“Thank you for an incredibly educational and inspiring summer” - Wrap-up from Swedish interns

By Wilmer, Wilhelmina, Isabelle and Fanny

It’s bittersweet to wrap up our internship at Markets after such a steep learning curve and so many great experiences. We’ve learned so much about so much. It’s been a highly educational and fun summer here at the trading floor. 

Before saying our goodbyes, and wrapping up an incredible eight-week rotation, we’ll let you in on what we’ve been doing the last weeks of our internship, involving practical case work, learning sessions, job shadowing and social team activities.

Fast-paced start in Fixed Income

We kicked-off week five in Fixed Income which includes Credit Sales, Credit Research, Rates Sales, and Trading. It was a fast-paced start as we got our case assignment already on Monday.

Throughout the week, we attended sessions on various hedging strategies for different instruments, learning about the differences in risk perspectives between Credits and Rates, and how to hedge or position on different curves. 

We also explored Bloomberg, learning how to navigate its many powerful functions – a bit like discovering the “homepage” of the financial world and its endless resources.

Building a bond portfolio

We got an inside look at a trader’s day-to-day work, how they manage Nordea’s proprietary risk, and what it means to be a market maker. Midweek, we joined the entire Fixed Income team for a fun dinner.

On Friday, we presented our case: “Building a diversified bond portfolio as portfolio managers”. The twist? Our funding cost started ticking from day one, so we had to invest quickly and hope for favorable market moves. We bet on the yield curve, invested in both high-yield corporates and safer investment-grade bonds. It was a challenging and pretty thrilling week.

FX – Taking charge of the macro update

The following week, we rotated to the FX desk. This time, us interns were in charge of the daily morning macro update, meaning early starts, market research, and presenting to the team every morning. It was an exciting, challenging, and great way to stay closely connected to the market developments.

Our main case for the week was to design a currency hedging strategy for a company with revenues and costs in multiple currencies. We learned about different hedging tools, including AutoFX (automated FX trading – very cool!) and how these instruments are priced. Between case work, we enjoyed lunches with the team.

Risk Solutions – Exploring hedge accounting to mitigate risks

Sadly, we reached the final week of our internship. We spent the week with Risk Solutions, which was a great opportunity to apply everything we had learned over the past seven weeks about FX and derivatives.

We learned to view risks from a balance sheet perspective, explored hedge accounting, and understood how it can be used to mitigate risks while impacting the company’s financial results. The main case of the week was highly technical: “Analysing a company’s FX and interest rate risk from a balance sheet angle”.

We also had two mini cases during the week, where each of us presented a news event and how it could be relevant for the desk – for example, a cross-border acquisition or a company with large foreign currency revenues.

Huge thank you

With only one day to go, we ended Thursday with a squash tournament. It was the first time for all of us, and it was both intense and fun. On Friday, we enjoyed a farewell lunch with the team, followed by a nice after-work gathering.

It has been bittersweet to wrap up the internship after such a steep learning curve – we’re sad to leave. A huge thank you to everyone at Nordea Markets for an incredibly educational and inspiring summer.

/Isabelle Byman, Fanny Strandberg, Wilmer Samuelsson and Wilhelmina Stenbeck

Thank you from us too - it's been a pleasure having the talented interns joining us at the trading floor in Stockholm during summer. 

In case you missed out on their previous blogs, you can find their second blog here. and here's the first one, Exploring market dynamics, cracking real-life cases and enjoying every bit – Swedish interns tell why.