What is the day to day like in the commercial banking programme?

Hi, your day to day life on the commercial banking grad scheme will depend upon which team you are in. On the scheme you complete 4 six month rotations. The first 3 will be Coverage (client facing), Product (Debt transactions) and Risk and for the final one you will choose either Coverage or Product again.

For example, currently I am on my Product rotation and my role is an analyst in the corporate and institutional debt team (big companies basically) and my daily work involves working on debt deals for these companies (usually about 3-6 active each week). That will include reviewing annual reports, financial accounts and management information in order to write credit papers and build financial models to see whether or not we should lend to said company.

Thanks Ben, after the programme would you move to the rotation you performed best in, enjoyed the most or another reason?

Thanks Ben

Hi Ben, after completing the commercial banking grad scheme how much control do you have over where your associate position is? For example, debt capital markets

Good question Richard, it would depend upon the job openings at the time. Not all teams will be taking on associates at the same time, I imagine that because the graduate scheme allows you to explore all areas of commercial banking that by the end, you have a pretty good idea of where you would enjoy working (this might be a rotation you completed on the scheme) and would try to roll-off in that team of one similar

Thanks ben. Did you have the opportunity to work on any sustainability projects?

Hi Ben. I was wondering if during the grad scheme one can choose to cover all the 4 sectors in one city only, such as London or it's necessary to move to different cities around the U.K.?

I have had the opportunity to work on some on some debt transactions that are sustainability linked loans - this means there are specific ESG Key Performance indicators baked into the loan agreement. These have been very insightful to work on. If you want to work in the ESG team specifically then there is the opportunity to do that as one of your rotations, I believe it is a coverage rotation and they lead on all things Environmental Sustainable Governance type loans for large clients of the commercial bank

I do not think it is necessary to move about if you do not want to but am unable to say for certain, this would likely depends upon individual circumstances / team requirements for the rotations you get

Thanks for the insight about the ESG rotation possibility!

Wonderful! Thank you so much for the reply Ben, I really appreciate it ! :)

@Ben Can I ask what has been your experience with professional qualifications? eg I'm interested in doing CFA, how does Lloyds support you? How long does it take to complete? Do you study during dedicated time in office hours or in the evenings/weekends?