Investment Banking Summer Analyst Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the internship! RBC kept it as a 9-week programme even as other banks cancelled or cut theirs short due to covid-19, and used the first half of the internship for an in-depth mix of training which ensured I was able to get to know the other interns well. This training was quite unique, encompassing both traditional classroom based training as well as an "investment banking simulation" (this was very enjoyable but challenging) and other team-building tasks. Once I was "on the desk" with my team, the day-to-day work was very interesting, and I was given a lot of responsibility.

I felt very much valued by my colleagues, my team were very welcoming virtually, and I also had the opportunity to meet most of my London-based colleagues in person. Being able to meet some of them multiple times made me feel like part of the team despite my short time there. Additionally, the whole team seemed to value my input (including the managing directors), and I was able to join all of the client calls on projects I was staffed on.

I felt like I was given a lot of support and guidance by my supervisors when I was providing work to them. The analyst I worked with made sure to give me very clear instructions when instructing me how to do any kind of task. The associates on my team were also very knowledgeable and were often willing to take a lot of time to explain financial concepts to me, and the rationale behind their comments - so I got a much better view of the overall big-picture process behind transactions.

My business fluctuated a lot throughout the internship. During the first three weeks it was relatively relaxed, being a 9-5 job most days. Once I started working for my assigned team as well as training it was a lot more intense, and I had quite a few late nights. In my final two weeks, it became relatively relaxed again, as many major clients were on holiday and didn't want to make any significant decisions. This was likely due to covid (as this was probably the first time they were able to go on holiday since the travel bans started), so I would not expect it to be like that normally.

I was given a significant amount of responsibility during my time on-desk, both in terms of creating client materials and updating the financial models of companies for potential transactions. I think the level of responsibility given is a function of how good your work product and attention to detail is - if you can be trusted to provide high-quality work your colleagues / staffer will be more than happy to give you a lot of responsibility.

I had finished my degree studies by the time I completed the internship, however the training I received was of very high quality and would be extremely useful to anyone studying finance. All of the trainers were clearly knowledgeable, and helped me gain a greater understanding of financial concepts In terms of the skills I developed during my time on desk, I was doing all of the work an analyst would do, and gained a significant amount of modelling experience. However, the most useful knowledge I gained was from observing discussions between seniors and clients, which helped improve my analytical skills (i.e. gauging how good of an investment a particular company in my sector would be), which will be needed throughout my career.

As I was working from home throughout the internship, I was unable to experience the general atmosphere of the office. However, I had daily team calls (with the sector team I was assigned to), which always had a great atmosphere, and other interns have told me they got on well with their teams. Clearly if I was in the office this would be a completely different experience, as all the investment banking teams work on the same floor.

The internship was very well set up, as mentioned in an earlier answer the first half on the programme was dedicated to training, with three separate types of training, as well as a side project working for the charity Mind. This was organised very well, and was held in conjunction with sessions with individual sector / product teams and team-building sessions - so we were able to get a good overview of the different teams and meet the other interns whilst training.

Clearly this was a pretty unique situation due to covid-19, and as a result RBC included a five week training stage for this internship. They clearly invested a significant amount of money into this, as each stage was useful and well done. The first couple of weeks were self-directed learning, in which we were provided with an abundance of resources to learn about financial concepts and other useful workplace skills. This was followed by a week of traditional (virtual) classroom based teaching by a very experienced professional. Finally we had a two-week "investment banking simulation", essentially being put into competing teams to do tasks that reflected the main business lines of an investment bank - this was a really great experience!

I received an offer from RBC, very happy to have accepted it as it's a great company to work for.

Given the circumstances, the social scene was reasonably good (we were all working from home and most people weren't based in London). On most weeks we had drinks over WebEx on Fridays so most people got to know each other relatively well. Some of us also met up at the end of the internship. From my understanding, in a typical year (i.e. not during a global pandemic) there is a good social scene, and many great social events put on by RBC.

The cost is very high if you're not used to living in London! However, it is relatively cheap to live if you stay in student accommodation over the summer (c.£150-250 a week), or don't go out to expensive venues. That being said, the salary and relocation bonus is very very generous, so if you want to splash out on accommodation and going out to expensive restaurants / bars you will still be able to afford it.

Obviously given the pandemic the nightlife was pretty non-existent, but London has great nightlife in normal times. Additionally, the location of the RBC office (the City) is much nicer and better for nightlife than Canary Wharf.

Not really given the pandemic.