Internships

The internship programme allows students to acquire on-the-job training with the participating companies. Internships provide valuable opportunities for students to gain exposure to the professional environment, outside the classroom. QFRM students who graduated in 2013-14 on average completed 3.1 internships prior to graduation. Over 87% have done at least one internship in a finance-related institution. The internship possibilities can lead to excellent career opportunities. Previous and existing internship partners:

AIA	Commerzbank	J.P. Morgan
Bain & Company	Ernst & Young	Morgan Stanley
Bank of America Merrill Lynch	Eurex Frankfurt AG	PWC
Bank of China	Goldman Sachs	Royal Bank of Scotland
Bank of East Asia	Hang Seng Bank	State Street Global Markets
Barclays Capital	HSBC	Standard Chartered Bank
BNP Paribas	HKEX	UBS Securities
CFA Institute	Hong Kong Monetary Authority	Western Asset Management Company

 

Student Internship Experiences

Alan Liu – J.P. Morgan It was a wise decision to take the QFRM programme. With full support from the programme, I joined the Mergers & Acquisitions team at J.P. Morgan as a semester intern. During the 15-week period, I worked on in-depth company and industry research, financial analyses and models and client pitches. I really enjoyed the huge responsibility when developing meaningful solutions for clients or executing significant transactions. In QFRM, you will have support from both the Science Faculty and Business Faculty, you will meet groups of competent and passionate classmates, and you will get all-round financial and risk management training.

Ken Yuen - Morgan Stanley QFRM has been hugely rewarding and resourceful for my academic, career and professional development through its solid training and support, which were well positioned to help me secure a semester internship at Morgan Stanley. I was an off-cycle semester intern at both the Corporate Derivative Trading Desk and the Exotic Derivative Trading Desk within the Institutional Equities Division of Morgan Stanley. Every day was dynamic and full of challenges due to the dynamic market and highly sophisticated aspects of each trading desk. Thanks to the quantitative and financial training of the QFRM programme, I was able to handle the steep learning curve and understand the complex derivative structures, pricing models and risk profiles of each of the structures.

Han Xu - Bank of America Merrill Lynch Looking back now, choosing QFRM was a wise decision. This programme offers the unique advantage of bringing qualitative and quantitative knowledge together and lends us full support for career development. I worked as a gap-year intern with the China Economics Team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2016-17. My duties were to assist in day-to-day research, including but not limited to model development, data comments, policy comments, etc. It was truly an insightful experience that not only showed me what a day was like as a sell-side researcher, but also empowered me with practical knowledge that was not taught in depth in class.

Charles Tsui – Hong Kong Monetary Authority The QFRM programme was of great help to me, and equipped me with solid financial and statistical knowledge. It also enabled me to develop other skills such as programming, which I found really useful during my internship experience. Thanks to the career support from the QFRM major, I am now working for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in the Market Research Division. As an intern, I am responsible for conducting research on Hong Kong’s financial market and writing up programmes to facilitate the research of other seniors. This has definitely been a great chance for me, and has helped me gain more practical knowledge of the market.

Dickson Yip – Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited I am now working in the HKEX OTC Clearing Risk Management Department. I am involved in a project to test the trade clearing system for new products. By taking part in this project, I have a more comprehensive understanding of the clearing process and how a clearing house manages its clearing risk using margins and limits. Besides, I also experienced the rigorousness of system testing – we are required to re-test, re-test and re-test the system and raw data to make sure there are no lapses in either of them. The QFRM programme has helped me a lot by equipping me with basic knowledge such as swap pricing, margin calculation and expected tail loss. With this knowledge, I was able to understand the testing requirements much more quickly.

Chris Yue – PricewaterhouseCoopers Having an educational internship in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Risk Consulting Team, I got the opportunity to help clients in identifying, understanding and managing risk. I conducted valuations on various types of financial instruments, such as interest rate derivatives, credit derivatives, FX/equity options and other hybrid structured products. Indeed, the QFRM programme provides a well-grounded preparation for such technical skills. Besides, I also performed portfolio stress testing and analysed market/liquidity risk through internal comprehensive statistical models. Although the learning curve in this internship is really steep, I could get help from my manager and colleagues at any time. I very much enjoyed the supportive atmosphere there.

