Commercial Banking Summer Analyst Review

My day-to-day involves helping prepare internal deal presentations, prospecting for new clients, contributing to client maintenance (product implementation/annual credit renewals etc), taking notes at both internal and external meetings and general admin tasks for my team. The tools I use are Excel for prospecting and larger market analysis (VLOOKUP, extensive pivot table usage), PowerPoint to create presentations and Word for everything in-between. Lots of my research tasks involved external software which my business division granted me access to.

The primary new skill I developed over was that of heavy Excel usage, we were trained on more financial applications (DCFs and general statement analysis) and also wider technical skills such as vlookup/pivot tables/cleaning and organising large datasheets. We were trained on Powerpoint, how to align objects and organise our slides in a professional manner. We were also given training for wider industry knowledge to bring everyone up to speed (diverse uni backgrounds).

Yes, my work was used for passing through deals and for management of my teams resources. My slides were presented to very senior regional management at points throughout the program. As part of my program I was also given a larger strategy project to work on, this involved sizing markets and researching competitors and wider industry product offerings. Eventually this work will go straight to my regional head who will use my outcomes and conclusions to decide on expansion plans for my business division.

I had daily meetings with my manager, and was continually offered support for not just my workload, but also out of work topics. My workload was continually monitored to check I wasn't being overloaded, which meant I had more space to spend time and learn my tasks comprehensively. People would always make time for a 30min catchup in their diaries which was super valuable in guiding me through the technical aspects of my tasks.

The wider division atmosphere was extremely open and all senior management were very approachable, they were very invested in my program and would ask me about my projects/tasks all the time. My team atmosphere was very supportive, everyone got along very well and I felt like I had the space to learn and ask questions when facing more difficult tasks. My presentations never felt like an opportunity for management to pick apart my work, but more like a chance for me to gain feedback which would help steer my work if I was missing something that they identified with their experiences.

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship and wouldn't hesitate to come back if given the opportunity. The work I did was meaningful and will directly contribute to my team's performance. I got to experience a wide range of tasks, having small rotations between members in my team who have different specializations. I can see a direct plan for career progression with my team members within the industry. The culture was extremely open and everyone was very approachable.

Yes

Apply early. Be prepared to answer questions about the wider business (fundamentals). Make sure you include everything you have done on your CV, even if you think its not directly related to the division - you would be surprised with how diverse people's career backgrounds are in finance and especially at Citi, they would appreciate if you've got a wide range of experiences on your CV. Try to relax in your interview but also make sure to hit all the points that you want to showcase, if you're too rehearsed it definitely shows.