About Swiss Finance Institute

How did Swiss Finance Institute prepare you for your career in finance?

SFA greatly enhanced my financial knowledge and skills, especially with creating models in Excel and my ability to knowledgeably discuss the markets. As an intern in the Leveraged Finance Group of Mizuho Corporate Bank, I was part of the Mandate Lead Arranging team which focuses on sourcing new deals with the big and mid-market private equity shops to be the main bank on an MBO/LBO. The typical size of the deals was between GBP 200m and 1,000m. Some of my responsibilities included LBO modeling of potential targets for the private equity firms in Europe and preparing pitch books for the presentations to these clients. It was a fantastic experience, and I was able to apply my SFA experience in both of these areas to obtain efficient results for the team.

I have now begun working with Bank of America securities in the Technology Media Telecommunications group. The whole SFA experience has given me an edge. In particular, the module on debt capital markets (debt seniority and high yield) has helped me to better understand my daily work in the leverage finance group. In one of the team meetings, I was actually able to offer constructive input in their multiple-based discussions. I remembered the discussions we had at SFA about these meetings, and the depictions were very accurate.

Last, but not least, I certainly benefited from the SFA critique of my mock interview; those skills will be useful throughout my professional career.

Why did you choose Swiss Finance Institute?

As you can probably tell from my answer to the previous question, SFA’s ultimate strength is its ability to apply the concepts discussed in class to real-world scenarios. All of the topics discussed in class are topics that will actually arise as part of your daily responsibilities in the industry; SFA faculty don’t waste time going into detail about obscure, outdated concepts that will never actually arise in an industry setting. This was my impression of the Institute at the time I submitted my application, and my expectations were not disappointed. The faculty members are uniquely positioned to deliver this kind of instruction, given their industry expertise that is derived from firsthand work experience. I would recommend SFA to anyone who is looking to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the investment banking and corporate finance industries, as well as a setting in which that knowledge can be applied in practical situations.

- Rahul Varma, Bank of America Securities