Investment banks advisory functions invariably attract elite students with multiple internships under their belts, impeccable academics and the all-important extra-curricular activities to set themselves apart from the competition.
Is it the same deal in the markets business? If the latest recruits into Morgan Stanley’s 2015 analyst class are anything to go by, the answer is yes. This, according to profiles of the new recruits, is what it takes to get in.
Polly Andrews, analyst, rates sales
Polly graduated from the University of Bath with a BSc in Economics this year. Her internship experience is outside of investment banking – a one month stint with hedge fund Cedar Rock Capital and a year at Legal & General Investment Management on its equity strategy placement. She’s a keen sailor, having been sailing club secretary during her time at Bath.
Christie Bellotti, analyst, equity derivative sales
Christie interned in Morgan Stanley’s sales and trading division last summer and also spent a period as a Spring intern in 2013. As well as this she’s spent a summer at Aviva Investors and a Spring insight week at J.P. Morgan. She graduated from Cambridge with a 1st in Economics.
Iosif Dassyras, sales and trading analyst (FID)
Iosif converted his summer internship in Morgan Stanley’s FID sales and trading division last year. This followed a summer at HSBC’s FX desk in Greece in 2013. He has a BS in Engineering from Purdue University and appears to have proficiency in a number of coding languages including C++ and Java. Among his awards is the best design for “next generation exercise equipment” gained during university.
Niall Dunleavy, sales and trading analyst
Niall graduated from University College Dublin with a BSc in Economics. He got into university through a high achiever scholarship and was awarded a second stage academic qualification in 2013. He won the Morgan Stanley M&A competition in the same year, and the trading competition at Susquehanna International Group. On top of this, he has internships at Mckinsey and Morgan Stanley (last year) and was vice-auditor at the UCD investors and entrepreneurs society.
Zhu Shen Ng, sales and trading analyst
Zhu has a degree in mechanical engineering from University of Cambridge, and speaks English, Mandarin and Malay. He converted his Morgan Stanley sales and trading summer internship last summer, where he had exposure to FX emerging markets, securitised products and equity derivatives.
Marcus Webber, sales and trading analyst
Marcus graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in Economics and Politics last year. He converted his summer internship at Morgan Stanley last year, but this is the limit of his investment banking experience. One thing that sets him apart, however, is his sporting achievements – he’s played rugby sevens for England.
Ed Young, equity research analyst
Ed has come to investment banking a little late – from 2008-2013 he was working as an intelligence officer for the British Army. He graduates from Oxford University with a degree in History in 2006, went into the Royal Military Academy and then went into a professional career in 2008. In 2013, he embarked on an MA in Near and Middle Eastern studies and last year interned in Goldman Sachs’ equity research division.
Zichen Zheng, analyst, equity derivatives structuring
Zichen graduated form University of Oxford last year with a degree in Maths. He’s a couple of interns under his belt including a summer at CICC, but has close ties with Morgan Stanley. After a summer on a rotational sales and trading internship, looking at portfolio trading, structure rates trading and equity exotics, he became campus ambassador for the bank at Oxford. He was also part of Christchurch College’s maths society, the finance society and the Oxford Chinese football team.
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