 and Part 2.
Many aspiring candidates ask us what is so special about the FMVC program at Imarticus Learning. After all, shouldn’t an MBA suffice? The problem with MBA’s, regardless of which school you go to, is that they don’t teach you role specific issues. For instance, they don’t have specific modeling modules. They will have a forecasting module but they won’t teach you how to model or how to forecast step by step. In the Financial Modelling and Valuation Course (FMVC), India’s leading Forecasting and Financial Modeling program, we teach you the minutae and we go into specifics. One such specific is modeling and forecasting hygiene.
Hard Coding- the model users bane.
This is the first thing I teach in modeling class. Hard Coding is essentially a stand alone number in a cell, which has no back up. It says nothing about the number. You must never hard code a forecasted number because the forecast is always done on the back of an assumption, which has to be modeled in. Hard coded numbers are usually past data, actual data that has been verified and been the result of auditing. A forecasted number should always be a linked number from an assumption.
Colour Coding
Staying with hard coded numbers, it always helps to colour code. In fact, in my class, I mark an assignment zero if it is not colour coded. Red hardcoded number tells me that the forecaster had no option but to hard code. All actuals should be in a different colour to forecasts and all delta numbers, that is the variable you are using to arrive at a forecast needs to also be in a different number.
Give the delta its own cell
Let’s say you want to increase the sale of pencils in 2017 by 10% from 2016. You have two ways to do it.
=(2016 revenue cell) x 10% +(2016 revenue cell) = 2017 revenue.
Or
You create a special cell for 10%
= ((2016 revenue cell) x (10% cell) )+(2016 revenue cell) = 2017 revenue.
Here I am assuming that revenue is growing by 10% . This helps me change the delta as I see fit which then changes my model. The delta is the rational for my model. If you hide it within a formula, I have to constantly look at formulas to find my assumptions.
Learn more about Forecasting by joining our course, FMVC,Financial Modeling and Valuation Course, India’s leading program in Financial Modeling and Valuation and focused on improving your chances on having a career in Investment Banking or Equity Research.

Fundamentals of Forecasting – the Basic Premise of Forecasting – II

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

By Reshma Krishnan
We are continuing to understand the Fundamentals of Forecasting. Please click here
The fewer the assumptions, the stronger the forecast – at least in the beginning when you are learning how to model. Most investment Banking models end up running into 40 assumption sheets, each linked to another. While you might believe such minutiae makes a difference, it’s almost always just to make yourself feel better. Yes, your ability to understand every cost element is good, but its futile if your understanding of the industry works or its cost structure is weak. Key assumptions built into the forecast can also be lost, like trees in a forest. Links can be very hard to find. A simple forecast on the other hand helps you understand what drives basic line items while giving you the ability change basic assumptions. So for instance if you are forecasting the cost of a cup of tea, you break the cup of tea into its major elements, milk, tea, sugar. Three basic drivers, but if you decide to link the price of tea not to the retail rate but to an auction rate that is further linked to an auction house pricing, there are many chances your Financial Analyst coursemodel will be faulty for no tangible benefit.

Forecasting is hard- if it wasn’t, financial modeling and forecasting would not be the number one skill required in financial services, especially Equity Research, or the most popular program in Financial Services Education. It requires patience and a deep thorough understanding of the industry. Forecasting is what Equity Research Analysts do all the time which is why Equity Research Analysts are industry specialists. You won’t find an analyst doing both steel and retail e-commerce. If you are not detail oriented, you are not going to be great at forecasting.
Your forecast is as good as your data, or your weakest link- using solid numbers always feels like an attractive proposition. Investment Bankers love to receive solid data from the clients. Equity Research analysts love to receive solid numbers from the industry or a company but what data do you trust. How often do you use that data? Can you remove the bias in the data. Data you receive from clients will almost always be optimistic, same with industry. Data you receive from Private Equity will almost always be pessimistic. There is bias in every data and your job is to remove bias.
Learn more about Forecasting by joining our course, FMVC, Financial Modeling and Valuation Course, India’s leading program in Financial Modeling and Valuation and focused on improving your chances on having a career in Investment Banking or Equity Research.