Wednesday 27 April 2016

Best Finance Courses at Imarticus Learning

Nowadays, finance is rising a sector. Lots of job opportunities are coming up this sector which gives career opportunities for young generation in the Finance sector.

 If you are planning to enter into the finance world, then below is a list of finance courses offered at Imarticus learning, which will help you to boost your career in Finance

 Financial Analyst Program :
 This program will help you to develop an outstanding quantitative and analytical skills for careers in all areas of Corporate Finance including Investment Banking and Equity Research. Comprising a unique training methodology…more info

Certified Investment Banking Operations Professional:(CIBOP) This program helps you to explore your careers in the Capital Market Operations division within an Investment Bank. In this program, you will gain in-depth understanding of complex financial products and their Trade Lifecycles, along with Operational Risk and Regulations….more info

Advance Diploma in Wealth Management This program will help you explore careers in Financial Advisory and Relationship Management and become Wealth and Relationship Advisors across Indian and Global Banks, Broking and Wealth/Investment Management firms….more info

Financial Modelling & Valuation Certification This course helps professionals who are looking for fast growing career in n Corporate Finance across various Financial Services roles like M&A, Private Equity, Equity Research, Business Analysis, Business Modelling, Start Ups, Budgeting, Financial Control and Financial Operations….more info

To know more about finance and investment banking course visit Imarticus learning

Source: https://imarticuslearningblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/best-finance-courses-at-imarticus-learning/

Tuesday 26 April 2016

Imarticus Learning : Nail the Interview via Practicing a Mock One


Mock interview is an emulation of a job interview used for training purposes. The interview tries to resemble a real interview as closely as possible. A mock interview provides candidate with an opportunity to test out their interview skills with someone who isn’t evaluating them for an actual job. Mock job interviews, also known as practice interviews, are a great way to prepare for the real thing. A mock interview helps you learn how to answer difficult questions, develop interview strategies, improve your communication skills and reduce your stress before an actual job interview.

Experts and trainers from Imarticus Learning are telling some of the benefits of Mock Interview:


  • Reduces stress and anxiety – Being anxious prior to an interview is normal, no matter if you’re already an employee, unemployed or a student. But, you can make it simple as you practice answering difficult questions and talking about your objectives in rehearsal period.
  • Boosts confidence level – When you relieve your distress, you become more confident. The mock interview offers you a delightful chance to test drive your interview skills and knowledge about the field.
  • Comfortable with common questions – We know that all interviews are different but there are some common questions that a mock interview enables you to get used to. At times, these common questions are most difficult to answer.
  • Provides constructive feedback – A mock interview renders you feedback on your performance which can be usedfor preparing for future job interviews. It always feels nice to hear about your strengths, but here the most significant thing is to know about your weaknesses so that you can work on them.
  • Body language – Body language is an important factor in the job hunting process. It can make or break the interview. The mock interview can aid you in terms of gesture and career etiquette. Mock interview exercises make you perfect on how to enter in interview room, wish the interview panel, depart after the session and such other related stuff.

 Now go on and practice the mock interview so that you can nail that real interview of yours!

Source: https://imarticuslearning.wordpress.com/2016/01/15/imarticus-learning-nail-the-interview-via-practicing-a-mock-one/

Monday 25 April 2016

Culture in Start-ups


Start-ups are high growth and inherently stressful. 2015 was the year when the Indian startup industry bloomed as well as got a reality check. A critical ingredient is hiring the right people at the get go, ones that not only have the right skillsets but also fit in nicely into the overall company culture. But what makes up the culture in a start-up?

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Why you need a strong culture?
Culture guides discretionary behaviour and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unprecedented service request. It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our goof-ups. The culture tells employees what to do when the CEO isn’t in the room. While the work itself may be gruelling, the culture should be designed to alleviate work related stress and sustain employee enthusiasm.
You are not your perks!
Many people confuse “culture” with, basically, freebies on offer at the workplace. Ex-Google employees reminisce fondly of subsidized massages, afternoon volleyball breaks, bowling alleys and basketball courts and free food. But as much as Google’s headquarters brim with on-site benefits, the true formula behind their success lies in the intangible: an organizational culture that is the archetype for every company across all industries. Perks seem great at the start, but they tend to lose their luster over time, leaving you with nothing substantial to engage and excite. Additionally, many startups lack the capital to offer these types of perks, let alone sustain them over time, putting them at a disadvantage compared to their larger, more established competitors. Finally, perks and incentives are, by their nature, a manifestation of the core values of an organization.

