As always, it’s a great pleasure to welcome talented students to our Markets summer internship programme, and this year we’re happy to have six talented interns joining us at our trading floor in Copenhagen. In this first blog in a series, you get to meet Lorraine, William and Aastha who come from different backgrounds with diverse skills and interests – and are enjoying their time as Markets interns; being challenged, surprised and learning something new every day, professionally and socially. 

Lorraine - Zhongyuan Zhang (25) 

Bachelors at CBS, Masters in data science and finance in Paris. My academic focus was on machine learning applications in high-frequency trading and market microstructure. 

I applied to this internship because I wanted to see how the theoretical models I studied in school translate to real-world trading environments. What attracted me to this internship in particular, was the Systematic Market Making & Automation team’s innovative quantitative approaches to market making. I hope to gain hands-on experience with production trading systems and understand how risk management frameworks operate under actual market conditions. My field of interest is specifically in the intersection of machine learning and market making - using predictive models to optimise spread management and inventory risk while maintaining profitability under varying volatility conditions.

Fast paced team

During my internship in Markets, I'm working in the Systematic Market Making & Automation team, focusing primarily on FX spot trading. My role involves helping the team analyse trading patterns of EURNOK and EURSEK, optimise pricing and risk management models, and potentially develop visualisation tools for trading activities. I'm using Python to analyse dataset, and also incorporate various macro factors to analyse the patterns. It's been exciting to work with large amount of tick data and a series of external data for this project.

In my first weeks, I've also been introduced to various teams across the Markets trading floor. I've met with teams trading different FX products, the developers and business analyst teams. We have also had sessions with Compliance to understand regulatory frameworks governing our activities.

I've also been shadowing traders during market hours, observing how they make split-second decisions and manage their risk exposures throughout the day. The pace here is much faster than I expected.

Friendly, supportive and happy to share knowledge

The biggest eye-opener, so far, has been seeing how much human judgment still matters in algorithmic trading. Despite all the sophisticated models and automation, experienced traders constantly adjust parameters based on market sentiment and news flow that isn't easily quantifiable. 

It is also amazing to be part of the fast paced team and experiencing that everyone are very friendly and supportive, and happy to share their knowledge. The exposure to the business and my learning curve has been very satisfying and I’m very motivated to start each day with something new to learn :-).

The interns strolling around Copenhagen after work, heading for dinner with Markets colleagues.

Furthermore, us interns have had a various catch-ups with social events organised by Markets colleageus over the last weeks. We have a series of events scheduled for the coming weeks, as well – and I’m looking forward to that. 

William Gormsen (25)

I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in economics at the University of Copenhagen, with focus on finance and econometrics. 

I applied because the internship matched both my academic interests and my curiosity about how theory plays out in the real world. I’ve always enjoyed solving problems that require structured thinking and analytical reasoning, which is what initially led me to study economics. I hadn’t worked directly with financial markets before, so I saw this as a great chance to challenge myself, learn something new, and figure out if this might be the right path for me. I hope to gain a deeper understanding of how a bank like Nordea works with clients, especially how financial products are structured and used to manage risk. 

Super interesting

During my Markets internship, I rotate between different desks at the trading floor, spending approx. two weeks at each desk; starting out in Research & Risk Solutions then on to the FX/Derivative Sales & Research team, then FX Sales and Emerging Markets Solutions & Derivatives.

In my first two weeks in the Research & Risk Solutions team, I assisted in modelling risk exposures for corporate clients. I’ve also explored the macroeconomic effects of recent trade policy developments and how they may influence global financial markets. It’s been a nice mix of analytical work and big-picture thinking. As I enjoy solving problems that require structured thinking and analytical reasoning, it’s been a great experience.

The same goes for my rotation to the FX/Derivative Sales & Research team where I’m currently working. In short, the FX/Derivatives team helps large corporates and institutions manage their currency and interest rate risks. It’s been super interesting to see how theory from university is actually applied in client discussions and risk strategies.

