(DK #2) We have the pleasure of having seven summer interns joining us at the Nordea Trading floor in Copenhagen. Following the first introduction round, it’s time to meet the other interns, Vidisha, Elfur, Emad and Jennifer set to acquire real-life learning experiences – which turns out to put their academic learnings to the test. Two weeks in, they’ve been “welcomed by amazing teams”, encountered “steep learning curves”, met “inspiring people” – and overall, just learned a lot about the many trades of a Markets business.
Read the blog by the interns of diverse educational backgrounds within fields like Machine Learning & AI, Data Science, Economics & Finance and Statistics, and hence spend their internship in varied Markets units relating to their different studies and aspirations. Tag along and see what the interns have experienced and learned so far.
My educational background is very focused around Machine Learning and statistics. I did my bachelors in BSc. Artificial Intelligence and Data at DTU, and I’ve just finished my first year in MSc. Human Centered AI (also at DTU).
My childhood dream job was to be a detective, so I get a strong sense of satisfaction from solving challenges by combining clues from heavy data crunching to create a meaningful impact. This is why I pursued an internship in Nordea Markets’ FX Commercial Solutions team this summer where I’ll be optimising Auto FX trade rules. There’s a lot of scope in this project as it can help optimise Nordea customers’ money through better liquidity management, and I’m looking forward to being part of that.
Two weeks into the internship, I’ve learned a lot – especially from a financial point of view. As someone with no background in finance, there is definitely a bit of a learning curve to understand the financial elements in the project. However, my team has been amazing for clarifying doubts and recommending books as a mini-crash course, so it’s been a steady progress. This project also allows me to work at the intersection of AI, business, and architecture, and it’s turning out to be an exciting learning experience.
The social part of the internship has also been great. I’ve met a lot of inspiring people who are always ready for a conversation about their backgrounds, careers and the work they do. The other interns are a fun group to go out and grab a coffee or lunch with, and it’s nice to hear everyone’s experiences and updates. We’re all also excited about the upcoming social event that we’ll be organizing.
I am pursuing a master’s degree in Business Administration and Data Science at Copenhagen Business School. I completed by undergraduate degree in general Economics from the University of Iceland in 2022, and took a gap year before continuing with my education here in Copenhagen. During my gap year, I worked full time for a fintech company in Iceland. This work experience gave me a clearer view of where my interest lies which led me to pursue a more IT focused master.
The main reason I applied for the internship at Nordea Markets was because I believed it to be a valuable opportunity to gain a better understanding of the financial markets while also applying learnings from my study. I am most excited to learn from the professional and experienced people on the trading floor. I hope to develop my coding skill set, and learn about the many different career paths within Nordea Markets.
As intern in the Rates Business Analysts team, I am currently working on a Bond RFQ dashboard for sales. The first weeks here have been highly educational, and the learning curve has been quite steep. Aside from learnings related to my task for the summer, there is also a lot of information and learnings about the financial market. It has been challenging to learn and understand some of the many financial terms and acronyms.
We, the summer interns, have also had weekly meetings where different teams introduce their role and tasks on the trading floor – which is very helpful for us to get a better understanding of the anatomy of a trading floor, and also a good opportunity for us to sit down with people outside of our respective teams and learn about their work.
Some of the things that have surprised me, would be that I expected it to be louder on the trading floor. Also, I find it pleasantly surprising how willing and open people are to take a few minutes from their work to answer your questions. The environment has been very welcoming.
I have lived my entire life here in Copenhagen, except for a few periods where I have been on exchange in the US, Canada, London and Brussels. I have a bachelor’s degree in International Business and Politics, but about halfway through, I realised that my interests did not lie in political science but in economics and finance. So I changed direction for my master’s degree, and am now studying Applied Economics and Finance.
I am an intern in FX/Derivatives Sales and Research & Risk Solutions, which has four different units and I will be spending approx. two weeks in each unit. During my time in FX Sales, I have overlooked FX trades and looked at hedging opportunities for various kinds of cash flow. Furthermore, I have assisted one of the graduates with looking through leads by examining cash flows, and analysing whether there is an opportunity for optimisation in regards to FX cash flows. I have recently moved to a new unit where I work with interest rate derivatives where I will delve into interest rate swaps and more complex versions of that instrument. In August, I will move to the Risk Solutions & Research unit.
The sales team work together with so many different units, and they’ve been incredibly helpful in setting up small “dates” for me to meet other departments which are also quite interesting. I was lucky to have the opportunity to spend a few hours with FX Spot Trading and SMA as the Non-Farm Payroll numbers were released. It was such a unique experience to literally be in the market and follow the market’s reaction to the employment statistics being released, and also to see how the traders are managing the P&L during fluctuations.
Furthermore, I also got the chance to sit with the Macro Research desk as the CPI index was released for the US. Here, I followed how the analyst decomposed the inflation numbers, and worked on making sense of the development and impact, and how it paints a picture of the Fed’s action going forward in regards to their monetary policy path.
I have learned a lot during my first weeks here. My academic knowledge has really been tested and I have learned how academia fits in to the real professional life. I have also learned so much about how the market dynamics play out in real life, and how risks are hedged and managed for the customers and for Nordea. I have also got a few small projects on my own, putting my knowledge to the test for real.
One of the things that has surprised me the most, is the openness of everyone at the trading floor. A lot of the people on the trading floor have many years of experience in different areas, and therefore have unique knowledge of the market. Despite having a lot of work to do, people here are extremely welcoming and interested in explaining what they do and how their department works. Also, it’s very fascinating to learn how the trading floor has evolved with the increasing use of technology, and how it is utilized to optimize the work of the employees. While assisting Markets employees with their work, they have explained how they are using various instruments – and I was very surprised that the financial instruments I’ve learned about in school are used in a different way in reality.
I have always had a strong interest in economics and finance, completing a BSc in economics at Copenhagen University. After my undergraduate studies, I received a scholarship for master’s studies at Cornell University, where I have been fortunate to pursue even more coursework in economics, finance, and statistics. This made me even more interested in translating theory into practice by joining Nordea Markets.
Following courses and writing research papers involving financial data, as well as being part of finance communities, I became fascinated by the markets. This is why I wanted to join the trading floor at Nordea, and gain hands-on experience of what it is really like to work in a Markets business (sales and trading) and do so in the biggest bank in the Nordics.
During my internship in Nordea Markets, I get the chance to between various Markets Sales and Trading desks such as derivatives coverage, FX sales and trading, and fixed income. A few weeks into my internship, I have already been around many desks, both on the sales side and the trading side, providing me with broad exposure into the diverse kinds of work, products and services, that are being executed on the trading floor, from sales work to more quantitative tasks.
The learning curve has already been very steep, and the pace is high on the trading floor. At each desk, you are surrounded by experts within their respective fields, so you get to learn a lot, and work with highly experienced people who are always willing to set time aside to answer your questions, and help you improve your understanding of their work. I’ve already gained a lot knowledge, and I look forward to continuing my rotation and working at different desks, gaining a broad insight into what kind of work is carried out at the different desks at the trading floor.
Stay tuned for the next blog from our interns at the trading floor in Copenhagen. If you missed out on their first blog in the summer interns series 2024, read it here .
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