Analyst
To give you a better understanding of what you can expect if you
join Sales & Trading, we asked for some input from our
Analysts. Career opportunities within the division are wide-ranging
and include roles in sales, trading and structuring. Here they
describe the main tasks in each area.
Sales
Salespeople’s jobs are all about understanding clients’ needs
and staying on top of the market.
Morning: This is the best and busiest bit of
the day, which is odd considering it starts at about 6.30am! By the
time the market opens our clients need to know what is going on in
the world that will affect their investments and the ideas we, and
the Research Department, have generated. For an Analyst this
usually involves listening to the morning call and summarising it
for clients. Reading as much of the research released overnight as
possible is fundamental to understanding what changes we have made
to our official recommendations and forecasts. All news and
results have to be collated and analysed and you have to have an
opinion on what the changes mean for longer term ideas. All this
information has to be communicated to clients and tailored to suit
individual needs either on the phone or by Bloomberg/e-mail. The
better you can understand your clients’ needs the more likely they
are to do business.
Day to day: In sales you really are in the
front line in terms of client exposure. Building relationships with
clients and providing the best possible service means that you will
be conversing (in person or on the phone) with them, from the
moment you arrive at the desk in the morning until you leave.
Clients can call at any time and ask what is happening in the
market. Not only should we know the answer but we should also
have an opinion on the investment implications. Ideas
generation is one of the key points of being a salesperson and
these can come from many places. Research is obviously the main
generator but also talking to clients, news flow, charts and
personal experience as well as the experiences of the rest of the
team can all spark ideas.
Throughout the day we analyse and discuss stock recommendations
in order to provide clients with the best money making ideas.
Working in live markets means that we are constantly required to
think on our feet and react to breaking news by providing
actionable advice to our clients.
And beyond: Organising such things as Analyst
roadshows and company visits inevitably requires organisation and
administrative skills. Being able to keep on top of the huge amount
of research we receive is an imperative for every salesperson.
Internal sales meetings are often a welcome chance to step away
from the markets to exchange ideas with colleagues and to catch up
on the various areas of the business. For example you may be
attending account management meetings or new product launches.
We usually finish around 6.30pm – though we might then meet
clients for dinner.
Trading
Morning: Assimilating all the news flow that
has hit the tape since yesterday's trading; this may include macro
news likely to affect sentiment in the market you are trading, but
micro-level company news that will affect individual company
performance. Once an Analyst has assessed and made an informed
opinion, they position their trades for the day. Idea generation
can be based on general sentiment, opinions from the research team
or the flows in the market.
Day to day:A trader is the integral link
between the market and Citi and its clients. It is the trader’s
role to buy and sell securities on behalf of clients and Citi,
quickly and effectively disseminating information in the market and
achieving the best execution. Teamwork is an essential part of the
role.
By getting involved in the construction of spreadsheets,
analysts get a good understanding of how different factors
influence the pricing and risk of trades. Analysts thereby help
more senior traders to choose which trades to put on and how to
adjust their risk in an effective way.
And beyond: Once a trader has positioned his
'trading book' they will generally need to 'trade out' of positions
or manage them in accordance with the changing market environment.
This could involve contact between Sales Traders trying to get
customer flow or directly trading in the market. Monitoring risk is
a vital part of trading.
Analysts tends to have more time than the senior traders to
analyse market research and work their way through Bloomberg and
Reuters analysis. This can help you to spot trades that wouldn't be
obvious by just looking at graphs and make a valuable contribution
to your areas.
Structuring
Structuring desks are responsible for the construction and/or
packaging of more complex transactions, typically involving
derivative products. As an analyst, it can take some time to get
familiar with the range of products employed by the desk and their
individual features.
Work tends to be more project-based than in ‘flow’ markets;
rather than doing multiple trades a day (or even a minute!),
structured deals can often take several days or even weeks to put
together and execute.
As an analyst, you will spend time working alongside senior
structurers, learning how to run the various models used for
pricing and scenario analysis. In addition you can expect to get
involved in the marketing of new products and strategies, including
client presentations and the regular internal weekly summary sheets
for Sales.
The Structuring role allows you to make use of your quantitative
skills but also requires client-oriented marketing abilities.