Vital Stats
HOMETOWN: Banaras, India
Master's Program:University of California at Berkeley (Haas School of Business), Master in Financial Engineering
Additional graduate Work:M.B.A. with focus on finance and marketing from Indian Institute of Management in 2005
Undergraduate Degree:Major in mathematics from Banaras Hindu University
Internships: I am going to UBS Hong Kong, to the equity derivatives trading desk, from October to December.
Work Experience:I worked at AIG in Bombay. I was in a rotation program -- I went through different functions in different departments. Then after my M.B.A. program, I worked at Deutsche Bank in Bombay as a junior bond trader.
Mentor: KuldeepSinh Jagtap, a senior trader at Deutsche Bank. He taught me trading strategies and how markets move. And Nitin Nath, a managing director who heads Deutsche India, helped me direct my career.
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- Qualifications and Background
- Aspirations
- Beyond the Numbers
Advanced Trading: Why did you choose to pursue a master's degree in finance, and why did you choose the University of California at Berkeley's program?
Bhutani: I was working in India trading bonds, and I wanted to move to the derivatives industry. The Master in Financial Engineering program equips you in a technical way to understand derivatives much better than a typical M.B.A. program. This is a one-year program in which they teach you finance and only finance with a quantitative bent. Most of the derivatives industry is based in global hubs like New York, London, Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong. This program will help me move to an international level from Bombay [Mumbai]. In addition U.C. Berkeley offers the best M.F.E. program in the country today, so it was an obvious choice.
AT: What is your math background? Do you have any prior programming experience?
Bhutani: I have an undergrad degree in mathematics. I did bits of programming in India but was never a serious programmer, so all my programming I picked up here in the M.F.E. program. Typically at an M.B.A. school, the focus on programming is less.
AT: What classes are you taking that will be essential to helping you be more prepared for a job on Wall Street?
Bhutani: In my first term we had a class in derivatives and basic finance taught by Professor of Finance Mark Rubinstein. It taught a solid foundation of different derivatives, starting from simple forwards and then moving ahead.
We also had a course with adjunct professor Domingo Tavella, who is pretty famous in the quantitative world, on quantitative pricing of derivatives. This course involved a lot of programming, a lot of Monte Carlo simulation. And in the third term we had an advanced course in derivatives pricing with Tavella that went into the pricing of options using finite differences. These are very good courses that can directly help you on the trading floor.
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AT: What first interested you in Wall Street?
Bhutani: It goes back to my M.B.A. What happens in financial markets can impact the life of even a common man on the street in a big way. So I basically had a big urge to understand how macroeconomics behave. I was interested in how a change in interest rate policy, in monetary policy or in commodities prices, for example, can affect foreign exchange or the competitiveness of the country. All of these are economic puzzles that interested me.
AT: How would you rate your knowledge of the business of financial services, on a scale of 1 to 10?
Bhutani: Since I have worked in the derivatives industry, I can rate my knowledge a 6 or 7 out of 10. I have a decent understanding of what's going on in the markets and what happens, but to have a thorough understanding takes time.
AT: Discuss your training in statistics and your ability to analyze data.
Bhutani: I have taken a couple of courses in econometrics, which primarily deal with data analysis. Then in my job I did a lot of analysis. I also did a lot of data analysis in courses at Berkeley.
I took an undergraduate course in statistics. I'm not really good at the underlying statistics, but I know how to use the statistics in my day-to-day work.
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AT: Why did you choose to pursue a career on Wall Street?
Bhutani: When I was pursuing my M.B.A., my interest in finance grew, as I liked the finance and quantitative classes the most. The obvious career choice turned out to be doing something in the derivatives industry on the sales and trading desk of a bank. To develop more knowledge and develop depth, I came to Berkeley.
AT: In what type of role would you like to start?
Bhutani: I would like to start as a trader on a derivatives desk. I prefer something on a hybrid book, because a hybrid book typically has derivatives based on different asset classes combined on a single desk -- so you can have interest rate, as well as equity, as well as FX, combined.
So managing a hybrid book is challenging because you have all of these correlations that come into the picture. If I can get into that I'd be very happy. Otherwise I'd be happy with any exotic derivatives book. But given what is happening on the Street right now, we'll have to see.
AT: What do you see yourself doing in two years? In 10 years?
Bhutani: In this market, looking beyond a year is difficult. In two years I would like to join a desk and learn the duties and responsibilities and critical things on a desk very quickly, and as soon as I'm farther along the learning curve, start contributing, start adding value to the desk. I'd like to learn the business inside out, get good experience in managing the trading book and start generating P&L for the desk. Ultimately trading boils down to the profit and loss you generate.
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AT: Name some firms you'd like to work for.
Bhutani: Goldman Sachs, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.
AT: What sets you apart from other quant candidates?
Bhutani: I came to the M.F.E. program with two years of solid work experience at Deutsche Bank and before that AIG under my belt. Initially I started my career as a structurer, then I moved to trading, and I joined the desk as a junior trader. I was responsible for managing a balance sheet of $200 million. I think my prior work experience is my biggest plus because I have already seen a trading floor and I have managed a trading book.
AT: What three questions would you ask a prospective employer?
Bhutani: In a trading environment, if you are managing an exotic book, it's important to know about the team, so I would ask about the team: Who would I be working with? What kind of products does the desk trade? What is the desk's experience and strengths in trading different products? In what geographies does the firm trade?
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AT: Do you trade at all? Have you ever built any algorithmic models for trading?
Bhutani: I have been a professional trader, so of course I trade -- but not in school right now. I used a couple of models at Deutsche, but I wouldn't say algorithmic models -- they were economic models.
AT: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Bhutani: I play squash, though I don't get much time these days. I do manage to play squash two or three times a week.
AT: Name one thing you did this summer for fun.
Bhutani: Frankly, this summer I was in India and I was on my way to the U.S. I spent a lot of time trying to navigate the visa procedures and get the airline booked. In the U.S., whenever I get an opportunity to go out, I visit other places. I have been to San Francisco and to a couple of other places on the West Coast.
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AT: Describe one of your personal goals beyond a career on Wall Street.
Bhutani: To improve myself every day. To live every day of my life in the best possible way so that when I go to sleep at night I feel good. Many times I feel disappointed that my day was not good and was not productive enough. I'm trying to constantly improve myself.
AT: Choose one word to describe yourself.
Bhutani: Fighter.
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