Statistical arbitrage quant

Statistical arbitrage quant, works on finding patterns in data to suggest automated trades. The techniques are quite different from those in derivatives pricing. This sort of job is most commonly found in hedge funds. The return on this type of position is highly volatile!
A capital quant works on modelling the bank’s credit exposures and capital requirements. This is less sexy than derivatives pricing but is becoming more and more important with the advent of the Basel III banking
accord. You can expect decent (but not great) pay, less stress and more sensible hours. There is currently a drive to mathematically model the chance of operational losses through fraud etc, with mixed degrees of
success.
People do banking for the money, and you tend to get paid more the closer you are to where the money is being made. This translates into a sort of snobbery where those close to themoney look down on those who
aren’t. As a general rule, moving away from the money is easy, moving towards it is hard.