Operations

A DAY IN THE LIFE

I chose to do my Industrial Placement at Morgan Stanley because…
I like the global scope and excitement of investment banking. The industry is constantly changing, and every day presents new opportunities to collaborate and tackle daily trade flow. Morgan Stanley provided a great learning opportunity at a top-tier firm.

I selected Operations…
because it is a good way to learn about the entire business. You see the complete trade flow and learn the different stages, from the front office to trade settlement. Many of the skills are transferable and will help me both at my university and in my future career.

A typical day…
starts around 8:30 a.m. I perform early-morning reconciliation and manage emails and any trades that were executed after market close. Throughout the day I complete compliance checks on bespoke trades and reconcile variances within our reporting system. I perform the mark review on precious metals, calculating variances and summarizing results to the desk. I also continually manage the team’s workflow and respond to frequent ad hoc queries.

The best part of my experience at Morgan Stanley…
was the people and exposure. I’m constantly speaking to colleagues in Switzerland, San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong, Milan and many other places around the world. As the primary contact for operational queries, I often speak with senior salespeople and line managers.