(SE #2) Halfway through their internship, the students’ acquired learning is being put to the test with real-life case assignments and tight deadlines. It’s been some busy, and on occasions, hectic days, cracking cases, building interest rate hedging models, performing equity analysis, doing pitches and number crunching tasks. Not to mention the hurdles and aching sprints – and soothing sunbathing on the rooftop terrace.
In their second blog, our summer interns at the trading floor in Stockholm, Anna, Ebba and Henrik, tell about what they’ve been up to the last couple of weeks where they've rotated between desks like Markets Derivatives Coverage, Equity Sales & Research, Securities Finance, and Structured Products.
We spent our third week at the Nordea Markets Derivatives Coverage desk. As usual, we were assigned with a very interesting case that we should present on Friday afternoon. The assignment involved assisting a real estate company with their interest rate hedging, and we got to build our own model to optimise the maturity and start date of interest rate swaps. It got quite hectic towards our deadline, but we managed to finalise it. We did a good job – at least we think – and the company would be successful using our strategy.
While spending all day at the office is enjoyable, we also managed to enjoy some of the – occasionally – nice summer weather, as we took our breaks on one of the two rooftop terraces soaking in some sun. One evening, we visited the beautiful Stockholm Stadion for some running. After warming up with hurdles, we challenged ourselves with 100m sprints – tougher than it sounds! We returned to the office the following morning with sore bodies, but fresh in spirit.
Our next desk rotation was to Equity Sales and Equity Research, where we spent Monday and Tuesday. After introductions to both teams and their daily tasks, we were asked to perform an analysis of an online retail company, and advise on whether to buy, hold or sell the share. The case was very interesting, but also challenging due to a short time limit of only one and a half days. We presented a buy-case to the Equity team, and ended up being happy with the result.
On Wednesday, we moved on to Securities Finance, where we were introduced to the different products that Nordea Markets offers as well as a new weekly case. We were challenged to find three prospects who would benefit from the Securities Finance products, and sought help from both the sales and trading team to utilize their expert knowledge.
After our presentation, we found out that the three companies chosen, had either been prospects for the sales team earlier on, or previous Nordea clients – without us knowing. This was a great coincident, as we then could compare our pitch against the sales team’s work, which was a great learning for us.
Towards the end of our fourth week, we had the opportunity to join the Structured Products team for a day, and get insight to their day-to-day operations. We also got a smaller business case to present at the end of the day.
This case was more of a number crunching exercise – compared to the other cases – which served as a great way for us to get a better understanding of the structured products offered.
That’s it for now. But watch this space for our next and final blog about our highly educational and rewarding internship at the Nordea Markets trading floor in Stockholm.
Meanwhile, check out the first blog from Ebba, Henrikand Anna, and learn about their backgrounds, their first impressions and tasks during the first weeks with us at the trading floor -> "Busy weeks meeting experts, cracking cases, pitching FX strategies and hanging out with Markets people ... "
Find more information and inspiration in the many blogs featuring interns, graduates and diverse Nordea people at our Career blog - and gain insight into our Markets and Large Corporates & Institutions (LC&I) business, and a wide range of career opportunities -> Meet our talents Blog | Nordea.
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