Equities > Undergraduate/Master

Business Description

We have designed these sections to aid you in your understanding of what Asia Pacific Equities is, the services we provide to our clients and how we are structured. In the subsequent tabs we have asked for input from our Trainees/Summer Interns and also the recruiters describe the type of person we are looking for as well as the recruitment process. 

What is Asia Pacific Equities?

The Asia Pacific Equities Division of Citi focuses on advising investors about investment opportunities in the equity markets and on transacting equity business on behalf of our clients.

The Division encompasses a wide range of products and services, including Asian Equities, Equity Derivatives, Convertibles Bonds and Prime Finance.

Asia Pacific Equities is broadly divided into Cash and Derivatives, which offer different products, often tailor-made to suit our client's needs. Our clients include some of the largest institutional investment managers, mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds, risk arbitrage funds, sector-specific funds and private banks.

What service do we provide to our clients?

Citi Markets & Banking global distribution network provides us with a distinct competitive advantage, actively trading securities around the clock, making markets in stocks found on almost every major exchange

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

What product groups do we cover?

The Asia Pacific Equities business is subdivided into two main product areas: Cash Equities and Equity Derivatives, as well as 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 Citigroup Investment Research's extensive product, coordinate and host corporate access events, facilitate client relationships, and generally work to bring the firm's wealth of resources to our client base.  

• Cash Sales Trading
• 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 cultivate relationships with our counter-party trading clients around the world.

• Alternative Execution Services
• 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. Asia Pacific Equities also offers direct market access to selected customers by providing them with an innovative execution platform, ensuring most efficient and best possible execution at all times.

• 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. The desk works closely with the fixed income trading desks.

Equity Derivatives

• Equity Derivative Sales & Research
• Equity Derivatives Sales offers a vast and creative range of listed and over-the-counter puts and calls, variance swaps, exchange traded funds (ETF) and futures. Salespeople provide clients with overall market colour, specific trading strategies and access to traders while acting as a liaison between the client and a trade's execution. Equity Derivatives Research acts as a bridge between customers, sales and traders, while responsible for determining trading strategies, providing customer support, marketing its research and consulting internally.

• Equity Derivative Trading & Structuring
• Within the Equity Derivatives Group, the Structured Products Group focuses on customized equity options, equity-linked products and exchange-traded equity options... Clients include institutional customers, hedge funds and other corporations.

Prime Finance

• Prime Finance
• Prime Finance offers a wide range of services primarily targeted to hedge funds. Prime Finance not only provides a centralized securities clearing facility for clients, it also provides the client with financing and securities lending. Their focus is to assist client in delivering outstanding investment performance. 

Our Programs

Asia Pacific Equities Business in Asia has two programs you can apply for:

• Graduate Trainee Program
• Summer Internship Program

We are currently recruiting into:

• Hong Kong
• Singapore

 

Graduate Trainee Program

The Graduate Trainee Program is a one-year rotational program that is highly competitive and provides a comprehensive introduction to the Equity franchises. Graduate Trainees actively participate in the business of selling or trading securities to our institutional client base.

With presence in London, New York, Tokyo and throughout Asia-Pacific, Citi has a dedicated team of institutional sales professionals focusing on Asia Pacific equities. This division of our sales force covers all of the major buyers of Asian equities in the world focused on primary and secondary market investment activity. Specialist traders within the Asia Pacific Equities Group operate in all major market zones to ensure that secondary market liquidity is provided to our customer base.

In Hong Kong, our Asia-Pacific equities headquarters, we are one of the most active securities firms on both the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Futures Exchange, where we have exchange seats. We also have memberships on the stock exchanges in Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and India.

The Graduate Trainee Program usually commences in August every year. Training and development with include a formal 6-week intensive program in Shanghai or Manila that offers a comprehensive foundation of all corporate and investment products through a combination of classroom training, group projects and presentations. Our Graduate Trainees will be exposed to the best-in-class product modules to gain essential knowledge and skills as they embark on their career at Citi.

