Finance professionals have long relied on the trawling through spreadsheets which makes their exercise an extremely arduous task. However, over the years they have had access to VBA( Visual Basic Applications) in Excel to customize functionality and automate worksheets.
Google sheets have also proved to be a great contender for managing data on spreadsheets with Google Apps Script being a great addition to the option available. However, the Python programming language is now gaining a lot of popularity in the field with several financial giants like Citigroup offering Python certification and coding classes for their trainee financial analysts, traders and banking professionals.
Python has become one of the most popular programming languages in financial organizations owing to its simplicity, robust modeling capabilities and research ability for analysts, traders and researches. Python has inbuilt applications for every aspect in finance ranging from risk management to cryptocurrencies. A great addition to the financial toolbox of finance professionals, Python certification can be gained by professionals who have enrolled in a Financial Analyst course to enhance their skills and expertise at work.
What makes Python such a great technology especially for finance professionals?
Several traits of Python make is a great choice for financial professionals. Although, here is a list of the most important ones:
- Simple and flexible
Easy to write and implement, it is a perfect choice for handling financial services applications that are complex. The syntax is simple and enhances the speed of helping organizations to build software to integrate with their products. It also reduces the rate of errors when developing products in the finance sector that fall under high regulations.
- Develops Minimal Viable Product (MVP) faster
The financial services sector needs to be agile and responsive to its customers. Using Python in combination with frameworks like Django, developers can get hold of MVP of products and services to create flawless products
- Bridges the gap between data science and economics
Python simplifies calculations for a finance professional with its simplicity and practicality in creating formulas and algorithms to integrate the work of economists in the Python platform.
- Source of libraries and tools
Python lets developers build tools from at any stage saving a lot of time and money. Python libraries help in integration of products giving organizations a competitive advantage.
How do finance companies and analysts use Python?
It is already known that Python comes in handy for finance professionals in a broad range of applications. The most popular use of language is as follows:
- Banking software
Venmo, Stripe, Zopa, etc are some great banking platforms that finance organizations and banks have built for payment solutions and online banking services with Python. The simplicity and flexibility of Python help banks to develop software for ATM machines to enhance payment processes.
- Analytics tools
Python is a great tool for processing and analyzing large sets of data. Libraries such as Pandas help to simplify the data visualization process and carry sophisticated calculations to reveal a deep picture. Scikit or PyBrain are other libraries that have powerful machine learning algorithms to help in predictive analytics for financial analysts.
- Cryptocurrency
Businesses that sell cryptocurrency need a tool to conduct a market analysis to predict trends and patterns. Python has a data science ecosystem called Anaconda that helps developers to carry out cryptocurrency pricing and analyze the trends. Most web applications that deal with cryptocurrency use Python to build their products.
- Trading
Stock markets create large amounts of data that requires analysis again to get generate reports on the economic scenario. Developers use Python to create solutions that nail down the best strategies to offer the best solutions to trade.
Python is a clear programming language with a simple syntax and a good ecosystem that helps the development process of any financial activity. So those with a Financial Analyst Certification could benefit from the knowledge of Python as they will be able to integrate their knowledge to develop and work on Python-based tools in their job.
Also Read: Does Financial Analyst Need SQL
