Why is Excel VBA so Important For Banks ?
December 12, 2016
vba_finance
“2
Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.
Bill Gates
3
A Bit of History
Before
4
At the the early age of contemporary banking, no technical knowledge was required. Operations and technical tasks were down manually.
How It Used to Work
Today
6
The technological revolution has brought a new era where the challenge now is to automate processes as much as possible.
The World Has Changed
This revolution brought a lot of talented people who made the competition very fierce to those who now aspire to join the industry.
Intellectual Revolution
Today if you want to successfully pass an interview for a position on the financial markets, you need to know at least one programming language.
Status Quo
One of the most widely and easiest language used in banks is VBA.
Watch here
What Language To Learn?
VBA (Visual Basic Application) was developed by Microsoft in 1993 and is embedded on every computer where Excel is installed.
You said VBA ?
12
That’s the number of computers with Excel installed !
700,000,000
VBA is a tool that people use to develop automated programs with Excel as the user interface. The language has interesting features that are very useful when analyzing financial data, developing charts or format and present raw data.
VBA, For what ?
Facts : VBA is not the best language for every finance-related applications.
VBA is widely used by trading team (Front Office). Banks use it more than others, but what they all have in common is that VBA is running to automate daily tasks.
Why VBA for the financial market ?
Tasks can range from extracting and formatting data to creating a pricing tool. With VBA, an automated process of these kinds can be implemented in a few hours. Some other language can be better at the job, but it will require more resources and more time.
What Kind of Automation?
Facts: No! It is across all banking departments !
VBA is can be used in most of Microsoft applications such as Microsoft Access, Word and Powerpoint. Any computer that has one of these software can run VBA.
Is VBA only used in Trading ?
Therefore it makes the language very portable and can be used in other department such as Risk Management, Middle Office and Back Office units. All these departments automate tasks using VBA.
VBA Is Used Across All Banking Departments
VBA is always a non-negligible advantage skill to have.
It can actually make the difference between you and another candidate who is competing for a similar position.
Would VBA look good on my resume ?
If you manager notice that you are able to understand and fix some of the tools that run daily on his perimeter as soon as you are hired, this is definitely a kick-off on the job, and most likely on your Career !
Useful For Your Career ?
20
THANKS
Any questions?
You can find me atTwitter : @vba_financeFacebook : VBA-FINANCELinkedIn : Investment Banking Club
Learn More About Us.
Top Related