Can you give us an insight into your personal journey into the asset services industry, why did you decide this was the career for you?
People usually have a rough idea of what it is they want to do when they finish formal education. Mine had always been finance because of the influence of my parents. My dad had worked in the City as a ‘Stockjobber’ — the old term for a market maker — at James Capel and Akroyd & Smithers.
In his day, firms were not allowed to act as both market maker and broker, so his job was to provide liquidity to the market by managing his own book on behalf of the firm. Brokers would have to buy and sell from ‘jobbers’ on the trading floor to fill their clients’ orders.
Eventually, Margaret Thatcher’s financial reforms brought in deregulation which meant firms could act as both broker and market maker, thanks to computerised trading systems that rendered face-to-face trading obsolete.
It was because of this early influence that I developed a fascination with the financial markets and The City, eliciting this vague idea that I wanted to follow in his footsteps, but by no means did I have any set plan on how I intended to make that happen.
How did your experience differ among your peers? Were there benefits or disadvantages to starting your career early-on?
To this day, I have vivid memories of being in the car with my dad and unveiling the large brown envelope containing my A-Level results, then upon first glimpse of the black ink, turning to him with a look on my face that resembled a dog about to be scolded for ripping up the new sofa.
It turns out, this was a blessing in disguise. It was the reality check I needed to reaffirm that it was my responsibility and mine alone to dictate my future.
I had never had a job before and can remember looking at roles in my local high street for coffee shops and phone retailers, until one of my friends told me he knew someone, who knew a recruiter who was looking for a couple of post-grads for a one year contract in a small scale, UK Authorised Corporate Director (ACD).
Back then, I had no idea what that meant, but the office was in The City and I knew it was somewhat related to finance, so I went for it. After what I can now call my very first, successful interview; I was offered a job in the ‘Investment Management Oversight’ team and embarked on my journey to understand the UK investment market, how funds work and to decipher what on earth an ACD is.
The scope of the role was broad and the team was a small group of very experienced people, so I learnt a lot in a very short timespan. I had exposure to the managers’ funds our team was responsible for overseeing, so I got to grips with risk management; learning how to calculate things like ‘Commitment’ and ‘VaR’ exposures in Excel, as well as practically memorising the regulatory rulebook (also known as COLL), which was the golden source for all the UK rules and regulations that our clients’ funds had to comply with.
After the contract expired, I was offered the full-time role, but given my meagre A-Level results, I still wanted to prove my academic credentials. Finally, I knew this was the direction I wanted my career to take, but did not want to uproot the progress I had made to spend three years at university. That led me to explore a degree through an evening university.
I would do my 9-5, jump on the tube to Tottenham Court Road for four evenings a week, to then attend my lectures from 6-9. My commute into the city was not exactly short, living on the last stop of the Central line, door to door I had practically be doing 15 hour days. I was in my most intense period of study when I joined Carne.
A large part of my decision came down to how supportive they were of this. At the time, I did not acknowledge that the intensity of the days was outside of the norm, but I was enjoying working life and with most of my friends now living away at their respective universities, had my evenings spare.
Five years later, I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in Financial Economics, at which point I had also accumulated four years of financial services experience.
That put me in a very fortunate position, with most of my peer group facing a highly saturated job market after completing their degree, particularly with the pandemic creating a backlog and stiff competition on the grad schemes at the most sought after, established Investment firms.
The part that struck me was the fact it was not what I learnt during my degree that impressed employers. Unintentionally, it was demonstrating the resilience to not let a few bad grades define my career and the grit to go and do something about it, even if that meant sacrificing the traditional university lifestyle and putting up with living at home a while longer!
What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
Recently, I had pivoted roles completely from a technical, operational focus to a front office, relationship focused job.
The journey from knowing next to nothing about one subject area, to establishing myself as a subject matter expert in that particular field was something I particularly enjoyed, but I was told once that when you feel you are no longer learning, you should look to try something different.
This particular career pivot turned out to be very different, in some ways I had expected and others I did not. In both aspects, it has made for a challenging experience, which equally makes for a rewarding one. I have come to terms with being uncomfortable in situations, because it is also in this environment that you are encouraged to adapt.
For example, in this new role, I am the first touchpoint in the relationship with the business, so it is important that the first impression is positive.