Hinson Ho – Commerzbank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch The days I have spent in the QFRM programme have been hugely rewarding. The breadth and depth of the curriculum have allowed me to develop a solid foundation and suitable skill sets needed for my future career. I was previously employed by Commerzbank AG as an intern on the DCM Loans Team. My main responsibilities were to conduct market research in the APAC region and facilitate my team along the loan syndication process. Moving on, I will spend my summer at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch with the Wholesale Credit Team. Thanks to the QFRM programme, I was able to apply my knowledge and understand the statistical methodology of credit assessment and the hedging strategies our bank provides to our corporate and FI clients.

Amy Yang – Western Asset, California, USA This summer I worked as a summer intern in the risk management department of Western Asset Management Company in California. My responsibilities were to provide research and analysis to assess portfolio security and to determine trade allocation parameters. The coursework in QFRM provided a very solid foundation for me in this internship, including programming skills and a good understanding of the financial market. Without QFRM’s powerful career service, I would never have gotten this internship in the first place. From this summer internship, I was able to figure out my interest in quantitative research and the next direction of my future path.

Kinson Chan - State Street Global Markets I spent most of my time learning about FX trading and Macro Strategy when I underwent my 6-month internship at State Street Global Markets, an internship that granted me exposure to the real world of business. This was a lot different than a summer internship in which hypothetical case studies are assigned; instead, I was actually assisting the traders in building monitoring tools to help them trade. The financial knowledge and the quantitative skills I gained from QFRM certainly equipped me to excel in these duties. I believe this is the edge that the QFRM student enjoys: you have the flexibility to get exposure to both sides, and this has proven to be extremely beneficial.

Chapman Lo – Eurex Frankfurt AG & HSBC QFRM equipped me with both qualitative and quantitative financial knowledge, which helped me a great deal in gaining new opportunities and finding internships, and allowed me to apply my quantitative knowledge. I worked at Eurex Frankfurt AG, Deusche Borse Group, in Frankfurt as a sales intern for half a year. I was required to conduct research on the structures and market dynamics of derivatives to explore capital market opportunities in Asia. Now I am starting a new chapter in my life as a trading analyst at HSBC. Through QFRM, I was able to utilise my derivative knowledge and quantitative modelling skills to understand the structured FX products and price structured derivatives. Working in such a fast-paced financial market definitely honed both my problem-solving and communication skills.

Charles Tsui - JPMorgan and Jane Street Being a trader has always seemed like a desirable job to many people, including me. I am grateful for having had a chance to work at JPMorgan as a Global Markets Intern doing equities facilitation trading, which aims to provide liquidity for hedge fund clients to trade in bigger lots. I also had the chance to intern for Jane Street as its Quantitative Trading Intern and to seek trading opportunities through mathematical models. The experiences I gained from these two internships were quite different, but having a solid foundation in finance and statistics knowledge helped me a lot to nail these opportunities. QFRM was exactly the programme to equip me with the relevant skill sets I need and direct me into the industry.

Peter Xi - CASH Algo Interning in CASH Algo would be a thrilling experience for anyone who is interested in algorithm trading. As an intern, I was responsible for researching and developing profitable trading algorithms, and I assisted in updating and maintaining the risk management system. My duties challenged my knowledge of financial products and risk management, my abilities to conduct quantitative analysis and my information technology skills like computer programming. These are all things that would be learned and researched by a QFRM student. Facing an era in which quantitative methods and technologies have become increasingly significant in finance and risk management, I believe that QFRM is not only a programme that teaches but also a torch that shows the way, leading to the future of this industry.

Alexander Yu - Citi Private Bank I am currently an intern in Managed Investments at Citi Private Bank (CPB). I assist in the sales of various active management products by providing product summaries and product research for hedge funds, mutual funds, private equity and real estate investments. I also shortlist potential clients of CPB with suitable risk profiles and investment experience to add or switch their exposure in different investment products. I am grateful that my programme has equipped me well with the relevant knowledge and provided me with a strong alumni network, thus allowing me to accommodate to the workplace more easily.