Investment banking jobs can be categorized into three main roles - front office, middle office, and back office. The front office roles directly interface with clients and generate revenue through activities like sales, trading, and investment banking. The middle office manages the various risks taken on by the front office. The back office provides the technological and operational support needed by the front and middle offices.

1. INVESTMENT BANKING

2. Investment Banking: Front,
Middle and Back Office Roles
2 I Lenn Mayhew Lewis
Jobs in investment banking can usually be placed into one of three
categories – front office, middle office and back office. Certain roles,
such as IT or risk analysis, may cross over into more than one category.

3. FRONTOFFICE
In a nutshell, front office
roles are those that direct-
ly face the customer and
generate revenue. Sales
and trading, investment
banking, equity research,
merchant banking and
global transaction banking
are all examples of front
office roles.
MIDDLE OFFICE
The middle office liaises
with both the front and
back office and there can be
cross-over with many roles.
Fundamentally, however,
the middle office is respon-
sible for managing risk in
all its forms. These include
financial risk management,
compliance and corporate
strategy, ensuring that the
front office doesn’t take on
activity which can have a
negative effect.
BACK OFFICE
The back office is the
support network for the
business, comprised of
technology and operations.
The front office is directly
responsible for revenue
generation, while the back
office does everything re-
quired to underpin that.
Lenn Mayhew Lewis I 3

4. You can find out more about investment banking
by visiting the blog of Lenn Mayhew Lewis, director
and a shareholder of Core Capital Advisors Inc.