Enjoying Markets’ "unique rotation program" – Great learnings and good fun

Let’s meet the young talents as they introduce themselves and tell all about their learnings, eyeopeners, challenges and nice surprises during their internship at Markets in Stockholm – which apparently already are exceeding their expectations.  

By Kerstin, Felix and Emma

Kerstin Nyström (23)

I am studying a master’s degree in Finance at the School of Business, Economics and Law in Gothenburg, where I'll begin my last year of the program this fall. Prior to this internship, I have been working at Nordea within retail banking for a couple of years, and this spring, I completed an internship within equity research. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my friends and family, and like cross-country skiing and cooking.

Why  did you apply for a summer internship with Nordea Markets?

I applied for this internship for several reasons. Firstly, the structure of the internship seemed appealing to me as I wanted to learn and broaden my knowledge about the different areas within Markets. Secondly, the bank offers vast career opportunities. To apply felt natural, exciting and interesting. Lastly, my desire to work close to the financial markets also motivated me to apply, as the internship provides the opportunity to work close to the markets.  

How did you hear about the internship?

I heard about the internship through the Nordea, LC&I career blog, promoted on Nordea LC&I LinkedIn.

What do you expect to achieve, learn from your internship?

I am keen to develop a broader knowledge about Markets and its structure, in terms of the daily work and the various functions at each desk. I seek to improve and excel my overall understanding of the financial markets, and learn how different market environments impact on different financial products. I also truly hope to build relationships with potential future colleagues!

What do you look forward to the most?

I look forward to developing my knowledge about financial products and services and broaden my network with professionals. I am very excited to meet a lot of new people, who will contribute to my understanding about available positions, challenges and possible career paths within Markets.

Any surprises, eye-openers so far?

Prior to the internship, I had high expectations regarding the work climate at Markets. The first two weeks have exceeded my expectations very much. I am positively surprised by the combination of the high work ethics, high work pressure and product complexity together with the warm, welcoming and inviting work environment.

Felix Cao (23)

I’ve recently completed my third year at KTH studying Engineering Mathematics at KTH and will soon start my masters in Applied Mathematics (at KTH). I have a Bachelor in Business Administration at SU and am currently pursuing another bachelor’s degree in Economics at SU. Prior to the internship, I worked part time in Nordea Wealth Management for little over a year. In my free time, I like spending time on the tennis court with friends, being outdoor in the nature, and on attempting to cook new dishes!

Why did you apply for a summer internship with Nordea Markets?

I found the rotational program of the Internship to be incredibly valuable when learning about the “big picture” of financial markets, as we get an introduction to several desks, learn what they do and what it’s like to work there.  Ultimately, enabling me to make a more informed decision about where I want to work and what I am the most interested in. Also, the structure of the program sounded like great fun – learning about each desk, meeting people working on the trading floor while applying the new-learnt knowledge on a case/task.

How did you hear about it – what caught your interest?

It was actually on an after work event (during my part-time position at Wealth Management) together with Markets that I heard about the Markets internship. I had developed a great interest in financial markets but had little to no knowledge about how the trading floor operated, what everyone did, which clients and what products each desk served/provided. What really caught my interest was thus the structure of the program.

What do you expect to achieve, learn from your internship?

I expect to get some answers to the questions I mentioned previously, hopefully get a taste of what kind of work place Nordea Markets is, and utilize the opportunity to learn from all of the professional people here.

What do you look forward to the most?

I look forward to building relations, together as a team and with the people here.

Emma Bentzer (23)

For the last two years, I have been living in Gothenburg and studying at The School of Business, Economics and Law. In my spare time, I enjoy hunting, cycling, and spending time with my family.

Why did you apply for the summer internship at Nordea Markets?

I applied because of Nordea Markets’ unique rotation program. What caught my interest was the positive feedback from previous interns about the challenging projects and the supportive work culture at Nordea. I have always been fascinated by the world of capital markets and Nordea's strong presence in the market made me curious. Furthermore, Nordea will also provide me with valuable experience and knowledge to help me best shape my future career.

What do you expect to achieve, learn from your internship?

During my internship, I hope to gain practical insight into the financial market, analyze market trends and broaden my mindset.  Moreover, I also hope to develop a deeper understanding of the financial industry as a whole, including regulations, risk management, and overall market dynamics.

What do you look forward to the most?

There are several aspects of the summer internship at Nordea Markets that I am looking forward to. Firstly, I am excited about the opportunity to work alongside talented colleagues who are experts in their field. Learning from and sharing their experience would be invaluable for my professional development. This practical experience will give me a unique perspective on how theory is put into practice and equip me with practical skills that will be useful throughout my career.

Week 1 – Cracking El Niño case and battling Old Town quiz

We spend the first week at the Macro Research desk, kicking off with an introduction to the team together with an overview over the research and economic outlooks they provide. We also received our very first case of the internship which involved determining whether or not El Niño – the weather phenomenon – could have an impact on Swedish inflation. We really appreciated the freedom in our approach to try and solve the case.

On Thursday, we got the chance to sit together with the Derivatives-Coverage team during the Riksbanken announcement, and experiencing the reactions of both the team and the market was pretty cool and exciting, to say the least.

Week 2 – Deep insight and celebration

Entering the second week, we rotated to the Derivatives-Coverage team which we all was excited to join. The desk primarily supports clients in interest rate risk management. Moreover, the team advice clients in hedging against interest rate risk using several different financial derivatives, such as interest rate swaps and options.

The structure of this week differed slightly from the previous week with the Macro team. As all of us was quite new to this type of derivatives, we needed to create a general understanding about the relevant instruments as well as the interest rate market as a whole. Hence, the week began with an presentation of the case of the week, followed by several sessions that went through Stibor, swap-curves, the mechanics of swaps, pricing, you name it!

With our newly learnt knowledge in hand, we later applied it to a case involving advising a real estate company in managing their interest rate risk. We all really appreciated the case, as it is highly relevant in the current market environment.

The week also provided interesting sessions with other departments within the bank, as well as an introduction to the Bloomberg terminal along with our licenses. On Tuesday, we got invited to the Bloomberg office for an introductory session to the abundance set of features the terminal provides, and how to use it. It was a great introduction, and exciting to see the Bloomberg office and how they work.

Later in the week, we also had a session with people in DCM (Debt Capital Markets), ECM (Equity Capital Markets) and Corporate Finance, introducing us to their line of work. It was very interesting to talk to the departments and learn about their collaboration with the Markets units on the trading floor. Finally, on Friday we celebrated a (hopefully) successful presentation of the case with some drinks.

Week 1 and 2 sum-up – Exceeding expectations

Lastly, we would like to thank all the team members we’ve met for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet us for sit-downs, coffee-chats and learning sessions, and teaching us about the markets, their work and sharing their career stories. We’ve already felt like we’ve learnt a lot, and have had a lot of fun while doing it, and we are looking forward to the following weeks!

The first two weeks have exceeded our expectations. Tune in for our next blog and hear more about our experiences in FX-sales, equities, fixed income and more.
 

Meanwhile, check out some of the blogs by other interns in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, alongside career blogs featuring our great people within trading, sales, risk management, e-trading and more.