Nancy Wang – Analyst, Investment Banking, Hong Kong

I first heard about Barclays Capital by attending their company presentation on my campus. The MD who was the guest presenter was from IBD and gave a really well-rounded introduction of Barcap’s IBD.

IBD offers tremendous challenges as well as great learning opportunities for young people. It leads you into the business and finance world, and opens up the door to a wide range of career options. You put in a lot of hours and efforts, and at the end of 3 years, you become a much more capable and knowledgeable finance professional. The fast pace and diversity of the job is perfect for someone who is eager to learn.

I’m currently an analyst in the China team. I work closely with people from ECM, M&A, and sector teams in deal execution and provide support to seniors in pitching to clients.

I usually come in between 9:00-9:15am and read a few market commentary newsletters I subscribe to in order to get a view on market performance. After I arrive at my desk, I spend 15 - 30 minutes catching up on email traffic from overnight, sometimes check research reports BIS (our internal research team) sent over if I have submitted a research request last night before I left. Then walk over to my associates’ desk to have a quick catch-up and update on work in progress.

Next, I get started on high-priority or time-sensitive work, such as market updates that need to be sent to the client by noon, or pitch books for the next day’s client meeting.

I have lunch with colleagues at around 12:30pm, and try to have a walk in Hong Kong Garden after lunch. Lunch break is usually 30 minutes to an hour.

What happens in the afternoon really varies – I could attend a client meeting in town, have a due diligence call and take down notes, or hand spreading comps. It is not rare that you get staffed on new projects or get comments back on a book you’ve been working on in late afternoon. Luckily there’s nothing to rush and you can take evening time to wrap up work [then send a couple of emails to ask your friends who also work in one of the skyscrapers in Central if they want to have dinner].

How late I have to stay in the office depends on the urgency of work. Usually ahead of a major pitch or before the day I travel, hours tend to be long.

China team is a country coverage team. We’re on the forefront when it comes to dealing directly with clients in both deal origination and execution. We have the best understanding of client needs and co-ordinate internal expertise from various sector teams and product teams to come up with the best solutions for our clients.

China is the single largest fee source in this region and certainly one of the most dynamic markets in the world in terms of investment banking activities. A strong China team is a necessity for the firm to leverage on the opportunities in China.

Investment banking is about making connections – I connect with people from different teams internally as well as connect with clients externally. In my day-to-day work, I constantly interact with people from ECM, M&A and sector teams across all levels, depending on type of deal; I also interact with external parties who are involved in the deal, i.e. accountants, lawyers, consultants, etc.; lastly I interact with clients. At my level, I work closely with the working level people from the company’s finance / accounting department to resolve a lot of day-to-day issues.

Diversity of roles and diversity of sectors and deals challenges me. There are a lot of occasions where I had to deal with time pressure, multi-tasking etc., the sense of self-challenging and self-motivation are also what I look for in a job. Even as the most junior person in a team, I was given a lot of responsibilities and playing a crucial part. When you feel you could add value to the team and are being recognized, then you feel all the hard work you’ve put in is worth it.

Barcap has absolutely the most top-tier training programme on the street and our firm invests time and effort into providing training to graduates and colleagues from individual teams give full respect to graduates investing time and efforts in training themselves.

The initial training programme is the key portion of the programme. The best thing about it is that it provides an opportunity for colleagues from all over the world together. This provides us with a good start to building our our global network. I still email or call my old friends in the firm from around the world when I need advice.

Hardskills – analysis, presentation, modeling, problem solving
People skills – being able to communicate effectively and proactively, presentable and professional in front of clients
And even “softer” skills – manage people’s expectations, multi-tasking, structural thinking

As an analyst, I deal with the most detailed work on a day to day basis, so it is easy to lose sight of the big picture.

The culture here respects work / life balance more than most of the banks on the street. Just to give you an example, a few analysts from my class including myself were able to take a few days off as exam leave to prepare for the CFA exam. I personally appreciated that very much.

I joined BarCap a year ago, and looking back I’m still amazed how much the firm has evolved and how much I have grown with the firm. Without a doubt the firm will experience tremendous growth in the near future and will provide a lot of opportunities for us.