Career Advice
Paul Brown
09.11.18
Since FDM began training Murex in 2012, we have launched the careers of over 200 people globally. Our Murex consultants are placed around the world from Cedar Rapids to Beijing to Johannesburg to Medellin to Baltimore, to name a few. But what is Murex? Murex is a trade risk management platform used by investment banks, amongst other industries, to trade instruments across the global financial markets and manage the risk associated with these trades. In this blog, we share some of the career journeys and day-to-day responsibilities of some of our consultants and alumni working with Murex.
Alistair Rutherford
Global Murex Specialist
I first started as a trainee 17 years ago in our Brighton Centre and I was deployed across The Hague, Paris and London. When I came to the end of my contract with FDM, I decided to join the academy as a senior trainer and project manager and I went on to become the Academy Manager. I then moved from fulltime training into the business becoming a Technical Support Officer supporting FDM consultants in the field and the Account Managers in client engagements. After moving into the application and production side of the business, I became MX.3 validated and began training Murex consultants.
In terms of career streams here at FDM, Murex creates a great challenge in bringing into all the elements of what it means to provide a ITSM service with the financial sector as it covers financial business aspect of the trade lifecycle along with the mathematical models used as well as the functional & technical configuration aspect of the MX platform.
Our partnership with Murex ensures we are training on the current versions of the MX.3 platform and the continuous updating of the training program they make available to us creates a more robust program delivering great new talent to your mutual clients.
Andy Joyner – FDM Alumnus
Cayman Islands
Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the majority of modules that Murex has to offer, and I’ve always enjoyed working on a wide variety of tasks. After graduating from Newcastle University with a degree in Computer Science, I undertook a 10-week Murex training programme at FDM which included six weeks of back office and four weeks of front office training. This gave me a solid core understanding of the Murex platform and provided me with the required knowledge and skill set to effectively put the training into context on the client site.
After completing my two years with FDM at a large financial institution in London, I transitioned into a permanent position. I was then fortunate enough to acquire a role in the Cayman Islands working for a small family office. I’ve been in Cayman for almost two years now and I have since extensively developed my Murex expertise. I’ve gained a great amount of exposure to a wide range of both support and development Murex related tasks and projects, and frequently work directly with the business to help develop upcoming requirements. This opportunity hasn’t only enhanced my Murex skills but has also allowed me to work in a much smaller more dynamic company, in a different environment and with a different cultural experience. Each of which has significantly benefited me and my career.
Murex has a global reach and has clients across many countries worldwide, with numerous opportunities to work abroad. There is always more to learn when it comes to Murex; I’m consistently open to working on new tasks and thrive from learning new skills frequently. I would always recommend gaining as much exposure as possible – Murex is a constant challenge and provides a consistent learning curve, which has allowed me to stay motivated and engaged throughout my career so far.
Gavin Silva Pinto – FDM Consultant, Project Business Analyst
Sydney
After completing FDM’s MX.3 Production Support programme, I began my placement in a Business Solutions Murex Support Team. I am tasked with project work regarding the bank’s Murex driven accounting configuration in order to investigate or resolve existing issues or create fresh builds for new products the bank wishes to trade. Depending on the project, a typical day involves liaising with stakeholders from all over the banks institutional or technology divisions and given the wide scope of my team’s work, I also get to occasionally venture out and try my hand at something unrelated in order to grow my skill set and keep things fresh.
The sheer scope of Murex’s functionality means that it has a hand in many areas of the company that I was placed with. This allows me to gain valuable insight into the wider operations of various teams within the bank from the business, middle office as well as technology sides despite working in a fairly specialised role myself. As a fresh graduate, I believe this extra depth of knowledge will prove especially valuable as it allows me to better understand and serve the bank. Given my background as a finance student, I enjoyed learning about the pricing module of Murex during training. Any of the modules can throw you quirky little curveballs to troubleshoot or despair over – and that makes it that little bit more fun!
Joel Loh – FDM Consultant, Murex Application Analyst
Singapore
The best thing about working with Murex is that I have been able to learn the whole investment banking process from front office to back office, and that is going to be incredibly useful to me no matter where I decide to go next in the banking industry.
I first came across Murex after completing my Bachelor’s degree in Computing and joining the FDM programme. After completing the course, I was placed with a client as a Murex Application Analyst. In this role, I learnt how to manage Murex, the bank’s core training platform. It is my responsibility to ensure that the application is always functional throughout the year, 24/7. I have also been fortunate enough to participate in a number of big projects that are working towards improving the organisation for the future. I am glad to have been a part of the journey and as they say, the best dreams are those that come alive. But in chasing dreams, let’s not only focus on improving the standard of living, such that we forget to improve the standard of our lives.
Are you interested in kick-starting your career with Murex? Check out our training programmes today
Featured image credit: Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash