Investment Banking Summer Analyst Review

I enjoyed my internship a lot. Work atmosphere is really good and people are generally very helpful. Even if you have no background in Finance at all, people will still try and take their time to explain you what exactly is requested of you. Once you get up to speed, the learning curve gets steeper and the work gets more demanding, which is generally a good thing.

Felt really valued by my colleagues. They generally acted as if I was one of them. Almost all the juniors with which you work together at one point were interns themselves, so there is a great support for interns in general. Nobody will treat you like you are less then them. Senior people (VP and up) are also very friendly towards interns. Everybody really wants to show you how the bank functions and what Investment Banking is all about.

The bank has a buddy, staffer, development officer and mentor programme ready for every intern. This means that support and guidance can be obtained from numerous people across the division. You can basically choose the seniority of people yourself. Analysts & Associates are also generally really helpful. They will easily spend more than an hour a day of their time on you explaining models and best practices within the bank.

I was personally very busy on a daily basis. However, this depends on time management skills and your own personal capacity. Staffers will generally ask if you have some capacity left to do another task, at which point it is your own responsibility to take on extra work or pass it on to someone else. You can make the internship as busy as you like yourself.

Responsibility comes in varying degrees. When you do a good job and people start trusting you, you are allowed to do modelling yourself, which is already a big responsibility as an intern. Of course, it is not allowed for interns to lead calls with external clients, but there are definitely times at which you are expected to take on responsibility and come up with your own ideas and work.

I personally studied a Master of Finance, so the skills I developed and the training I received were definitely in line with what I studied in my degree. This internship is the perfect place to really apply the financial and economic knowledge you gain at university or business school. It is also a perfect place to develop your communication and interpersonal skills. These are things typically not taught at school, but play a very important role in a working environment.

The general atmosphere in the office was very lively. Junior bankers often organize social events in- and outside of the office. For example: there are a lot of intern drinks specifically tailored for the interns to meet as many people from a given team as possible. Other teams will organize a weekly event on which they all buy donuts for the entire team. As an intern, you can also be invited to these ad hoc events.

The internship was very well organized and set up. As mentioned before, a lot of people were officially involved in making sure you get the proper guidance to succeed in your internship. Also, HR organizes weekly trainings for the interns to continue learning and developing themselves. Overall, you really get the feeling that the programme is very well organized and structured. Feedback moments were also very streamlined and tailored to your personal needs.

I got the feeling the company really invested in me. First of all, you have all the different intern events they organize. There are tons of social events which are all taken care of by HR. Secondly, the official accounting training combined with the continued development throughout the internship really gives you the feeling that you matter a lot to the bank and that they want to get a headstart on investing in you.

Future employment prospects are very appealing at the bank. An internship is generally the way to get a full-time offer afterwards. Once you get the offer, you can generally expect a very steep learning curve, combined with busy days and long office hours. However, pay and perks are also in line with what is expected of you. You get the feeling that the company really wants to take care of you.

Yes there most certainly was. All of the interns generally got along well with each other. As mentioned above, there are a lot of social events organized by the bank on which the interns can get to know the bank and also each other. As a consequence, it feels more like a tight group of friends instead of a group of colleagues.

The cost of living in the city centre of London is quite high. I generally rented a bedroom for £1,200 per month. Next to that, their is a fixed cost you'll spend on getting the tube to work, which comes down to c.£12 per week over the course of 10 weeks. Additionally, during lunchtime, you should expect to spend between £5-10 per day in the cafeteria.

Nightlife is definitely present for those who want to participate in it. There are a lot of opportunities to go along with Analysts to several parties. The area I worked in, which is the City of London, didn't particularly have a great nightlife scene, but there were certainly places you could get a beer after work before planning on going to a club or something else.

Yes there definitely were. I participated in the JP Morgan Challenge, which was a 5K run in Battersea Park. You can also get involved with several clubs within the bank, which organize football matches and all other kinds of sports games.