Equity Sales & Trading > Analyst

Business Description

We have designed these sections to help you understand what Equity Sales and Trading is, the services we provide to our clients and how we are structured. In the subsequent tabs we have asked for input from our Analysts and the recruiters to describe the type of person we are looking for as well as the recruitment process.

What is Equity Sales and Trading?

The Equity Sales and Trading Division of Citi focuses on advising investors about investment opportunities in the European equity markets and on transacting equity business on behalf of our clients.

The Division encompasses a wide range of products and services, including European Equities, International (ie non-European) Equities, Equity Derivatives, Convertibles, Prime Finance and Client Management.

Sales and Trading is broadly divided into Cash and Derivatives, which offer a wide range of products, often tailor-made to suit our clients’ needs. Our clients include the largest institutional investment managers, mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds, risk arbitrage funds, sector-specific funds and retail accounts.

What service do we provide to our clients?

Our Markets and Banking Division’s global distribution network provides us with a distinct competitive advantage, actively trading securities around the clock, making markets in stocks found on every major exchange, from Sydney to Stockholm.

Our reputation is built on being able to continually provide liquidity for the largest institutional investment managers, mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds, risk arbitrage funds, sector-specific funds and retail accounts that we cover. In other words, when they need to trade in large amounts of securities, they know we can make it happen.

What product groups do we cover?

The Equity Sales and Trading business is subdivided into three main product areas: Cash Equities, Equity Derivatives and Prime Finance;

Cash Equities

• Institutional Equity Sales
• The equity sales professional is the primary contact with buy-side Portfolio Managers and Analysts. Equity salespeople market new issues and equity-linked products, market Citi Investment Research's extensive products, coordinate and host corporate access events, facilitate client relationships, work to bring the firm's entire breadth of resource to our client base.

• Sales Trading
• Serving as the conduit between our buy-side trading customers and our position traders, sales traders seek to produce revenue for the firm by trading equities. Sales traders use their knowledge of current market conditions to provide liquidity, and execute transactions in a timely, optimal manner. They also provide market flow information and develop relationships with our counter-party trading clients around the world.

• Position Trading
• Position traders maintain competitive markets and generate revenue by facilitating customer order flow. Position traders manage the firm's risk and make markets in a vast range of European securities.

• International Equities
• The international team provides advice and execution services to International clients in non-European stocks (e.g. US, Asia-Pacific, Japanese and Australia securities).

• Alternative Execution Services including Program Trading
• Program trading gives institutional investors access to equity markets by buying and selling large lists of stocks ("baskets") simultaneously, something that cannot be accomplished using individual orders.

• Convertible Bonds
• The Convertibles Group specializes in buying and selling convertible securities to and from institutional investors. These preferred stocks or bonds are exchangeable for a pre-established number of common shares at a set price (ie, they are “convertible”). The desk works closely with the fixed income trading desks, as convertibles tend to possess characteristics similar to those of bonds.

Prime Finance 

• Prime Finance Sales
• The four business lines of Prime Finance are: Prime Brokerage, Securities Lending, Synthetic Financing (which includes Performance Swaps) and Equity Funding. The Prime Finance sales person offers theses four services mentioned to Hedge funds and Institutions pursuing alternative investment strategies. 

• Stock Loan
• Citi stock loan desk’s extensive internal supply and institutional relationships across custodians, pension funds, insurance companies, public funds and central banks provide clients with: access to outstanding breadth, depth and security of supply, across both general collateral and hard-to-borrow names.
  Traders will also advise clients on a daily basis on market developments in the stocks where they have short interest. 

• Swaps
• The Swap trading desk executes trades for clients in the swap market and offers a comprehensive suite of reports that allow clients to efficiently monitor their positions on a daily basis. 

• Capital Introduction
• Citi’s Global Capital Introductions team of qualified experts facilitates introductions to appropriate investors (Fund of Hedge Funds, Family Offices, Pension Plans, Private Banks) for their hedge fund clients. The team has relationships with investors from all major financial centers

Equity Derivatives

• Equity Derivative Sales and Research
• Equity derivative sales is the link between our diverse global client base and Citi’s derivative trading platforms. Salespeople are able to market and devise strategies on all tradeable products (options, swaps, futures, correlation / volatility strategies and many more). In addition, the salesperson will work with traders to achieve best execution and assist in hedging risk. Equity Derivatives Research acts as the principal knowledge base on derivatives both internally and for clients. The team develops trading strategies, expands Citi’s derivative footprint within the market through marketing / presentations, and is responsible for innovation in the dynamic derivatives area.

