Bank of America Flashcards
“To start, we would like to learn more about you. Can you tell me about yourself and why you are interested in this program and/or business?
Thanks for giving me this opportunity, and I would be more than happy too. My name is Nathan Watts, I am from Worcester UK and am currently studying for a masters in finance from Warwick business school.
My interest in finance stemmed from an arguably unrelated experience during my younger years, where I built a business around buying and selling clothes. The idea was to find clothes that were listed for a price lower than what I estimated the item to actually be worth, purchase them and then try to sell them at a higher price for a profit. I spoke about this with my father, and he noted that this process sounds a lot like the process of investing, and that’s when my interest in the finance industry really started. From here, I did an internship with a small wealth management firm, where I was introduced to the basics of portfolio management, as well as the basics of security selection. In addition to this, I worked part time at Marstons pubs, where I honed my interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills.
Once at university, I joined various finance related societies, including the global markets and trading societies. Here I presented various presentations on technical and fundamental analysis, and realised that I a passion for evaluating securities, and discussing with others way to invest in the market. Because of this I decided, to set up a trading and investing community, where others interested in the world of investing could learn and network with others interested in the industry. Alongside this I set up my own discretionary portfolio, as well as explored building an algorithmic trading portfolio alongside some of my community members, which was a very challenging but enriching project. These experiences have led me to today, where I am pursuing a career within the Equity Research industry, so I can use my analytical abilities to operate in a markets related role.
Although have touched on it above, I would say my a strong reason I am interested in equity research is it seems like an where you can continuously learn about an industry and firms, and become an expert in that one area. I love learning about topics, and delving deeper to really understand the intricacies of what really drives things to happen, and equity research seems to match up well with this part of my personality.
Also, I believe Equity Research allows you to develop a wide range of skills, whilst giving you a lot of responsibility and visibility from day one because you are the person responsible for looking at a particular area, and everyone will come to you for this information. Having this much responsibility as an entry level position is very unique but something I would thoroughly enjoy
In terms of why I am interested in the Business, I attended a Bank of America EMEA recuitment event on the 9th of September. I found the event very informative, and something I found out was that during the internship, you are given a buddy and mentor. As a young professional, I feel like having a strong support network of people to help and guide you is important, and it seems like this is the kind of environment that Bank of America would provide.
“Tell us about a time that you had to persuade people to accept your point of view or recommendation. \n- In your response, please describe the situation, the actions you took to influence your stakeholders, how you handled any objections, and the final outcome
A time that I had to persuade someone to accept my point of view was during the HEC Paris Investment Banking and International finance summer school. During the summer school, we were split into groups to complete various tasks, including answering questions or making presentations. For this particular task, our group had to complete a question set of 12 questions, and one member of the group wanted to split the presentation into chunks for each individual to focus on, even though some group members expressed that they did not feel comfortable with the material. Instead, I suggested that we completed the tasks in pairs, as this would be a good compromise between the two approaches. Also, this would allow us a better chance of doing them to a high level, and everyone would feel more supported during the tasks. For the most part everyone was supportive of this, but an objection that was raised was whether we would still be able to complete the task on time if working in pairs. By focusing on the positives of working in pairs, and explaining that it doesn’t really matter if we completed all the questions if the quality wasn’t very good, all group members agreed to follow my suggestions, and we completed every question to a high level, being the only group to do this.
“Which one of your key accomplishments best illustrates your personal initiative and willingness to push beyond what is required?”
One of my key accomplishments that illustrates my personal iniative and willingness to push beyond what is required, is graduating from the university of york with the highest overall examination performance of any 2021 Economics Undergraduate. To understand why this was such a significant achievement for me, I first need to go back to my a levels. I actually had an offer to read Economics & Management at the university of Oxford, but because I underperformed during my a levels, I didn’t achieve the grades required to take up my place on this course. This was clearly a very disheartening experience, especially as I always want to perform to the best of my ability no matter what I am doing.
However, I didn’t let this get me down, and I wanted to make sure that I made the most of the opportunity to study at the University Of York, and in first year, set a goal of a high first. I didn’t just want to achieve a first, I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone and strive for a really impressive degree result. Because of this, I decided to implement a structured study plan, meaning that I went to the library 9am to 2pm on weekdays, which allowed me time to keep on top of my studies, as well as participate in extracurricular activities such as attending society events, socialising with friends, or managing my trading and investing community.
My dedication to following this plan paid off in the end, as I actually graduated from the University of York with the highest degree percentage of any 2021 Economics undergraduate. I am really proud of this accomplishment, and think that this emphasises my resilient attitude, especially given that I had to overcome a difficult experience with a level results which could have easily affected my performance at university.
“Describe a situation where you used research or data to solve a problem. In your response, tell me about the problem, how you used the research and data to come to a solution and how did you communicate this information?”
A situation where I used research and data to solve a problem was my investment portfolio during the covid19 pandemic. In my spare time, I manage a small portfolio of money and select stocks for the discretionary portion of my portfolio. As you might expect, my portfolio was negatively impacted as a result of the covid 19 pandemic, as most global stock markets tumbled. Seeing my portfolio in over 15% drawdown was quite difficult, but I remained calm and wanted to see if my investment thesis for various stocks still held. By looking at my previous analysis and research and the impact that covid 19 was likely to have, I realised that the equities I held still had good longer term outlooks, and hence decided to not only hold these positions, but work out some good entries points for another position in some of these equities. In terms of what things I looked at, the focus was on how covid19 was going to affect longer term catalysts, risks as well as potential ways it could impact financials.
Looking back on this time now, I think I handled this situation quite well. I had cash waiting for a market pullback which I utilised effectively, and I didn’t panic and sell any of my positions without doing the proper research first. Even though the situation was quite difficult to deal with I just viewed it as another problem to solve. You can’t always get things right, so you just need to try and find a way to overcome the problem, and this is what I believe I did.
“What is one major current event happening in the world right now, and how might it impact the markets and the role you’ve applied for?
I think the recent news story that has really stuck with me is the current inflation levels in the United States, which is now creeping into other countries such as the united kingdom. It seems like a majority of the inflation is being caused by supply constraints as a result of the continued disruption from the covid19 pandemic.
The chair of the federal reserve Jerome Powell has expressed his belief that the current inflation level is only transitory, and hence inflation should reduce in the near future. However, with the continued supply constraints and other factors, it remains to be seen as to whether inflation is actually transitory, and given that inflation has remained above 5% for the fourth month in a row, it seems it may be persisting for longer than usual. The thing that I think is critical about this story is that, If inflation continues to persist at these levels, the federal reserve may be forced to increase interest rates, which is likely to halt the fantastic bull run we are seeing in the US equity markets, as well as having ramifications for the wider markets such as the Foreign Exchange rates or even the bond market.
In terms of how this might affect the equity research division, of course an increase in interest rates is likely to cause the majority of equities to decline in price, which may impact pretty broadly on how equities are rated. As perhaps a more nuanced impact on the division, some industries may actually benefit from this, for example financials which are likely to see favourable conditions to perform well with higher rates.
