Investment Banking Summer Analyst Review

The internship was definitely a good one. It was a positive both in terms of what I discovered about what an investment banking career can be like, what I learnt in terms of technical skills and the people I got to meet over the 10 weeks at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

It seemed like employees really cared about interns. The Summer internship programme is the main hiring channel for the bank, so everyone is involved in it, from top management to A&As. To become more valued, though, you have to show that you are engaged and pay lots of attention to the work you are doing.

As already said, employees are really involved with the Summer internship programme. As such, they try to support interns as much as possible. Of course, they all have their own work and are busy on a day-to-day basis, so you need to be pretty independent, but if there is something you need people will help you out.

Workload fluctuates quite a bit. There have been a few days with less to do, but in general it has been a busy Summer. It is then up to you to get staffing and get organised (the key point is to try and advance with work so as to not have deadlines they become too overwhelming). Also, if people like working with you will get busier over the course of the internship.

Gaining responsibility is really based on the individual. If you do a good job and show you are engaged, you will gain more responsibility over the course of a project, overall if it is a long-term one. Of course, it is also dependent on the person you are working with (and to a little bit of luck with respect to what staffing you get), but in general good interns got more demanding tasks over the Summer.

What you learn here is definitely helpful for a career in Investment Banking. Getting to know how to use all the applications and resources available is indeed key to do well here, and I believe in any other bank. As per usefulness for your degree, being from a Finance background, I do not believe what you learn here is extremely useful for your studies, since what is done in practice is a bit different than what is taught in theory.

The atmosphere is very amicable. People work a lot, but are also sociable. There is always some down time during while people talk and joke. This is true especially during the evening. It can vary from team to team, but in general there is quite a lot of cohesion among colleagues, and this makes it pleasant as an environment to be working in.

The programme is quite structured, with a training week, and many events and learning sessions organised throughout the Summer. The same is true for the review process, which consists in a scheduled mid internship and final review. You also have quite a few people as contacts in the firm, who cover different roles (from Buddy to Mentor)

As mentioned, everyone appears quite keen to invest in interns’ learning. A formal training week is also organised during the first week, but that is not that useful for someone with a finance background, as it mostly covers basic accounting. If you ask people you are working with, however, you can get to learn a lot.

There is a concrete chance of being hired after the Summer internship programme, as this is their main hiring channel.

The intern class was a good one in my opinion, but that is of course very subjective. There definitely were many occasions to get to socialise among peers, and even during work days one can always go get lunch / dinner with other interns. Getting to know people from different backgrounds is definitely one of the key opportunities of the Summer.

London is an expensive city, and the area in which Bank of America Merrill Lynch is in is no exception. There is nevertheless a large choice of food places in the area, so one can find more affordable ones. As for dinner, the canteen inside the office is always an option.

There are quite a few bars in the area around Bank of America Merrill Lynch, mainly in Paternoster Square. Restaurants are not lacking either, but these all close quite early, as most of the other places in London. In general, there is quite a few places to choose from in the area.