Summer Analyst - Compliance Review

Overall the internship was a brilliantly organised, well structured and provided a great insight into my department and its role in the wider business. The most enjoyable aspects for me were both the amount I learned in such a short space of time, and the experience of fitting really well into a team - I didn't want to go back to university by the end.

My colleagues in my immediate team were incredibly friendly, and although the team was top heavy (everyone was quite senior) they were extremely generous with their time never hesitating to go over things with me. My colleagues did not just give me their time and help but also a lot of encouragement and praise - I really felt that they had my back and wanted me to succeed. I was able to form strong working relationships but also real friendships.

My manager was incredibly enthusiastic about the work I was given, but even more importantly was totally invested in my personal development. As well as two formal reviews and several other scheduled catch ups, we spoke informally several times each day to discuss work and any areas of confusion. I was also frequently given subtle and bespoke insights on both higher level work and my career in general, and formed a strong working relationship with my manager whilst still being able to have a good laugh.

I was busy with training for the first week, and continued to have a good level of work throughout. The workload grew as I improved and became quicker, which was ideal. I didn't have to stay late and my work was never made to feel pressured or stressful, yet I always had several things to be getting on with at any one time and was never bored.

The amount of responsibility I was given grew throughout my internship, from fairly straightforward but interesting research projects to putting together resources for meetings between the heads within my department. I was also asked to speak at several of these meetings, and having my insights and interpretations listened to and questioned by senior employees was a challenging, but great experience.

My function involved a lot of reading, interpreting and summarising which was very relevant to my degree personally - in addition the programme was well structured and we were given talks on all areas of the business. This gave me a much wider view of the banking industry in general. Although I started from a position of knowing comparatively little about finance, I found this was not a problem at all and learnt a lot in a short space of time.

The atmosphere is never silent, people walk around and talk to each other a lot to make decisions and receive clarifications which is refreshing and much more effective than sending constant emails. The floor is clearly busy, but not to the extent anyone seems stressed or tense. Most people seem to take their lunch hour except on an especially busy day, and the canteen is brilliant. My floor had cake most days, which is hard to complain about.

Everything was very well organised, from the recruitment process to the internship itself. The programme was structured with a charity fundraiser challenge with other interns, regular reviews/HR catch ups, and a presentation at the end. There was a good support network and if I had needed help or advice at any point I would have known who to speak to. We were welcomed in person by the EMEA CEO which was appreciated.

I was given 2 days of introductory training, talks from all areas of the business, given internet training modules to complete, and shadowed all of the teams within my department as well as also meeting people from other areas of the business. There were also many other events outside of the formal internship structure, for instance a talk with the EMEA head of Blackrock.

Very good - the firm has a good reputation for training its own graduates and investing in them. The graduate scheme at my department was clearly communicated to us and involves four rotations to enable grads to experience the entire department. This is overseen by the department CAO who took the time to meet us and talk through the department and the opportunities it can provide.

with over 120 interns, there was a great social scene. HR organised events for us however we also organised nights out and drinks ourselves, as well as having lunch together nearly every day. I personally got on very well with all of the other interns in my department (as well as many outside it) and we were good friends by the end of the 10 weeks.

Extremely high - I was lucky enough to be able to live in the suburbs and commute, saving a lot of money, however for those wanting to be closer to the office, the City is an expensive area.

The nightlife in the City is enjoyable but expensive - however the firm itself had a roof terrace with a reasonably priced bar.

Opportunities ranged from charity fundraising to sports clubs, social clubs, a public speaking club and other activities like music lessons.