Jonathan Tullett » Finance

Financial qualifications: The first stage

jkt — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:01:54 +0000

As part of my career move into Risk Management, I need to eventually take on the role of Spire's CF14 (Risk Manager) Regulated Person. In order to do this, I need to pass the FSA's Approved Persons (AKA FITness) criteria.

One route is via qualifications, secondary to a firm's commitment to your capability.

Unfortunately, there's no qualification which is perfectly molded to both what I need to do for my job – risk management for a prop trading firm – and is also on the FSA's approved qualifications list. So the latter will be fulfilled via completion of the Investment Operations Certificate at the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and the former by a mixture of sitting the Professional Risk Management exams – a comprehensive study of all things risk-in-financial-services related – and on the job training.

But baby-steps. Last Friday I passed the first stage of the IOC – the Introduction to Securities and Investment – with a not-to-shabby score of 90%. Woohoo.

Moving into Risk Management

jkt — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:52:43 +0000

I've been working in the financial industry since 1999, focusing primarily on providing UK Equities data to private investors during my time at ADVFN and MoneyAM, then working on high frequency trading platforms – managing the day-to-day running and troubleshooting of problems – for the likes of RGM Advisors and SAC Global Investors.

Having decided to take a sabbatical, incorporating DDA Systems (previously) to provide a little income, during 2011, it's now time to re-enter the fold. But this time, doing something a little different.

I've joined Tower Research's UK affiliate, Spire Europe, and will be growing into the role of 'Risk Manager' while also taking in hand the running and management of all the trading system infrastructure behind their European trading efforts.

This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for both parties – it's a new role for them, within Europe – at one of the most highly regarded HTF firms in the world. It will also start the move of my focus from purely tech, to more on the business side; something I've wanted to do for a while now.

I chose this role out of the ones on offer because of the personal development opportunity, the environment, and my feeling that they're open to someone with my skills and expertise coming in and being able to make a difference, rather than get caught up in lots of internal politics.

The future's coming, and it's looking positive!

Interactive Data CTF/CSP Perl interface released

jkt — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:40:53 +0000

I've been working on a Perl interface to Interactive Data's Client Side Processor which handles their CTF (Comstock Token Format) protocol and provides the results as data structures, or alternatively converts to their historical Bate format. If you don't know what any of that means, this isn't the post for you; please move along. If, however, the above all makes sense, it may be of some use.

This came about as while working for a client when I found Interactive Data only provide example code for Java, .Net and C++, and with the type and volume of text munging the project involved, Perl was the most suitable candidate.

If you'd find it useful, feel free to download the interface library from my programming page. It's released under an open 'do what you want with it' license. There's some example code demonstrating how to use the features though I admit the comments/documentation is scarce; it should be straight forward to understand though.

(re)Introducing DDA Systems

jkt — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 22:40:00 +0000

For the majority of my career – 11 years this month, in fact – as well as working full time for a primary employer, I have also run a consultancy business during my evenings and weekends.

Over the past few months, I've been actively considering whether it would be feasible to make the jump – leave the comfort of a guaranteed pay cheque, holiday (and sick) pay, non-contributory pension, etc – and go it alone; instead of working for The Man, being The Man.

Last Monday I made that decision, and resigned.

I trade as DDA Systems Limited. Take a look at my experience and areas of expertise and talk to me about how I can benefit you and your company: email jonathan (at) ddasystems (dot) com or call +44 20 3137 7890.

Remortgage – Done!

jkt — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:24:40 +0000

My last mortgage deal, taken out when we moved to Orpington, comes to an end in December.

About a month ago I started looking around. Following the download of a document from the Money Saving Expert website, I decided to use London & Country, a fee-free mortgage broker; they are full market, and advise on specific mortgages.

I had two requirements for a fixed mortgage: low rate (HA!), and being able to offset my savings against the debt.

The first deal they came up with was with Scottish Widows. On the surface was a great deal, fixed at 1.39% above the Scottish Widows Base Rate (which at the time was the same as the BoE rate) for the term of the mortgage and no arrangement fee; they'd also refund the valuation fee. Despite passing the preliminaries, they said I failed the credit score and the maximum they'd lend was £35k less than I was asking for. Enquiries against my credit score showed they were lying; my score is almost perfect (999/1000). When pressed on that point they changed their story and said I failed for other reasons, which they wouldn't disclose. I won't be dealing with them again.

Moving swiftly on, the next best offer was from Intelligent Finance. Fixed at 1.59% above the BoE rate for the life of the mortgage, it looked like a good deal. The biggest downside was the £430 valuation fee and the £1000 arrangement fee., though given the current with deals disappearing by the day, not a deal breaker.

Within a week the valuer had been round, and the news was good. A week later, despite saying I wanted to complete in January, I received a call from the conveyencer saying we could complete yesterday – just two weeks after first contacting them. The fee to terminate my previous agreement early was tiny, I said we should go ahead.

I've just spoken to IF and, indeed, it has completed. I'm stunned. It has been, apart from the arrangement and valuation fees, painless.

My timing was excellent: since the rate cut last week, IF have pulled all their trackers off the market. As it's a rate fixed for the term, I'm likely not to need to remortgage again. I am a very happy bunny.

A+++++ transaction, would do business again.