First Year Internship - Commercial Banking, Retail Banking and Wealth Management Review

Very insightful in gaining an idea of what the graduate scheme would consist of. A variety of things to be getting on with including interesting projects to suit individuals.

Colleagues were very helpful and valued contributions. They were keen to involve you in what they were doing, and offer to give you opportunities to help them too.

Supervisors/managers were always willing to answer questions. The support was certainly available from managers/supervisors as well as everyone else. More feedback could have been useful, but if feedback is sought out, it is given.

Some days were very busy, other days were a lot less busy dependent on who was in the office on a specific day and what needed to be done. The projects given throughout ensured there was always work to be doing, however, so one was never left with nothing to do.

A reasonable amount - limits are of course placed on what it is possible to do given the short time scales and limited training, but there is plenty responsibility to feel that your contribution is valuable. The management style gives you responsibility to manage your own time and get on with your own projects.

It was a good experience and useful in deciding whether or not to pursue the graduate scheme. The information given on the financials sector, and skills developed are fairly rudimentary and could certainly be learned elsewhere

Very good fun and the staff were keen to involve you in what they were doing both with respect to business and socialising. Nights out and social events ensure a good atmosphere in the office, and the graduate team are good at encouraging informal social events between interns during the meet ups in London and elsewhere. The atmosphere in the office was very relaxed and one was treated with respect and as an equal, and was involved in a lot of the things going on.

The internship was very well organised with a good degree of freedom, as well as guidelines to follow to ensure one gets the most out of the placement. There were constants ongoing projects which were set by discussions between you and your manager to ensure they were relevant to the business and to your interests too. The internship gave opportunities to learn through (although somewhat basic) talks about the bank and the financial sector. There was also a charity side which gave another opportunity to socialise and network with other interns.

There was good investment in the individual, though the training and development was fairly simplistic and offered little new information to those studying in economics or similar fields. Talks were put on once or twice a week. Access was given to different systems that the bank use, but beyond the induction weekend there was little training or development in you as an individual.

Very appealing. An insight is given into the graduate scheme which has a lot of appealing aspects. Graduates are given a huge degree of importance and upward mobility and the graduate scheme appears to at least match the competitors in terms of its structure and the ability to move within the company. There is a good degree of support and guidance, whilst still being given the ability to make your own decisions and personalise your experience and the route one wants to go down.

The distribution of placement locations means this would vary quite significantly dependent on where one was placed. For those placed in London the social scene was second to none, for this placed around London there was a fair amount of social activities with events being held in London. Beyond a few charity days, this is manly left to the students to sort out and arrange, meaning the social scene is as good as you want it to be, so long as you are placed in an area with or near other interns.

A very strong attempt is made to place interns in locations where they already have accommodation. Territorial allowance is paid to those in London and surrounding areas meaning the pay fits the cost of living. Given the placements are made where accommodation is available (and accommodation was provided to some where they were not placed in suitable locations), the cost of living is very low. Socialising in London and surrounding areas is very expensive, but socialising in other areas is in line with what would be expected. Most people were placed where they live or study, so living and socialising costs are well known and are not unexpected financial burdens.

In the areas I worked the nightlife was very good. Being placed firstly in York, where there is a large amount of students, and secondly in Reading which has a very strong nightlife. Nightlife would again be very dependent on individuals, and if this is an important factor, interns do get some degree of influence on their preferential locations, so this can be factored in by stating preferences to be in specific areas (e.g. London) which have a very good nightlife.

This again depends a huge amount on the location of the placement. Those placed in London had opportunities to get involved in sports, and go to the gym, whereas those not placed in London had much fewer (none) opportunities for these kind of activities. Charity events were held throughout the internship, however, so there was always opportunities to get involved in charity events outside of work.