{"id":195894,"date":"2017-09-03T11:11:20","date_gmt":"2017-09-03T09:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=195894"},"modified":"2017-09-01T15:11:38","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T13:11:38","slug":"you-now-need-a-masters-degree-if-you-want-to-get-anywhere-in-south-african-finance-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/195894\/you-now-need-a-masters-degree-if-you-want-to-get-anywhere-in-south-african-finance-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"You now need a Master’s degree if you want to get anywhere in South African finance: experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year LinkedIn conducted an international analysis of the most promising finance careers<\/a><\/strong> of 2017.<\/p>\n

The analysis found that with high salaries and excellent career prospects, a job in finance continues to be an attractive option for graduates.<\/p>\n

This is only expected to increase as new technology infiltrates finance, with entirely new roles being created in the industry and the need for technical and quantitative skills growing.<\/p>\n

In South Africa, the field is highly competitive and is evolving quickly, said\u00a0representatives from Rand Merchant Bank, Old Mutual, Liberty Life, and Absa speaking at UCT’s Institute of Financial Markets and Risk Management (AIFMRM).<\/p>\n

The panel said that there is increasing demand for scarce skills, and this trend will likely continue, particularly in the current economic climate.<\/p>\n

This means undergraduate students need to buckle up, as a Master\u2019s degree is typically required at a minimum to work in this industry.<\/p>\n

These are four other top tips the banks and other financial institutions had while speaking at the AIFMRM event.<\/p>\n

\n

Instability in the economy is not the end <\/strong><\/p>\n

Asked whether instability in South Africa was a career death sentence, the panel was adamant in their unified answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never seen such a professional drive for quants (experts at analysing quantitative data),\u201d said Greg Mollentz, head of asset liability management at Old Mutual Specialised Finance.<\/p>\n

AIFMRM\u2019s Obeid Mohamed said industry developments post-2008 meant a growing demand for risk managers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, management has been playing catch-up. Quantitative skills are more important than ever in the risk management space,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRisk management is not only about adverse events but also about identifying opportunity and enabling business. Banks play a very important role in society; enabling transactions plays a big role in developing society. We must not only focus on the negative side.\u201d<\/p>\n

New skills are in demand \u2013 and they\u2019re evolving constantly<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fintech, machine learning, big data and blockchain are no longer just buzzwords but possible career choices in a rapidly-changing industry, said Co-Pierre Georg, senior lecturer at AIFMRM.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe financial service industry is changing. This will result in a fundamental change in how the economy works,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe demand will soon be inordinate for people with scarce skills that combine finance with modern technology. This will be the case in every environment where there is risk, for example where there is sensitive data that needs to be shared.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Georg, machine learning will be a core element of this shift and forms a crucial part of the MSc (Master of Science), where students learn to develop their own AI trading platforms or chatbot for customer service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been a massive breakthrough in technology over the past few years. The flip side is that every year or two, knowledge runs the risk of becoming outdated \u2013 it is essential to remain ahead. We are very fortunate to live in a time where we witness this change in the industry,” he said.<\/p>\n

\n

Read:\u00a0Expect uncertainty until the next general election in 2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Stay the distance<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not easy to study and work, and sometimes funding is scarce and this places heavy financial demands on students, said Lennox Masangane, risk models consultant at RMB.<\/p>\n

However he emphasised the importance of staying the distance. \u201cTry to stick it out with your studies for as long as you can – it is worthwhile,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In the last 10 years, Master\u2019s is the standard qualification you need to get into financial careers, especially if you want to climb the ranks,\u201d said David Taylor, founding director of the AIFMRM.<\/p>\n

What employers expect\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Employers\u00a0increasingly expect graduates to be work-ready as soon as they leave university. \u201cFirms are essentially looking for maturity of mind and attitude in new recruits,” said Taylor.<\/p>\n

“The technical sophistication of modern Financial Services roles, the speed at which the environment can change, and the breadth of knowledge and abilities required, means employers want recruits who do not need a year or more of post-employment immersion to begin to contribute in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n

“Somehow we have to slide students through a scale into people who sit down in their new jobs and start making money,” he said.<\/p>\n

He encouraged students to hone their professional skills early and to embrace internship opportunities.<\/p>\n

\n

Read: How many days you spend working to pay tax every year<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rand Merchant Bank, Old Mutual, Liberty Life, Absa and other major South African financial institutions have laid out four top tips that current and future employees in the financial sector need to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":146451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[12254,26],"class_list":["post-195894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-aifmrm","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195894"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196142,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195894\/revisions\/196142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}