Top Investment Banking Skills With Tips To Develop Them

Updated 30 September 2022

A career as an investment banker can be exciting, rewarding and lucrative. Simultaneously, it can also be demanding, high-pressured and challenging. Investment bankers are responsible for various high-profile financial tasks like corporate mergers, acquisitions, IPOs, business plans and client investments. Having the right skills can help you handle the job efficiently and build your career as a successful investment banker. In this article, we explore the different investment banking skills that help advance your career and share tips on developing them.

Key investment banking skills

Besides education and experience, having the following investment banking skills can help you perform the job efficiently and successfully:

Financial skills

As part of their role, investment bankers facilitate large-scale financial transactions like corporate mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs and make crucial investment decisions for their clients. Strong financial skills with particular emphasis on economics, mathematics and accounting help investment bankers perform their job requirements efficiently. Besides these core financial competencies, financial curiosity helps candidates overcome challenges in the workplace and advance in their careers.

Here are some of the top financial skills that you might use on the job as an investment banker:

financial and statistical analysis and modelling
data interpretation
risk and credit management
knowledge of legislative and regulatory policies and procedures for the financial sector
knowledge of investment products like stocks, futures, IPOs, commodity markets, foreign exchange, derivatives

Analytical skills

Investment bankers analyse large sets of data, solve problems and make crucial financial decisions. Their job requires collecting, evaluating and analysing data to make informed decisions. Recruiters prefer candidates who exhibit strong analytical skills like the ability to quickly understand and apply complex pieces of information. As investment banking is all about agility and intellectual curiosity, having strong analytical skills can help you absorb new data, manage a project efficiently, make informed decisions and achieve business goals.

Teamwork

Investment banking is primarily a team role and requires candidates to work collaboratively with data analysts and other financial experts. Possessing the ability to communicate effectively and lead teams can help you advance in your investment banking career. If you are considering applying for a managerial role, efficient teamwork and leadership abilities can help you win promotions in the workplace.

Discipline and self-dedication

Investment bankers often work long hours, especially around significant milestones like mergers and acquisitions. Hard work, diligence and self-discipline can help candidates work efficiently in stressful environments without missing deadlines. Despite being part of a team, investment bankers are responsible for independent tasks that require discipline and self-motivation.

Communication

Irrespective of whether you work in a front-end customer-facing role or a back-end desk job, strong communication skills can help you excel in your position. Investment bankers spend most of their workday communicating with clients, team members and potential investors. As part of their role, they explain complex financial information in an easy-to-understand way to clients and other stakeholders. Strong, professional verbal communication and persuasion skills can help you convince clients and stakeholders of your decisions and accelerate career growth. Additionally, strong written communication skills help you draft professional emails and create powerful presentations.

Resilience

Investment banking is a high-pressure role with tight deadlines, long working hours and high stakes. Having strong personal resilience can help you complete your tasks efficiently without feeling overwhelmed. Resilience builds a strong sense of confidence and self-worth, helping you balance both professional and personal demands in a challenging environment. You can demonstrate your resilience to recruiters during the hiring process by sharing previous challenging experiences and how you handled them with ease.

Interpersonal skills

A positive attitude and the ability to meet the demands of challenging clients in high-pressure environments are vital characteristics that help investment bankers be successful in their roles. As part of their job duties, investment bankers interact with various people, including C-suite executives, department heads, team managers, clients, investors and other stakeholders. A robust set of interpersonal skills can help you improve professional relationships and advance in your career.

Leadership skills

In the initial stages of their careers, investment bankers generally work as junior analysts or financial researchers. As they gain experience, they can advance to bigger roles like team leaders and senior investment advisors, depending on their leadership and management potential. Demonstrating your leadership skills and taking responsibility for your team's work is a huge asset and can help you progress in your career.

Project and time management

Investment bankers are responsible for managing multiple high-profile clients at one time. Managing your work hours efficiently and completing projects within deadlines is crucial to ensure that you complete all your responsibilities without any delays. Learning specific time management skills or adopting project management tools can help you manage multiple projects effectively.

Additional banking skills

Besides the essential skills mentioned above, having the following skills can help you perform well in your job and gain recognition from senior management:

International outlook: With globalisation and open trading, investment bankers usually have clients from across the world. Understanding the nuances of global economics, politics, speaking another language and appreciation of diverse cultures can help you differentiate yourself in your workplace.
Entrepreneurial skills: Investment bankers play a crucial role in corporate restructuring, merger and acquisition deals and business capitalisation. Entrepreneurial skills help them identify new business opportunities and maximise the growth potential of their organisation.
Work ethics: Investment bankers handle transactions of immense value and clients trust them with their money. So, strong work ethics like honesty, transparency and dedication to the job help you win the trust of clients and your employer.
Networking skills: As part of their role, investment bankers require the ability to make professional connections with people from different industries. Maintaining healthy client relationships and the ability to deal with unfamiliar situations can help you succeed in the role.

How to improve your skills for investment banking

Here are a few steps to help you improve your skills for a job as an investment banker:

1. Evaluate if the role matches your interests

Investment banking is an exciting and lucrative career. But, it is also a high-pressure and high-stakes role that requires candidates to have a natural aptitude for numerical and financial skills. Before you begin a career in investment banking, understand the job descriptions and duties to help you decide if the role interests you in the long run.

2. Decide your preferred specialisation

Just like other finance careers, investment banking has various roles. While some similarities exist between these positions, the skill-sets vary based on the final role. For example, if you work on the operational side of investment banking, your team is responsible for the processing and settlement of financial transactions. Having excellent analytical and numerical skills can help you succeed in an operational investment banking role.

Corporate investment bankers provide various financial services to companies and clients. They work on mergers, acquisitions and lending. Strategic thinking, the ability to handle stressful situations calmly, negotiation and strong interpersonal skills are the preferable skill-sets for candidates working as corporate investment bankers. So, identify your preferred role and focus on developing the right skills for it.

3. Join an investment banking certification or course

If you are contemplating a career in investment banking, joining a course or certification can help you develop the technical skills for the job. Online and offline investment banking courses teach you the basics and can also offer experience with practical projects. Look for courses specialising in economics, finance, business management, portfolio management and research analysis. Ensure that the course you choose provides you with skills training for your chosen specialisation.

4. Develop soft skills

Besides technical skills, developing soft skills like negotiation, collaboration, leadership and project management can help you gain an advantage in the workplace. You can acquire these skills using any of the following ways:

read books or blogs from thought leaders and other successful investment bankers
watch soft skill development videos or listen to podcasts on the subject
alternatively, you can also join a soft skill development programme to hone your professional skills

5. Do an internship

You can learn vital technical skills and gain practical insights by interning at leading financial and banking institutions. Internships provide you with on-the-job experience that can help you acquire the skills for future jobs. Some internship programmes also offer full-time job offers for the best-performing interns, helping you commence your career. Tailor your resume and cover letter to match the specific internship requirements to differentiate your profile and impress the recruiter.

6. Attend industry events and network

Whether this is your first role as an investment banker or you are an intern, interacting and connecting with peers at industry events and on social media can help you gain knowledge and update your skills. Attend conferences, seminars and other training programmes to keep yourself updated with the latest developments in the field. Networking with seniors in investment banking provides you with opportunities for skill development, which can aid in career progression.