• Equity Derivative Trading and Structuring
• The derivatives trading function is responsible for facilitating client business and managing the firm’s risk, on what are often highly leveraged positions. The role involves an in-depth understanding of option pricing and an ability to act quickly on any market opportunities. The Structured Products Group focuses on customized equity options / equity-linked products providing very specific risk profiles. Structurers use in-depth statistical models to provide pricing on products with often complex payoffs catering to very specific customer requirements. 

Roles of an Analyst

To give you a better understanding of what you can expect if you join Equity Sales and Trading, we asked for some input from our Analysts. Career opportunities within the Division are wide-ranging and include roles in sales, trading and sales-trading. Here they describe the main tasks in each area.

Sales

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 at 8am our clients need to know what is going on in the world that will affect their stocks and what investment ideas we, and the Research Department, have generated. For an Analyst this usually involves listening to the morning call and summarising it for clients. The European morning call highlights key market moves overnight (in the US, Latin America, Asia, Australia), flags important trading news for the day and, most importantly, prioritises the output of our Research team.   

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.

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 a stock. 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 administration 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.

And because you will, no doubt, want to know this, 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 not only includes macro news likely to affect sentiment in the market you are trading, but micro level company news that will affect individual share price performance. Once an Analyst has assessed and made an informed opinion, he positions his 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.

And beyond: Once a trader has positioned his 'trading book' he 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.

Sales/Trading

Morning: Spent filtering the need-to-know from the mass of results, information and interpretation received overnight. Put together a one-page summary of views on how shares in the news will trade today. This serves as a lead-in to the morning calls a sales trader will make to all of his clients to discuss views, give trading ideas and let them know what prices we are making to trade before the market opens.

Day-to-day: The sales trader is the intermediary between the trader and the investing client. The sales trader will manage executions requested by the client. They may suggest how, when and why to trade a particular stock. The skill comes in balancing what the client needs to do with maintaining profitability for Citi. Achieving this involves quick thinking, constant attention to orders and, most importantly, strong working relationships both internally and externally.

The 'sales' in sales-trader refers to the idea generation side of the role. The position allows you to get a feel for what the flows are in the market, what a broad cross-section of market participants are thinking and doing. Combining this with Citi's research helps us generate our trading ideas.

And beyond: Sales-traders also move beyond their links to sales, research, trading and the client. It is increasingly their responsibility to meet a broad range of client investment needs through Citi's diverse products: derivatives, prime brokerage etc.

It's not just the business relationship that needs developing, it's the personal one too. It is important that you have the social skills which will allow you to build a bond of trust between yourself and the client whom you advise and serve.

Our Programmes

Equity Sales and Trading in EMEA has two programmes you can apply for:

• Full Time Programme

• Summer Internship

Full time Programme:

The Analyst programme begins in late August in London. The Programme commences with an intensive 10 week training course as detailed below. Our programme is participative, ensuring that you play a full part in the learning experience thus making the training business relevant, stimulating and effective.

Social and networking activities will be included throughout the programme.

Once you have completed the training, you will partake in a number of one or two week rotations over the course of two months. This helps to give you a wider understanding of the different desks and opportunities. At the end of the rotations you will be assigned to one desk. This decision is reached through your preferences and the requirements of our business. Our goal is to ensure that every Analyst is placed in a position that best pairs their skill sets and personal interests with the needs of the firm. A buddy will also be allocated to you to give you an informal support network that will aid your integration into your new department.

Pre-Programme

Before joining the programme, you will be asked to complete a knowledge assessment to ensure that you build a foundation in or brush up on your knowledge of financial mathematics, accounting and economics concepts.

To do this, we offer you:

• Access to online training

• Optional places on training courses at our training centre in London

• Further reading for those of you on the move and unable to easily access the web.

10-week Programme

Induction

Your programme starts with an Induction to Citi Markets & Banking designed to introduce you to the history of Citi, our Shared Responsibilities and the current and future strategic direction of the company. You will also participate in a Teamwork Offsite Event, with Analysts across all business streams. This aims to instil a team spirit and introduce you to the Citi culture of innovation and integrity.

Technical Skills

You will then be engaged in a 4-week intensive classroom based training delivered by external corporate training consultants. Topics will include: Economics, Financial Maths, Risk Management, Technical Analysis, Accounting and Modelling for Financial Instruments, Excel and VBA, Capital Structure and Investment Management, Understanding Equity Markets, Contemporary Equity Analysis, Equity Finance, Convertibles and Equity Derivatives.

Part of your assesment will include exams in these areas which you will be required to pass.

FSA Module

This 3-week module will prepare you for the SII exams required for FSA approval. It consists of tutorials, mock exams, and self-study in order to prepare you for the SII exams required for FSA approval.

