Financial Risk Manager

A career as a financial risk manager is for people who have the ability to take calculated risks on a regular basis. These people must be able to work under immense pressure and undertake large financial transactions.
Financial risk managers must be able to use financial applications with ease, and they must enjoy working under the field of economics and accounting. They must have immense knowledge about market conditions and the state of industry in the region where they work, and abroad as well.

This career is only for people who communicate effectively and regularly with their clients. Besides communication, presentation skills are an essential part of this career path.

The main duty of a financial risk manager is to study the daily functioning of a business, realize the potential strategies that could give out differing levels of risks and rewards, and then develop a policy plan that would minimize risks without lowering the level of reward earned by the business.

Potential job tasks carried about by financial risk managers include approving potential projects that are going to be undertaken by a particular business, studying and analyzing the effect of various economic policies on the level of risk undertaken by that business and develop new long term monetary plans for the business.

Moreover, financial risk managers must, as the job title suggests, administrate financial risks in all departments of the company, minimizing the potential for loss. The job also entails keeping up to date with all legal regulation qualifications in the country that the business is based.

Financial services companies remain the primary employers of financial risk managers. They then lease out the services of these financial risk managers out to local businesses. Therefore, the job involves working with individual businesses for short periods of time, in which these financial risk managers generally restructure certain aspects of the business.

A few financial risk managers prefer to work on a freelance basis, and not for a financial services firm. While this might give them a bigger cut of the revenue generated from their services, the preferred career route still remains working for a financial services firm because they have access to the biggest clients.

A graduate degree is an absolute prerequisite when applying for jobs. People who have tertiary training in the fields of either mathematics or finance are preferred to other applicants. Some higher level jobs require financial risk managers to have a master’s degree. Internship experiences generally help a candidate secure a job more easily than without it. Individuals can also seek financial risk management certifications which also increase their employability.

The amount of money a financial risk manager earns depends primarily on a number of factors. The most important factor is the level of experience in the field the financial risk manager has. Moreover, their level of academic qualification and who they work for have a considerable impact on the level of compensation they receive.

Financial risk managers in United States of America can earn anywhere between US$ 100,000 and US$ 250,000. They are normally recipients of various fringe benefits, including pensions after retirement, golden handshakes, health and life insurance as well as paid vacations.

Life as a

financial risk manager

involves spending most of the working day in front of a computer screen studying financial setups of businesses. Financial risk manager work in primarily formal office conditions, and therefore, they work standard office hours.

However, financial risk managers often find themselves working extensive hours overtime when they have upcoming proposal deadlines. There is also a considerable amount of traveling associated with this job, to talk to management of businesses one has to offer financial risk management services to. As a result, one may have to spend extensive periods of time away from home in this career.

There are a number of perks associated with financial risk management. A number of people aspire to get jobs in this field because there is a lot of room for advancement, and people often use this path as a stepping stone into higher level finance related jobs within the financial services firm organization. There are a lot of bonuses one can attain for doing a good job.

No two days are the same if you are a financial risk manager. Even though they spend a lot of time working on the computer, the material and challenges they face on a daily basis vary considerably and so people in this profession learn a lot while doing the job. Financial risk managers get immense satisfaction when they see their proposals being implemented, only to yield positive results.

The biggest downside that comes with a career in financial risk management is the amount of time one must spend away from his or her loved ones. Because of the amount of traveling that the job requires and the constant need for overtime, one spends a lot of time working, which leaves less time to be at home.

The work performed by people in this profession is tedious, and the slightest mistakes can have devastating consequences for which the individual must hold accountability. As a result, financial risk managers work under tremendous pressure and stress is an evident part of the job.

The level of competition in this field is considerable. Due to the large number of perks, the high number of applicants offset the job openings in this career path and there is stiff competition for the available jobs. The good news for aspiring financial risk managers is that analysts predict the number of jobs available to rise gradually over the next decade because firms all over the world are looking to minimize the level of risks they undertake in the uncertain economic conditions prevalent.

Any place with business and industry establishments requires good, qualified financial risk managers. As a result, the best locations to be in this profession would be in business or industrial hubs, such as urban areas in both developed and developing countries in the world. In India as well, larger cities hold many more prospects than rural areas with less business establishments.