Graduate / 'world-leading faculty and top-notch resources' - Statement for Financial Risk Management in UCL [2]

Personal Statement-MSc Financial Risk Management in UCL

Instructions:
- why you want to study Financial Risk Management at graduate level
- why you want to study Financial Risk Management at UCL
- what particularly attracts you to this programme
- how your academic and professional background meets the demands of this programme
- what programming experience you have
- where you would like to go professionally with your degree

Growing up in the developing country of China, I have witnessed the nationwide implementation of the Reform and Opening Up Policy, China's accession into the World Trade Organization in 2001 and how Chinese suffered from financial crisis in 2008. Having recognised the domestic need for technical talents and competent entrepreneurs to get the nation positively involved in globalization and gain an advantage, I made my career plan to gain techniques in global investment banks in the short term, and to start my own company to provide financial advisory services to Chinese enterprises in the long run.

As I explored into the field, I found that risk exposure was increasingly afflicting worldwide corporations. If I could assess and prioritise risks to assure that the overall risk were tactfully decreased to the minimum without greatly affecting profits, I would avoid a considerable amount of loss which might take place in the non-interfering state. Therefore, considering my skillset gained from my major in Quantitative Economics, I decided to serve as a quant in the field of risk management.

Due to the limited expertise and skills in programming and analysing as an undergraduate, I make up my mind to pursue further studies in UCL for its leading faculty and strong links with industry. I am thrilled to find the programme, MSc Financial Risk Management, is a desired fit for me.

The programme offers a professional knowledge system, perfectly combining core modules focusing on risk analysis with an abundance of optional specialised courses, which will enable me to deeply explore a specific area (i.e. Quantitative risk management). I plan to choose Stochastic Methods in Finance and Numerical Analysis for Finance in term one, and to take Applied Computational Finance and Quantitative Modelling of Operational Risk and Insurance Analysis in term two, equipping myself with advanced statistics as well as modelling and programming techniques. Besides the ideal curriculum, I am particularly attracted by the summer project, which will directly introduce me into a challenging industrial environment, so I will have the opportunity to gain practical techniques in a real-life setting and build supportive social networks.

Fully aware of the demanding requirements to materialise my goal, I have been making efforts to distinguish myself through academic achievements. Impressed by my exceptional performance in coursework, Professor Yen-Teik Lee from the School of Finance invited me to join his project of investigating the impact of compensation clawback on corporate performance. Driven by curiosity about how theoretical models would be applied to assess real financial regulations, I got actively involved. Based on the course learning of Software of Economy Data Analysis, I technically used SAS to design a programme, which helped me roughly filter through the original database and get a collection of over three thousand filings containing terms associated with clawback adoption. Then I manually inspected each filing to verify that the terms referred to a compensation clawback policy, and accordingly built a clawback sample, which was used for quantitative modelling. Elatedly, we demonstrated that there was a significantly negative causal relationship between voluntary clawback adoption and firm innovation.

Last semester, intrigued by the increasing number of car restrictions for environmental protection, I decided to lead a group project to study whether traditional cars imposed a negative impact on air quality. I self-studied Stata to do programming to test feasible models with a sample of thirty-one cities collected from the Statistical Annual Reports and Yearbooks. Especially, to solve the potential endogeneity in our regression, I tried four possible instrument variables and changed the codes accordingly to find the most eligible one. Successfully, we built a solid quantitative model and empirically proved the negative causal relationship between air quality and car usage.

Thanks to the course learning and research experiences at SHUFE, I have been well prepared with expertise and techniques for my graduate study. I believe I can quickly adapt to your programme and put on outstanding academic performance afterwards. With world-leading faculty and top-notch resources, your programmes, I am convinced, will offer me a worthwhile learning journey.

Signature: Yuanxia Zhang Date: 2015/10/27

Graduate / An outline of your future career plans and intentions - Cambridge [6]

Please give an outline of your future career plans and intentions and explain how your proposed studies in Cambridge will help to achieve these aims.