Post-Programme

You will have on-going access to the analyst portal for 12 months. This includes, recordings, pre course e-learning and additional selected chapters. You will also be able to participate in all appropriate Learning & Development opportunities via our internal Business University, which spans across markets, products, business skills and networking.

Summer Internship:

The London office Summer Internship Programme runs for 10 weeks from the end of June.

You will start the Internship with an induction to Citi along with 200+ Summer Analysts joining Citi Markets & Banking divisions in London.

The initial 3-day training includes:

• a review of important processes that you should know as a new employee to Citi

• an Introduction to Global Financial Markets and Citi. This course provides the opportunity for you to identify and explain the main business areas of an investment bank, Citi’s products and services as well as engage in interactive trading simulations and portfolio management

• specific business presentations

• a team work event

After the initial training you will then be assigned to a desk within Equities Sales & Trading where you will be allocated a project/projects to work on.

Throughout the summer we will continue to provide you with training and networking opportunities to help you gain an in depth knowledge of the whole of Citi. These events include a weekly Business Presentation series, networking opportunities with senior managers and various intern-wide social events. A buddy will be also allocated to you to give you an informal advice and support network over the summer with us.

During the programme, we will be evaluating you for a full time position on the Analyst Programme for the following year. We do this through:

• a mid term evaluation

• a project presentation to senior management and

• a final term review

This is a two way process, providing you with the opportunity to evaluate whether this is where you want to take your career as well.

Other features of the programme you will have the opportunity to participate in are:

• Stock of the Week Competition

• Market Update Meetings

• Work Shadowing across Fixed Income & Equities

Summer Diaries

Who we are looking for

Going forward we see our business continuing to flourish, and the challenges and opportunities facing our clients around the world mean challenges and opportunities for our people. We are looking for people who can face these challenges and help us to continue to succeed and meet our business goals.

We are unwavering in our commitment to investing in our Analyst programmes. We ensure that they have superior financial knowledge and are equiped with the necessary skills to successfully develop and maintain profitable client relationships.

We asked our Equity Sales and Trading recruiters to describe what makes a good candidate and what specific skills they are looking for.

Equity Sales and Trading is a varied and exciting place to work. The Analysts that join the programme will need to adapt quickly to keep up and thrive within the fast paced and often intence environment.
The variety of roles within equities means that there is no one type fits all, it is therefore integral that we recruit Analysts from all backgrounds. Strong academic performance is essential along with a high level of motivation, ambition and genuine passion for the markets. 

Some of the key skills we look for are:

• high levels of proactivity and initiative
• natural communicators
• ability to work under pressure on multiple projects
• creative problem solvers
• strong team players
• a desire to work in a demanding and ever-changing environment
• superior relationship building skills
• a detail orientated approach
• a commitment to integrity and ethical decision making

With an ever-increasing international environment language skills are also an advantage.

Recruitment Process

We open for applications on the 3rd September 2007

The application deadlines are:

Analyst Programme: 4th November 2007
Summer Internship Programme: 20th January 2008
Please note we recommend early applications.

Our interview process for the full time programme will commence in October/November 2007, for summer internships it will commence in January 2008. 

Full Time Analyst

Below is an outline of the recruitment process from application received to offer:

Stage 1:  Application is reviewed by Graduate Recruitment and the Business

Stage 2:  Invited to an online Numerical Reasoning Test

Stage 3:  Further screening by business

Stage 4:  First round interviews:
               Two 1:1 competency based interviews
               Numerical Reasoning Test

Stage 5:  Assessment Centre: 
               Three 1:1 competency based interviews with Managing Directors & Directors 
               Written Case Study Analysis/Presentation & Group Discussion

Stage 6:  Offer extended by Graduate Recruitment 

Summer Internship

Below is an outline of the recruitment process from application received to offer:

Stage 1:  Application is reviewed by Graduate Recruitment and the Business

Stage 2:  Invited to an online Numerical Reasoning Test

Stage 3:  Further screening by business

Stage 4:  Assessment Centre:
              Three 1:1 competency based interviews with Managing Directors & Directors
              Numerical Reasoning Test
              Written Case Study Analysis/Presentation & Group Discussion

Stage 5:  Offer extended by Graduate Recruitment

Where

Our EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) headquarters are based in London. The majority of our positions are based in London, however occasionally we recruit into Frankfurt, Paris, Milan and Zurich. Please keep an eye on the website for updates.

Stats on Citi in London:

Location? Canary Wharf, London
Employees? 10,000 are based in London.
What divisions? Invesment Banking, Corporate Banking, Global Capital Makets, Global Transaction Services, Technology, Operations, HR
How many Analysts? 200+ across all business areas