Equity Derivatives Research Intern Review

I've enjoyed my internship greatly. I could not have asked for a better first experience into both the industry and the company. I had the chance to meet and incredibly broad range of people with a vast amount of knowledge over a grand range of subjects, each of which were willing to share their opinions and listen to yours. I also improved my financial knowledge greatly and got to contribute to my desks output, something I found very fulfilling.

I felt very valued by the members of the desk I was working on. I regularly got to help out with requests from other members of the bank and I also provided assistance with the weekly publication my desk produces. Members of the desk expressed appreciation for this openly.

Bank of America provided a great support network. My line manager was incredibly helpful in explaining the nuances in both what I was doing and the internship itself; as can be said for the rest of my desk. The HR support was also great and provided answers to any question you could possibly have. Support could also be found from anyone you asked and in most cases it was offered without asking!

On a daily basis I would never find myself without anything to do, if there were natural lulls in the day there was always something I could be doing whether it be increasing my financial knowledge, reading research, gaining insight on different areas of the bank, working on my long term project etc. Despite the fact there was so much to do there was never too much to do, especially with time management.

Whilst I have finished my degree I am sure the skills I have learnt during the 10 weeks will be useful throughout my life. I learnt a great deal of financial knowledge across many areas which are directly applicable to problems. I also developed my networking skills and gained an understanding of the importance and usefulness of networking alongside developing my presentation skills.

Incredibly open and friendly. Everyone was willing to listen to your questions, answer them, and then ask questions to you back making any conversation with an employee of the bank a fulfilling experience. There was a strong sense of teamwork and inter connectivity as well with many desks relying upon each other and their relationships.

At the beginning of the internship we had a week full of training. A large amount of this training was on personal training and development so focused on things like personal presentation, social responsibility etc. Whilst this was useful, it felt fairly generic as I've sat through very similar talks. An area I would liked them to have focused more on would have been strengthening individuals financial knowledge in the areas they would be working in rather than a shallow but broad overview we received.

Very.

All interns were very open and social, if you wanted to find a group to do something with you can easily. The only barriers you might have are the natural divides between divisions arising from Chinese walls however with program-wide events you can still meet everyone.. There was also opportunity for socializing with colleagues, for example I went for drinks and dinner a couple of times with my desk and was also invited to some department wide networking events.

I commuted in from High Wycombe due to the expenses of living in London. Getting the train in in the morning cost me around £500 a month (Including parking) so whilst not extortionate it wasn't cheap. This obviously negates the costs of actually living in London and purchasing food for yourself. During the day breakfast and lunch can be found for £3, with several top-quality meal-deals located near the office, or hot meals can be found for £6 at nearby shops or the canteen. Socializing in London is ridiculously expensive.

It's London.

Had the opportunity to get involved in several social networks that the company has, There was also a tag rugby tournament set up for all of the interns to get involved with, with regularly training session every week. Bank of America also provides opportunities to get cheap/free entry to local attractions like art galleries or museums.