Finance Pros Prepare for 2010, Two Camps Emerge

Finance professionals are divided on how to prepare for the next phase of the industry's recovery process.

In a survey of 198 finance professionals conducted by FINS in the third quarter, 24% of respondents said they are doing nothing at all to prepare, while 21% said they are seeking out additional training and certifications.

One professional said: "I'm not making any changes at this time. I expect the economy to bottom out by the end of this year and for the economy to stabilize in 2010."

Another respondent was more confident: "Everyone is going to get bonuses and new Cadillacs."

(A prediction that's not too far off in light of recent talk about how some banks may be returning to paying out big bonus packages.)

While there is little evidence that those who said they would do nothing are actually sticking to their word -- for obvious reasons -- survey respondents in the "training and certifications" camp are part of a noticeable trend.

The industry's downsizing (about 270,000 finance jobs have been lost since September 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) could mean stiffer competition when looking for jobs, a change that is prompting more financial professionals to sharpen their number two pencils compared to pre-crisis years.

The CFA Institute, an association of investment professionals that administers the Chartered Financial Analyst exam, reports that 128,600 industry professionals, a record number, registered for the June 2009 exam. And the Institute is on track to exceed the number of registrants for the December 2009 exam compared to previous years.

"During the go-go era of finance, not everyone feels they need to be credentialed, but during a pull-back period employers become more selective than before," says Bob Johnson, senior managing director of the CFA Institute. "Getting one's credential becomes more necessary in a tougher job market."

Classrooms at finance training sessions have become more crowded, too. Students are looking for ways to bulk up in areas outside their regular field of expertise, foraying into sectors that have gained momentum since the crisis such as risk-management, compliance and regulation. Finance training prep course providers say they have increased the number of course offerings and diversified their curriculums in response to customer demand. Wall Street Training, a New York-based financial education company, has added topics like commodities and alternative energy to its catalog of classes, subjects highlighted by and likely to be in vogue long after the crisis recedes.

While it counts several big finance firms like Citigroup and JPMorgan among its corporate clients, Wall Street Training also said the number of students enrolled in classes who opt to foot the bill has more than doubled since last fall; during the salad days, the cost of training was often handed off to employers. And learning doesn't come on the cheap -- a full-day public course can run about $500. Hamilton Lin, president and founder of the company, says that a shift in attitude among the students has accompanied the swelling enrollment numbers.

-- Transitioning Between Finance Sectors

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