I suppose CISA is Certified Information Systems Auditor. If it is so, it is related to IT and not directly related with finance. Here I would write about general pros and cons of both CFA and FRM.
Firstly if you are a B-school graduate or already working in the finance domain in an IT company, FRM should help you to get into a financial institution.However if neither of these conditions applies, I am not sure how far FRM will help you. For that contact someone who has long work experience in banking.
In the US, people with non finance/accounting qualification (such as Literature and all) but with CFA can work in financial institutions. In fact many times they use CFA as a launching pad in order to get into finance industry. Of course they cannot expect same job profile as a B-school graduate can expect still that can help them to get in there. Whether CFA will help in India (to non B-school grads and no prior exposure to finance) the same way is something we need to ask someone who has experience in finance industry.
So considering these factors, following are the pros and cons of the two exams:
CFA:
Pros: Wider acceptance, Better known brand, Can be used to get jobs in diverse fields such as Investment Banking, Equity Research etc.
Cons: More expensive (each level would cost $1000+), longer commitment is needed-- L1 is offered in December and June but L2 and L3 are offered only in June. So completing 3 levels would require commitment of close to 3 years. Moreover court disputes regarding CFA centers in India have been going on.Till now, courts have intervened and allowed exam center in India.But we cannot say with 100% guarantee that the same trend will continue in the future too. So possibly you will have to go to other countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, UAE or Singapore in order to appear for CFA.
FRM:
Pros: Cheaper than CFA, now getting more acceptability, you can appear for both parts of FRM at the same sitting so shorter time commitment is needed
Cons: Mainly applicable in Risk Management types of jobs. May not be used to get jobs in Investment Banking and other industries.
Disclaimer: I am a student of a leading B-school in the country and I have cleared both parts of FRM in November 2010.I do not have any prior experience in Finance and Banking.So the views mentioned above are based on my knowledge. Take them with a pinch of salt. However my FRM helped me get instant job offer from one of the banks in their Risk Management department.
GKRM
Hi,
I will be taking admission this yr in MBA. I have already cleared CISA certification. Could you please advise me, which one of CFA or FRM will be better? What kind of job profiles can I expect?
I suppose CISA is Certified Information Systems Auditor. If it is so, it is related to IT and not directly related with finance. Here I would write about general pros and cons of both CFA and FRM.
Firstly if you are a B-school graduate or already working in the finance domain in an IT company, FRM should help you to get into a financial institution.However if neither of these conditions applies, I am not sure how far FRM will help you. For that contact someone who has long work experience in banking.
In the US, people with non finance/accounting qualification (such as Literature and all) but with CFA can work in financial institutions. In fact many times they use CFA as a launching pad in order to get into finance industry. Of course they cannot expect same job profile as a B-school graduate can expect still that can help them to get in there. Whether CFA will help in India (to non B-school grads and no prior exposure to finance) the same way is something we need to ask someone who has experience in finance industry.
So considering these factors, following are the pros and cons of the two exams:
CFA:
Pros: Wider acceptance, Better known brand, Can be used to get jobs in diverse fields such as Investment Banking, Equity Research etc.
Cons: More expensive (each level would cost $1000+), longer commitment is needed-- L1 is offered in December and June but L2 and L3 are offered only in June. So completing 3 levels would require commitment of close to 3 years. Moreover court disputes regarding CFA centers in India have been going on.Till now, courts have intervened and allowed exam center in India.But we cannot say with 100% guarantee that the same trend will continue in the future too. So possibly you will have to go to other countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, UAE or Singapore in order to appear for CFA.
FRM:
Pros: Cheaper than CFA, now getting more acceptability, you can appear for both parts of FRM at the same sitting so shorter time commitment is needed
Cons: Mainly applicable in Risk Management types of jobs. May not be used to get jobs in Investment Banking and other industries.
Disclaimer: I am a student of a leading B-school in the country and I have cleared both parts of FRM in November 2010.I do not have any prior experience in Finance and Banking.So the views mentioned above are based on my knowledge. Take them with a pinch of salt. However my FRM helped me get instant job offer from one of the banks in their Risk Management department.
GKRM
Thanks a lot.
Some more doubts:- 1) FRMs get jobs in banks. Any other job profiles? 2) Can you PM me what CTC/package are being offered in Risk mgmt. jobs in banks? 3) It seems like all MBA Fin students are going for CFA, FRM will be a USP for MBA student, I think so. I think that I can club CISA and FRM for good auditing jobs.
