Conduct quantitative analyses of information affecting investment programs of public or private institutions.
What Financial Analytics Professionals Do
Financial Analytics professionals are concerned with sourcing, assessing, sorting and shaping data and information, to come up with actionable insight that companies can use to improve day-to-day decision-making.
Not to be confused with Financial Analysts, Financial Analytics professionals start with raw data and derive meaning from it, so they can communicate their findings to stakeholders (e.g. Analysts, CFOs, Managers, etc.)
They combine internal financial information and various forms of operational data with external information in order to address critical business questions. They can be responsible for sourcing and sorting data, deciding what is relevant and what isn’t.
Financial analytics professionals also use modelling and financial analytics in order to make forecasts or predictions. Based on these forecasts and predictions, decisions are made up the chain which can impact a particular business strategy or the financial markets as a whole.
Financial analytics is not only about making predictions; it is the job of an analytics professional to provide insight into complex issues and provide a picture from which conclusions can be drawn. These insights can be generated quantitatively and qualitatively.
Relevant Jobs
Economists make up a large part of the finance sector and are usually employed by governments or government agencies. Although some economists also work independent of the government. Essentially, an economist studies the relationship between a society’s resources and its output. They perform economic research and analysis, they develop and apply theories about production and distribution of goods and services while also keeping an eye on people’s spending and financial behaviour.
Mostly, however, they provide advice to governments and organisations on economic and policy issues. Being an economist is partly art and partly science, as most of economics is predictive, and predictions can be wildly different from one economist to the next.
A quantitative analyst specializes in the application of mathematical and statistical methods to help solve financial and risk management problems. Quantitative analysis can help with valuation of financial instruments, performance evaluation or determining exposures and potential risks. It goes without saying that quantitative financial analysts are strong in the area of mathematics, but it may also suit a person who is advanced in the use of technology and software development.
Quantitative analysts try to give put make measurements by putting figures to various real-world problems. Jobs may include building financial models, using existing financial models and determining inputs, risk analysis and many more possibilities.
Analytics strategists work with either government or private clients to implement strategies based on analytic insights. They primarily are concerned with helping clients achieve a competitive advantage, which is done through application of data analytics and digital technologies. Jobs include providing solutions through analytics, developing software to analyse data and sometime technical sales of data modelling products.
When helping a private client, a strategist will concern themselves with improving the supply chain & operations, customer insights, sales & marketing or financial services.