Product controllers are an investment bank's gatekeepers who have to straddle front and back office while handling confrontational and stressful situations. So those with a positive attitude tend to do well in this job.
Merrill Lynch, which has 55,000 employees worldwide, including about 4,000 in the Asia-Pacific region, is seeking an exotic product controller with three to four years of experience and familiarity with the market structure. Exotic products include derivatives, risk-based products and others that require quantitative analysis.
'The appointee will need to have a firm grasp of accounting policy and exotic product structures, as they have to tackle the business from a risk and accounting perspective,' said a Merrill Lynch spokesman.
This job is part financial function and part middle office, creating a bridge between the trading floor and the finance department. The incumbent will work closely with traders to become intimate with trading strategies, monitor risk, explain profit and loss, and market movement, resolve trade valuation issues and produce financial results.
Since this is a controller's role, this person must stand their ground and be able to offer an independent judgment in all situations. As relationship building is a priority, the role requires a dynamic personality with strong communication skills and the ability to work with many different departments and personality types.
