Does anyone work in the wonderful world of FS?

I have an interview with a client who sells into that sector and wondered if you could give me a guide as to which sites/forums/networking events are worth looking at to get some guidance on the sector.

Thanks all.

Can you be more specific?

What do you need to know? What type is questions are you expecting?

I am assuming that you are being interviewed by them for a role not the other way round

Retail or wholesale FS?

Sells what ? Products ? Structured ? Bonds ?

There is no real network as such that I’m aware of, the FT has a decent forum but it’s mainly regulatory/audit related.

Linked In maybe of use.

Yes I do (as do TMH and Bikebouy). Same question. What sector, retail or corporate/institutional. What products is the client selling ? What “info” are you trying to get, general background ?

Perhaps its financial technology you’re interested in? If so try Finextra

‘Financial Services’ is a mahoosively catch-all term. As others have said, if you can be a bit more specific it’d help.

OK, some context, the role is managing a team that is providing services into the FS arena, it’s not quite recruitment but similar to that.

What I need is some general industry knowledge, industry trends, that kind of thing, vague as it is. It’ll be working with a lot of wealth management companies as well as some of the big consultancies like EY, etc.

I’m being deliberately here so if that’s not enough info I’ll shuffle off and do some research elsewhere!

Ok, a bit more to go on.
Try the big recruitment agencies, Morgan McKinley produce bi-weekly analysis of recruitment in the industry and a monthly more in depth one too. Covers all sorts including rates/salaries, trends in Product sales, retail and WM bias it isn’t but it’ll help.
The Economist has a lot of data on industry trends.
The FCA will part with “generic” data but its trends and statistically driven analysis you have to pay for.
EY do their own, as do any of the Big Four and you’ll have to pay for that info.
Us Banker types do our own in house analysis, you’ll never get any of that released unless you’d like to see the annual return thats published and then do your own comparison analysis with other institutions.

There are some sharp trends curving at the moment, what ever you’ve seen on the past is no longer a stable benchmark.

Good advice from BB

In the same vein as consultants listen to what you tell them and then charge you for repeating it back to you, the Big 4 including EY produce reports on wealth management trends that are free to access. First call the EY oUtlook

http://www.ey.com/uk/en/issues/business-environment/financial-markets-and-economy/item—fs—asset-management

I would also get four week cheep trial to FT and access FTfm for some more specific and up-to-date comment

There a masses of reports out there – just google outlook for wealth management etc

Don’t mention it…… 😉

THM, BikeBouy, please excuse my rudeness, this is on my to do list for later this week and so i intended to refer back to the thread then.
But yes, thank you all, very useful.

No worries, hardly did anything.

Hope you find what it is you are looking for.

I was only teasing too, more interested/impatient to see how you get on.

Good luck BTW!!

There are some sharp trends curving at the moment,

My 2 cents

Industry trends. Massive decline, huge focus on cost reduction (reducing wages, increased automation). This is driven partly by regulatory changes since 2008 and partly by ultra low interest rate environment meaning its very hard to make money. As a result customers want lower fees. Also new products like ETFs mean more clients can “manage their own money” so don’t want / need much advice and won’t pay for it.

You might want to read up a bit about St James Place as an example of a comission based wealth management business. Then find some “big bank” type operations, eg HSBC or Barclays for example.

Wealth Mgmt is (IMO) a mid tier between basic banking and full Private Banking for truely rich

FYI. A lot of wealth mgmt went to Singapore when Europe tightened up rules / disclosure on offshore accounts.

Recruiting sounds like companies trying to hire/poach relationship managers (eg salespeople) who will bring their clients with them to new employer. Excuse my cynicism but been in finance for 30+ years.

Good luck.

A lot of wealth mgmt went to Singapore when Europe tightened up rules / disclosure on offshore accounts.

And with 1MDB and the Panama Papers in the news the MAS are getting very, very tough.

Compliance is where it’s at for a growth industry in the FS sector. More so than post it notes, that’s for sure…..

Serendipitous article noticed today which might be a good overview from an employment perspective in the sector:

https://www.thecityuk.com/assets/2017/Reports-PDF/uk-based-financial-and-related-professional-services-enabling-growth-across-the-uk.pdf

My thoughts are that if you pretend to know stuff you’ll be found out in a flash and be regarded as a fool.

The client knows you, so presumably values some of your strengths. And knows your weaknesses. So focus on what you know, and what you can do for them.

Happiness comes from doing something you like doing, and are good at.

But this comes from somebody who only a few years ago started building furniture with no previous experience. Tonight, as I left, my customer said I should be proud of myself. That’s worth more than the money.

You might want to read up a bit about St James Place as an example of a comission based wealth management business.

Commission? Commission?! Wash your dirty pre-RDR mouth. It’s an advice fee.

Compliance is where it’s at for a growth industry in the FS sector

This is a good point.

I am an old dinosaur IHN 😳 I am quite surpirsed they are the recommended advisors for Lottery winners.

Given the returns they seem to consistently generate for their clients, I’m not surprised to be honest.

I am with them, they domworse than I do independently. They tried to pit me into one of those pension / film / tax fiddles whuch haveblown up for all the footballers / media people. I declined as they could not show me even simple documentation to explain it, I told them I needed simple doc first then full prospectus. Theynwentnsilent. It was obviously a dodge