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Alan
Corporate Title: AnalystBusiness Area: Shared Services, Product Control
Year Joined Credit Suisse: 2006
Journal Entries Welcome to My Credit Suisse Journal! - 15 August 2007 For some time since I have joined, several friends and peers have wanted to known what life was like in Credit Suisse, so hopefully this journal will come in handy in shedding some light on our work, our people and our culture! Firstly a little bit about myself. I graduated from National University of Singapore where I majored in Economics. I work in Product Control - My affinity with Credit Suisse first started in 2005 when I did an internship with the Operational Risk Management Group. Some of the projects I helped out on during this stint include: a) Streamlining of workflow processes to mitigate operational risk in selected Operation departments b) Research on risk management platforms c) User Acceptance Testing of operational risk management and reporting portal It was really great exposure and I learned loads from this experience. Most importantly, the people I worked with were great fun! Hence, after my graduation in 2006, I opted to join Credit Suisse in their Product Control department. Without going too much into the technicalities and jargons, this is a brief description of what we do in Product Control: a) Preparation and reconciliation of daily profit & loss (P&L) of traders b) Valuation of cashflows and trading positions etc c) Analysis of related P&L movements due to related market events like subprime mortgage issues, interest rate hikes or cuts, leveraged buyouts etc. In our daily course of work, we come in touch with many different departments like Sales & Trading, Operations, Middle Office etc so it’s actually a good place for a newbie like me to learn more about the various functions in the bank. Another plus in the job is the exposure to a whole range of financial products such as bonds, swaps, options, derivatives etc, many of which I have not even heard of prior to joining. One year in and there are still many products and areas that I am looking forward to explore. I guess enough about work for the time being and time to share about the fun side of life here! In Product Control in Singapore has always been a vibrant and lively bunch in the Singapore office and from time to time, we have various social activities, sports games and charity programs etc. I will attempt to put up a new entry very few weeks so do pop in to have a glance at times and to get a feel of our work. Next entry I will start “demystifying my work in product control” and give a snapshot of how a normal day in the office is like for me. Looking Back at the Last 14 Months 4 October 2007 It came as something of a shock to myself to realize that I have already been in Credit Suisse for 14 months. If you thought time in school passes quickly, working life just seems to fly by you! The past 14 months marks a colorful, exciting and at times, hectic transition from schooling to working life. Initially, the learning curve was very steep, as everything was just so new – the people, the systems, the procedures, the accounting guidelines, the financial products and even the jargons and abbreviations! There was loads of training in the first couple of months, both by internal and external trainers, to give all of us (the new joiners) a good grounding in all these relevant areas. Personally, I did not have that much financial and accounting knowledge as I did an economics degree rather than a finance or accounting course. However I guess I am already slightly better off because most of the other grads had degrees that were totally unrelated to finance. Bar a couple who did graduate courses in Financial Engineering, most of the others were academically grounded in engineering or computing and there was even one who had a Masters in Law. But I guess at the end of the day, the Company doesn’t really care what kind of degree or academic background a person has; the more crucial aspects are the aptitude and attitude of the person as a whole. The training phase in the first few months was definitely one of the most memorable and enjoyable periods, even though there was lots of stuff to learn and lots of tests to pass (in case anyone is wondering, yes it’s not just plain learning, you must pass all the subsequent assessments!). One reason was because we were so new and didn’t have that much work and responsibilities then - I still remember the more experienced colleagues telling me that I should really treasure this “honeymoon” period. But it was really the friends that we made through this training that made all the difference. As the new grads were dispersed across various teams and desks, we did not really have much opportunity to interact with each other in our course of work; therefore the training was a great platform for us to mingle and know each other. Our batch of grads was diverse not only in terms of academic background but also in nationality. The nationalities represented among the grads include Singaporean, Indonesian, Thai, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Korean, Belgium, almost like a mini United Nations! School vs Work – the main difference if you ask me Schooling and working life are really quite different cups of tea. In school, even though there are projects and discussions that require you to work with other classmates, overall it is still more of an individualistic affair. In contrast, work is much more of a collaborative act, requiring extensive cooperation and teamwork between colleagues and counterparts. Therefore, it is not sufficient just being technically adept in your work. There are a lot of other traits like being a good team player, having strong interpersonal and communication skills etc, which are key to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition into working life. This is especially true in Product Control where you are regularly required to liaise and cooperate with many other departments. It’s Month End for us Product Controllers at the moment (which is essentially the busiest period of the month) and I am running around contacting other controllers and departments, so more word on what I do after this busy week….. A Day in the Life of Product Controller 8 October 2007 So what does a typical day in the office entail for a Product Controller? The very first thing we do when we get into the office is to analyze the P&L (profit & loss) made by our traders on the previous day. The traders’ daily P&L is contributed by market movements, new/amended trades and cost of carry. The magnitude of market movements are determined by changes in prices/values of existing trade positions. New and amended trade P&L is the summation of all gains or losses made on any new trade activity during the day. The cost of carry simply measures the opportunity cost of holding all new or old positions. A detailed analysis and reconciliation is then performed to verify if gains or losses coming through these various avenues are reasonable, valid and accurate. In order to do so, we need to possess a good understanding of the financial products traded by our traders, market news that affect product valuations as well as our traders’ investment strategy. Should there be any instances whereby we have questions or disagreements with the daily P&L numbers posted, we will work closely with traders, middle office, IT, operations and any other departments necessary to understand and resolve these issues. Therefore, as a Product Controller, a good chunk of our time is actually spent with the phone glued to our ears, discussing various issues with colleagues from other departments. Our work will then be channeled into reports to provide senior management with a good idea of the overall P&L across divisions, P&L movement trends, impact of market events and developments and the underlying financial risks and exposure that the firm has. Other departments such as Financial Control and Financial Accounting also utilize these reports downstream. Overall, Product Controllers serve an important control function to ensure that a true and fair view of our financial results is released to the public, shareholders and regulators.
How to sell yourself to a prospective employer 20th December The first and foremost key to doing well at an interview is to be confident, calm and collected. Only then would you be able to give the best account of your relevant strengths, skills and experience. The strongest credentials would count for nothing if you were so nervous that you couldn’t present yourself properly. Remember that employers always prefer candidates who are bright and confident over those who come across as nervy, uptight or insecure. Prepare, Prepare and Prepare Ensure that you prepare yourself adequately for the interview. Besides the bare essentials like preparing the appropriate attitude, being on time for the interview etc, I find preparing for some commonly asked questions particularly useful. Prepare your answers in such a way that it would lead in to areas which you want the interviewer to focus on, such as your relevant experiences, outstanding achievements and strengths etc. Furthermore, it is perhaps also wise to prepare a short introduction of yourself so that you don’t get stumped when the interviewer ask generic questions like “Tell me about yourself?”. Know the Company & Understand the Job Read up extensively on both the company and the specific job that you are applying for. Employers would normally ask how much you know about their business, so a good knowledge of the company would exemplify your desire to work for them. Understanding the nature of the specific role is even more paramount as it would allow you to put yourself in the employers’ shoes and understand the kind of qualities and skill sets they are looking for. Once you recognize what they are looking for, you would be able to position yourself in the best possible light to impress them. Strengths, Attitude & Desire Highlight your strengths and skill sets, especially those that are most relevant to the job. Beyond skills, employers are also concerned about candidates’ attitude so you would do well to show that you have the right attitude and hunger to learn and that you are the kind who always goes the extra mile to get things done. |
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