Investment Management Organizational Structure Outline
Investment Management Organization Chart Template
Learn MoreInvestment Management
Investment Management (also sometimes referred to as 'Private Banking,' 'Wealth Management' or 'Private Wealth Management') refers to a collection of services usually rendered to high-net-worth-individuals, families or businesses. Investment management typically encompasses the coordination of a suite of services including portfolio management, estate planning, financial advisory services, retail banking, retirement planning, legal resources and tax strategies. Large corporations may also be Investment Management customers but, typically, they would ne serviced by the bank's Investment Banking group (i.e., Prime Brokerage, etc.).
Common Investment Management job titles: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Lines of Busines
Lines of Business (LOB) refers to specific products and services offered by investment management organizations to both private and commercial clients. Major LOBs typically including Private Wealth Management, Retirement Services, Advisory Services, and Prime Brokerage. Employees working within these front office areas are responsible for developing and pricing these products/services, generating new business and managing client relationships. LOBs are supported by back office staff members, who work to perform non-customer-facing tasks such as transaction processing (deposits, withdrawals, etc.), sales & trading.
Common Lines of Busines job titles: Loan Officer, Investment Specialist, Financial Advisor
Asset Management (Institutional)
The Asset Management (Institutional) function provides services to business and institutional clients (hedge funds, insurance companies, investment banks, money managers, etc.) by investing on their behalf and giving them access to a wider range of traditional and alternative product offerings than would be available to the average investor. Usually provided by an investment management organization, the services offered by this line of business include custody services, securities clearing, treasury services, fund services, Accounting & Reporting Services and Prime Brokerage Services.
Common Asset Management (Institutional) job titles: Portfolio Analyst, Investor Relations Analyst, Asset Management Associate, Investment Specialist
Independent Advisor Services
The Independent Advisor Services Group provides outsourced services to independent advisors (financial advisors who own their own business). This usually involves back office processes (client services, trade operations & support, ensuring that all trading activities and client interactions are compliant with federal regulations, recordkeeping, financial strategy analysis and developing technology-related solutions for complex financial issues), training (whether focused on the independent advisors themselves or their employees) and investment advisory services (involves market research and analysis). Independent Advisor Services are focused on helping independent advisors reach their business goals and serve their clients.
Common Independent Advisor Services job titles: Customer Service Representative, Risk Management Analyst, Trade Support Analyst/Associate, Risk Reporting Analyst, Data Scientist
Private Wealth Management (Retail)
The Private Wealth Management function provides services to high net worth individuals and families. Also referred to as private banking, services offered by this line of business include trust management, tax planning, planned giving, estate planning, investment management and financial advisory services.
Common Private Wealth Management (Retail) job titles: Private Client Associate, Private Wealth Management Analyst, Private Wealth Advisor, Financial Advisor
Sales & Trading
The Sales and Trading function is responsible for facilitating client transactions across all of the major asset classes. They make markets in fixed income, equity, currency, and commodity products on major stocks, options, and futures exchanges worldwide. Sales and trading functions may also provides financing, securities lending, cash management, and other prime brokerage services to institutional clients (such as large corporations, government institutions, etc.).
Common Sales & Trading job titles: Trader, Investment Analyst, Trading Analyst, Investment Associate
Investment & Market Research
The Investment Research function provides client-focused research in the equity, fixed income, currency and commodities markets. This function serves mutual funds, hedge funds and pension funds, among others, and is often split into six groups: Equity, Credit, Economic, Portfolio Strategy, Commodities and Global Market Research. The Equity Research Group analyzes macro, sector and company fundamentals to identify investment opportunities for stocks covered globally. The Credit Research Group makes investment recommendations for the corporate debt and credit derivatives of issuers in various sectors. The Economics Research Group formulates macroeconomic forecasts for economic activity, foreign exchange and interest rates. The Portfolio Strategy Research Group formulates policies, before forecasting and providing recommendations on both asset and industry sector allocations for major equity markets. The Commodities Research Group analyzes market fundamentals to formulate forecasts for commodities in five main areas; oil, natural gas, base metals, precious metals and agriculture. The Global Markets Research Group provides research and high-level advisory services to policymakers, regulators and investors.
