Careers In Managing Money

Professions in finance have always been popular. But specialist handling of financial assets is now picking up speed in India. It's the new wave to ride
Scott Turow, a writer of legal fiction, makes one of his characters compare an actuary to a bookie, because both professions deal with the odds behind any event. In India, the odds will be in the favour of your resume if you have a background in actuarial sciences. With corporate profiles branching into specialised jobs, a knowhow in this and some other disciplines, can lead to a sharper career graph
Tacticians. After chartered accountants and company secretaries, the new kid on the block is the certified financial planner (CFP). A CFP deals with different financial aspects of a firm, including insurance planning, risk management, retirement planning, wealth creation and budgeting, all of which are the key to a company’s financial health. “Even a course or certificate in financial planning can give a person the knowledge base and competence to take on higher responsibilities within a firm,” says Brijesh K. Dalmia, a Kolkata-based planner.
Authorised education providers, under the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) of India, offer CFP courses. The one to three-year distance learning programmes cover all the relevant areas such as insurance, retirement planning, taxation, estate planning, cash flow management, debt management and financial plan construction.
“Ideally, an MBA/CA/Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) with an insurance specialisation, alone or in combination, gives you a broad understanding of the investment instruments and options, as well as their applications,” says Dalmia
Asset managers. This is another field that can add to your profile apart from being a career option by itself. Asset management companies, by definition, deal with a wider range of investments than is feasible for individual investors, thus, increasing the possibility of returns and minimising costs. Demand for these services is rising in India as individual investors are seeking better returns. Most institutions offering post-graduate diplomas in management also have asset and investment management modules. These include ICFAI University, Hyderabad, and Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), Kolkata
Risk assessers. Which brings us to actuaries, who provide professional services in investment and financial sectors ranging from life insurance to health and general insurance, and employee retirement and benefit planning. Actuaries deal with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. “Indian companies, leaving aside those derived from abroad where actuaries are part of a long tradition, have opened up to the concept of having actuaries who assess factors which are considered fundamentally uncertain,” says Sanchit Maini, actuary, Max New York Life Insurance. “The calculation of risks involved in insurance decisions are crucial to any firm. So having a base or grounding in the actuarial sciences is a good decision for any employee,” he adds.
Being an amalgam of applied mathematics and statistics, a course in actuarial sciences requires at least 85 per cent in Mathematics or Statistics at the 10+2 level, or a graduation or post-graduation in Mathematics, Statistics or Econometrics. Moreover, an engineer, CA, CS, an MBA in finance or an MCA is automatically eligible to join this course.In India, the Institute of Actuaries of India, Mumbai, offers a course in actuarial sciences.Bankers. Of all the disciplines in the banking sector, investment bankers have emerged in a significant way. Just as the CFP’s words of wisdom are sought by companies, investment bankers literally hold the purse strings by providing independent advice on investment. Investment banking involves advising companies (and government bodies) on transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, raising money by issuing and selling securities in the capital markets.In India, several institutions provide certificate courses in investment banking as part of their overall banking curriculum. These include the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF), Mumbai, National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Pune, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Madras University, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai. “Investment banking as an independent course is picking up in India. In professions like these, demand usually fuels more courses exclusively with this specialisation. Most universities or institutes club it with other banking courses,” says Arindam Mukherjee, a consultant with a major bank with a background in investment banking. “But opting for a specific course in investment banking does pay long-term dividends,” he adds. One of the most obvious, as Mukherjee discovered, was that a background in investment banking helps a professional with virtually any specialisation in dealing with the banking sector or investment branches of corporate groups. A grounding in the field also helps in dealing with capital markets and grooms an employee for possible openings in areas that involve working with equity and debt capital markets. “In effect, if you have an investment banking course or training tucked into your resume, your versatility and operational effectiveness increases in the eyes of your employers or, in case you are a consultant, with your clients,” Mukherjee remarks.With the economy coalescing and evolving, having a background in these disciplines are proving to be one of the surest ways of getting a hand on those positions one seeks