Interest Rate Derivatives

[keysersoze]

Hi Guys,

I had a question about an internship offer that you might be able to shed some light on. In this past i have had an equity trading internship, but this summer was offered an internship in Interest Rate Derivatives Sales. I was simply wondering maybe what the job entailed and how quantitative it was (even though it is sales), and what the career prospects were after doing something like this. Would i be able to get into trading or perhaps another sales role easily? How is it perceived on the street? I've looked around and haven't been able to find much. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[financeguy]

Hi Guys,

I had a question about an internship offer that you might be able to shed some light on. In this past i have had an equity trading internship, but this summer was offered an internship in Interest Rate Derivatives Sales. I was simply wondering maybe what the job entailed and how quantitative it was (even though it is sales), and what the career prospects were after doing something like this. Would i be able to get into trading or perhaps another sales role easily? How is it perceived on the street? I've looked around and haven't been able to find much. Any input would be appreciated.

in the foreseeable future, a job in interest rate derivative sales leads to just interest rate derivatives sales, maybe selling another asset class, but its pretty pigeonholing as are most sales/trading jobs on the street.. its much easier (though not that easy at all) to go from trading to sales than to go from sales to trading.. its quantitative in that you need to conceptually understand some quantitative concepts so you can communicate between trading and sophisticated clients, but your job wont be to do math.. its perceived well

 

[mfegrad]

it also depends on what shop it's with.

 

[keysersoze]

It's with a middle market firm. I figured the whole exit ops would be pretty standard, as you mentioned, sales is sales. It's just that it's one of those groups that aren't talked about much, as you can find tons of information on Equity/FICC sales, but when looking around for something regarding Interest Rates i couldn't come up with much.

 

[mfegrad]

what does ficc stand for?

edit: it's friday and i'm feeling friendly.

ficc = fixed income, currencies, and commodities.

if you're finding stuff on ficc sales, that's a good sign, as you'll fall under the fi part of that. rates derivatives, treasuries, swaps, credit (sometimes), mortgage and asset-backed (sometimes), etc. would all fall under fi.

 

[keysersoze]

Yeah, I know what FICC stands for haha, it's just that it seems that this might be a more niche part that. But i'll keep that in mind when searching.

 

[financeguy]

Yeah, I know what FICC stands for haha, it's just that it seems that this might be a more niche part that. But i'll keep that in mind when searching.

no this isnt really niche to be honest... interest rate derivatives are derivatives on fixed income products, i.e. very much part of the FI part of FICC and is a staple group that every major investment bank has.. for example, swaps fall into this category, which every major corporate uses to hedge their interest rate risk - it's very much mainstream and out in the open, not niche and not a group that isnt talked about much.. the only issue you'll have is the firm is middle market - better to be at a bulge bracket for this sort of stuff

 

[keysersoze]

I've been looking into it more and as you mentioned it seems that any major player has a interest rates derivatives group. Would you mind elaborating on the MM vs BB a bit?

 

[JulianT]

For the MM vs BB, my understanding is due to the over the counter aspect of swaps (for now at least) most clients prefer to deal with BB firms. It has to do with credit risk, it allows them to write that they deal only with reputable financial institutions in their financial reports, and provides them with comfort that their sales person knows their stuff. You'll also see a bigger deal flow in a BB firm.