Summer Intern - Risk Review

I was expecting to be given much more responsibility; often I had to ask for work and had the feeling that nothing actually meaningful was assigned to me. I don't feel as I've learned anything really meaningful, I just used skills I already had. The main insights came from other teams.

They did their best, I'd say, to try and give me something to do. Probably my team didn't really need another person and I just ended up either doing work no one else had the time to do, or specific tasks created for me but without much real importance (at least it felt so).

My Line Manager was not based in the same city as I was: he was in Edinburgh and I was in London. He was very nice and ready to answer any question/doubt, and in the end tried to give me something to do perhaps more than other colleagues, even without being physically there.

Not a lot. Depending on the days I might have something to work on that would take me the morning or the afternoon, or meetings to attend; but often the only way in which I could keep myself busy was through setting up shadowing sessions with other teams and colleagues. Occasionally I was left without anything to do, despite asking for work.

I'd say very few in the end. As said before, much of my workload did not have any urgency/deadline and probably could have been done by my colleagues without any problem or particular waste of their time. The only "real" responsibility I was given was chairing one of the monthly team meetings.

Not at all. I am a finance student and applied for risk, but was placed in a team covering non financial risk. I was not interested in any of the topics I covered working, and I received no meaningful training. I have not learned anything related to my studies from my team, few things from other teams.

Nice atmosphere. The dress code was formal (except for Fridays) but in the end everyone was relaxed. My team was very down to earth and I could ask things without problems. My colleagues were nice with me and the office in general was encouraging communication I'd say. No particular complaints here.

Poorly. I heard other interns working in different divisions and some were in my same situation, some were given responsibilities, learned things and were enjoying their placement. I feel as some teams actually needed someone to aid them with the workload and provided them with relevant training, my team definitely didn't.

The company invested a lot of money (between salary, travel, accommodation) in me but I don't feel as it was really worth it from their perspective. If I was placed in another team I could probably have not wasted their money (as I really feel happened). Maybe they should take in less interns, perhaps even pay them more but making sure they all do something useful for the company.

Definitely not appealing. For sure not in the area I worked in, at least. As said, I shadowed other teams (market, credit risk) and they did much more interesting things from my perspective, so a work perspective in their areas could be worthwhile. But I feel as salaries and work excitement are really lower than in any other such huge bank.

The scene in London didn't really ever get started as a group. I made some friends but almost always ended up hanging out with people I already knew that were working/studying in London. There was not an actual social scene in the residence, small groups and lots of people with friends in London doing as I did.

Central London... Very high prices are the norm. Eating on the fly was in the end quite cheaper than eating in restaurants. Going out was super expensive, but at least pints always orbit around £5-6 pretty much anywhere. The salary though was more than enough, considering that I didn't have to pay for housing.

The Bank - St Paul's area is not a nightlife area. Going out in Shoreditch or Soho was frequent, though. Maybe some of the interns working in Bishopsgate had some fancy rooftop bars with nice views near their office, but in general the City area is quite empty during the night.

There was a charity challenge which kind of made up for anything else, but the degree of participation to it was voluntary in the end, as there would almost invariantly be people doing the charity sales/activities even without your help. Apart from that, the only other activity I can think of is a boat party on the Thames. £20, not a good party at all, but nice views. It was mainly good for pictures.