Investment Banking Summer Analyst Review

The RBC internship program was truly outstanding! Never thought in such little time I could learn so many fascinating things next to not only outstanding professionals, but also warm-hearted individuals. During these weeks I have had the privilege to work on diverse tasks such as research, profiles, benchmarking, financial modeling or books, at the same time as networking and getting an insight into other teams. With the help of a mentor, the internship is designed to guide you through the typical investment banking day. This, together with a number of social events taking place every week, have made these past months memorable for the rest of my life.

I felt infinitely valued not only by my work colleagues, but also by RBC itself. My work colleagues took the time to sit down next to me and made sure I understood what I was doing. Furthermore, they invited me to all their socials and made me feel part of their family from day one. One of my highlights was when they prepared a welcome and a leaving lunch for me at lovely restaurants. Not only this, but they are passionate, dedicated and caring professionals. On the other hand, RBC heavily invested in all of us by providing us with 1.5 weeks of training before starting on the actual desks, organising a number of exceptional activities such as a treasure hunt in London, a morning in a theatre or a leaving breakfast in an amazing restaurant, equipping us with smartphones, and expensing our dinners and taxis back home.

3. My supervisor was extremely helpful throughout the whole internship. We sat down many times to discuss my progress and what I would like to improve in the remaining part of the internship. He also made sure I was having a balance and touching upon different sectors within the team as well as working for different people. In addition, we also had two meetings with the Interns Coordinator, a more informal point of contact who made sure we were coping well and enjoying working at RBC. Not only this, but we were also assigned a mentor, in most cases an analyst who had previously done the summer internship and knew how we could be feeling.

I was really busy every day of the internship, but never felt pressured to submit something on a strict deadline. As such, I was working hard and learning a lot every day, but also taking breaks during the day to socialize with other teams and my fellow interns. In what relates to the actual work, it was extremely interesting and tasks varied. From doing research or profiles to more complex tasks like benchmarking or financial modeling. Furthermore, I was in the FIG team and was rotating within the different sectors the team covers; this is insurance, banks, wealth management and asset managers.

I personally believe I was given the perfect amount of responsibility for an intern. I obviously started doing the easy and administrative tasks as we need to know how to do the basics first, but as the weeks passed, I got the opportunity to get involved in more complex work. I found it challenging, but extremely interesting and once I understood it, I knew it all had been worth it.

I believe the skills and knowledge I acquired during my internship are skills for life. I learnt to pay attention to every small detail of presentations and excels, as well as vastly improved my communicative and research skills. This has definitely given me an advantage when finishing my degree at university as I believe I can develop more professional academic pieces.

The atmosphere was great. We were on the Investment Banking & Corporate Banking floor and could therefore easily interact with other Investment Banking teams. Everyone was really hard working, but if you asked someone for a coffee, they made sure to take some time off their busy agendas to sit down with you.

The internship was amazingly organised. As previously mentioned, we had many social events throughout the internship with all the other interns, which were a lot of fun and a great distraction from the office. Some of these socials include welcome drinks, a treasure hunt in London, a theatre class, a leaving breakfast or leaving drinks.

Before hitting the desks, we had 1.5 weeks of training which were extremely helpful to acquire the basic knowledge required throughout the internship. Not only this, but we were also provided with a further online training course which contained more detailed and complex theories and models. I had the impression that RBC extremely cared about its interns and wanted them to have the best possible preparation and support.

Great! Most of the interns got a job offer and will be returning next year. RBC offers a graduate scheme with 1 month of training in Toronto and 2 rotations in desks. I believe it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to go to Canada to receive our analyst training before joining the London office full time.

It was a fantastic social scene as we ended up being a small family. Interns had very different backgrounds and hence added a range of experiences and personalities to the group. They were extremely humble individuals and great people with whom to share this experience with. We had a group chat and met on many occasions outside of the office e.g. went for lunch and played tennis together.

The city of London is a very expensive area, especially when it comes to accommodation and transport. Nevertheless, RBC helped us out by expensing our dinners and taxis back home. This was a great financial aid which demonstrated me that the bank appreciates our hard work and helps us out.

In the city of London there are many pubs, but they are more for jobs which finish early. Investment Banking is known for its late nights and we therefore could not go out as often as interns of other departments. Nevertheless, we sometimes took a break, went for a drink, and then came back to the office.

Although Investment Banking has long working hours, the HR department did an outstanding job of balancing work with social activities. As such, we had many opportunities to get a break from banking and join all RBC interns for some incredible events. RBC also has a number of groups offering activities like social community projects to help the most disadvantaged in society.