Associate, Valuations Analyst
Company Overview
Markit was founded in 2001 as the first independent source of credit derivative pricing and has recently been announced as the fastest growing private company in the UK. Today, our data, valuations and trade processing services are regarded as the market standard in the global financial markets, helping our clients to reduce risk, improve operational efficiency, and meet regulatory requirements.
As a private company with privileged relationships with 16 shareholder banks, Markit has unparalleled access to a valuable dataset spanning credit, equities and the broader OTC derivative universe. Our unique relationships with the bank shareholders give us the opportunity to work closely with these leading market makers to develop innovative solutions for the marketplace.
With over 1,300 institutions using our independent services as clients - including investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers, central banks, regulators, rating agencies and insurance companies - we provide round-the-clock support from our offices in London, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney.
Role Summary
Markit’s fastest-growing product is its offering in the arena of independent derivatives valuation. With access to the most unique and wide OTC derivatives data set from the highly-regarded Totem Service, Markit is in a privileged position as a third-party cross-asset valuations provider, to accurately calibrate its models to the market and provide independent valuations for exotic derivative products.
Markit Portfolio Valuations is looking to expand its product coverage in the Japan. We are looking for a quantitative and motivated candidate to lead the on-boarding of customers, production of daily/weekly/monthly valuations, development of quantitative models for non-standard instruments and provide specialist support to generalist sales staff in winning new valuations business in the region. In addition to this, the successful candidate would also be expected to learn about and provide some support to Markit’s CDS data product which is closely linked to valuations.
Duties and Accountabilities
- This work would include:
- Regular meetings with key valuations clients in the region to aid on-boarding and business development
- Helping with development and implementation of the regional valuations business plan
- Implementing prototype pricing models and/or testing production valuation models for non-standard instruments originating in the region
- Running regular valuations for clients and discussing price challenges
- Providing response to more complex/quantitative queries about Markit’s CDS data products.
- The role may require the candidate initially to spend 1-3 months in Markit’s London or Singapore office learning about the valuations and CDS data products.
Business Competencies
- Required:
- Some experience of the derivatives markets (e.g. trading assistant, structurer, risk analyst/manager, model validator, product controller, collateral or valuations analyst etc.)
- Must be detail-oriented and thorough and able to use own initiative to solve problems
- Must have some knowledge of vanilla and exotic instruments being traded in the derivatives markets.
- Excel/VBA or other programming skills to prototype/test pricing models.
- Must be fluent in Japanese
- Additional Useful Skills:
- Basic understanding of database structures and use of SQL
- Experience of client relationships including account management
- Post-graduate degree in finance or other quantitative discipline.
- Commercial Awareness: Any previous commercial exposure or client-facing skills would be desirable
Personal Competencies
- Ability to work well within a team environment and to coordinate with the internal product groups who have expertise in specific asset classes
- Highly motivated and eager to take the initiative
- Willing and able to execute hands-on modelling tasks
- Very strong interpersonal skills required, in order to explain and present the pricing of complex structures inside the team, to other internal groups (e.g. sales) and to clients.
The Contact
Interested applicants should send their CV and a covering letter to careers.Asiapacific@markit.com citing "Associate, Valuations Analyst" in the subject line.