I am talking to one of my acquaintances for a credit analyst position at an insurance company. I have a fairly good idea as to what a credit analyst does at a buy side firm but not sure how similar is this role at an insurance company. My guess is that ‘alpha’ at an insurance company means - don’t blow up. The focus would be on duration management and downside protection. Does anybody have a better idea about such a role. Also, would it be possible to move from such a role to buy side after a few years.
You are correct. Very slow and sleepy but great work/life balance.
krnyc2008 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You are correct. Very slow and sleepy but great > work/life balance. I intend to do my MBA (part time) starting next year. So stable work hours would help. Would buy side simply smirk at a credit analyst from an insurance company? For namesake, a kid working at a bank processing loans can call oneslef a credit analyst as well. I am not comparing loan processing to a credit analyst managing an internal liability benchmarked portfolio but my guess is that I wouldn’t be working on relative value/yield curve strategies either. Just trying to suss out as to what kind of learning oppurtunities would such a role offer.
I assume you are talking about credit analyst for an asset management arm/subsidiary of an insurance company, correct? If you are going to the place like Prudential, MetLife, they have their own asset management departments with groups covering virtually every FI asset class. It’s mostly buy and hold strategy, with a bigger emphasis on return OF the money than return ON the money. If you are interested in learning the fancy FI strategies, you’ll be disappointed. But if you are want to learn the pure credit analysis (whether High grade, High Yield or Structured products) the experience IMO would be on par with any other AM firm. I don’t really know how traditional AM firm view such experience – it’s my first job out of college and I haven’t started looking around yet. As far as doing part-time MBA, most of my coworkers are doing it that way. Once you are in the industry it just doesn’t make sense to go full-time and be out of the markets for two years. By the way, in my shop CFA is a must have, as most of analysts and senior people hold the charter.
I work for an insurer and interviewed for a jr position on this side. A credit analyst position is buy-side to me and is what I’d like to do (the company also manages mutual funds as well which these analysts and PM’s cover). We have two sides - the ‘fundamental’ insurance side (as described), and then a more active side which covers more relative valuation and comparison the the benchmark. Like has been said - great w/l balance - good pay - interesting work (for me, anyways).
Thanks krnyc2008 & jcole21. You guys are spot on. The role is quite similar to buy side. I had imagined a very tightly liability duration benchmarked portfolio with very little wriggle room in terms of credit but it is far from it. I don’t have any direct experience in credit analysis. I will refresh upon all the balance sheet and cash flow metrics used in credit analysis but I guess that this is only part of the story. Any tips on how to best prepare for the interview. Are there any good papers or books I could refer to.
oldmonk Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks krnyc2008 & jcole21. > > You guys are spot on. The role is quite similar to > buy side. I had imagined a very tightly liability > duration benchmarked portfolio with very little > wriggle room in terms of credit but it is far from > it. > > I don’t have any direct experience in credit > analysis. I will refresh upon all the balance > sheet and cash flow metrics used in credit > analysis but I guess that this is only part of the > story. > > Any tips on how to best prepare for the interview. > Are there any good papers or books I could refer > to. The one I had involved doing a case study on a company, and then pitching it. Keep it brief and succinct (especially when talking with PM’s - this is something I didn’t do as well as I should have). One question I saw on here that was asked (and I was ready for as a result) - was BS/IS/CF statement (for the fundamental side I went with BS, and then said secondarily the CF statement and kind of talked about why - didn’t get the job though so take it for what it’s worth).
Read the S&P book on Corporate Credit Analysis (I forget the exact title but it’ll tell you everything you need to know).