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GUEST COMMENT: The City is still the best place if you’re starting out in finance
12 June 2009By Sarah Butcher
COMMENTS
The current crop of MBAs led to the greatest destruction of wealth ever seen and black scholes has largely been discredited by most serious mathematicians as mostly bunkem. Read all comments »I’m a student from China and am studying finance at a top business school in London. I’ve been looking for jobs globally since last year, but given the choice would prefer to work in the City. This is why London’s my top choice.
London is still the arena for international talent
Large financial institutions here have systematic training programmes for junior staff. Small boutiques are also an option if you’re starting your career.
Although everybody is arguing in favour of emerging market opportunities, my experience suggests they are limited if you are junior. From what I’ve seen, you are less welcome in emerging markets if you are not a veteran who can originate deals, build up a whole team, or head an important function.
Emerging markets teams are no better off in this climate. There are fewer deals in emerging markets too. Jobs are being lost and businesses are being sold off or closed.
Emerging markets will not give you global exposure
Unless your final goal is to go back to home country, starting your career in an emerging market is a bad idea. You will be dealing with local markets only and will not be exposed to sophisticated derivatives and financial products. Emerging fixed income markets are very immature and simple. You will not gain advanced quantitative finance knowledge.
This will hinder your ability to land a position with global exposure in future. If you start your career in London, you can do business globally.
Educational establishments in London are better
London’s educational and research institutions are the best. Students at London Business School learn state-of-the-art trading strategies currently being applied in the market. Part-time mathematics courses in Imperial college or Oxford are tailored for quant professionals applying their learning in real jobs.
There are also numerous seminars, workshops, events aimed at providing a platform for free academic discussion and empirical application.
So although situation is still tough here, quite of a few of us would like to stick it out. I plan to try and find a role in London, and at the same time to sharpen my finance skills to improve my competitiveness.
COMMENTS
ponterotto, Derivatives, Sat 13 Jun 09
@Anon - only proof you gave there was proof of your idiocy. Why is everyone still talking about MBA stuff? It is as irrelevant to the conversation of research as MBAs are to finance in general
The sheer money spending capacity of US versus UK is impressive alone.
There are lots of good people in the UK and in Europe but the number of big names in US, by far outweighs the number of big names in Europe.
pissoff, Student, Sat 13 Jun 09
most of bankers working in london like henry (btw your schools buildings are really hilarious- you guys chase ghosts there or what?) have never been to any business school. it really shows.
LBS is the most diverse business school in the world. American schools are the richest, but also are mostly for Americans Id say. What kind of perspective would that give you? Global? you are really think so? :)
Zaa, Capital Markets, Sat 13 Jun 09
I think the whole concept of business education and the management by spreadsheet ethos is rightly being challenged. The current crop of MBAs led to the greatest destruction of wealth ever seen and black scholes has largely been discredited by most serious mathematicians as mostly bunkem. This combined with the fact that most business educators have little business experience you're paying a whole lot of money for a dubious course with a great network. The problem is the influence of this network has imploded spectacularly leaving many bright young things all dressed up with nowhere to go (and no money to get there).
Add your comment »Disillusioned MBA, Private Equity / Venture Capital, Sun 14 Jun 09
Milton 05,
>. It's largely irrelevant to use such a narrow example to judge which institutions are better in teaching methods or reputation.>
It's not irrelevant- it's a data point. Insufficient, perhaps- as I have already said in my previous post- but not irrelevant.
My point wasn't to use it as an example to size up Wharton quality vs LBS but to rebut the prior poster's totally unsubstantiated point that US institutions are better than UK..because umm..they are.
Overall, I felt that LBS does give a more rigourous finance education than Wharton, but Wharton has a broader offering of courses in e.g. game theory applications to strategy than LBS, which I found really valuable.
>>The simple fact is that US business schools have endowments of at least ten times what UK business schools enjoy. In terms of research the US institutions are superior.<<
No argument that US B-Schools are vastly richer. You guys keep on churning out the same line- US institutions' research output is superior. Why, because you say so? Have you seen the global research rankings of LBS, LSE, Imperial, etc?
DavidJacobs, Equities, Mon 15 Jun 09
i am not sure any of you are right - i work in a bank in Moscow, Russia. Firstly, - there is more employment out here than in london, secondly, we all know MBA's are great, but it does not depend on where you get it from - it still comes down to who knows who!!!
As to whether US vs Uk are better, that really depends on where you are from. People from the US will always think that US MBA's are harder than Uk's and Visa-Verca...
All you have to ask yourself, is where did the majority of Lehmanns Brothers do there MBA's? and what happend to them?
Ted, Asset Management, Mon 15 Jun 09
Don't put Europe in the argument, because the continent is not geared towards Business School (BS...) training. The continent prepares engineers and mathematicians, and probably the best in the world (did you check where MIT faculty comes from?). Think Ecole Polytechnique, Politecnico di Milano, etc, not to mention the Russians. The US and the UK no longer produce scientists, and it shows (do they make anything?). Btw this explains why the Europeans have taken over the City.
Add your comment »FX Quant, Derivatives, Tue 16 Jun 09
When it comes down to working on an exotics derivatives trading desk, studying the Black Scholes formula during your MBA is irrelevant, whether you do it at Harvard or at the university of eastern london your skills will be largely insufficient. That's where the technical maths skills(and computer science skills if you're a quant/structurer/strategist/quant risk manager) will be important. In this arena, the UK is not the strongest place in Europe and that's one hell of an understatement! And the quant types from the U.S are mostly asians that did a Phd or Master in Fin math, i.e they had the bulk of their quant education prior to studying in the U.S in their country of origin. The U.S MBA schools are good if you want to go into marketing or corporate finance/strategy.
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