Career as a CFA

Introduction

Chartered Financial Analyst as a profession, degree is globally considered to be a gold standard in the field of finance. Conducted by The CFA Institute, based out of the USA, the body aims to develop skills and acumen of its candidates to meet the growing demands of society. There is an ever-growing demand for CFA professionals who are masters in subject areas like financial analysis, portfolio, and investment management. The CFA Charter is one of the most sought-after and uniformly recognized accreditations in the world.

CFA Charterholders are groomed to be stewards of capital in the financial and investment industries. They provide a range of services to help clients make business-changing decisions like investment, ploughing of capital in right areas and other services to further expand the financial markets.

Cream Jobs for CFA

As per a study by the CFA Institute, CFA professionals are typically involved in below type of job profiles post their qualification:

• Portfolio Management
• Research Analyst
• Consultancy
• Investment Strategy
• Risk Management
• Credit Analyst
• Corporate Financial Analyst
• Account Manager

Further, CFA Charterholders are in high demand across below sectors for their skills and value addition:

• Asset Management
• Private Wealth Management
• Commercial Banking
• Investment Banking
• Insurance
• Consulting
• Brokerage & Trading
• Fintech

Sounds exciting, isn’t it? Hold on your horses, let us take a deeper look into available opportunities and required skills to get you there.

CFA as a Benchmark

CFA is also an internationally recognized degree thus giving its members and students all across the world an equal footing. In India, it is considered to be at par with NSQF (National Skill Qualification Framework) Level 9 out of 10 – indication of advanced knowledge and skills. In most other developed countries like USA, Canada, France, Singapore, Japan it is considered to be at par with a Masters’ Degree.

Career Opportunities

CFA being a renowned professional degree, provides qualified candidates with numerous golden opportunities in their career. Professionals are in a unique position to choose from a variety of roles that are available in the market.

A: Transaction-based Opportunities

• Investment Banker
• Sales & Trading
• Investment Strategist
• Stockbroker
• Portfolio Manager
• Private Equity Associate
• Chief Investment Officer

B: Front Office Opportunities

• Financial Analyst
• Private Wealth Manager
• Investment Consultant

C: Quantitative and Analytical Opportunities

• Equity, Fixed Income Research Analyst
• Risk Analyst and Manager
• Forex Trader
• Data Scientist

Required Skills

Now that we know the available job profiles, we should also get ourselves familiar with the skills required to get there. Companies have been smarter than ever before, as they now look out for candidates with both general and technical, domain-specific skills.

A: Transaction-based Opportunities

• Investment Banker – Possession of both quantitative and persuasive communication skills are bare minimum requirements of getting into an Investment Banking role. It is important to have a solid foundation of financial knowledge from your early days. Candidates with background in business administration, finance, economics, and statistics get a good head start in this journey.

• Sales & Trading – High levels of confidence, passion and persistence is key to a successful career in sales and trading. Inside out knowledge of the product is essential to generate higher sales volume and maintain client relationships. Analytical skills and excellent track record in mathematics are essential ingredients which companies look out for.

• Investment Strategist – Thorough understanding of asset management industry, analytical, acumen for problem-solving, interpersonal and presentation skills are vital to make a career in this role.

• Stockbroker – Stock broking service is an extremely fast-paced role where profits and losses run into millions in a matter of seconds. Hence, entry barriers to this role are higher. recruiters thereby require candidates to have business mindset for churning profit, strong analytical skills, interpersonal skills to maintain client relationships, ability to work in a fast-paced environment.

• Portfolio Manager – Portfolio Managers are known to have skills like strategy, portfolio construction and execution. Post this, ability to evaluate performance and undertake essential risk management activities are key to a successful career.

• Private Equity Associates – Private equity associates are in high demand these days owing to their skills to work in highly competitive environment, critical thinking, passion for investment deals, high grades throughout educational career, strong problem-solving and analytical skills.

• Chief Investment Officer – Experience, broad professional knowledge in multiple fields, ability to look at the big picture. With tremendous expansion of fintech industry, a solid understanding of technology and available applications is a fast becoming a must-required skill.

