Product Controller vs Risk Analyst vs Business Analyst

Question

What are the difference between the 3? I got offers from some investment banks for those roles. Which ones are middle office and which ones are back office? Which one will you choose?

thanks

Answer 1

I am not sure about product controller but have a fair idea of risk analyst and business analyst.

Risk analyst focuses his/her analysis or research in the Risk Management front. As you are speaking of Investment banks, this has to be primarily Credit risk (Risk of the borrower going default) on bonds issued by companies and on the Financial risk (understanding the volatility in return due to exposure in variaous financial asset classes).

Business Analyst will have the analysis focuessed on understanding the business and strategy of a company or a group of companies in an industry. It is more like marketing research / secondary research. Probably some simple segmentation and marketing or risk models have to be built. But again, it depends on company to company.

As a rule of thumb, every Risk Analyst can be categorized as a Business analyst with a specified arae of analysis. Whereas Business Analyst is a generic designation and the work profile varies from company to company.

I am currently working as a Marketing Analyst. In my case, the focus is on marketing. So better check out the exact profile of Business analyst.

Coming to the question of choosing from any of the three, I would reject all of them. You must be aware of the problems being faced by the Investment Banks across the globe. I think it is a wrong time to enter. If I am forced to make a choice, I'll go with Risk Analyst as in the time of economic turmoil, there will be renewed focus on risk management and underwriting pricniples.

All the Best.