Types of finance – and the jobs within different areas

Financial services include anything to do with money, including investment banking, insurance and accountancy. In this article, we’ll look at the different divisions in finance you could go into during your career in the sector.

We’ll cover the following types of finance areas and some of the jobs within them:

• Structured finance
• Corporate finance
• Financial planning and wealth management
• Commercial finance
• Operations
• Specialised markets

Structured finance refers to financial instruments (a type of monetary contract between parties) created to transfer risk. For example, structuring assets and securities to create collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).

This type of financing is usually bespoke and used for institutions where more common financing isn’t appropriate. The instruments lead to increased liquidity, which is great for finding funds for investment.

As with most financial areas, there are bankers, traders, financial risk managers and structurers (the people who design financial products). Jobs that are specific to structured finance include:

• Structured finance analysts
• Physical commodity operations associates

Corporate finance is all about helping corporations raise funding.

In its broadest sense, corporate finance exists to increase shareholder value, often through advice on transactions to raise capital via debt or equity.

It's a two-pronged strategy: shareholders need to be paid dividends through the excess cash created by corporate finance. At the same time, the company needs to use the same finances to balance investing and funding for long-term profitability.

Getting a job in corporate finance will place you at the heart of the financial conversation. The actions that you take can affect the world as you advise the biggest corporations on how to structure themselves to secure long-term viability. The sky's the limit here!

The roles within corporate finance are varied as the area needs people across all seniorities and with different skill sets. Some examples of corporate finance jobs are:

• Financial analyst
• Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) manager
• Investor relations manager

Financial planning involves advising clients on money matters like investments, tax and estate management. It’s a mix of consultancy, financial instruments and client relationships.

Financial planners (also known as wealth managers) work with clients with the long-term in mind. They’re less concerned with a quick gamble and are instead interested in long-term strategic thinking.

The financial planning specialism is immensely varied. You’ll work across financial products and could gain expertise in pensions and tax. Knowing how to manage wealth is an in-demand skill in financial services. It’s also client-focused, so you’ll build great relationship management skills.

Jobs in financial planning include:

• Financial planner
• Wealth manager
• Financial adviser
• Assessment manager adviser

Commercial finance is all about getting a company into the best financial shape. Therefore, a career in commercial finance is an intriguing cross-over between the business world and finance. You may become a financial professional internally within an organisation or support clients as an adviser within a financial institution.

In essence, commercial finance is simply finance for commerce. Professionals will advise businesses on their finances and make recommendations. It doesn't entail specific banking advice such as mergers or capital raising. Instead, it's over-arching guidance for a company’s internal financial workings.

Some of the job titles you’d expect to see within commercial finance include:

• Commercial finance analyst
• Commercial finance business partner
• Commercial finance controller

Operations isn’t a type of finance. However, it’s still an area you can work in within the finance industry.

Operations refers to roles that make sure business activities are conducted as efficiently as possible. You’ll find operations teams in all sectors. In finance, it refers to tasks such as the clearing of trades and the management of cash.

If you have a job in finance operations, you’ll likely work within the operations division within an organisation (such as a bank). The operations team plays a vital role in ensuring the delivery of services to clients, so it’s critical to any business’s successful performance.

Types of jobs in finance operations include:

• Finance operations manager
• Operations coordinator
• Operations research analyst

Some financial professionals specialise in an industry (ie. tech, hospitality). Their value-add lies in their knowledge of their chosen sector. While specialising in a market isn’t a type of finance, finding a sector-specific niche is one career option. Some sectors will also lean into certain types of finance more than others.

Some clients prefer to work with specialists. A professional who’s worked on five merger and acquisition deals across five sectors can't offer the same industry knowledge as someone who's completed five deals in one sector. So, if a tech client wants to work with someone who gets the ins and outs of their industry, they might look for somebody who specialises in technology finance.

As a market specialist, you could do a range of finance roles but would only work for clients or employers within the same sector.

There are numerous divisions in finance and multiple types of finance jobs within different areas.

Which area of finance will suit you depends on your skills and interests.

For more information about different roles in the industry, visit our guide to the financial services sector.

This article was last updated in April, 2025.