Bank of America Merrill Lynch may be trimming back its investment bank in the final quarter of 2015, but it’s still bringing in analysts at the junior level.
Who are these people? And what do their profiles tell you about the reality of getting a job in investment banking today? Read on…
1. Daniel Alavei, analyst in rates sales
Daniel speaks four languages – Swedish, English, Persian and Spanish. Over the course of his studies, he’s completed three internships at banks in both the Nordic region and London, latterly at Barclays’ investment bank in the City. Daniel appears to have chosen BAML over other investment banks’ offers – both Goldman Sachs and Barclays extended a job offer to him in their securities division. In case you’re wondering about the need for technical know-how before going into banking, Daniel has a Masters in Engineering from Lunds University in Sweden, as well as a maths undergraduate degree. He’s also completed a thesis on trading CDS indices vs equity index futures and an exchange studies course on investments and securities at UCLA.
2. Sam Cicurel, analyst, debt capital markets and corporate banking
Sam has a Masters from London School of Economics, much like many new recruits into investment banks in London this year. He converted his internship in BAML’s DCM and corporate banking division last summer. He also interned at SocGen, in its corporate credit sales division, in 2013.
3. Joshua Downie, G10 FX forwards trader
Joshua has just graduated form the University of Warwick with a 1st class degree in maths. He was a straight A student at school, played for the rugby team at Bishop Wordsworth’s grammar school and was also a senior prefect. He clearly displays the ‘rounded’ personality combined with academic excellence that investment banks demand. His only investment banking experience prior to securing his current position comes from BAML – initially through a Spring internship followed by a summer internship in its markets business in 2014.
4. Akash Garg, analyst, FX trading
Impressively, Akash managed to complete three insight week internships in one year during 2013 – at UBS, HSBC and finally BAML. It’s the latter, however, where he developed close ties. Akash was a campus ambassador for BAML at Warwick University from 2013 and later interned in its markets business, which led to the full-time offer. Akash was also vice-chairman of Warwick’s investment society, which apparently now stands at 2,650 members – the largest society in the university’s history.
5. Samu Lehto, analyst, debt capital markets and corporate banking
Samu also graduated from Warwick University last year, with a degree in Economics. He converted his summer internship at BAML following a stint on the CEEMEA debt financing and origination team. Samu also interned at PwC, within its technology consulting arm, during the summer of 2013. He speaks English, Finnish and Swedish.
6. Guy Linch, analyst, FIG debt capital markets
Guy has a degree in Economics from Cambridge, which always helps with an application to an investment bank. He also has a lot of internship experience. Like most of BAML’s new recruits, he converted a summer internship at the bank, and also completed a Spring insight week in 2013. More impressively, he also spent seven months interning at Deutsche Bank in 2012 during his first year of university.
7. Jesper Lundström, analyst, interest rates futures and options sales
Jesper has an MSc in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics and has built up an impressive amount of financial services work experience both in Sweden and London. He spent last summer at BAML, within the division he secured a full-time role in, but was also an assistant analyst in Nordea’s macro research team for nearly two years following an internship at the bank in 2013.
8. Ilja Moisejevs, investment banking analyst, consumer and retail
Ilja didn’t intern at BAML. Last year, he spent the summer in the M&A division of Stamford Partners. This followed a year’s experience as an analyst at Zwanenberg Food Group in the Netherlands from September 2013. He also founded a number of companies whilst at university, including ‘Fairhelper’, which provides stand-ins for business people who wish to attend conferences but can’t make it. He has a first class degree in biosciences from University of Nottingham.
9. Petya Petrova, commercial real estate analyst, FICC
Petya graduated from Cass Business School with a Masters in mathematical trading and finance in 2014. Since then, she’s spent a lot of time doing off-cycle internships. She spent eight months at GE Capital as a capital markets intern until June this year, and also had a three month stint at accountancy firm Grant Thorton.
10. Shrenik Sanghrajka, analyst, rates trading
Shrenik just graduated with a BSc in Economics from LSE. He’s already accumulated an impressive amount of investment banking experience. Latterly, he interned at BAML – and was a campus ambassador for the bank. However, he also interned at J.P. Morgan (and became a campus ambassador again), Royal Bank of Scotland (twice), Citi and BCG Partners. Oh, and he took part in Goldman Sachs’ Future Leaders Seminar in 2012.
11. Inez Sarkodee-Adoo, analyst, credit sales
Inez’s background is comparatively unusual – she spent as much time interning as a journalist as she did spending time in investment banks. As well as Morgan Stanley, Aon and – last summer – BAML, she spent time at the Spectator and has contributed to the Huffington Post. She’s also worked as a teaching assistant and been involved in various debating societies and human rights organisations. She has a first class degree in politics and sociology from the University of Bristol.
12. Giovanni Tarabocchia, M&A analyst, consumer and retail
Giovanni’s internship experienced has been focused on the M&A space. He didn’t work at BAML before securing a full-time role, but experience in the M&A teams at Deutsche Bank and SocGen will have certainly helped his application. He has an MSc Finance from Bocconi University.
13. Maria Terzini, analyst, FICC structuring
Maria also has an MSc Finance from Bocconi, but compared to a number of new recruits on this list, her work experience is limited. She interned at BAML last summer and secured a full-time role after this. She also spent six months as a financial planning and analysis intern at Aon in 2012.
14. Joost van Wijk, analyst, leveraged finance origination
Joost has a Masters in Finance from Universiteit van Tilburg. He spent last summer at BAML in London, but also has internship experience in private equity which will have bolstered his credentials for a role in leveraged finance in investment banking. He spent three months at Bencis Capital Partners in the Netherlands in 2012.
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