Reply to: Front office, middle office, back office, what does this all mean??

[northernladuk]

Don't worry about it. If you don't already know then there is absolutely no chance of you ever being considered for the job.

I lol'd at this,.

I could quite easily flame you for being too lazy to do 10 seconds of searching on t'interweb (but won't):

I would have as well but its Friday

[aceboy]

Front office - Systems are measured in Milliseconds.
Middle office - Systems are measured in Hours
Back office - Systems are measured in overnigh batches..

I have worked in all 3 as both an end user & a BA

[memyselfandi]

Front office where all the sales people and traders work,
they try to generate revenue for the bank.

Middle Office where all risk management product control and trade support
is done. They manage and control what the front office are doing.

Back Office is where they settle the trades and make sure people who they
traded with pay up and monitor accounts and cashflow.

HTH

Cheers for the help.

[Bright Spark]

Front office where all the sales people and traders work,
they try to generate revenue for the bank.

Middle Office where all risk management product control and trade support
is done. They manage and control what the front office are doing.

Back Office is where they settle the trades and make sure people who they
traded with pay up and monitor accounts and cashflow.

HTH

[stek]

The job states middle/back office experience preferred, but not essential. I have been offered a telephone on the back of my CV alone, and it does not mention financial experience.

That is why I was asking for a brief description.

You've been offered a telephone? That's a bit of a rubbish rate, mate.

Ask for an iPhone.

[HairyArsedBloke]

It is all about the users that you would have to work with.

In the front office the users are the privately educated children of the landed gentry, people with phds, and east-end wide-boys that have been lucky.

Guess which I am.

[aceboy]

The important bit is the chinese wall between Front (trading) and Back (bill paying). The golden rule is workers in one can't use the systems in the other. That's what Liam Neeson was able to do and look where it got Barings...

Middle Office is meaningless management speak for the support teams that work in both.

Not Strictly true...

Chinese wall are to created a barrier between potentially conflicting business, for example a company A is look to issue more stare, they have a new issues adviser in Bank A. Bank A also has a trading desk buying & selling shares in Comp A. These traders must NOT know the details of the new issues until the rest of the market is made aware, other wise they would have an unfair advantage

[malvolio]

Liam Neeson brought down Barings?

I thought his acting in Schindler's list was a bit iffy but I didn't think it was so bad that it would take out a bank at the same time.

Oops...

I meant Nick Leeson, didn't I?

[moorfield]

It is all about the users that you would have to work with.

Front Office IT = You will be some barrow boy's bitch.

Middle Office IT = You will be some top totty's bitch.

Back Office IT = You will be cleaning up the mess that Bob has deposited on your shoes, again.

[51st State]

I could quite easily flame you for being too lazy to do 10 seconds of searching on t'interweb (but won't):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_office

There're links for the Front and Middle Offices there as well.

[Gonzo]

The job states middle/back office experience preferred, but not essential. I have been offered a telephone on the back of my CV alone, and it does not mention financial experience.

That is why I was asking for a brief description.

It is all about the users that you would have to work with.

In the front office the users are the privately educated children of the landed gentry, people with phds, and east-end wide-boys that have been lucky.

In the middle office the users are red-brick university educated, middle class people.

In the back office the users are cheeky folk from Kent or Essex. The sort of people that if they lived anywhere else in the country would be stores people in car-parts distributors or removal men.



hth

[memyselfandi]

Don't worry about it. If you don't already know then there is absolutely no chance of you ever being considered for the job.

The job states middle/back office experience preferred, but not essential. I have been offered a telephone on the back of my CV alone, and it does not mention financial experience.

That is why I was asking for a brief description.

[Gonzo]

That's what Liam Neeson was able to do and look where it got Barings...

Liam Neeson brought down Barings?

I thought his acting in Schindler's list was a bit iffy but I didn't think it was so bad that it would take out a bank at the same time.

[malvolio]

The important bit is the chinese wall between Front (trading) and Back (bill paying). The golden rule is workers in one can't use the systems in the other. That's what Liam Neeson was able to do and look where it got Barings...

Middle Office is meaningless management speak for the support teams that work in both.

[HairyArsedBloke]

All financial positions (especially investment banking positions) talk about front office, middle office and back office experience.

Can someone give a brief description of what each of these is?

Don't worry about it. If you don't already know then there is absolutely no chance of you ever being considered for the job.