80% of a company’s culture will be defined by its core leaders
In a startup, the founders define the culture. As a founder, the things that set you apart become your company’s competitive advantages in hiring. The earlier you think through and articulate what makes you different from other people — whether it’s an attitude or a skillset — the better you’ll be able to take advantage of these qualities from a business perspective. Vipul Parekh of BigBasket says, “Founders need to drive the right behaviours by demonstrating what they are and by the type of people they recruit and the practices they reward.”
When Facebook first started to grow, Mark Zuckerberg spent time asking other CEOs about some of the things they did early on at Microsoft, Apple, and others to establish culture and explain to people what it meant to work there. One of the most poignant pieces of advice he got was to write down a succinct list of what it meant to be “one of us.”
When Molly Graham joined Facebook in 2008 as the Chief Operating Officer, with 400 employees serving 80 million users, she was tasked with not only being the external face of the company but also building a shared vision and identity in the midst of tremendous growth at Facebook. For Facebook and Graham, culture was all about staying true to the company’s early identity and giving people the momentum to stay creative through hyper-growth.  She started by asking two questions:
1) Who do we want to be when we grow up?
2) How do we talk to people outside about what it’s like to work at Facebook?

What are your core values?
Values can have deep and lasting meaning for people, giving them a higher purpose. If you are a founder of a start-up evaluating your own culture, ask yourself:
  • What are my strengths?
  • What am I outstanding at?
  • What do I value in the people around me?
  • When I look at my friends, what is the characteristic they all have in common?
  • What qualities in a person drive me crazy/ are intolerable?
  • What am I bad at?
  • What would I want written on my tombstone?
According to Rand Fishkin, CEO and founder of Moz, “If you’re trying to figure out what a company’s values really are, look at the decisions management makes when lots of money, risk, or loss of face for executives is at odds with the stated values. Want to know the company’s mission & vision? Look at what they’ve intentionally chosen not to do, even though it could be lucrative.”

Intangibles that really define the work culture
Founders really enjoy running start-ups because of the autonomy and freedom to do their own thing. Why not ensure this thrill goes down all the way to the most junior employees?A great startup culture also allows for a more inclusive dialogue between employees at all levels. For instance, CEO and Founder of Invention Labs, Ajit Narayanan, insists on having a strategy retreat every quarter where everyone right down to the office boy participates.
No one has all the answers ever. A company where only the management makes all the decisions is a sure fire way to send your gifted employees to your competitors. Companies have greater success when employees are given autonomy and decision making power that isn’t governed by hierarchy. Interestingly, in India, even though a workplace may be “informal”, most would agree that decision making is still hierarchical and a “Your boss is always right” mentality still very much persists, which needs to be done away with.
Resilience, or the ability to reframe challenges and minimize the negative impacts of stress, is a critical component of any start-up culture. There are bound to be setbacks, fights and struggles. A resilient culture gives employees the tools to stay strong in the face of challenges and to bounce back from obstacles and the natural roller coaster experience of working at a startup.
We all know that employees need to be appreciated for their achievements, but companies with outstanding cultures encourage risk taking, and, yes, more mistakes. More risk, while intimidating, means more fresh ideas that may be what a company needs rise to the next level. A fearless office culture, where employees can come forth with their errors without fear of reprisal, is always appreciated and encourages everyone to think out of the box. When Googler Sheryl Sandberg made a mistake that cost Google several million dollars, she admitted her error to co-founder Larry Page, whose response sums up the company’s attitude on failure: “I’m so glad you made this mistake,” he said. “Because I want to run a company where we are moving too quickly and doing too much, not being too cautious and doing too little. If we don’t have any of these mistakes, we’re just not taking enough risk.”
Communication is equally important. If you don’t know why you get out of bed each day to go to work, neither will anyone else. Tell everyone what you value, why you value it, and make sure you actively follow through by acting on it.
Lead by example – However charismatic you may be at articulating your vision and values, it will fall on deaf ears soon if you do not truly live your words. What you do is more important than what you say. If you want your staff to be punctual, be punctual yourself.
Being transparent is another trait all startup cultures aspire to. So is ownership. Board meetings are held in front of the whole company. Opening up sensitive information for all to see enables the dissatisfaction to be open as well—and then resolved.
Finally, in order to sustain the hard-won work culture, we also need to ensure we retain employees and continue to attract skilled employees who share your common values. A water-tight hiring and selection process to check for qualification as well as cultural fit is a must.
Start early!
The earlier a culture is defined and set, the better – ideally when you are 10 members or less. Many first-time startup founders struggle to devote time to define their culture from the beginning, only to come to the painful realization that culture certainly has an impact on the operational side of business.
Imarticus Learning is one such start up company that has grown to achieve many accolades such as being a Leader in SAS & Python training, being #1 among top 5 big data and Hadoop training institutions, Education Excellence awards, and more. Imarticus offers financial analyst courses and business analytics courses in India.
Source: http://imarticus.org/culture-in-start-ups