Common Investment & Market Research job titles: Analyst, Financial Analyst, Portfolio Managmement Analyst, Private Market Analyst
Back Office Operations
Investment Management Back Office Operations refers to a set of essential administrative and support services related to executing trades, managing assets and supporting client transactions. The Back Office is responsible for managing several activities such as customer service, trade execution, trade confirmation, trade settlement, compliance and risk management and software engineering (trading platforms, high-frequency trading, etc.). Back Office staff members support both the brokerage firm's, or bank's operation and individual lines of business such as Investment Banking, Commercial Lending, Sales & Trading, and Wealth Management.
Common Back Office Operations job titles: Operations Specialist/Analyst, Customer Service Representative, Banking Service Representative, Deposit Operations Associate
Client Services
The Client Services function essentially acts as a investment management organization's customer service branch, ensuring that every customer's business is fully supported. Client Service professionals act as a central point of contact for customers, working alongside other departments or functions to answer any inquiries concerning financial products and services as well as provide customers with long and short-term investment strategy advise.
Common Client Services job titles: Customer Service Representative, Client Service Associate, Client Support Representative
Compliance & Risk Management
The Compliance and Risk Management Group is tasked with ensuring that all trading activities and client interactions are compliant with the strict federal regulations that govern investment management firms. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as the Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA), strictly govern broker-dealers and banks in the United States. To meet their standards of service, a Chief Compliance Officer must supervise all activities to avoid fines and other penalties for non-compliance. The Compliance and Risk Management Group drafts and enforces standards to which all employees must adhere. They must meet frequently to assess and amend these standards. Their services include anti-money laundering (AML) programs that monitor for and report suspicious activity, regulatory audits, training regarding compliance, and compliance testing of broker-dealer and banking transactional, filing, and submissions processes.
Common Compliance & Risk Management job titles: Risk Management Analyst, Investment Risk Associate, Compliance Auditor, Investment Operations Associate, Compliance Officer, AML Specialist
Reporting & Analysis
The Reporting & Analysis function of investment management firms is responsible for the company's recordkeeping and financial strategy analysis. This function manages customer accounts (includes updating account information if necessary), keeps accurate records of company transactions (positions, trades, transfers, etc.), analyzes company financial strategies and produces reports to be distributed to management, stockholders and regulatory bodies describing the company's activities and any recommendations for future policy change to keep the company as competitive as possible in constantly shifting financial markets. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly regulates the minimum requirements of records that broker dealers and Investment Management groups must maintain, how to safeguard the records and how long those records and other documents relating to a broker dealer or Investment Management group's business must be kept. All records must be available for distribution should any examination or audit be conducted.
Common Reporting & Analysis job titles: Analyst, Risk Reporting Analyst, Business Analyst
Technology & Engineering
The Asset Management Technology & Engineering Group is responsible for developing technology-related solutions for complex financial issues - they develop trading platforms (for use by clients and/or internal trading teams), automate trading activities, configure data collection and analysis methods and design overall IT infrastructure to meet the strategic needs of the business and ensure that the company is managing risk appropriately. They also provide around-the-clock support for company applications and systems.
Common Technology & Engineering job titles: Machine Learning Architect, Desktop Support Administrator/Engineer, Data Scientist, Network Engineer, Platform Engineer
Trade Operations & Support
The Trade Operations and Support function is responsible for the middle and back office processes related to the exchange of securities and other financial products. Tasks commonly carried out within the Trade Operations and Support Group include trade confirmation, trade verification, trade matching, settlements, collateral management and reporting. In some cases, this department may also have sub-groups that are responsible for risk mitigation, liquidity management, technology support and client services (customer service).
Common Trade Operations & Support job titles: Trade Support Analyst/Associate, Back/Middle Office Associate, Trade Support Specialist, Trade Assistant, Operations Specialist, Operations Analyst