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.

Hi all, my name is Vishal Majithia and I am a graduate working for Bank of Scotland Corporate. I have been asked to submit a graduate blog entry on behalf of Corporate and thought it wise to provide some background as to how I have began working for HBOS.

At university, I completed a Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering and subsequently joined an engineering graduate programme. However, I quickly found the lack of client and team interaction a problem and began to seek an alternative career path. Banking immediately appealed to me being an analytical sector which has a strong ethos on communication.

Having received offers from various banking programmes I chose HBOS. Unlike many other programmes, HBOS offered the opportunity to experience a multitude of different placements but within one division. This really appealed to me as I was seeking to develop a variety of skills and knowledge but wanted this to be corporate finance orientated.

My career with the bank began in Leicester, where I spent 3 months working in Real Estate Finance followed by 3 months in Commercial Banking. I am currently working in my second of four six month placements. My present rotation is in Birmingham with the Leveraged Finance Asset Class Management Team. This department caters for the banking needs of the private equity market. Bank of Scotland is a key player in assisting private equity houses in their acquisitions. The department I work for is tasked with managing a portfolio of connections post acquisition. This is a relationship based department in which the bank liaises with the private equity houses, the customers and in some cases other banks as part of syndicated deals.

Over the coming weeks I hope to provide you with an insight into my time on the graduate programme.