Confidence boost

The first weeks of the internship have exceeded my expectations. From day one, I felt welcomed and actually felt included in the team. Just a few hours into day one, I got my first task. The next day, my manager used parts of my work in a client presentation, which gave me a nice confidence boost. It felt good to know that what I’m doing actually matters.

I’ve had the chance to speak with various people from different desks at the trading floor. Everyone’s been open, and I’ve learned a lot just from informal chats. We also have intro breakfasts coming up with the other intern teams, which I’m looking forward to.

One of the coolest parts has been getting my hands on some of the tools the professionals here use every day. So far, I’ve been working with tools like Bloomberg, Macrobond, and Nordea’s internal analytics platform—each of which has given me a deeper appreciation for how professional teams access, interpret, and act on financial data. These tools have also strengthened my ability to conduct real-time market analysis and risk evaluation.

Excited and eager to share

I was genuinely surprised by how passionate and knowledgeable people are here. It’s one thing to read about financial markets in a textbook—it’s another to sit next to someone who’s been working in the space for many years and still gets excited about it and is eager to share knowledge. Also, I’ll admit the trading floor felt a bit intimidating at first (it’s huge with a lot of screens at each desk), but the atmosphere is very calm and focused. 

Aastha Singh (28)

I am from India, and I recently moved to Copenhagen to pursue my MSc in Sustainable Energy Technologies at Technical University of Denmark (DTU).  Since my bachelor, I have worked across financial services and academia, e.g. I worked almost three years in Market Risk Analysis and Controls in Deutsche Bank in Mumbai.

I moved to Copenhagen for my master’s, and meeting people here who genuinely find happiness from their work, has motivated me to explore my skills and be open to all the opportunities I could contribute to. This internship gave me a chance to build upon my prior experience with enough room to explore my area of interest within Markets, and learn about the Nordic markets and the regional trends, especially in commodities.

Enjoying challenging learning curve

During my internship, I am working in the Market Risk Access Channels team within Market Risk Business Technology. In the first two weeks, I have met different stakeholders like risk managers, controllers, traders and data architects that has significantly helped me build a holistic understanding of the financial markets beyond textbook knowledge. 

Coming with a background in market risk, the most unexpected thing for me when starting here has been to deconstruct a lot of frameworks from my prior experience, to then be able to develop new ideas at Nordea to execute the same concepts of risk. I have been enjoying this learning curve as it challenges my default way of thinking. Keeping up with the market risk regulatory requirements and having a new set of tools has made work more exploratory in nature. 

As my team works with different tech solutions, I have a lot of flexibility in designing and experimenting with these tools that might help in creating a more user-friendly and intuitive user interface for the stakeholders.

Welcoming and warm 

My team consists of people from Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, China, Egypt and Denmark.  During our lunch, each day I learn something new about food and culture from across the world. The atmosphere here on the trading floor is very nice and not at all as noisy as I imagined - also, I was happy to see more women here than I expected. The people in general at Nordea are really welcoming and warm. 

The six interns - left clockwise; Vivian, Lorraine, William, Emil, Mark and Aastha - enjoying a nice evening out on the town at one of the social activities arranged by Markets people.

Coming up is a blog with our three other summer interns in Markets Denmark; Vivian, Emil and Mark. Meanwhile, have a look at some of the other blogs by interns, graduates and other Nordea people at Meet our talents blog.

Interested in a career at Nordea Markets LC&I?

Nordea Markets LC&I (Large Corporates & Institutions) is the leading international capital operator and investment banking partner in the Nordic region. Let some of our student interns, graduates as well as experienced professionals explain it to you; how it works, what we do, and about the many career opportunities we can offer you.

Explore the possibilities:

Students and interns 

Graduates

Future Finance Professional

Finland

 

Markets LC&I
Meet our talents
Blog
Careers
Internship