INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: FUNCTIONS
Investment risk management is becoming
more complicated. “One of the challenges is
EDMUND CARVER, CFA
when a new asset class hits the market and is
Title:
making money and is hot, and the overall
Associate
Current employer: JPMorgan
guidelines of risk management haven’t even
Previous employers:
considered this security. It’s also the case that the
Van der Moolen
systems employed by large fi rms tend to move
University: University of Exeter
more slowly. It’s diffi cult to move a battleship,”
Degrees: Bachelors in
says Damian Handzy, chief executive of Investor
Engineering Analytics, the US-based risk management
Professional qualifi cations: services provider.
CFA; SII Diploma
Handzy believes that risk managers need to
know more than just the numbers. “Th ere are a
lot of diff erent models for estimating risk in a
What attracted you to this career path?
portfolio. Some of these techniques are 15 years
I like the maths based approach that is required in this fi eld. Also,
old and grounded in good mathematical
although I studied engineering, fi nance seemed potentially more
principles. Th e issue is knowing when to apply
lucrative and thus more appealing.
one model or another, and to know which
analytics are at play at any given moment. A risk
What are the major challenges you face in your position?
Keeping up to speed with new products can be diffi cult in such a
manager is someone who has seen some storms
fast paced market. Also, it’s important to stay on track with how
before, and has seen some failures. Th ey have
new markets and instruments come on line.
actual experience beyond the numbers.”
Are there certain skills you would consider useful for your job?
MARKET SOPHISTICATION
It’s vital to have an analytical mind and you have to be highly
He also says the industry is becoming more
numerate.
sophisticated. “Fifteen years ago there were no
academic programmes in fi nancial engineering,
How do you think the role you’re in now will change over time?
but there were plenty of programmes in applied
In future, I think there will be an increased control function and
math and physics. Fast forward to today and
greater transparency. There will also be more emphasis on
academic institutions have started programmes
creating products and trading strategies understandable to non
specifi cally in fi nancial engineering and the
experts. modelling of these complex securities.”
For graduates wanting to go into this area, a
Do you have advice for someone intending to pursue the same good starting place is on the trading fl oor, or in
career path? the IT department, say recruiters. Performance
Try and get an internship while at university to get a much clearer measurement teams also provide an excellent
idea of how banks are aligned and what particular functions most training ground to the nuts and bolts of
interest/suit you.
investments, they say.
Cg
“One of the challenges is when a new asset class hits the market
and is making money and is hot, and the overall guidelines of
risk management haven’t even considered this security”
Damian Handzy, Investor Analytics
WWW.CFAUK.ORG CAREERS GUIDE 2009 35
330-55 investman_functions.indd 350-55 investman_functions.indd 35 222/11/08 11:59:292/11/08 11:59:29
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