The global body for professional accountants

Sectors, industries and roles

Financial services in industry sectors

Help businesses, governments and individuals with a wide range of financial and business issues.

What is the financial services sector?

Most adults have some dealing with the financial services sector. Personal and private banking, insurance, pensions and investments are provided by an extensive range of financial institutions and organisations, which include many major names such as HSBC, Santander, Barclays and Zurich.

Opportunities in financial services are extremely varied, from funds management to dealing with complex financial products. One skill is essential though. You must be keenly aware of the fundamental relationship between risk and return when safeguarding the assets of organisations and individuals.

Roles in this sector

Read about some of the roles you could undertake:

  • Internal auditor
  • Compliance/governance officer
  • Management accountant 
  • Chief financial officer (CFO)
  • Group accountant 
  • Business analyst
  • Financial analyst
  • Risk manager
  • Treasurer
  • Funds manager
  • Credit control manager
  • General ledger
  • Payroll

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You must be keenly aware of the fundamental relationship between risk and return when safeguarding the assets of organisations and individuals.

Ready to begin your career journey?

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