Eight Enlightening Weeks At RBS | Summer Saga 2020

The challenges and unique skill set required for banking and financial services industry has always excited and gained my attention. It was one of the primary areas I focused on during my under-graduation. It was no brainer that I chose finance as my focus area and paid extra attention to build strong fundamentals. When I heard that RBS is coming to campus for summer placements, I was nervous and excited at the same time, dreaming about the possibility of grabbing the golden opportunity to work as an intern for the prestigious company. I had prepared myself to the fullest extent, by going through every single line in my CV and brushing up my banking and finance basics. Their selection process involved CV shortlisting, followed by several interviews with the top key personnel that visited our campus for the purpose. They were testing candidates on both conceptual and factual knowledge. At the same time, they were also looking at the overall fit of a candidate with the organisation. They had asked me many questions that focused on my personality and decision-making abilities. They were very calm and collected while they probed into the depths of my mind. As I was one of the first few people to be interviewed, there was a painstakingly long wait for the results. When it was announced that I had been selected, I was elated to the fullest. My internship was scheduled to begin in early April, and there was a long duration between when I was selected and when it was scheduled to begin. The excitement to learn, to gain experience, and to excel in my brief tenure with the organisation kept building within me. But alas, the COVID-19 crisis unfolded and forced my internship to be delayed by two weeks and to be shifted to an online mode. I was a little sceptical at first about whether I would be able to learn as much as I would have had it been in person. The first couple of weeks were focused on orientation, and interacting with senior leaders of the organisation, and getting to know the various teams and systems that were important. The online onboarding process was as seamless as ever and provided me with many means to speak to the people I wanted to, as well as the right amount of exposure to various other teams. I was assigned a mentor who had years of experience in the banking field. I was a part of the Portfolio Management team, and within the first week, I had received my project and worked with my mentor to work on its objectives and deliverables. This project required me to consistently work on it to collect a large amount of data, analyse it as well as project and predict outcomes. I had worked on it for the entirety of two months, and the fact that I had established my deliverables in the initial stages was beneficial. My mentor was able to offer insightful feedback on the quality of my work, my efficiency, and helped me achieve a more structured approach. One of the most exciting aspects of my internship was learning how the bank makes important credit decisions about their customers, by conducting an in-depth analysis of customers’ financial statements, any form of collateral, as well as credit rating. I performed financial analysis on the customers’ profile of the bank and offered my recommendations on their creditworthiness. Most of the tools required for the work I did was covered by the finance courses in my first-year MBA program, such as Financial Reporting Analysis and Financial Management. There were many complex systems and processes in place to minimise the bank’s risk, and it was most intriguing to learn about those. The culture of the people was great, and everyone was approachable and offered great insight. Comparing the way I did work when I had begun my internship. Towards the end, I’m able to see a telling difference in the quality of my work, owing to the valuable feedback offered by my mentor and team members. Overall, my internship was very enlightening and a crucial juncture for my future career path. I am very grateful for the experience with RBS and hope to be a part of the organisation in future.