With that comes pressure and I have certainly experienced an element of self-doubt, as most of us will undoubtedly encounter in our lives, but it has been good to challenge that in myself and continually build upon the stack of proof to credentialise my knowledge base.
Have you noticed any misconceptions about the asset servicing industry? Is there anything in the industry you would like to see evolve or change?
The industry is filled with jargon. With that, comes a misconception that everyone in it not only speaks it, but knows what it all means. The façade finally unravelled for me when someone far more senior than I called out another person in a meeting for using acronyms on the expectation that everyone knew what it meant.
The funny thing is, I do not think anyone in the room knew what this person was referencing at the time, but there was an unspoken, shared assumption that everyone should have known. The lesson for me was that leadership is not only about leading from the front. It is also about being able to ‘manage from the back’ and push everyone up as a team.
I have also realised the value in the skill of being able to explain complex concepts in a way that is easily understandable, particularly to someone not in the industry. The collaboration that stems from this simple switch in mindset is stark, and I have experienced it first hand, particularly in the most senior of meetings.
This is one thing I would like to see more of, but the tone and environment to express this kind of humility is undoubtedly set by the leadership, as was the case with my previous example.
What is the training process of a new employee?
There is the formal training process, in the sense that you have your prescriptive role and this is what you need to learn to carry out the list of tasks in your job. This is largely the same across the board, but it is the experiential training that has really accelerated my career.
Carne has always been incredibly supportive in ensuring those experiences happen. I have always wanted to be in the office as it is where I have had exposure to senior leadership in the firm and learnt the most as a direct result.
I have observed the behaviours of successful people in the firm and adopted the elements that resonate with the way I want my brand to be.
Understanding the ways decisions are made and how communication flows in business has been the best intellectual capital in my toolkit, but it is not something that can be learnt in a book. It comes from being present and paying deliberate attention to how all the individual cogs contribute to driving a business forward.
If there is a particular cog I have not understood, I have intentionally expressed an interest in learning more about it and attempted to form a relationship with someone in the team to figure out how it works in practice.
I have realised with time that these relationships have formed a kind of informal ‘advisory board’ of trusted people who I can rely on for advice and help. It is no doubt critical to have a mentor but often, quite difficult to figure out how to get one.
I have recently had to look at this as though I am selling myself. It starts with an appreciation that being a mentor takes a lot of time and commitment, so as the mentee; I have come to realise you have to help people realise you are worth the investment, by being curious and helpful to those you want to mentor you.
At the end of the day, it is a bilateral relationship.
In terms of your career, where do you see yourself in a decade?
I recently moderated a panel on the topic of career progression for the emerging contingent of financial professionals, where I had the pleasure of interviewing my colleagues Alva Devoy and Chris Gothard from Brown Brothers Harriman.
The biggest takeaway I took from this was the ability to embrace humility. Mistakes are inevitable, but it is how you respond that defines you.
Owning it, communicating transparently and sharing how you will fix it is what builds trust and accountability.
Opportunities will come your way in life; whether they will work out will always have an element of uncertainty. I have since moved into a role in business development, but never did I think I had the acumen or natural ability to be successful in such a role, until I took the plunge.
Carne was pivotal in that decision, as it was one of my senior colleagues who recognised I might have some of the right acumen for a role elsewhere in the business, which planted the idea in the first place.
Having the internal sponsorship from the senior leadership within the business is what helped me transition from Operations.
What has made Carne so successful in the 21 years is the fact it has always been, and always will be, a people-first business, who invests in the individuals and nurtures their skillset to set them up for success anywhere in the business, rather than viewing people as bound to their role.
In the end, there are always risks you have to consider, but the greatest opportunity cost is associated with not putting your skills to the test and trying something different.
In a decade from now, I would like to be able to say I have made many more of those pivotal career decisions, having seen the growth and benefit that stems from them.
My intention will be to always strive to be intentional and accountable in whatever path I take. It is important to always challenge that inner dialogue that tries to convince you it is a bad idea, or that you are not capable.
What advice would you give to anyone considering a role in financial services?
Embrace humility. I have come to terms with the fact that no one knows everything; but in the same vein, it is always better to admit you do not know something than to do something wrong down the line because you never asked the question when you had the chance.
That said, if you do make a mistake, immediately own up and make it known how you will fix it. It goes a long way towards demonstrating that you are not only human, but you are accountable and trustworthy.
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CSD
Maxim Neshcheret
Image: Carne Group 