Friday 22 April 2016

Trade Life Cycle – The Process of Buying & Selling, by Abhinit Kumar.


What is a trade?

Trade is a process of buying and selling any financial instrument.

Just like any other product even a trade has its life cycle involving several steps, as those with a career in investment banking know.

What are the Steps involved in a Trade Life Cycle?



Overview of the Process

1. Sale –

This is a process of client acquisition in which HNIs or Institutional clients are introduced to various investment products or vehicles.
These vehicles or products are available with an Investment Manager or Bank by whom the client’s investments are managed.
The investments are collectively called a Mutual or a Hedge fund.


2. Trade Initiation and Execution –

This is the process of placing an order in the market.
Trade Initiation and Execution can be done both at Order and Quote driven markets.
This depends on the choice of market place and on the external platform.
Once order is placed and it gets matched, the trade is said to be executed.



3. Trade Capture –

Trades are then booked internally in a FO system for it to flow down to the operation systems.
It is booked in a Risk Management System (RMS)


4. Trade Validation and Enrichment – Reference data team sets up the static and dynamic details which helps middle office teams to validate the trade, before releasing instructions into the market.

Repository for data management




5. Trade Confirmation –

This is an extremely critical step for the trade settlement.
Trade details and SSIs are agreed with counterparty at least a day prior to settlement date.
Confirmation via depositories like Euro clear/DTCC


6. Trade Settlement – This is the process of simultaneous exchange of cash versus securities for a security trade or cash versus cash for a Derivative trade.

7. Reconciliation – Reconciliation involves matching ledgers against statements to ensure correct accounting of all trade booked.

A pictorial representation of the steps.



If you are looking for career in investment banking, get to know more about the trade life cycle through a focused training and this blog could be a good starting point.

Source: http://imarticus.org/trade-life-cycle/

Monday 18 April 2016

Imarticus - Leader Speak - Suresh Rao, Faculty and Senior Admissions Officer

“One of my drivers is to inspire the youth and give them the extra edge through teaching, mentoring & help them succeed.” 
Suresh Rao, Faculty and Senior Admissions Officer, Imarticus has 11 years of experience in investment banking and treasury operations in companies like JP Morgan, Nomura, Lehman Brothers and ABN Amro. Suresh has successfully set up complex middle office and critical treasury functions such as corporate actions, reference data and derivative settlements across equity derivatives and cash equities products, supporting EMEA in multiple regions across USA. His specialized knowledge is invaluable in creating and developing a marquee industry relevant curriculum at Imarticus. Suresh holds a postgraduate management degree from Welingkar Institute of Management with a specialization in finance.

Imarticus offers comprehensive industry specific training programs in various sectors such as Financial Services.. Our first program focuses on training and providing career options within the Investment Banking industry, an attractive career choice that is currently inaccessible to many due to lack of awareness and relevant skills. An industry relevant curriculum, distinguished faculty, innovative learning methodology and a strong relationship with the industry are our key strengths. Imarticus has been formed to bridge the gap between academia and industry by providing the knowledge and skill sets which are essential in today’s competitive working environment. Through our programs, we aim to elevate the skill levels of our aspiring students and job seekers thereby increasing their employability and relevance to the industry at large.

