Day in the Life: Christian Seyboth, graduate trainee
0630 My alarm goes off and I wake up feeling a bit groggy. If you work in trading, 6.30am or even earlier is the standard time for getting up in the morning. Traders need to be on the desk when the markets open.
0710 Fortunately I live very near Deutsche Bank's Frankfurt office. It's only one stop on the metro and takes eight minutes door to door, which means I'm not in too much of a rush to leave. In the summer I even walk to the office, but it's too cold for that right now.
0730 I arrive on the desk. At the moment I'm working on the OTC (over-the-counter) derivatives trading desk. At Deutsche Bank, graduate trainees spend 6-8 weeks rotating between different desks or product groups in their chosen division.
Before coming to the OTC desk, I worked in the sales department, and helped sell every kind of fixed income bond, derivative product, CDO (collateralized debt obligations) etc. to insurance companies, hypo-banks and other institutional clients.
As a result of the rotation system, I'm getting a very good idea of how the industry works. By the time the rotations are finished, I will have experienced the whole life cycle of a product, from the advisory stage when the client discusses what is needed, to a bond issue and how the new issue is sold and traded until the bond matures.
In OTC derivatives a lot of the work revolves around structuring products. The desk puts together everything from plain vanilla swaps, to options and anything that is not a standardized product. I'm here to learn as much as I can about the trading and structuring process.
The day begins with a morning meeting. When you first join this industry, information overload can be a problem. Generally, you do not have too much time to learn what happened overnight, the main story of the day, and whether there's anything coming up that might affect the market.
0800 The traders are busy trading an interest rate swap. As a trainee I'm not allowed to trade myself, so I try to learn from what they are doing and to help out where I can.
0930 There is a lull and my boss gives me a new challenge: I am asked to arrive at a specific swap price with no help from a special application tool. It's a demanding task, and one that may take several days.
Products are usually structured on Deutsche Bank's own proprietary computer software, but by working the problem out myself, I should arrive at a more fundamental understanding of the product.
1045 I don't have much time to think about my work with the swap pricing model: the trading desk suddenly becomes very busy and everything starts happening at once.
As the only trainee, I'm often asked to help find data for my colleagues. One of the traders is looking for information about a German company, so I call the research department to find out whether there have been any recent announcements and what they are forecasting for the future.
1300 I'm still working hard for the guys on the desk, so there's no time for a long lunch. I pop out to buy a sandwich and am back within 15 minutes.
1430 I take half an hour to read a few of the technical books on the desk and to familiarise myself more with swap pricing. I studied finance as part of my degree and learned about derivatives at Deutsche Bank's London 'boot camp' training course in autumn.
1500 I leave the desk to attend a presentation for a new bond being launched by DCM (Debt Capital Markets). Derivatives traders usually spend most of their time on the desk, but as a trainee I attend presentations to broaden my knowledge. I usually go to a presentation every other day, if time permits
1830 I rarely leave earlier than 6pm. If you work in trading, the hours are relatively fixed. You are at the desk when the markets open until they close at 6pm. If you work in sales it's a bit different: you might meet clients after work, or go to presentations and meetings during the weekend. Sometimes you also have to travel a lot.
I would prefer to work in sales, as I enjoy client contact. If I succeed, the time I spend on the OTC desk will be very useful. I'll have a real understanding of the products I'm offering.
1900 When I finish work, I go to the gym and then sometimes go out for a drink. I try to do something exciting at least a few times a week. Thursday is usually a good night since I meet my friends at local pubs and know that the weekend is close.
On Fridays I also work hard, even if I haven't had much sleep.
