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| Date: |
21 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Ramesh Patel ()
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| Company: |
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| Congratulations Brijesh. You are really high quality and have truly made it in life. You deserve all your financial success for being so hard-working and diligent. I aspire to your success. Ramesh |
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| Date: |
21 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
MIchael ()
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| Company: |
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| Hi Brijesh,
Congratulations from me also. It is always good to see someone who has been successful, especially in Asia, as they are helping poor countries become richer. My question to you is how does a Masters in Finance compare to an MBA. I have heard that later on in life, it is managerial skills that are more important, so MBA's would perhaps be more recognised, especially in the credit crunch where financial skills may suffer? Also an MBA has more prestige. My other question is how do you think doing a masters compares to doing a CFA?
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| Date: |
22 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Brijesh Pande ()
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| Company: |
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| Michael: I think the MBA and the MiF are targeted at two different segments. An MBA does provide you with broader managerial skills as opposed to MiF which is finance focused. However, if you are targeting finance companies specifically it is hard to argue against the Master's in Finance being a better qualification. Also you will find that the MiF has slightly higher average age as people are doing it to specialize in finance. I have done both and if pressed to select one would choose the MiF because it is better aligned with my finance focus. Regarding the CFA, if you want to get into the investment management profession it is almost a prerequisite, but not of any significant additional value added on the sell side.
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| Date: |
22 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
HCI ()
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| Company: |
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| Hello, Can you tell me what are the daily requirements your division faces, at an analyst level? Would you specify on what you mean by intellectual capital? What factors do you attribute to the US banks dominance? Thank you. |
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| Date: |
22 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Brijesh Pande ()
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| Company: |
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| HCI: On a daily basis an analyst does anything from pricing plain vanilla transactions - fx spot and forwards, to put together dealing statistics or chasing up the back office reports.
By intellectual capital I mean your own technical knowledge base.
Factors for US banks dominance are - the best human capital, good processes and product innovation.
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| Date: |
22 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Swanster ()
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| Company: |
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| Hi Brijesh. You have had a very impressive journey so far. Just wanted to ask you how difficult was it for you to break into FX sales. I come from a Funding sales background with a solid base in audit, but seem to having a lot of trouble breaking into FX sales. Is there any secret to breaking into this area?
Thanks |
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| Date: |
22 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Brijesh Pande ()
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| Company: |
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| Swanster: Breaking into any new business is a combination of good luck and preparation. Selling FX spot and forwards is not complicated at all and almost as plain vanilla as quoting on time deposits. However, an FX sales head will want to see at least a familiarity of fx options - which is where the value added of a good sales person is (given spot and fwds are heavily commoditized). Additionally, if you have client base you can easily convert to fx sales might give you a leg up in presenting yourself as an fx salesperson. After building up the knowledge base however, you still need to get lucky with someone willing to look at your profile for fx sales. If I was in your place, I would start by speaking internally to your own company's fx sales head.
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| Date: |
22 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
HJ ()
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| Company: |
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| Hi Brijesh
Congratulationson your success! I am myself taking up MiF at LBS this year and want to gain experience in European markets(current work -ex is in India) post graduation. Will this put me at a disadvantage with people who already have this experience(despite MiF degree)? I also plan to change my field( I am currently from commercial banking-retail/SME background) . I want to shift to Investment banking ( which is in doldrums right now)! Do you think it is a bad time to begin afresh in a new field in Euorpean markets? Having invested so much I would want a good return on my investment! |
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| Date: |
23 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Brijesh Pande ()
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| Company: |
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| HJ, I think the MBA and the MiF are targeted at two different segments. An MBA does provide you with broader managerial skills as opposed to MiF which is finance focused. However, if you are targeting finance companies specifically it is hard to argue against the Master's in Finance being a better qualification. Also you will find that the MiF has slightly higher average age as people are doing it to specialize in finance. I have done both and if pressed to select one would choose the MiF because it is better aligned with my finance focus. Regarding the CFA, if you want to get into the investment management profession it is almost a prerequisite, but not of any significant additional value added on the sell side. |
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| Date: |
23 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
James ()
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| Company: |
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| Hi Brijesh. I'm also currently studying in Europe and am thinking of going to Asia when I've completed my studying. However, I've heard that pay there is a lot lower than in London and on Wall Street. Is this true?
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| Date: |
23 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Brijesh Pande ()
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| Company: |
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| Hi James: Asian financial centres - Singapore, HK and Tokyo have pay at par with US and London for the right talent. I don't know income tax levels in Japan but Singapore and HK are in the 15-20% range so often your nett pay can be better. |
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| Date: |
23 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Ruby ()
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| Company: |
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| Hello Brijesh,
Which is the best Masters course to study in Asia would you say? Why did you come to Europe to study yours? |
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| Date: |
23 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Brijesh Pande ()
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| Company: |
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| Ruby: I don't know much about Master's courses in Asia except for the MBA from Indian Institute of Management which produces good graduates.
I came to Europe because after much research I found that no other b-school offered the reputation and finance specific course like the MiF at London Business School along with providing some of the world's best finance faculty. |
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| Date: |
24 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Rishabh ()
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| Company: |
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| Hello Brijesh,
Firstly congrats on your success.
I have recently completed my LL.M. Corporate Finance Law from London, UK.
I am looking to get into compliance/ due diligence/ M&A/ anti money laundering/ audit.
Can you give me any advice?
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| Date: |
24 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Brijesh Pande ()
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| Company: |
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| Hi Rishabh
There a number of areas you mention. All apart from M&A seem a natural fit with your qualification. Do any i-banks come to your campus to recruit? If not try your career's service to give you contacts for i-bank HR people and best route would be to go through them. You need to be aware that compliance, audit etc hirings are generally not like the regular program hiring for front office roles, so if you have a contact in one of the areas it can give you an advantage.
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| Date: |
24 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Adam ()
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| Company: |
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| Hi Brijesh, thanks for taking questions here. I'm in incoming MiF arriving in London next month and I'd like to ask how you found the program. Any things you particulary liked/disliked? Any advice? How was the job market for you? You found a position of course, but how rough was the going?
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| Date: |
24 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Brijesh Pande ()
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| Company: |
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| Adam: The MiF is an excellent program if you take Dr. Suleyman Basak's two electives - Fixed Income and Financial Engineering. These two courses alone make the MiF worth it for me. Regarding the things I didn't like it's the project which hopefully will be changed in future years.
I was lucky to have prior experience so did not face a huge challenge getting a job. However, a number of people in my class have struggled because they are trying to switch indsutries or have less experience. a lot of very talented people have struggled which is unfortunate but its a buyer's market so firms can be very specific with their requirements and until we don't see a pick up in the financial sector this demand supply dichotomy will remain.
However, the current situation forces you to think what you are really good at, what your niche is and how you can pitch yourself to potential employers. I think it is a good thing in the long run because such a rigorous thought process should ensure longevity with whichever firm one joins.
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| Date: |
24 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Mike ()
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| Company: |
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| What will the value of the dollar be in 2015? |
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| Date: |
24 Jul 2008
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| Name/Email: |
Brijesh Pande ()
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| Company: |
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| Your guess is as good as mine regarding the value of the dollar in 7 years time! But I do think there are some important themes - (a) the US will continue to become a smaller part of the global economy at the expense of growth from the BRIC economies. I would expect the USD to depreciate against these currencies - especially the remimbi, (b) I expect commodity currencies like AUD and the gulf countries (should they remove the peg) to strengthen further, and (c) EUR may depreciate because I am yet to be convinced of a real reason for the EUR to be performing at these levels apart from a strong correlation to crude prices. I would expect this relationship to diverge. |
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