Trading · Foreign exchange

You quote prices on currency options to the bank's clients and manage the risk the desk is left holding, as an FX Options Trader at Citigroup in London. FX means foreign exchange, the swapping of one currency for another. An option is a contract giving the buyer the right, but not the duty, to swap one currency for another at a set rate on a set date. Companies and investors buy them to protect themselves against moves in exchange rates or to bet on them. You run a trading book, the collection of positions the desk holds, and you are judged on the revenue it earns against its budget and on how well its risk is kept in check.

You price both vanilla options, the standard kind described above, and exotic ones, whose payout depends on more complicated conditions, such as whether a rate touches a level before the end date. Pricing to the franchise means quoting to the clients the bank's salespeople bring in, as part of the Trading team.