About Swiss Finance Institute

What distinguishes Swiss Finance Institute programs from other finance and business training programs?

The thing that stands out about Swiss Finance Institute is the insights from industry professionals that only the Institute can offer. I had a strong background in finance and business before attending SFA, and I can tell you that the knowledge I gained from the program went far beyond anything I had learned in a regular classroom. The training you receive from SFA faculty is the kind of training you’d ideally like to get from executives when starting out as analyst... but, unlike SFA faculty, they don’t have the time to teach you all of these things! Dealing with large institutional clients and proprietary capital is exciting, but also very detail-oriented. SFA gave me the opportunity to learn about the interests and the psychology of investment banks, corporate clients and institutional investors; the fact that I learned about these things firsthand from experienced investment banking executives has been tremendously valuable for me. Compared to many of my peers, I know much more about the inner workings and politics of investment banks, and it is impossible to overstate the value of this kind of knowledge. SFA provides a type of knowledge and skill-set that I just don’t think you could get from a faculty that doesn’t possess a high level of industry experience. The practical knowledge that I gained from SFA faculty has really been invaluable for me.

How has Swiss Finance Institute helped you in your current job?

The curriculum has given me an edge up in many different areas of my day-to-day responsibilities. Listening to market research reports and analyzing market indicators are integral parts of my daily work at Lehman Brothers because they determine my team’s trading strategy, recommendations on trends and buy/sell decisions. Learning about global markets in-depth at Swiss Finance Institute has been invaluable for me when it comes to these things.

The curriculum has also helped me with the quantitative work that I do. Crunching numbers in a short amount of time can be crucial for foreign exchange trading, just as it can be for fixed income securities trading. The various financial modeling sessions that we had at SFA have greatly helped me to strengthen my ability to conduct analysis both quickly and accurately.

My experience at SFA has also been invaluable in formulating trading strategies. On the proprietary trading desk of investment banks, we employ a wide range of strategies that are also commonly used these days by hedge funds. Some of the strategies that I learned while at SFA have brought me up to speed with my work at a much faster pace than my peers. In my work as an analyst, my team may also take long and short positions based on global macro events, which is something else that I was also exposed to at SFA’s International Wall Street Training Program.

- Bernard Singer, Lehman Brothers