B: Front Office Opportunities

• Financial Analyst – Entry-level financial analyst roles require early education in commerce and finance. Some positions tend to lay emphasis on communications skills, develop marketing ideas, strategic thinking, analytical skills, domain expertise, awareness on global current affairs.

• Private Wealth Manager – Skills like financial planning, empathy and emotional intelligence, strong communication and business development are must-have to enter this coveted field.

• Investment Consultant – In-depth understanding of various investment theories, financial markets, investment practices are essential. Typically, candidates undergo a bachelor’s education in fields like economics, accounting, business administration.

C: Quantitative and Analytical Opportunities

• Equity, Fixed Income Research Analyst – Research analyst roles require candidates to have strong data analysis, financial analysis (both company and industry), financial modelling, and valuation skills. Analytical skills, passion for developing investment decision ideas, undertaking detailed analysis, applying programming, or modelling skills can take you a long way in your career.

• Risk Analyst and Manager – Strong acumen for tracking global economic conditions, investment trends, evaluating tons of data on financial analysis help candidates to take prudent decisions when the going gets tough. Without saying, analytical and communication skills are pre-requisites for such jobs.

• Forex Trader – Forex trading is both, a very lucrative and a risky profile. Candidates looking to enter this field must possess strong mathematical skills, passion for problem-solving, solid foundation of technical and fundamental analysis, strategic thinking, and a good record-keeper.

• Data Scientist – With advent growth of fintech and big data, data scientist roles have come up in a big way. Candidates must possess a problem-solving mindset, business strategy, excellent communication skills and quantitative analysis.

Opportunities in India

With GDP of $3.5 trillion and market capitalization of all Nifty-listed companies at $1.5 trillion, and expected annual growth of around 7% per annum – for sure the Indian economy is well on its course to be a global financial powerhouse. With growing market and globalization, there will be a growing demand for professionals who can manage business, investment, and advisory functions. A CFA is a professional who can manage all these requirements and take a company to its next level. Wall Street, Dalal Street giants are the biggest recruiters of CFA professionals. Global firms like JP Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs, Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, Blackstone etc. have all their local offices spread across the world to cater to client service demands across the globe. So, on an annual basis, they hire CFA Charterholders in large numbers to ensure a truly global experience for their clients.

Below companies hire CFAs in large numbers:

• JP Morgan Chase & Co.
• Goldman Sachs
• Accel Partners
• Sequoia Capital
• The Blackstone Group
• KKR & Co. Inc.
• TPG Capital
• Citigroup
• Bank of America
• Morgan Stanley
• State Street
• Franklin Templeton
• Northern Trust

Abroad Job Opportunities

CFA being a global degree has a unique benefit of global career for its members. One can easily look for global mobility options from above listed companies and also look for direct international entry.  Some of the biggest recruiters of CFA Charterholders outside India are:

• JP Morgan Chase & Co.
• Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
• Royal Bank of Canada
• Bank of America Securities
• UBS Group
• HSBC Group
• Goldman Sachs
• Blackstone
• TD Bank Financial Group

Life at Global Companies

Top companies like these are globally renowned for their employee well-being aspects. Not only do they provide lucrative salaries which are above market rate but they also provide additional support in form of health, family, and retirement benefits. Employees are provided with best of class infrastructure in form of state-of-art corporate offices which would make one feel at home and luxury at the same time.

Companies these days are also planning to rejig their real estate presence by consolidating their teams under a single roof and expanding across cities to attract more local talent especially from tier II-III cities. Further, they have a very encouraging internal mobility options to choose from like teams, divisions, cities, and countries, thanks to their large scale of operations.

Salaries in India

Salaries for CFAs is one of the most attractive available in the market. Even CFA Level I cleared candidates can easily look to get hired for jobs. At the same time, the number of years of relevant experience and the level of hiring has a big impact on the total salary. Over time, students can also look to get into the shoes of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Investment Officer (CIO).

Below is an estimate of salaries at various stage of exams: