Internship in an Investment Bank Essay Example for Free

Internship in an investiture Bank EssayInternship is a system of on-the-job training for white-collar jobs. It is a survive colligate coping experience for individuals who wish to develop hands on work experience in a certain occupational field. Most confineship is temporary assignments. As such my intern too was temporary for a period of 1 month. My association with Goldman Sachs was during my semester vacation.To me internship is to combine system with practical work experience. As such my intern period was of great help in that sense. Generally the objectives of internships are* Develop skills in the application of hypothesis to practical work situation.* Aptitude test for a particular career.* Develop and pursue fear ethics.* Increase on the sense of responsibility.* Opportunity to understand intimate organizational interrelationships.* Enhance employment opportunities* Develop skills and techniques directly applicable to their careers.* Provides inside exposure to the structure, operations and decision process within the organization without a load to a permanent employer.Some of the obvious advantages an internship offers include strengthening written and oral skills, helping to make contacts to gain future employment, to enhance and strengthen the interns resume. Gain an increased awareness of skills, attributes, personal qualities and values. Guides a student to find out what it is to like to work in a business environment. unless duties which arent structured either non enough to do or random office work or nothing to do with the supposed internship whitethorn result in just a waste of time and valuable resources. Sometimes the intern may not have enough time to learn the nuances of the industry and no proper guide or a mentor to guide the individual through the process. It may also result as a burden fiscally and mentally. About Goldman SachsHistory18691930Goldman Sachs was founded in New York in 1869 by the German-born Marcus Goldman . The beau monde make a name for itself pioneering the use of commercial wallpaper for entrepreneurs and was invited to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1896. In the early 20th century, On December 4, 1928, it launched the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp. a closed-end fund. 19301980In 1930, Sidney Weinberg assumed the business office of senior partner and shifted Goldmans focus away from trading and towards investment banking. It was Weinbergs actions that helped to restore some of Goldmans tarnished written report. On the back of Weinberg, Goldman was lead advisor on the Ford outcome Companys IPO in 1956, which at the time was a major coup on Wall Street. Under Weinbergs reign the firm also started an investment investigate parting and a municipal bond department. It also was at this time that the firm became an early innovator in fortune arbitrage. 19801999On November 16, 1981, the firm made a move by acquiring J. Aron Company, a commodities trading firm which merge d with the Fixed Income division to become kn induce as Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities. J. Aron was a player in the coffee and gold market puts, and the current CEO of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein, joined the firm as a result of this merger. In 1986, the firm formed Goldman Sachs summation Management, which manages the majority of its mutual funds and hedge funds today. Since 1999One of the largest events in the firms history was its own IPO in 1999. The decision to go public was one that the partners debated for decades. In the end, Goldman decided to offer a small portion of the company to the public, with some 48% still held by the partnership pool 22% of the company was held by non-partner employees, and 18% was held by retired Goldman partners. Goldman Sachs OverviewThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other pecun iary services primarily with institutional clients. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 and is headquartered at 200 West Street in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City, with additional offices in planetary financial centers. The firm provides mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting services, asset management, and prime brokerage to its clients, which include corporations, governments and individuals. The firm also engages in market making and private equity deals, and is a capital dealer in the United States Treasury security market. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious investment banks in the world.As of 2009, Goldman Sachs employed 31,701 stack worldwide.Goldman Sachs is dissever into three businesses units* Investment Banking* Trading and Principal Investments* Asset Management and Securities ServicesInvestment bankingInvestment banking is divided into two divisions and includes Financial Advisory (mergers and acquisitions, investitures, somatic defense a ctivities, restructuring and spin-offs) and Underwriting (public offerings and private placements of equity, equity-related and debt instruments). Goldman Sachs is one of the leading MA advisory firms, often topping the league tables in terms of transaction size. The firm gained a reputation as a white knight in the mergers and acquisitions sector by advising clients on how to avoid hostile takeovers, moves generally viewed as unfriendly to shareholders of targeted companies. Goldman Sachs, for a ache time during the 1980s, was the only major investment bank with a strict policy against helping to initiate a hostile takeover, which increased the firms reputation vastly among sitting management teams at the time. The investment banking surgical incision accounts for around 17 percent of Goldman Sachs revenues. The firm has been involved in brokering deals to privatize major highways by selling them to foreign investors, in addition to advising state and local governments includin g Indiana, Texas, and Chicago on privatization projects.Trading and principal investmentsTrading and Principal Investments is the largest of the three segments, and is the companys profit center. The segment is divided into four divisions and includes * Fixed Income The trading of interest rate and credit products, mortgage-backed securities, insurance-linked securities and structured and derivative products * Currency and Commodities The trading of currencies and commodities * Equities The trading of equities, equity derivatives, structured products, options, and futures contracts * Principal Investments merchant banking investments and funds This segment consists of the revenues and profit gained from the Banks trading activities, both(prenominal) on behalf of its clients known as flow