What kind of job do you do? I get this question a lot especially from friends who are not working in the same industry. Because I tell them that I work in a bank, they would automatically assume that I work in a retail bank where the usual personal savings account and debit / credit card services are offered. Like most people, they would ask, "I've never heard of that bank before. How come I don't see any customers going in and out for deposits, and how come there are no tellers?"
A retail bank is only one of the many types of financial institutions in the world. There are investment banks, private banks, central bank, development banks, credit union, insurance and pre-need companies, brokerage firms, etc. Today I will share my experience in investment banking and private banking with you, and hopefully this will shed light on some of their differences.

What is Investment Banking?
Unlike your usual retail bank, an investment bank mainly helps companies access capital markets to raise funds. They act as an intermediary between corporations and financial markets. The main clientele per se are entities. They don't do individual deposits or loans. My past job was closely linked in securities trading. My day revolves around reconciliation of any event that will cause a price change in publicly traded stocks (in short, corporate actions). Our team works on dividends, mergers and acquisitions, rights issues, spin offs, etc. If you want to know more about my job in corporate actions, I'll make a separate entry next week.
In terms of the structure, an investment bank typically is divided into three functions namely:
- Front office / sales trading and research. They buy and sell (trade) products on behalf of the client. It could be commodities, securities, derivatives, and many more.
- Middle office / financial control (corporate treasury), and risk management. They ensure that the bank doesn’t engage in certain activities that could be detrimental to the overall health as a firm.
- Back office / operations and technology. They provide overall support to the front office so they could make money efficiently.
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