Hi,

I have fulfilled a multitude of different tasks recently. The most significant has been the completion of my own credit report. This task is not commonly carried out by junior analysts. However, the bank favours the need to challenge graduates. I am very grateful for the opportunities I have had to complete credit proposals as this is something that will become an integral part of my role as my career progresses.

The report I wrote, relates to a connection that has been with Bank of Scotland for many years. Originally, Bank of Scotland and a syndicate bank assisted a private equity partner in acquiring this business from its Plc parent. The business was then split in two. When this occurred, Bank of Scotland provided debt to one of the businesses and the syndicate bank funded the other business. In 2006, the business was further disbanded when the private equity house realised the value of the company through a sale. The various factions were sold to some international Plc's. Bank of Scotland still continues to provide banking to the businesses and my report was concerned with the renewal of facilities for their forthcoming financial year.

Before writing the report I had to complete numerous tasks some of which are listed below:

• Conduct research into the companies and their respective Plc parents
• Investigate the sector in which the businesses operate.
  
• Analyse financial performance from the past, present and future using a combination of audited accounts, management accounts and forecasts.
  
• Examine management structures and evaluating the competencies of key management.
• Carry out financial modelling to assess viability.

This information was then used to collate my report. I was very pleased to receive confirmation from credit sanctioning that my report had been approved and that the sanctioner's felt my report style was good.

Since my last blog, I used my relocation allowance to make another trip to Edinburgh in order to secure accommodation before the commencement of my next placement. I saw some potential flats on the internet on Monday, booked a day off with my line manager on Tuesday, arranged my flights on Wednesday and went to Edinburgh on Thursday. On the way to the city from the airport 2 of the 5 viewings I arranged cancelled as the flats went that morning! Of the other 3, the first one I saw was not even fit for students to live in. The next one I saw was perfect, it was literally a stones throw away from work. Unfortunately the vendor had 17 people, including myself, interested in the place. In the end, he picked out of a hat and it wasn’t meant to be. Just as I was losing all hope I went to see the last place. Though not a 5min walk from work this flat is a respectable 15min walk away. The flat has recently been refurbished and is within my budget so I decided to take it.

I am now looking forward to starting work in Edinburgh and my next blog will be posted once I am there!

Hi,

The week has been busy as usual. As I have had an increasing amount of items on my task list, my line manager has given me a bit of a breather by asking the directors to divert tasks to the other analysts within the team. This in theory should help me to reduce my workload.

I spent a large portion of the week conducting a review on a connection which has recently come into the Leveraged Finance Portfolio. The department has devised checklists which provides reminders to; Verify all due diligence (i.e. financial and legal), Communicate the arrival of the customer to all factions of the bank (i.e. Business Visa, Asset Finance etc), Update all bank systems, ensure all fee's are being taken correctly etc. Though time consuming, this is a highly important task and provides me with a great development opportunity. As a result of this activity I have become more familiar with legal documentation, the banks systems and banking processes. Furthermore, I have learnt about the services provided to customers via other departments in Corporate and the wider HBOS group.

On Friday I had a review of my placement progress with my line manager. During the start of the placement I was daunted by the list of development activities which were presented to me for completion. I am now much more relaxed as things have come together over the last 3 months. Without me realising, I have been fulfilling my learning objectives. During the meeting my line manager also informed me that I will be responsible for introducing the new graduate (my replacement) to working within the Leveraged Finance Team. Given the nature of the role, I feel the new graduate may find aspects of this placement challenging as he will be on his first placement. However, I feel the placement will set a very strong foundation for future placements and an eventual career path.

In other news, I went flat hunting in Edinburgh over the weekend in preparation for my next placement in Integrated Finance. It was disappointing to say the least. I booked my flight last week only to then discover that most letting agents don’t hold viewing's over the weekend. In the end I managed to arrange a few viewings but all the places I saw were very grotty and unjustifiably expensive. So the search continues, I feel I will be making the most of my relocation allowance and hope to go up again during a week day.

Hi,

With members of the team away on holiday it has been very busy within the Midlands Leveraged Finance team over the last few weeks. Consequently, the extended weekend due to the August bank holiday was most welcome.

The week began very pleasantly with celebratory coffee and cake. This was organised by the directors following the positive outcome of an internal audit of the Midlands portfolio. I found the audit process very interesting as it provided me with an insight into additional banking practices.

Mid week, I focussed on writing a review report for a customer which is no longer backed by a private equity house and will therefore be moved over to the commercial bank. This is a great opportunity for me to learn about a significant part of the role of a relationship manager. The lead director has provided me with useful advice on constructing banking reports which I will be able to use as my career progresses. I hope to complete the report, and all additional work required to re-house this connection over the coming weeks.

Throughout the week, I spent a significant amount of time supporting a director with the exit process of one of our customers. This customer has restructured following a sale of the business and has moved most of their banking facilities over to another bank. They are currently in the process of migrating the remaining facilities but require certain facilities from Bank of Scotland during this transition period. Whilst the Bank is happy to assist during this period, action also has to be taken to reduce funds available to the customer to a lower level thereby reducing our exposure. As a result, I have been liaising with various departments within the bank as well as the customer, who operates out of Germany. Having no more than a GCSE in German, I have to admit that communication has been challenging at times!

On Friday I booked a flight to Edinburgh for the 1st of September. I recently heard news of my next placement. From the 1st of October, I will be working in the Integrated Finance team for 6 months up in Edinburgh. This department is involved with providing debt and equity packages to the buyout market. I am looking forward to this placement as it will give me exposure to deal origination which is something that I have not experienced on the programme so far. The trip to Edinburgh is a flat hunting mission which I will keep you posted on.