The six-week core training covers:

• Basic industry skills and knowledge
• Financial statements and accounting
• Risk
• Corporate Banking and Transaction Services products
• Investment Banking and Capital Markets Products

 

Summer Internship Program

We also offer a Summer Internship Program for undergraduates in Asia Pacific Equities.

After the initial training you will then be assigned to a desk within Asia Pacific Equities 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 networking opportunities with senior managers and various intern-wide social events.

During the program, we will be evaluating you for a full time position for the following year. Remember that this is a two way process – it is an opportunity for you to evaluate whether this is where you want to take your career as well.

Who we are looking for

We hire talented people with degrees from a variety of universities for our programs.

Successful professionals in Asia Pacific Equities share many common traits. They include:

• Creative in solving problems
• Enthusiastic
• Hard-working
• Quick-thinking
• Intellectually curious
• Able to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously
• Articulate in oral and written communication
• Cooperative; focused in achieving group and client objectives
• Detail-Oriented
• Quantitative

 

Necessary skills:

• Ability to work in a high stress, fast paced environment – multitasking skills are essential
• Quick learner and analytical thinker – You must be able to absorb, process and tie together a vast range of detailed information including economic & political news and all market related information spanning the entire spectrum of equity securities
• Creative thinking skills – You must be able to take all of the market news, trends and flow from across products and regions and translate them into sales ideas and revenue for the firm
• Clear, concise & effective communication skills are critical – a mastery of “trading language” is vital
• Willingness, desire and enthusiasm to learn about the markets & products.
• Attention to detail – Mistakes cost money
• Team work – Must have the capability to work as part of a very large team
• Talent to efficiently utilize the various resources within the organization to facilitate your specific role. This includes accessing the various research groups, local offices, regional offices, trading desks and operational areas.

 

Recruitment Process

We open for applications on September 3, 2007

The application deadlines are:

Graduate Trainee Program:            October 12, 2007 (US Schools); October 26, 2007 (All other schools)

Summer Internship Program:        December 10, 2007

Please apply early. Our interview process for the full time programs will commence in October 2007, for summer internships it will commence in December 2007.

 

Below is an outline of the recruitment process (full-time program and summer internship program) from application received to offer:

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

Stage 2:    First round interviews: One to two 1:1 competency based phone interviews with junior managers in Asia

Stage 3:    Second round interviews: One to two 1:1 competency based phone interviews with senior managers in Asia

Stage 4:    Final round interviews: Three 1:1 competency based interviews with Managing Directors and Directors

Stage 5:     Offer extended by Business; follow up by Graduate Recruitment

Our People

Jinbo Cao BSc Mathematics/Economics, UCLA ; MSc Financial Engineering, Columbia University Equity Structured Product Specialist

What advice would you offer prospective candidates on transitioning from school to the workplace?

Be passionate about the work you do, only the sky is the limit. Work hard and don’t wait for responsibilities to come to you

If asked about your career at a dinner party, how would you describe it?

Creating innovative investment solutions to efficiently achieve investor’s goals

What about your career excites you the most - gets you out of bed in the morning?

Everyday is a brand new day and everyday a new and very different challenge arises whether it is structuring a new product, conference call with a client, or a product launch road show.

What do you consider Citi's competitive edge?

Citi’s competitive edge is embodied in its brand. As the most recognizable financial service firm in the world, Citi ‘s talented professional dedicate themselves to innovate and to provide the best service for their clients. Combining the best talent and the breadth and depth of the platform, Citi is truly unique in the global economy and is unmatched by any competitors.

How would you describe your team and the people you work with?

A group of intelligent, driven and edgy professionals who are very friendly and willing to do what’s best for the team.

What other groups do you liaise with regularly within the Firm?

We work closely with Citi’s Investment Research to leverage on their expertise ranging from industry knowledge to quantitative research models. We structure and package research ideals into investment products that efficiently express the views of the clients.

What outside influences have the most bearing on what you do day to day, and how do they affect you? (e.g., economic news, world markets, company data, etc.)?

As a structured product sales/structurer, I look at everything that could fit into investor’s investment objectives, whether its macro economic trend, capital market news or global warming and wine investing!