Financial Services (including companies covering brokerage, insurance, credit cards and commercial banking), is often used as a generic term describing businesses outside of Investment Banking and Commerce & Industry. The diversity of businesses is immense and exposes employees to both a wide variety of international transactions and heavy involvement with senior business managers.  

The roles range from raising capital for new business start-ups to analysing a trade in Latin America and from lending money to small businesses to insuring property from tornadoes.

If you are considering Financial Services as an option, what can this sector offer you?

Insurance, one of the City's oldest activities is about the sharing of risks. It is broadly divided between general insurance and life insurance, providing protection for individuals, firms and other organisations exposed to the risk of financial loss from specified events that may or may not occur.

The risks that insurance companies were exposing themselves to led to the significant growth of the Reinsurance market in the 1960's and by spreading the risk it enabled companies to take on clients whose coverage would normally be to great a burden for one insurer alone to carry. Fundamentally the concept of reinsurance is that other companies in return for part of the premium fee assume part of the insurer's risk.

Hiring Companies
Companies include amongst others AXA Insurance, Prudential, Royal & Sun Alliance, CGNU, Eagle Star, CIS, Legal & General, Willis Coroon, Hiscox, Churchill and XL Capital. Reinsurance companies include companies include amongst others Cologne Re, Swiss Re, General Re, QBE and the Gerling Group.  

Employment Opportunities
The insurance industry has changed and is no longer seen as a poor relation to Investment Banking. Salaries have increased to rival banking counterparts and opportunities tend to offer greater variety in terms of transactional exposure, international deals and hands on dealing with a diversity of Business Heads.

A rating agency is a firm or organisation set up to formally evaluate an individual's or companies credit history and capability of repaying obligations. They assign credit ratings to existing and potential customers by investigating, analysing and maintaining records regarding their credit responsibility. This helps investors analyse the credit risks associated with fixed income securities by providing reliable, credible and independent assessments of credit risk.

Hiring Companies
Such companies include Fitch Investors Service Inc, Moody's Investor Service, Standard & Poor's Corporation and Value Line Investment Survey.

Employment Opportunities
Opportunities within Rating Agencies often expose individuals to wide ranging complex and innovative products and interaction with market participants at all levels.

Venture Capital is an important source of financing for Start-up companies or others embarking on new or turnaround ventures that entail some investment risk but offer the potential for above average future profits. As such specialist institutions provide Venture Capital Finance in form of packaged loans to entrepreneurs, start-ups, established growing businesses, management buy-outs, management buy-ins and share purchases.

Invariably companies such as 3i will invest in a wide range of industry sectors and in most stages of development which a business typically goes through. Before this investment two key factors will be analysed; firstly, the ability and integrity of the management and secondly, the growth potential of the business.

Hiring Companies
3i, Rothschild, Schroders, ICG and Cazenove

Employment Opportunities
In addition to this highly energetic world, the main attraction for individuals seeking a career within Venture Capital is the very real opportunity to have strategic input into the creation and development of fast growing, successful businesses.

Loss Adjusters are impartial claims specialists paid by insurance companies who rely on them to check that the loss or damage falls within the terms of the insurance policy, that the sums insured on the policy are adequate and that the amounts being claimed are fair and reasonable. Once these checks have been carried out the loss adjuster reports his findings and recommendations to the insurance company.

For most claims involving domestic or commercial property, insurance companies are able to make a payment immediately, or they send a claims inspector to check upon the circumstances but for larger or more complicated claims, insurance companies employ the skills of a loss adjuster.

Hiring Companies
They range from one man bands to global businesses such as GAB Robins, Ellis & Buckle and McLarens Toplis

Employment Opportunities
Career options for qualified accountants in this area are limited but those opportunities that do exist offer candidates an enormous diversity and require individuals that are both creative and strategic in their approach.

SUMMARY: As a financial / group accountant you will be based in the Head Office assisting in the co-ordination and review of the statutory and corporate reporting. The role is broad, giving you a good insight into the companies workings and also exposure to a variety of accounting skills, e.g. VAT, tax and treasury in addition to financial and management accounting.

BACKGROUND: A strong financial / group accountant needs to have a good eye for detail and not shy away from high-level exposure to senior management. You will have a high profile within companies.  

CAREER PROGRESSION: Financial / Group accounting offers two routes of progression: to Group Financial Controller, or a move into an operating unit or division.

SUMMARY: A head office based role responsible for reporting the companies predicted future performance. Working closely with key members of the finance department, management accountants utilise historical based reports to prepare information such as budgets, forecasts and variance analysis in order to provide management with a detailed picture of the companies financial direction.

BACKGROUND: A management accountant needs a good mix of financial reporting experience along with strong analytical skills. Usually holding a professional accounting qualification an eye for detail and a commercial focus are important traits of the role.

CAREER PROGRESSION: Management accountants enjoy an element of variety in relation to career path planning. A management accountant can either follow the traditional accounting career path to finance manager, financial controller and financial director or they can move into more analytical and commercial roles such as business analyst and commercial manager.

SUMMARY: Analysts collate, review and make recommendations on a company's business and financial position. They also develop commercial and financial models, liaise with senior management and are involved in ad hoc work such as preparing business cases, competitor analysis or reviewing information relating to key performance indicators.

BACKGROUND: Analysts are usually qualified or hold an MBA, are graduates and highly numerate with an eye for detail as well as a good knowledge of business and an ability to see the bigger picture.  

CAREER PROGRESSION: Like planners, analysts can move into most line roles and also into more general business positions - such as strategic or project roles or senior finance positions.

SUMMARY: Risk Management entails the assessment of credit and market conditions and scenarios to safeguard a bank's exposure incurred by an aggressive trading appetite. Using a range of quantitative tools risk figures and reports are produced as well as complex transactions analysed in order to calculate what capital should be kept in a banks reserves.

BACKGROUND: Invariably a quantitative education is required such as a numerate degree maths, physics, chemistry, engineering and this is usually supplemented by an MsC in a similar subject - modelling skills are advantageous as are knowledge of programming codes SQL,VBA,C++

CAREER PROGRESSION: a move to board management, trading and quantitative analysis are all potential moves.

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