1) With FRM, you can get jobs mainly in banks and other financial institutions. Wherever trading is involved or some financial derivative (like Swap or OTC forwards) are involved, there is need for risk management.You can also get a job in Credit Card companies like Capital One and American Express using your FRM. However in other financial institutions (I-banks and all), though risk management is involved, the number of positions are on lower side than front office positions such as trading and structuring. In addition, there are a few consultancies such as KPMG an Ernst and Young that have Financial Risk Advisory. You can get a job there, too. Personally I would prefer a job with a bank (in Credit Risk department) before joining any consultancy. Because I wish to take first hand experience of Risk Management and only then want to work in consultancy.
2) Will send a PM soon
3) In fact that was the reason I appeared for FRM.Initially I had started with CFA L1 preparation but there were at least 50 students in my B-school who were preparing for CFA L1 (in 2nd year).Moreover CFA L1 syllabus is more or less same as 1st year syllabus in a top B-school.So with CFA L1, I would not have proved anything different and I would have been just '51st person' with CFA L1. This would not have helped me for final interviews. So I appeared for FRM. However FRM is also getting wider acceptability among B-school students.At least 3 of my juniors (that I know) are planning to appear for FRM in their 2nd year.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
GKRM
Thanks a lot.
Some more doubts:- 1) FRMs get jobs in banks. Any other job profiles? 2) Can you PM me what CTC/package are being offered in Risk mgmt. jobs in banks? 3) It seems like all MBA Fin students are going for CFA, FRM will be a USP for MBA student, I think so. I think that I can club CISA and FRM for good auditing jobs.
You can get 2010 Schweser notes in Delhi from Bharat Book Center at Ber Sarai... but the quality of material available is very poor in comparison with Laxmi Copy Center.. and also he will ask for 1000 bugs in starting that u need to bargain...
The quality of materials from Bharat Book Center at Ber Sarai is EXTREMELY POOR. You cannot see more than 40% of the content, as all the illustrations and diagrams are totally blacked out. Without reading these illustrations and diagrams its very difficult to understand the concepts properly, as the material in the text is linked to each other and the text gives references to diagrams to explain the concepts.
When I went back to him complaining of this, he said "When others can read, then you can also read". He refused to take the notes back for a refund. When I fought more, he said that he can give me any book worth 1/5th of the cost of the notes !!
Finally I agreed to take the book, as I thought something is better than nothing !! Not only that, he mentioned that he will courier the book to my address. Its been more than 8 months, of calling him every week, and he has not sent me any book.
Also, after returning his notes, I had to arrange for these notes from Mumbai, but I had already lost about 3-4 weeks owing to the time taken for couriering these notes.
Pls DO NOT BUY any notes from Bharat Book Center at Ber Sarai, if you want to save your precious time and money.
Contact Bharat Book Store Shop No. 20, DDA Shopping Complex Ber Sarai, Ph. No. 01126521718
For schweser notes....
The quality of materials from Bharat Book Center at Ber Sarai is EXTREMELY POOR. You cannot see more than 40% of the content, as all the illustrations and diagrams are totally blacked out. Without reading these illustrations and diagrams its very difficult to understand the concepts properly, as the material in the text is linked to each other and the text gives references to diagrams to explain the concepts.
When I went back to him complaining of this, he said "When others can read, then you can also read". He refused to take the notes back for a refund. When I fought more, he said that he can give me any book worth 1/5th of the cost of the notes !!
Finally I agreed to take the book, as I thought something is better than nothing !! Not only that, he mentioned that he will courier the book to my address. Its been more than 8 months, of calling him every week, and he has not sent me any book.
Also, after returning his notes, I had to arrange for these notes from Mumbai, but I had already lost about 3-4 weeks owing to the time taken for couriering these notes.
Pls DO NOT BUY any notes from Bharat Book Center at Ber Sarai, if you want to save your precious time and money.
hey guys i registered for level 1 yesterday. although "payment complete" flashed after the payment. i hv not recieved any mail from garp.(btw i recieved an instant reciept from cfa institute). also i cd nt find any link to change my password and disable the annual subscription of $150. please help puys.
hi frends....can any1 tell me how to get the schweser notes for FRM level1 exam from the Laxmi book stall???....its not poss for me to come down to mumbai....can we order it over phone or online? m giving FRM L1 in may 2011...any1 from kolkata?
