Alumni Speaks: Rohit Thareja, Class of 2016

Hi! Welcome to ISBF Alumni Speak. After having completed the Graduate Diploma, Rohit has managed to secure an opportunity to work with HSBC New York as a Credit Analyst. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I am an undergrad from Amity International Business School. I did my Bachelors in International Business from there, post that I started working. I worked with Great East (not sure what he said) as a Financial Planner for 6 months. Post that I shifted jobs and went more into business operations role. I worked as a Finance and Operations Executive with GSP Group. That is when I was looking for opportunities to excel my career in a different direction and I had this sort of interest in investment banking for about 3-4 year before that. I wasn’t able to crack the formula of getting there at that point of time. When I came across the curriculum from LSE and ISBF, I decided – it was about January/February 2015 I started looking at the course. Then I just couldn’t find the right time to begin with it, so I started with that in 2016 and completed the year here at ISBF. From there I was led to this opportunity I have been looking for the past 5 years. Securing an opportunity to work with one of the top investment banks that too at their headquarters is definitely a rare and exciting thing. How do you feel at this stage and what were your expectations from the year to come? Excited, to say the least. It’s kind of a mixed feeling scenario at this point of time, I am probably a lot more scared than I am excited because I don’t know how I’d cope up with the work, the expectations. Expect to develop a perspective, a holistic perspective about the world, not just about a particular division. If I can bring that back home with me, I will consider it an achievement. Can you take us through the role at HSBC? What are the functions that you are expected to perform as a Credit Trading Analyst? The primary function is to underwrite and trade date. Apart from that I will be preparing panel account statements for various positions that the company might have in the department. I will be preparing management reports and evaluation of credit derivatives and risk on the overall side. I will be doing all of that alongside a live trading desk. I am not sure how that experience is, I have never been there but it should be lively and exciting.