Advice reqd.

Hi
I joined an Investment Bank 9 months back. I work in the IT domain, associated with making trading and booking tools for Fixed Income exotics.

I have no background in Fixed income products,and I come from a IT background.So, though I can get by daytoday operations, it is essential to get the whole picture, without which I find it difficult to move anyway ahead. I plan to move close to desk related IT, but need the knowledge to make the move.

Is it advisable to go for the SII Diploma in Bonds and Fixed Income? I was thinking of this June, but do you think there is sufficient time to start from almost scratch and reach a pass level? I plan to take the BPP training for it.

Is there any other alternate SII exam that anyone can suggest that can help me get the knowledge?

Any advice will be very appreciated.

Buy and learn this . . . http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-F...7263601?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173789336&sr=8-1

and I mean "learn". You will then know 95% of the maths there is to know in the bond universe and fully appreciate the fact that all financial instruments can be modelled as a series of cash flows. As long as you're not phased by an equation like X= (1+r)^n then you'll be fine.

Hi
Thanks for the reply.
I have a physics degree for graduation, before going into postgrad in computers, so maybe I can brush up the maths fast.

I am a bit worried about catching up on the finance stuff though... having never been much exposed to the subject.

Can anyone inform as to how difficult the sii diploma in bonds is, and is it possible to crack it in 3.5 months with a full time job?

or is it more worthwhile to go for the sii certificate in derivatives as that may have a large intersection with the FI stuff?

Hi Rupali,

The SII Diploma's normally take around 18 months i'm afraid. Perhaps you could squeeze it in a year, but given you're starting "from scratch" i think 3.5 months is very unlikely. If you're funding it yourself then it's gonna cost you hard-earnt money to fail.

Hope this helps,


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*Edit* - If you want to stay in FI then i'd advise studying specifically FI. The Derivatives exams won't include a big enough portion of FI, and won't educate you to the level required if you're talking about exotics.

Thanks Adam.
I did not mean passing all the 3 exams in 3.5 months, sorry for the miscommunication!

I meant ONLY the SII Bonds and Fixed Income diploma exam for the June 2007 slot.

I plan to take the other 2 papers required to complete the diploma at the interval of every 6 months, making it total 18 months.

However, is it possible to crack ONLY the Bonds and Fixed income SII diploma paper for June 28 , 2007, if I start from scratch now?

I dont know of anyone who has gone for this exam, though I have a few friends who have gone for the certifications in derivatives etc, but that is not very related to what I need to achieve here.

I badly need the advice from someone who has gone through this paper , to decide if I should take the plunge or not!

Ahhh i see!! Apologies.

I haven't gone through the fixed income paper i'm afraid, but i'd hazard a guess that if you have the time to spare (would your employers allow you study-time?) then you should be able to cram it in. In terms of whether it's worth it then i'd say absolutely. Even if you failed you have all that new knowledge that you didn't have before. Go for it.

Regs'


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Rupali,

Supplement Dashing's suggestion with F J Fabozzi - Credit Derivatives: Instruments, Applications and Pricing. Also do a search for more fixed-income books by Fabozzi.

Grant.