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career insight


www.efinancialcareers.com/students | Careers in Financial Markets 2014


35 Skills sought


While operations positions are very process- driven, which requires obsessive attention to detail, accuracy and consistency, it’s also an area that is surprisingly fast-paced, especially as banks are always grappling with new regulations and looking for ways to make their back office more efficient.


“You may face new issues and regulations, and may be assigned fast-changing priorities. You will need to stick to the policies and principles but, where necessary, be flexible enough to make changes,” says Shoko Mizuhaya, director, group operations manager, derivatives at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.


While operations professionals have few client- facing responsibilities, they are essentially ensuring the smooth running of the organisation and therefore any problems they solve help enhance the ‘client experience’.


Good communication skills are therefore important, because people in operations deal with many other divisions and functions within the bank. Would you be comfortable, for example, dealing with the demands of an impatient trader?


“It is equally necessary to have strong communication skills as the role requires reaching out to a number of stakeholders whose interests may not be the same as yours,” says Mizuhaya.


Even though operations professionals will not be managing money, they still need a keen sense of risk and reward, believes Kristi Tange, head of liquidity and collateral operations, EMEA, Goldman Sachs.


“Risk management is integral to everything we do - we look for individuals who are motivated to collaborate in the design of solutions for business processes, and display strong leadership and integrity,” she says.


Kristi Tange


Head of liquidity and collateral operations, EMEA,


Goldman Sachs


Risk management is integral to everything we do - we look for individuals who are motivated to collaborate with the design of solutions for business processes, and display strong leadership.


valentino Wotton


Managing director, Head of credit, loans, emerging markets business transactional services (BTS) and fixed income and FX transactional client services (TCS) operations, Barclays


Valentino graduated with an honours degree in law with French from Nottingham Trent University in 1999 and joined Barclays in 2008.


Operations is sometimes perceived to be one of the less glamorous areas of investment banking, but from my perspective there’s never been a more interesting time to work in the sector.


Operations, while being process-focused, is also a lot about team work – collaboration, adaptability and the ability to bring a fresh pair of eyes are all integral to success.


Operations teams are now playing a key role in shaping the future of the industry, which is evolving from both technological and regulatory points of view – it’s going from being a support function to an enabler of business change, and there are a diverse range of career opportunities available.


I manage teams globally, across the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia, and also have global oversight for operations supporting the Credit, Loans and Emerging Markets businesses. No day is ever the same, but it’s generally packed with meetings – both from


a strategy perspective, as well as checking in with my team to ensure everything is running smoothly.


Today, for example, I’ve met with the team to discuss emerging market trading operational performance, liaised with the technology department to discuss the progress of an ongoing IT change project, checked in with one of my direct reports to discuss any personal developments, and spent some time with an assistant vice president I’m mentoring.


It’s this diversity within the role and ability to lead and create teams that perform to a high standard that really drives me. Operations, while being process-focused, is also a lot about team work – collaboration, adaptability and the ability to bring a fresh pair of eyes are all integral to success.


Ultimately, anyone wanting to succeed in this field needs a keen attention to detail and has to be willing to question the way things are done. From the moment you’re brought into the organisation, you will be expected to take an active role in a range of projects, so you need to be comfortable multi-tasking. The ability to analyse problems and come up with new solutions is key to getting ahead in this sector.


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