Currently, a wide range of activities are included in the banking industry. Depending on your skills, aptitude, personality, and passions, you might be doing anything from working directly with clients as a retail branch manager to carrying out high-value asset trades as an investment banker or portfolio manager to examining market trends and creating in-depth reports to guide your firm’s investment strategy. The choices are numerous, even though they are few.
Accounting, commerce, and finance
If you study accounting, commerce, and finance, you’ll have a strong foundation in the fundamentals of the financial system and the ability to delve into the finer points. If you want to work in investment or retail banking, that is a great place to start.
Computer Science and IT
A high-flying tech startup may seem like a better fit for a computer science degree than the more established banking sector. You would be wrong.
Computer science experts are essential for everything from cutting-edge investing to defending a bank’s computer systems from fraud or cyberattacks. When working in banking as an IT graduate, you might be tasked with creating a trading algorithm that can react to market changes much faster than even the most experienced human traders, improving the online banking experience for customers or thwarting hackers and potential fraud.
Economics
Not unexpected. Anyone interested in working in banking will discover that a major in economics will teach how the economy functions.
You’ll be qualified to apply for most entry-level jobs in the banking industry. Still, you might excel in a position that calls for you to analyze or comprehend economic trends.
Mathematics
Similar to computer science majors, mathematicians are unexpected rising stars in the world of investment banking. Having a background in complex, high-level mathematics can be very beneficial for businesses looking to develop trading algorithms that can give them an edge — any edge — over their competitors.
Business and management
By obtaining a degree in business and management, you can comprehend how markets and businesses operate. A person seeking employment in the banking sector would benefit from having those general skill sets.
The graduates we surveyed were primarily employed in retail banking, customer service, compliance, and risk, even though many banking positions are available. Some of them were preparing them for careers in management as well.