trading and for its own account known as proprietorship trading. Most trading done by Goldman is not speculative, but rather an attempt to profit from bid-ask spreads in the process of acting as a market maker. On average, around 68 percent of Goldmans revenues and profits are derived from trading.Asset Management and Securities ServicesAs the name suggests, the firms Asset Management and Securities Services segment is divided into two components Asset Management and Securities Services. The Asset Management division provides investment advisory and financial planning services and offers investment products (primarily through respectively managed accounts and commingled vehicles) across all major asset classes to a diverse convention of institutions and individuals worldwide. The unit primarily generates revenues in the form of management and incentive fees. The Securities Services division provides clearing, financing, custody, securities lending, and reporting services to institutional clients, including hedge funds, mutual funds, and pension funds. The division generates revenues primarily in the form of interest rate spreads or fees.About trading operations Divis ionOperations is at the core of Goldman Sachs. For every trade agreed, every new product launched or market entered, every transaction completed, it is Operations that enables business to flow. Operations is a dynamic, multi-faceted division that partners with all areas of the firm to deliver banking, sales and trading and asset management capabilities to clients around the world. In addition, Operations provides essential assay management and control, preserving and enhancing the firms assets and its reputation. The Operations division represents approximately 14% of the firm, with more than 4,500 employees across the globe.Operations spans across all product lines and markets where business is conducted. individually area of business offers diverse opportunities that leverage a common core skill set. While there may be a group that interests you, it is not necessary to identify the group you would like to join when applying.Clearing Operations provides clearing, execution and cu stody services for all major trading products across 75 exchanges. Our goal is to deliver superior client service, broad product offering and scalable technology to our global client base and franchise trading businesses, speckle minimizing operational risk. Our clients include hedge funds, asset managers, governments, corporates, broker dealers, Goldman Sachs franchise traders, other professional investors and market markers.Derivatives Operations is responsible for ensuring efficient and accurate transaction treat across a broad range of products. Generally, the products supported are complex instruments that require close alignment with the business. A key focus for the organization is establishing self-coloured risk management procedures and controls to ensure the firm and our clients are properly protected. Derivatives Operations is at the forefront of shaping and driving change in the industry with the last-ditch aim of delivering greater accuracy, control and efficiency f or our clients and our business.Investment Management Operations delivers asset management and wealth management capabilities to clients around the world. We are a multi-faceted group that partners with all areas of the Investment Management Division to support evolving markets and business requirements. Alongside that vital service delivery role, Investment Management Operations provides essential risk management and control.Liquidity Collateral Operations (LCO) manages the operational elements for daily funding and liquidity of the firm, oversees the firms payment strategy and overall cash flows and positions, and also performs key functions related to counterparty risk management, client transparency, and product and pricing data. In addition to the traditional line functions, LCO is home to Operations Technology Strategy and Reference Data Strategy, both of which focus on strategic process and technology solutions for the division and often the broader firm.Regulatory Tax Oper ations is responsible for over 500 non-financial reporting and observe functions to over 400 regulators and exchanges. The group enhances the firms regulatory and tax transaction and position data and operational controls and develops best practices and standards for processing, infrastructure, and change management. The group aims to leverage expertise consistently across regions and entities in order to demonstrate supervision to regulators and provide efficiency, data accuracy, and transparency around controls.Risk Control Operations supports the firm by ensuring the one of books and records, assessing regulatory requirements, and interfacing with regulators frequently. In addition, the group provides the firm with critical control indicators that assess economic, regulatory, and operational risks, while providing oversight of the Operations Division Risk Framework.Securities Operations supports the Securities, Investment Management and Investment Banking Divisions of the firm . This group manages key relationships for the bank and infrastructure providers, on boarding of institutional and prime brokerage clients, and assists in the coordination of issuance of new financial product.Work Done and ExperienceI did my summer internship in the Operations Division of Goldman Sachs. My project was primarily based on corporate card satisfaction process. Being an intern to the office, there was a lot to be learnt and a lot more to be implemented, but the people at GS were really accommodative and willing to give the interns the required space and time.Goldman Sachs has, a completely flat organizational structure and everyone is very helpful and you can reach out to intimately anyone and he/she will be more than willing to help. The Program is very efficiently carried out and theres a lot to learn. The firm has its own In-House University where there are innumerable courses on Financial Markets, Corporate Finance, Investment Banking that we needed to learn from. Everything you do and suggest mostly goes into Production i.e. LIVE so obviously you will be having a hands-on experience on things which are actually going to be implemented. All things said, there is deadline within which the work needs to be done.Goldman Sachs was a good shot to achieve out of this internship improved Problem Solving, Industrial Exposure, Understanding of Financial Markets. At Goldman Sachs, everyone is encouraged to take on more responsibility and stretch themselves. People are very professional and are always there to help when needed. This makes it a fun place to work even though the nature of work is very challenging.