Booming demand, safe bet studying Financial Risk Management

In order to survive, almost all the big organizations require risk managers to handle the economic risks of the firm. The Financial Risk Management (FRM) course, therefore, is a professional designation for financial risk managers. This qualification noticeably provides you with a competitive advantage.

Sharing his experience of pursuing this course, Jitender Kaushik, who works as a part of Model Risk Management team at Citibank, Bengaluru said, “Our job as a Model Risk Management team is to do validation for statistical models built for credit decision for bank’s credit card business.”

He added, “This profession offers great ccareer opportunities, especially for the students of Economics, Statistics, Mathematics and Management (MBA) among other disciplines related to quantitative techniques such as, regression, econometrics or time series analysis. This course can equip you with an added globally acclaimed recognition in the risk management/ analytic profession when you are entering the job market.”

Kaushik completed his Masters degree in Economics (in 2013) and later pursued M. Phil in Economics in 2014, from the School of Economics, University of Hyderabad. He was also awarded with FRM Certification from Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), which is considered as the global standard in Financial Risk.

Elaborating in detail about the course, Kaushik said, “FRM course, offered at GARP, is an offline certification course with two levels of examination. There is no specific strategy for passing this exam, and the pass percentage score required can also vary over different years. Once you obtain the certificate, it will remain valid for lifetime.”

“There are two parts of this exam; Part I consists of 100 equally weighted multiple-choice questions, and Part II consists of 80 equally weighted questions. Candidates are allotted four hours to complete the each part of the exam,” he said.

When it comes to the syllabus, Kaushik explained, “Part one majorly covers: Foundations of Risk Management, Quantitative Analysis, Financial Markets and Products and Valuation and Risk Models. The second part focuses on Market Risk Measurement and Management, Credit Risk Measurement and Management, Operational Risk and Resiliency Liquidity and Treasury Risk Measurement and Management, Risk Management and Investment Management, Current Issues in Financial Markets.”

He said that, the exam for both the two parts, Part I and Part II are offered twice a year on the third Saturday of May and the third Saturday of November. Student from any academic background or stream can take the FRM exam and there is no prerequisite to register for this Exam. All 12th pass/ graduate/ post graduate can register for this course.

“Besides, as a part of eligibility requirement for FRM course, one to have a two-year work experience in an organization. The work experience can be obtained before or after completion of the two levels of examination but the time limit is 5 years,” Kaushik mentioned.

There are currently more than 100 locations for the exam, conducted in seven cities across India that include, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Pune.

The examination fees is around US$ 350 for each level, however, the registration fee of around US$ 400 is non –refundable and needs to be paid once in the beginning only.

Edited by Soumya Sharma, Dept. of Communication.