Replying to Anil Mascarenhas of IIFLSuresh Rao says, “One of my drivers is to inspire the youth and give them the extra edge through teaching, mentoring & help them succeed.”

Earlier, people used to often wonder why academicians with all their knowledge do not move on to become professionals. In your case we find the reverse the happening. What is bringing about this shift? 
The overall focus of education is changing where students and colleges are realizing that general education does not cut it today and there is a huge need for specialized knowledge. This specialized and industry specific knowledge is what experienced professional like me have. In addition, I think the concept of giving back to the society is a lot more prevalent now and more and more people want to train and mentor young professionals

What is driving some professionals to become academicians?
Personally, I don’t think academicians or teachers have been given enough recognition in our country. Having worked in the corporate world for 11 years, I have gained immense knowledge about our industry but it is pointless if you don’t unlearn and give appropriate skills to the community. One of my drivers is to inspire the youth and give them the extra edge through teaching, mentoring & help them succeed. This way it’s a win-win situation, where students get the brightest and the best jobs in the market and corporates are happy with the skilled pool of resources.

What made you switch from being a corporate professional into an academician?
I have spent many years in large corporates and was looking for a change that would enable me to interact with the young upcoming generations. I feel I’ve had a successful career and now I am in a position to mentor the youth and help them realize their potential.

What are the opportunities here and what would you imagine are your major challenges?
With this successful model in Investment Banking, similar opportunities exist in other sectors of the industry. Major challenge is the lack of awareness about job specific skills which are required to succeed.

What is your view on money? To what extent do you find this financially
rewarding?
Money obviously is important but not the end all. 

There is no doubt the respect commanded by academicians is much more than most corporate professionals. How has your experience been?
Respect is a tricky word! I think any professional who does well and is at the top of his field deserves to be respected.  This is no different for academicians or corporates. My personal experience in teaching has been particularly rewarding and I am looking forward to a long-term career in the education industry.

Investment banking industry is not as exciting as it used to be a couple of years ago? Are you still seeing a lot of interest here? Do you have a regular faculty for investment banking?
Yes, Investment Banking as an industry is undergoing transformational change since the crisis started in 2008. Investment banks are still to adjust to the ‘new normal’. In a constrained operating environment the only certainty is increased regulation & thereby increased pressure to generate revenues which in-turn impacts the return on equity. Economies experiencing rapid growth like we see in emerging markets, with little well established competition, offer exciting opportunities for investment banks.

India has a unique opportunity to further help to cut down on costs due to its offshoring capabilities. Almost all the big Investment Banks globally have their captive centres in India, servicing global markets, clients & their trading operations. Demand for such jobs are high but require highly specialized skill & knowledge to perform the same.

Do you offer placements? What is the salary range one can expect in India and abroad after successfully completing your course?
Yes, we offer placements through strong domain knowledge training & career preparation modules. Typical salaries offered in India could range from 3.5 lacs to 6 lacs depending on the educational qualification & work experience of an individual & not to mention market dynamics.

Give us a brief idea about the course structure and fees.
CIBOP & CIBIF is Rs. 85000 & CIBIT is Rs. 1,25,000 exclusive of taxes. Installment schedules can be organized.

What kind of certification do you offer?
We have three industry endorsed certification programs – CIBOP (Certified Investment Banking Operations Professional), CIBIT (Certified Investment Banking Information Technology Professional) & CIBIF (Certified Investment Banking International Finance Professional)

Having come from a professional world, what are the other aspects – you have realized- which are vital for a successful career? (Like personality development, writing).
Some of the key aspects one should look at are -self-awareness, strong fundamentals, clarity of thought, articulation in concise form while speaking or writing, continuous improvement mindset, networking, aligning oneself to company’s overall goal, maturity & humility.

- See more at: http://www.indiainfoline.com/article/research-leader-speak/suresh-rao-faculty-and-senior-admissions-officer-imarticus-38317279_1.html#sthash.vsE0GtNm.dpuf