I’m Lola and I’m a rising senior pursuing an interdepartmental major in Psychology and History, alongside a certificate in Markets & Management Studies. For the past 10 weeks, I’ve been interning at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Transaction Services (GTS) division in Large Corporate Healthcare Sales, providing working capital solutions to pharmaceutical, biotech, and health insurance corporations making +$2B in revenue per annum.
Some of the projects I’ve worked on have included tracking and forecasting portfolio liquidity, researching competitive innovation strategy, and reporting activity and liquidity deals for all Large Corporate Sales groups, giving me a holistic view of different types of deals across industries. Our intern class also competed in a group Request for Proposal (RFP) through which we learned about GTS’s products and sales roles and how to pitch the bank’s treasury services to clients.
Our intern class is smaller than that of other divisions in Bank of America Merrill Lynch, allowing for more opportunities to work with professionals in the industry one-on-one. GTS has an open floor policy—there are no cubicles, assigned seats, or even separate offices for senior leaders. Everyone is accessible and approachable, meaning that I get to meet new people every day that are generous, positive, and willing to invest their time in making me feel wanted and valued in an unfamiliar environment.
It’s an immensely valuable opportunity to learn about finance from the ground up, especially in an area of finance that receives less exposure in the classroom compared to more traditional areas in financial services. What I did bring from my coursework into the internship came from my MMS courses. Consumer Psychology gave me insight into client interaction dynamics, while Financial Accounting and Advanced Financial & Managerial Accounting (both taught by the esteemed CJ Skender, of course) provided a technical basis for treasury topics like working capital and the cash conversion cycle.
I’d recommend this experience to anyone interested in exploring a more nuanced area of finance that is ever-changing. What I didn’t know prior to starting the internship is how dynamic the treasury space is, with new innovations involving blockchain, artificial intelligence, and collaborations with fintech firms introduced into the market week after week.
It’s exciting to be at the forefront of some of the hottest fintech innovations in financial services, while also living in the fast-paced environment of Manhattan and working alongside some of the most intelligent and caring professionals in the field. The most difficult part of the internship wasn’t the hours or the projects, but rather saying goodbye to everyone through heartfelt letters and many hugs at the end of the summer.
Lola is writing as part of our Summer Guest Blog series. We will be featuring students in MMS all summer as they travel on study abroad trips and internships. For updates on future students' experiences, follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
