Summer Analyst Review

I was placed into the Collateral and Margin Management Team at UBS which comes under the Securities, Collateral and Derivatives team within Group Operations. The internship overall was really good, the first week was quite similar to the Spring Week which I was lucky enough to attend the year before my internship- it just gave you an overview of the bank, its culture and principles (something UBS really do take pride in). During the first week we also were privileged to get to meet various different senior people from the bank across various different divisions which really gave the opportunity to meet different people. After the first week, most areas hit the desks and overall I felt the projects I was given were really interesting and gave me a full exposure to what my division does. The Junior Talent team in HR also throughout the remaining weeks have weekly speaker series for various divisions which was a good opportunity to catch up with other interns on how things were going. Overall, a very enjoyable and insightful 9 weeks.

One think that really differentiates UBS from a lot of other financial institutions is its distinctive culture. My team really made me feel comfortable from day 1. It was interesting how there was no sense of hierarchy- I as an intern was lucky enough to be sitting in between my line manager (an Associate Director) on one side and the teams Executive Director (who also was the Global Head of Collateral Ops) on the other side. There was never a point when I was afraid to speak to either of them. We were a small team, but it was a really collaborative culture and I never had any issues whatsoever with other team members!

I was really lucky and privileged to have a helpful and fully understanding Line Manager. Often our LMs are really busy (my one was constantly on calls) and it was really difficult to know when was the right point to interrupt to ask questions. However, it was really helpful that she set aside sessions just to catch up with me (one on Monday mornings and the other Friday afternoons) which I really did appreciate, given her busy schedule. Even when it came to mid-term reviews, my manager was great in giving me advice on how to improve, and generally throughout the internship she was always happy to help when I was stuck at any point on projects. This is similar to certainly what I heard from other interns across Operations, but I think there are cases where other interns said some managers were less able to give up time and thus only met once in a while; this certainly was not the case for me though!

I feel that although there was projects assigned (I had 3-4 projects throughout the duration of the internship), in terms of business it is really about how you go about your internship. If you just rely on sitting at your desk and completing projects, I'd say you probably would get a bit bored. I tried to make the most of the internship by attending talks held during the day, shadowing people and really embracing the opportunities available- this is something I found helped keep me busy throughout the day and allowed me to not simply complete the projects, but also be able to make the most of the opportunities on offer.

I feel as interns, you cannot really expect to actually be able to use the systems and get fully involved in the day-to-day work (this ofcourse would vary by division). Some of my projects certainly did give me a lot of responsibility- for example one involved me actually drafting a policy document which would then be used for official publications (something that was really exciting whilst also being challenging). I feel it was roughly the right amount of responsibility given that we were summer interns and didn't quite have the skills needed to complete many of the daily tasks conducted by the teams.

I feel the skills will really be beneficial for me. I was able to gain an insight into various areas of the investment bank throughout the internship and this really aided me gain a greater exposure to finance and the various opportunities available. Coming from a non-finance background, I had no clue whether finance was for me, and whether this internship would simply be tonnes of reading to get to know finance better. However, I was surprised that a lot of interns came from non-finance background, and UBS in the first week provided all the introductory training to ensure we were all on the same level before going into the internship which was great!

As mentioned earlier, UBS has a distinctive, collaborative culture. No matter what level you are be it a junior or a global head of the division, the office was always a lively place and a great one to work in. Ofcourse there were points where things were more tense and thus quiet (notably Monday mornings) but at other points particularly late afternoons, the atmosphere was visible a lot more relaxed which really helped not make me too intimidated!

Whilst the first week was well organised, I felt there were points throughout the remaining 8 weeks that could have been better organised. For example, when it came to the mid-term reviews, my Line Manager didn't receive any sort of communication from HR and wasn't too sure who to send the review too. Nevertheless, generally the organising of weekly talks and events by the Junior Talent Team was really useful.

I think this was an area that UBS really invested in its interns. We had a range of inspirational speakers from global economists to Olympic and Paralympic champions come to speak to us over the course of the internship. These were really inspirational talks and just showed the effort the bank went to, to really aid in the development of interns. A lot of these weren't just finance based, but we had various talks including some on dealing with stress, mental health awareness and career progression!

The internship is meant to be a feed into the UBS Graduate Programme and at the end you present a presentation on the experience, this in conjunction with your Line Manager's review is used to determine if you get a job offer after!

There was in the first few weeks when we were getting to know each other- but this died down towards the middle of the internship particularly as people got busy. I think though that it varied by division, for example the Group Ops interns did tend to get on quite well and tried to meet for lunch at various points throughout the weeks to share our experiences.

Given you are in Liverpool Street in the city of London, prices are inevitable going to be quite high, though the canteen in the offices was quite reasonable.

You are in the centre of London!!

There was a volunteering opportunity set up in the first week, and the opportunity to participate in a marathon but other than this, not much.