Investment Banking Intern Review

Overall it was a great experience. In particular, I enjoyed the conscious effort made by a more junior colleague to encourage me to join meetings with senior bankers, helping me better understand the where the task I am working on fits into the transaction process. I also had the opportunity to be involved in a live project which was very interesting.

My colleagues made a strong effort to provide me with the sufficient on-the-job training and support throughout the internship so that I was able to get involved with different tasks and maximise my impact. Furthermore, being allowed to work on a live project towards the end of my internship highlighted how I was encouraged to take on greater responsibility and challenge myself throughout the internship.

The first week of the internship involved off-site training provided by an external training company. This was very helpful in providing an in-depth guide to the technical aspect of the role. I also appreciated that the training provider was able to provide more challenging tasks to those who may have covered the basic topics previously. I also met with my staffer every few weeks to discuss my progress and whether there were any areas I would like to explore further.

As expected within Investment Banking, there were a few late nights during busy periods however there were also periods where the working hours were far more reasonable. In terms of workload, I felt that I had sufficient work to remain occupied with but I felt that an important aspect of the internship was balancing this workload as this could have easily been excessive if seniors were not aware of your workload, especially when working on projects with different teams.

I greatly appreciated the level of responsibility I was trusted with, especially towards the end of the internship by when I had continued to develop the necessary skills to make a positive impact. This made the internship experience far more enjoyable as I felt that this made the tasks I was working on more interesting as I was more aware of its importance and use.

The first week of external training provided me with a very strong basis to develop my interest in finance and banking further. This has directly complemented my Accounting and Finance electives while also helping me better understand the business world. In terms of my career, I believe the skills I developed through mock case-study pitching exercises are very much transferable to most sectors.

The atmosphere in the office varied hugely by the team and their coverage. I felt that this was particularly apparent over the summer where some teams were far busier than others depending upon general activity in their respective sector or geography during the holidays. In general, there was a friendly atmosphere where I felt that my colleagues were very approachable if I had any questions. This was reinforced with team socials in a more informal environment.

The internship was well-organised with fortnightly reviews to discuss progress as well as multiple points of contact both within investment banking and HR if needed. There were also multiple socials organised between the intern cohort which allowed us to meet interns from across the different business areas. The admin aspect of the internship was in general managed well.

The first week of the internship involved off-site training which was really useful in providing a strong basis to develop my understanding of finance and the business world more broadly. The staffer also allowed me to raise areas I was looking to develop further. Furthermore, the buddy system paired a junior banker to every intern in order to provide advice or support in a more informal manner.

The internship had a very high conversion ratio, especially given the current economic climate with Brexit uncertainty resulting in reeduced hiring across the banking sector. Similar to other investment banking internships, the Nomura internship is primarily an extended interview for both Nomura as well as for the intern to decide if it is the right place for them.

Yes, most interns were invited to a social during the summer within their teams. In general, there was a very friendly environment with my colleagues with most people being willing to meet for a coffee / lunch during the day. HR also arranged multiple events to help the interns get to know each other. This is particularly important to enable better communication between teams as most of the junior bankers in each team are hired out of their interns.

The office was located near Bank station in London. As a result, the cost of living was quite high however good transport links allowed interns to stay further out and commute in with a relatively reasonable commute time. In addition, there are good transport links to travel to more afforable areas to socialise.

Due to good transport links and the relatively central location of the office, it was possible to travel to most parts of central London. As a result, the nightlife in the area was really good. More locally, the office was over the bridge from Borough market so it was only around 10-15min walk away.

Due to the long working hours, it was difficult to make plans during weekdays, especially as it would be very difficult to predict the working hours beforehand as they were greatly dependent on the workload, which could change very unexpectedly. In terms of the location, there were multiple things to do in the local area, including Monument and Borough market.