Fund Finance 101 – Back To Basics

Following on Mike Mascia's Closing Remarks delivered to young Fund Finance professionals at last month's FFA University 1.0, I wanted to take things back to the basics for those who are just starting their careers in fund finance.

"Do they lend above the fund or below the fund?"

These are the first words that come to mind when I think about the start of my career in fund finance. Like many young professionals before me, I walked into my first interview armed with as much knowledge as I considered feasible to cram into my brain about an area of finance which, up until the moment I was asked that foreign question, I had little understanding.

Multiple articles, flowcharts and PowerPoint presentations later, I began to make advances at installing this new language into Fund Finance Fiona 1.0. As I continued to embark on the next steps in my career, the amount of legal and business jargon I needed to learn grew – but my confidence also grew.