I will be graduating in the Spring with an MBA in accounting/finance and will begin working as an investment banking associate in the Summer. I have toyed with idea of writing level 1 in June or Dec/08. I will only finish the MBA in April so attempting it in June would really be tight. December would give me more time but I also know I will be working insane hours. Are there any investment bankers here who have completed the CFA while working? How hard is it given the work hours? Also, will the CFA add any value for me given that I will be on the sell-side and at this point have no interest in doing equity research.
From what i understand, there’s not much value for a banker to have a CFA…the only value for you would be long term regarding exit opportunities. As for learning the material while you’re working, your hours are likely to get in the way (i’ve heard stories of people pretending to take a sh*t at work in order to find a few minutes to study), but if you have a good background from school, that will help minimize your study time. if you want to write LI, i suggest trying in june (it’s only $600 or so which is a fraction of what your first bonus will likly be)…
not very useful if you are a banker and probably you really wont find the time might come handy if you are thinking about not spending your entire life in IB but then you can always take it once you decide to switch (thats what I did)
You will have NO free time to study. The CFA is not an important credential in Investment Banking anyway. I recommend that you enjoy your free time while it lasts…
you would learn a fair bit outside of strict IB. I assume you are going to work in M&A orECM… You don’t need to do the CFA but neither do a large number of AF people. Worst case you lose your job and need another one. You are against another candidate with the same experience, however, they have the CFA…go figure…
Bambi, How long were you in banking and what type of work are you doing now? I’m concerned that if I wait until I do a switch in 3 or 4 years it will be a lot harder then to crack the books.
If you want to diversify in the sense that you are not sure iBanking is your future, it may be worth while. Otherwise your time is better spent working and networking.
From all I’ve read about IB, the answer is NO
The credential certainly won’t detract from your IB career and might even draw some positive attention. I’d contact your prospective employer and bounce the idea off them. Many IB Associate positions indeed wont’ allow time for study; you’ll have to determine what the trend is at your new place. The good news is that you’ll be able to (relative to the higher levels) sleepwalk through the L1 exam; the bad news is that might calibrate your expectations too low. BTW I’m in IB and make regular use of my cfa, but I have a pretty quantitative role in corporate finance.
Its interesting that some of you would comtemplate sacrificing 3-4 yrs of your life studying for something which you have no idea will actually benefit your career. Its even more interesting to hear about those who are about to start in IBD, having no real grasp of what it is they will be doing…
i would recommend the CFA simply because it opens up more doors for you in future if need be. however you will have to balance it with your time - if you can’t cope as an associate then it would be better to focus on work…
just a question: why do alot of you say a CFA is not needed/valued in the IB industry? i would’ve thought it would??
because IB is more sales and client servicing… CFA is traditionally seen as more analytical and suited to such professions (i.e. equities research or fund mgmt)…
IB is about mergers and acquisition - advisory work and IPOs. You dont study about greenshoe options or roadshows when studying for CFA…
I wouldn’t say that the CFA designation is “useless” for IB work. Truthfully, it may not add a lot of value early on, especially if you’re new to banking; however it does diversify your knowledge base and that is never a bad thing. It will add value for you down the line should you be pitching ideas down the line, for example, on a debt syndicate desk. You’d be interacting with buyside shops all day and knowing your stuff is important. Furthermore, it gives you better options for exiting the banking side into buyside roles as an analyst, etc.
Can you use I-banking working experience to count for CFA work experience?
ymc: first, pull the list of acceptable position descriptions from cfai. then try to guess how your IB position would line up. search “work experience” on L3 forum for relevant threads.
if u take a look at the list of a team at a PE firm, a decent amount of ppl have the CFA designation.
never been asked about CFA by a PE firm before on a pre-MBA level, PE firms care primarily about (1) your modeling skills; (2) your ability to diligence potential investments; and (3) your deal experience on a post-MBA level, PE firms care prpimarily about (1) your relationships; (2) your ability to diligence potential investments; and (3) your deal experience think about who PE/IB firms recruit on a pre-MBA basis and that should answer your question about whether they care about the CFA designation
numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > think about who PE/IB firms recruit on a pre-MBA > basis and that should answer your question about > whether they care about the CFA designation Can you clarify what you mean by this statment please?