IBD Summer Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my summer internship at Nomura. The culture is welcoming, the people go out of their way to help and there is a team spirit which permeates throughout the firm. I felt supported by HR and my team throughout and I have learnt so much in the process.

Initially, I did not feel particularly valued by my team however after demonstrating my ability by completing my tasks quickly and correctly, I did feel more valued by the team. One of the negatives about working in banking is that if you make one bad mistake, it’s typically not forgotten.

During the internship, I was assigned a staffer, buddy and mentor. I had mid- and end-term reviews conducted by HR and my staffer during which I was given thorough feedback on my performance and areas in which I could improve. My mentor was also very helpful and provided me with useful advice regarding how to build a rapport with my team, how to improve my work and how to ensure my team has the best impression of me as possible.

I do not study a finance related degree so needless to say, the internship will not assist me with my studies, however, I do feel that I have picked up a lot of professional skills that will help me regardless of what I choose to do after graduation. There is a reason why analysts are in high demand!

In general, the people I met were very friendly, intelligent and engaged. I feel that Nomura's culture is one of it's biggest selling points. The people are team - oriented and collegiate. Nomura is a bank so the people are competitive but many are able to be competitive and maintain the collegiate feel of the firm.

The internship was very well organised, I always knew what I was supposed to be doing. From accepting my offer to starting the internship, HR gave me all the information I needed. On the first day of the internship, I was given a booklet describing all the events I was expected to attend/ participate in, this is extremely useful so don't lose it!

The first week of the internship (for IBD interns) is a full week of classroom training. Not only did we have the week of training, we were also given textbooks and cheat sheets covering everything from financial modelling to excel. In addition to this, interns have access to the global learning portal which has tutorials covering financial modelling, equity and bond markets as well as regulations. In the second week of the training, the IBD interns took part in off-site training at Bloomberg and FactSet.

There was a good social scene amongst the interns, The Oyster Shed on a Friday was a weekly affair. Nightlife in London is abundant albeit expensive. In addition, the city is well serviced by night buses so getting home after night out shouldn't be too much of an issue either.

Central London is notoriously expensive. As a summer intern at Nomura, you have to find your own accommodation however, I believe HR can offer assistance with finding suitable accommodation. My advice is if at all possible live at home with parents, if not rent a student room nearby. Local pubs and bars can be expensive however the nearest pub, The Oyster Shed, is not too badly priced albeit very busy in the evenings.

Not really, IBD interns typically work long hours (this varies with different teams) so there were times when some IBD interns could not make it to general intern events due to work. Having said that, HR were cautious about this and made some social events mandatory to ensure all interns could come.