When Business schools talk about Sales and Trading, it is usually about Sales and Trading divisions within large Investment Banks. The banks that have these divisions are also known as sell-side firms. The clients of such sell-side firms are

1) Buy-side customers such as Institutional Investors, Mutual Funds and Hedge Funds, and

2) For their own Investment Bank, for which they trade.

Sales people are generally responsible for creating and managing relationships with buy-side firms. Their job entails providing recommendations that suit the needs of clients based on the client’s investment needs. Sales people make recommendations based on research of market conditions, news and financial analysis of companies.

Traders and salespeople have a mutually beneficial relationship. Salespeople provide traders with information on investment opportunities and market demand for securities. Traders provide salespeople with price quotes on securities and provide liquidity to the latter's customers by buying securities they want to sell. Salespeople earn commissions when a trader makes a trade on information they have provided.

Requirements – Sales people and Traders must be personable, outgoing, good at developing / managing relationships, pursue customers aggressively, intelligent, confident, effective communicators, highly knowledgeable and passionate about the markets, able to digest large volumes of information and convey to clients concisely, highly motivated, and self-starters.

Major Investment Banks are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Lehman, Credit Suisse, UBS, Bank of America, and Deutsche Bank

Small firms include Wedbush Morgan, Cowen, and Jeffries.

Queries? Discuss or Contact Us, if you have specific questions about Investment Banking as a career option.

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