i have registered for L1 on 27th Feb at 1am thru credit card.....but did not get any email till now....however i got the msg as the amount being paid.....do we get emails immediately after registering???.....thae last date being 28th feb....m a little worried....i hav already emailed to [email protected]
The thing is when I registered for FRM, initially my credit card company did not process my payment.So I had to contact them in order to make the payment go through.Even after doing that, I learnt that neither my credit card was charged nor my registration was complete.Still my status showed that I was registered!! All this caused lot of confusion.There were certain steps I had to take in order to complete my registration.I e-mailed [email protected] and they responded back the same day and I was able to complete my registration. So I would suggest you to call them if they do not respond soon.
fighter123 Says
i have registered for L1 on 27th Feb at 1am thru credit card.....but did not get any email till now....however i got the msg as the amount being paid.....do we get emails immediately after registering???.....thae last date being 28th feb....m a little worried....i hav already emailed to [email protected]
The thing is when I registered for FRM, initially my credit card company did not process my payment.So I had to contact them in order to make the payment go through.Even after doing that, I learnt that neither my credit card was charged nor my registration was complete.Still my status showed that I was registered!! All this caused lot of confusion.There were certain steps I had to take in order to complete my registration.I e-mailed [email protected] and they responded back the same day and I was able to complete my registration. So I would suggest you to call them if they do not respond soon.
my credit card company had processed the transaction.....but i did not get any email from garp.....
Call GARP right now.They will accept registration till end of the working day February 28th in the US. So you still have 3-4 hours more to resolve it. In my opinion, there should not be any problem anyway but it is better to get it confirmed.
fighter123 Says
my credit card company had processed the transaction.....but i did not get any email from garp.....
Call GARP right now.They will accept registration till end of the working day February 28th in the US. So you still have 3-4 hours more to resolve it. In my opinion, there should not be any problem anyway but it is better to get it confirmed.
Thank god. Got an email from GARP few minutes back confirming my registration...Finally a relief!!!
I am Nidhi from Mumbai taking up FRM this May (2011) for the second time. Havent been able to make it in the November attempt 😞 Anybody from Mumbai interested in forming a study group for FRM studies?? Group studies and discussions is the key to crack this exam and thats something i realized towards the period near the November exam date. I have attended tutorials before, but solving questions from previous sample papers is the way to go cos the questions in the exam are UNPREDICTABLE......
Wish you all, the best of luck for ur preparation!!!!
I do have a lot of material with me if anybody needs it. a couple pdfs n test papers n stuff..Lemme know if you need it and if im allowed to attach..
But I have no idea how I managed this one. I wasn't sure about it at all! Who cares? :grin:
Congrats to all those who cleared...
Hi Dhaval, Congrats. I am from Mumbai. I was unable to crack level 1 in November 2010. Nor do i know of anybody who did it. would u be able to help me as i am appearing for it in May 2011. Lemme know if u can. Cheers
I am Nidhi from Mumbai taking up FRM this May (2011) for the second time. Havent been able to make it in the November attempt 😞 Anybody from Mumbai interested in forming a study group for FRM studies?? Group studies and discussions is the key to crack this exam and thats something i realized towards the period near the November exam date. I have attended tutorials before, but solving questions from previous sample papers is the way to go cos the questions in the exam are UNPREDICTABLE......
Wish you all, the best of luck for ur preparation!!!!
I do have a lot of material with me if anybody needs it. a couple pdfs n test papers n stuff..Lemme know if you need it and if im allowed to attach..
Cheers!
whats the price for the schewer material from Laxmi xerox for FRM L1` and what all it includes? I am appearing for the first time , so want to know what kind of efforts does it need. someone once said 200 hrs shd be fine. whats the pattern of exam?
hey can anyone tell how many booklets of schweser do you get for FRM level 1???? i have the FRM 2009 booklets so according to that the course is of just two booklets!!
The questions were VERYYY tricky. the question paper is set by people who clear the FRM exam. so you cannot really assume the paper patern. during the exam, you cannot really judge which subject is the questions from so it gets too jumbled up.
I got the books from Laxmi last year, i mean the 2010 edition, n they costed Rs. 800 for both Schweser and Handbook along with CDs. im not sure of the price now. But i gues the books will be out only by this month end. So what you can do is, buy the 2010 books, n later by the month end, get the 2011 CDs. the matter doesnt really change a lot. but waiting till month end would get too late to start.
Anybody from Mumbai interested in forming a study group for FRM studies?? Group studies and discussions is the key to crack this exam and thats something i realized towards the period near the November exam date. I have attended tutorials before, but solving questions from previous sample papers is the way to go cos the questions in the exam are UNPREDICTABLE......