Vishal - Corporate

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.