Business Knowledge for IT in Investment Banking [Paperback]

essvale corporation limited (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2006

IT professionals need business knowledge in today's fast-paced financial landscape to deploy and maintain business-critical systems. This book gives the IT professional an insight into the business world of investment banking. It contains 12 chapters that cover: a description of business divisions for full-service and boutique investment banks; trends in investment banking; overview of the asset classes; the trading life cycle and how it maps to the software development life cycle; an overview of the systems from notable vendors that are used for trading, risk management and compliance; a description of the major players in the industry; and skills demanded by employers. The authors have carefully selected topics for discussion that ensure a wide coverage of the business knowledge required to get readers up to speed with the exciting business of investment banking. "Business Knowledge for IT in Investment Banking" is an invaluable handbook for professionals working in investment banking and crossovers. It is targeted at IT professionals such as: Project Managers; Application developers; Development Managers; Test Managers; Business Analysts; Data Analysts; Systems Analysts; Test Analysts; Support Analysts; Database Administrators; and HR staff responsible for IT recruitment. Post graduate and under graduate students in Information Technology - related degree courses will also find this book useful. This is the first publication in the "Bizle Professional" series. It is also the first of its kind that addresses the misalignment of IT and business and contains region-specific content.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This small book is a literary goldmine of information. The first in a series of publications in the Bizle Professional series aimed at bridging the knowledge gap between the IT professional and the business community.A website is in preparation for the series and the first page is at http://www.bizle.biz. From my review of the book it most certainly fulfils its aim as far as investment banking is concerned.Even for those not seeking to extend their IT career into the finance sector this is a superb little reference guide. In terms that even I can understand it describes the structure of today's money markets, the language of banking, what the different types of investment and dealing are all about and how the major players stack up against each other.The second half of the book examines the major developments in IT in support of the banking sector - Sarbanes Oxley, Basel2, MiFID, IAS39 (look it up!) and so on. It reviews the principal software suites available and then maps the software development lifecycle against the business processes that IT supports.The book has nuggets of 'gold' throughout and I learnt a lot. For instance, there is a piece describing the treatment of the decimal point in foreign exchange currency transactions, a description of MDDL (Market Data Definition Language), FpML (Financial products Markup Language) and something called the RTCE or Reuters Tick Capture Engine - a device for analysing market data. A helpful Glossary of Terms completes the book.Even if you just want a book that de-mystifies the world of investment banking you could not do better than this. For the IT professional I would say it is a must. For those moving into the sector it is a superb primer, for the rest of us in IT it adds to our knowledge and enhances our understanding of the particular challenges of this increasingly important market.Alan Pollard FBCS CITP**********************************************************************This is the maiden publication in the Business Knowledge and IT Professional series. It is an unusual book which aims to bridge the perceived gap in business knowledge between IT professionals and the business community. Each chapter is clearly introduced which enables the reader to easily target particular areas of interest.The book is aimed inter alias at software developers, development managers, managers working in investment banks, database administrators, business analysts, postgraduate and undergraduate students. This is a wide audience, with very different needs and backgrounds. If the text's aims are met it will be a significant achievement indeed.The initial chapters spend time developing the background of investment banking. This is really unavoidable in a conversion-type text such as this. Topics such as asset classes, the business environment, trends in investment banking, foreign exchanges and the trading life cycle are addressed in turn. The latter chapter being significant, as this forms a major link to the later chapters. The style is lucid and easily accessible. The content however is rather introductory and the interested reader will need to follow up the concepts introduced in more weightier volumes. Nonetheless, the content is extremely useful and will serve as a helpful quick reference point.The remaining chapters address the IT perspective, beginning with common systems used in the investment banking industry together with helpful selection criteria. The systems considered include for example Calypso, SAP for Banking and Fidessa. A brief summary of these and others is provided. The next chapter is very important, for here the link is made between the Systems Development Life Cycle and the Trading Life Cycle--this is given a solid overview but is very task orientated and too brief. Next, project types and data types are identified with a glossary of terms following. The text closes with a look at some methodologies and a checklist of skills requirements for those interested in connecting the areas of IT and investment banking effectively.This is an ambitious text and almost inevitably "falls between two stools". Its content is useful but not advanced. What it does well is to introduce concepts clearly and link IT needs effectively. It is packed with useful information, ranging from where the major World Stock Market indexes are located, defining hedge funds, credit ratings, derivative lists to foreign exchange transactions on the business side, and from defining middleware, the software development life-cycle, data testing to selected methodologies on the IT side. For the interested reader there is a fairly comprehensive reference list and a set useful websites to support study in greater depth. Where the book really does succeed is in introducing a lot of new ideas quickly, in a clear and ordered style. The linking of IT and investment banking is also relatively successful, but given that it is IT professionals who will supposedly be reading it, this side could have been more ambitious.It is a text that will be particularly appropriate for the busy IT manager wishing to get a quick insight into the investment banking sector. It is not really a postgraduate text although some conversion courses might find it helpful. It would certainly be of interest to undergraduate business students who are not majoring in banking and finance. MBA and also Masters' in Business Information Technology students might find it useful too, given that it offers easily accessible background information and will suit the conversion nature of many of these courses.Overall, this is a well-written book which is well worth reading. However, it should be borne in mind that the text is designed as a handbook and is not technical, so further reading is essential to do justice to the principal.Stuart J. Fitz-Gerald,Kingston Business School, Kingston University, Surrey KT2 7LB, UK *********************************************************************Coming soon .www.bizle.biz, the definitive online networking portal dedicated to the alignment of IT and business across industry sectors. Features to include news, chartrooms, articles, job board and much more.For more information please contact us on [e-mail]

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Essvale Corporation Limited (April 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0955412404
• ISBN-13: 978-0955412400
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,770,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Highly Disappointed, March 25, 2011

By 

Hari S. Narayanan "nhsrikanth" (Basking Ridge, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Business Knowledge for IT in Investment Banking (Paperback)

Really looking for something in the lines of what this book purports to do. Provide knowledge of Investment Banking in a way that is relevant to IT Professionals. What I saw was a mish-mash of superficial content. You would be better served by Wikipedia.

What could have been there,

(1) Detailed discussion on organizational structure of Investment Banking (Asset Management).

(2) Slightly more detailed treatment of various securities.

(3) Concept of Front Office, Middle Office, Back Office and associated systems (eg. Trading and Trade compliance, Portfolio Management, Performance Measurement, Corporate Actions, Pricing, Investment Data Warehouse and Master Data Management etc.)

(4) High level data models (Securities, Portfolios, Benchmarks, Trades, Holdings, Performance data, etc.)

(5) More detailed explanation on specific topics like Post Trade Compliance, STP etc.

(6) Some case studies

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Flimsy, December 7, 2007

By 

Richie Etwaru "RE" (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Business Knowledge for IT in Investment Banking (Paperback)

This book was not valuable. I have 10+ years in the space. Even in my first year, I had learned more than this book delivered. It was overpriced and never delivered.

I would suggest that unless you have never heard of IT and you want an understanding of it in the context of Investment Banking, DO NOT bother to engage this compilation.

-Richie Etwaru