My career goal is to work in an investment bank, such as Goldman Sachs. I plan to serve as a quant in the field of risk management. My career plans are listed as followed:

2017 Graduate from Cambridge.
2017 Analyst in an investment bank.
Tasks: Process and analyze data, do daily risk management reports, monitor daily risk indicators.
Goal: Gain an in-depth insight of the corporate businesses. Build important social networks. Develop transferable skills.
2019 Associate in an investment bank
Tasks: Design risk management reports, build risk management models (such as credit rating model), do special reports on risk management, identify and assess risks of new products.

Goal: Play an important part in the corporate businesses. Assume responsibilities for products or clients. Mainly develop quantitative models.
2022 Vice president in an investment bank
Tasks: Independently lead projects.
Goal: Become the leading part in a team
2025 Executive director & Managing director
Tasks: Focus on overall management, control total risks, lead high-level projects
Long goal Start my own company to provide financial consulting services for Chinese enterprises and contribute my share to their prosperity.

My graduate study at Cambridge will prepare me for my future career in several significant ways.

Firstly, the rigorous curriculum will provide me with highly relevant and fundamental knowledge. The preparatory course offers the required mathematical and statistical methods, which are essential for both further study (e.g. Econometrics) and future work (e.g. Quantitative model establishment). The economics modules, such as Econometric Methods, Time Series, will teach me how to process data, build models, and predict trends using empirical statistics. This kind of analysis procedure will be applied frequently in my future work to assess the potential risks. As for the finance modules, such as Venture Capital in the Innovation Economy, they provide theories and models directly related to the financial industry. These courses will enable me to have an in-depth insight of the mechanism of the financial world and to learn how to achieve the optimum by strategies. Therefore, all these courses together form a comprehensive knowledge system to cultivate an outstanding quant. I will not only learn the technical methods by understanding and applying the theoretical ideas, but also develop an analytical mindset, which is vital for analysis work.

Secondly, the dissertation writing will develop my research skills. I will study a variety of topics and choose a feasible and meaningful one to explore. I will establish a solid model by applying what I will have learned during the courses to an appropriate set of data. Thus every step will be completed via intensive research and repetitive trials, which will enable me to think independently and analyze critically. Besides, I will receive the professional guidance at Cambridge. Thanks to the excellent and responsible faculty, I will be supervised and helped from the beginning of subject selection to the end of dissertation submission. The discussion with my supervisor will prevent me diverging from my subject and help me to learn professional research methods. The dissertation writing procedure will be a complete research experience, laying foundation for future projects conduction in my career.

Thirdly, Cambridge provides a comfortable and positive environment for my life and study. I will live, eat and socialize in an autonomous college, which provides an ideal platform for me to interact with people from different backgrounds and learn different cultures. Exposure to various lifestyles and customs will help me understand the diversity of cultures and cultivate personal courteous and respect for others. Furthermore, there are over one hundred libraries at Cambridge, which are all well equipped with advanced facilities and comprehensive books. I can not only use the plentiful resources for academic study, but also enjoy myself in novels, magazines and other materials. In addition, the university museums and collections are a world-class resource with more than five million works of art, artifacts and specimens. I can make the most of them to expand my outlooks and learn to interpret things from different perspectives. Therefore, Cambridge ensures an all-round development and cultivate me to be a specialist with extensive knowledge.

Fourthly, the well-rounded career services at Cambridge can help me make future career choices and raise the possibilities to be employed by pronounced corporations that can provide me with invaluable experience. Colorful campus activities provide a direct way for me to make acquaintance with alumni and professors. Interpersonal skills and leadership abilities will also be cultivated by actively participating in university activities.

In sum, my study in Cambridge will equip me with a strong foundation in finance and economics, rich experience in modeling and quantitative analysis, comprehensive ideas of arts and cultures, and strong interpersonal skills. These personalities and abilities are essential for my future career to be an outstanding qaunt. Therefore, with world-leading faculty and top-notch resources, your programme, I am convinced, will offer me a worthwhile learning journey.