Investment Banking

Investment Banking is that division of the banking operations and financial services that serves companies, institutes, governments, and individuals to raise capital and provide them with financial consultancy services. Primarily, the investment banking division deals with the creation of capital and providing financial assistance to individuals, companies and governments by underwriting and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) consultancy services.

Investment banks act as intermediaries between investors and corporations, governments, and other groups. Investment banks may also provide services such as sales and trading, market-making, equity research, asset management, and commercial and retail banking apart from M&A advisory and underwriting. Invest banks do not take deposits. Their activities are majorly classified as either the ‘sell-side' or the ‘buy-side'. Investment banking can be broken down into three categories, i.e. front office, middle office, and back office activities.

Front Office: The front office is that part of investment banking that drives revenue generation.

Middle Office: The middle office is the section that is related to treasury management, and internal controls and supports the process of revenue generation.

Back Office: The final functions happen at the back office. It checks the trades that have been conducted and ensures the correct transactions. It includes roles such as accounting, compliance, information technology, etc.

Investment Banking Courses

Check out the table below to know some of the popular courses for investment banking.

Investment Banking Eligibility and Investment Banking Exams

The eligibility criteria may vary from course to course. Take a look below to know the various investment banking exams and their eligibility criteria:

• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA): CFA exam is conducted by the US-based CFA institute. It is a professional degree course that prepares the students to be effective and ethical investment management professionals. CFA course is divided into three levels of exams. The eligibility criteria to pursue CFA is the following
  • The candidate must hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent from a recognised university
  • The candidate must have at least four years of professional experience
  • The candidate must hold an international travel passport
• AMU Entrance Exam: Aligarh Muslim University Entrance Exam (AMU entrance exam) is an exam conducted by AMU for various undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The eligibility criteria are as follows:

Undergraduate Level:

-Candidates should have completed Class 12 or equivalent from a recognised board

-They must have scored at least 55% aggregate including English and Accounts

-They must have studied any of the two subjects from Economics, Business Studies, Business Organisation, Commerce, Banking, Entrepreneurship, Mathematics and/or Statistics

Postgraduate Level:

-Candidate must hold a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field

-He/She must have scored at least 55% aggregate

• URAT PG: University of Rajasthan Admission Test is conducted by the University of Rajasthan from admission to various post graduate courses. Admissions are offered to courses under Humanities, Management, Teaching, Law, Science, IT & Software, Commerce, Arts (Fine/ Visual/ Performing), Mass Communication and, Banking & Finance fields. The eligibility criteria is as follows:

-Candidates must have completed a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field

-They must have scored at least 55% aggregate of all subjects

-Candidates belonging to the reserved category will be given 5% relaxation, i.e. they must have scored at least 50% aggregate of all subjects

• Lucknow University Associated Colleges Management Admission Test (LUACMAT): LUACMAT is conducted for admission to various courses offered by the Lucknow University. The eligibility criteria is as follows:

-Candidates must have completed Class 12 from a recognised board

-They must have secured a minimum of 50% aggregate (45% for reserved categories)

Investment Banking Skills

Candidates who wish to choose investment banking as their career path must possess the following skillsets:

Investment Banking Syllabus

The curriculum of investment banking varies from one college to another. Some common investment banking subjects that are taught in an investment banking course are:

Top Colleges For Investment Banking Career

Check out the list of top colleges for investment banking career:

Investment Banking Scope and Job Profiles

The experience in the investment banking sector holds a lot of value. The experience earned at the intern level is valuable as much as the experience earned at the senior-level. Investment banking has a wide area of scope and is one of the most demanding sectors in the country. Check out the table below to know some of the job profiles that investment banking graduates can take up along with the average salary:

Top Investment Banking Recruiters

As mentioned above, investment banking is one of the most popular sectors of the country. Some of the top investment banking recruiters are mentioned below:

• Goldman Sachs
• Citigroup
• JP Morgan
• HSBC
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Morgan Stanley
• Credit Suisse
• Barclays
• UBS
• Accenture
• Wells Fargo