Investment banking
s the traditional aspect of investment banks
which also involves helping customers raise funds in
capital markets and giving advice on mergers and
acquisitions (M&A). This may involve subscribing
investors to a security issuance, coordinating with
bidders, or negotiating with a merger target.
Another term for the investment banking division is
corporate finance, and its advisory group is often
termed mergers and acquisitions. A pitch book of
financial information is generated to market the
bank to a potential M&A client; if the pitch is
successful, the bank arranges the deal for the
client. The investment banking division (IBD) is
generally divided into industry coverage and product
coverage groups. Industry coverage groups focus on a
specific industry, such as healthcare, industrials,
or technology, and maintain relationships with
corporations within the industry to bring in
business for a bank. Product coverage groups focus
on financial products, such as mergers and
acquisitions, leveraged finance, project finance,
asset finance and leasing, structured finance,
restructuring, equity, and high-grade debt and
generally work and collaborate with industry groups
on the more intricate and specialized needs of a
client.
Sales and Trading; On behalf of the bank and its
clients, a large investment bank's primary function
is buying and selling products. In market making,
traders will buy and sell financial products with
the goal of making money on each trade. Sales is the
term for the investment bank's sales force, whose
primary job is to call on institutional and
high-net-worth investors to suggest trading ideas
and take orders. Sales desks then communicate their
clients' orders to the appropriate trading desks,
which can price and execute trades, or structure new
products that fit a specific need. Structuring has
been a relatively recent activity as derivatives
have come into play, with highly technical and
numerate employees working on creating complex
structured products which typically offer much
greater margins and returns than underlying cash
securities.
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In
2010, investment banks came
under pressure as a result of
selling complex derivatives
contracts to local
municipalities in Europe and the
US. Strategists advise external
as well as internal clients on
the strategies that can be
adopted in various markets.
Ranging from derivatives to
specific industries, strategists
place companies and industries
in a quantitative framework with
full consideration of the
macroeconomic scene. This
strategy often affects the way
the firm will operate in the
market, the direction it would
like to take in terms of its
proprietary and flow positions,
the suggestions salespersons
give to clients, as well as the
way structurers create new
products. Banks also undertake
risk through proprietary
trading, performed by a special
set of traders who do not
interface with clients and
through "principal risk" risk
undertaken by a trader after he
buys or sells a product to a
client and does not hedge his
total exposure. Banks seek to
maximize profitability for a
given amount of risk on their
balance sheet. The necessity for
numerical ability in sales and
trading has created jobs for
physics, mathematics and
engineering PHDs, who act
as quantitative analysts.
Research is the division which
reviews companies and writes
reports about their prospects,
often with "buy" or "sell"
ratings. While the research
division may or may not generate
revenue (based on policies at
different banks), its resources
are used to assist traders in
trading, the sales force in
suggesting ideas to customers,
and investment bankers by
covering their clients. Research
also serves outside clients with
investment advice (such as
institutional investors and high
net worth individuals) in the
hopes that these clients will
execute suggested trade ideas
through the sales and trading
division of the bank, and
thereby generate revenue for the
firm. There is a potential
conflict of interest between the
investment bank and its
analysis, in that published
analysis can affect the bank's
profits.
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