DCM Summer Analyst Review

I learnt a lot and this was my first experience of an internship in investment banking. However I feel that the culture was not the greatest. It was an experience that I got a lot out of, purely because it was my first real extended amount of time within banking, but at the same time, I could have got a lot more out of it if it was better.

I did not feel very valued by my colleagues to be honest. As interns, we were kind of seen as not part of the main team, which is quite disappointing as I feel this can affect the day to day performance of teams. It was ‘made known’ that we were the interns of the team and we were not given much responsibility.

My actual line manager decided to assign me to someone less senior, who actually took care of me during the summer. My ‘acting’ line manager was very helpful, and offered me a lot of support and guidance, but I feel that my ‘actual’ line manager did not really want anything to do with me – which was a shame.

On a day to day basis, I was extremely busy. As expected, interns were given the menial / administrative tasks that no one else really wanted to do. I respect this as someone has to do these tasks, but I would value if more time could have been spent on giving interns some insight into the roles of more senior people.

As mentioned previously, the interns were not really given much responsibility. This is understandable, as HSBC has its clients to worry about, but I do think that interns could still be handed more responsibility if they have done previous tasks well. Nevertheless, the same applied to analysts on the team as well, and responsibility only really took place from associate level upwards.

I think the tasks that I was involved with do not really relate to academic life or degree studies at all. It is more about doing things as accurately and efficiently as possible within the limited time frame. Of course these skills could be applied to university life, but I think they are more applicable to work after university.

As you would be able to imagine, the atmosphere in an IBD (Investment Banking Division) office is not the most relaxed. There is always a sense of pressure to get things done straight away, but that is to be expected. I do feel though that this contributes to people within the division being less friendly than they would be usually.

I would say HR did not organise the internship very well. It was not really understood that the interns within DCM (Debt Capital Markets) are under a lot of pressure during the day (especially as the teams are understaffed) and so all the ‘lunch and learns’ that were arranged did not help with this at all.

There was a week of training that was provided by Fitch (an external company) and that was good. After that, most of the personal training and development came from doing the job on the desk. Analysts and associates on the team were very helpful in answering questions, but then again, seniors never really had the time for interns.

Of course pay is a big draw to working in any big investment bank, but I think that HSBC pays below the street, so it is not the best in that sense. As for employment prospects within the firm, I would say that it depends on what you want out of it. I would say that there is a lot of flexibility in moving around different offices around the world.

Just average to be honest.

One word is all I have to say: London. Although it is well known for being a great place to live, it is extremely expensive. I do not really know how you would manage to live comfortably, unless you were paid a very high salary, such as those in banking jobs. Probably the highest costs within the UK.

We did not have the time to experience it, although it is London.

It is IBD. This means that your day and life is just focused within and around your desk, with the occasional break for lunch and dinner. There was only one opportunity to get involved outside of work, and that was during the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) day, in which we were taken to Mile End Park to move wood.