Compliance and Operational Risk Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship. The work that I was involved in was absolutely fascinating, my team was great, and the overall intern experience was amazing, too. I really feel that the Bank takes the internship programme seriously and provides us with a lot of resources and support to be able to do well during our time here.

My manager and day-to-day contact were absolutely excellent with giving me support and guidance. They were both extremely approachable and willing to help whenever I needed it. They allowed me to get on with my work at my own pace but always made sure to check in on a regular basis to ensure everything was going smoothly.

The extent of business really depends on how well you're able to make work for yourself. There would be some days where I'd be almost back-to-back in meetings that I had set up or that my team were involved in, but there were others during which I was quite bored because business had slowed down.

I feel like I developed many skills during this internship, including synthesizing and collating large amounts of information, communicating across business lines and geographies, and assisting with day-to-day work. Each of these skills allows me to build on what I've learnt at uni, and will also give me an opportunity to continue refining them during my degree studies and beyond.

The general atmosphere at BAML was very relaxed and friendly. People were always willing to take time out of their schedules to help us learn, and although the work could be intense at times, everyone was collaborative and team-oriented. The friendly and collegial atmosphere definitely made it a pleasant place to work.

The overall internship was organized extremely well. From the beginning, we had an idea of the timeline of the internship and the presentation date that we would be working toward. We also had speaker series sessions and learning events planned well in advance that we also knew about. The company definitely made it quite easy to keep abreast of everything that was going on.

The social scene was good among fellow interns. Within my group of interns, we tried to organize drinks and dinners as much as we could. HR also did a great job of coordinating social events across all interns, as well as across specific business function events. They were always great fun and were a nice way to get to know everyone in a more personal and informal setting.

London is quite an expensive city. As part of our contracts, we were given a £1000 travel allowance, which was really nice given that transport in London can be really expensive. Likewise, for food and drink, London can also be a bit pricey, so for anyone planning on consistently eating out during their internship, it would definitely be a good idea to budget.

London has great clubs and bars. It's quite a bustling city, so the nightlife scene is really active and fun. There's plenty to do on a Friday or Saturday night (or indeed even for drinks on a weekday after work), and none of these options are located too far from the Bank. Overall it's quite an easy city to experience nightlife in.

There seemed to be a good range of activities that we had the opportunity to be involved in outside of work. There are many ESG and volunteering events that were advertised on Flagscape, and I personally attended 3 volunteering events during my time here. There's also a lot of employee networks that are open for everybody to join, so all in all, a lot of opportunities for extracurricular involvement.