BU student, Andre Lo

Name: Andre Lo

Program: Questrom School of Business, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Concentration in Finance and Global Business

Internship: Macquarie Group, Summer Analyst

1) Tell us about your internship. What were your responsibilities?

Macquarie Group is an Australian investment bank founded in 1969 and currently holds $530 billion in Assets Under Management. It operates four business lines: Macquarie Capital, which conducts investment banking and sales and trading services; Asset Management, which investments in specialized assets such as infrastructure projects and renewable energy; Commodities and Global Markets, offering financing, market access, logistics solutions for assets such as energy, metals, and foreign exchange products; and Banking and Financial Services, retail banking services in the Australian market.

For my internship, I worked in the Equities Division for Macquarie Capital. The Equities division is the sales and trading function of the investment bank that facilitates buying and selling of securities and financial instruments (i.e., stocks) between large institutional clients. As a Summer Analyst, I worked on a live trading floor and my responsibilities included writing market summaries and condensing analyst reports into bullet points each morning, which then got distributed within the company. During market hours, I conducted data gathering, analysis, and research on Bloomberg/trading software to help traders answer queries that they receive from clients and counterparties. I also had the opportunity to shadow traders and monitor real-time execution, taking notes and asking questions in order to increase my understanding of the products and markets. At the end of the day, I helped compile trade logs to be sent to trading desks from other regions.

Furthermore, I was also able to attend client meetings where research analysts and salespersons on the desk discussed about industry outlook and innovations in various industries such as the semiconductor sector. In the latter weeks of my internship, I was also given the responsibility to dial-in for various conference calls to take notes. The notes are then distributed to desk heads and various other parties for further action. As I became more proficient in writing market summaries, I started to include market color and opinion in news stories. As an example, one of my pieces included a blurb about potential market reactions to various military actions for U.S./Taiwan. Using research and knowledge from previous International Relations classes I had taken at BU, the head trader on the desk found the piece insightful and distributed it to his contacts. On a more general level for responsibilities, it’s sometimes as simple as keeping my eyes and ears open and jumping in to help whenever anyone on the floor needs an extra hand as the intern.

During the 10 weeks of my internship, I really enjoyed this role as the trading floor is always a lively place with lots of energy, I was able to learn lots of new things and I was fascinated by the fact that every day on the job was different where I often had to think of creative ways to solve various problems.

2) What is your greatest piece of advice for international students on how to get an internship?

Be open to working in different regions within the U.S. or different countries around the world. There may be a tendency to focus on New York/Boston but some companies have their U.S. headquarters or large regional bases in “non-conventional cities” because expanding the search can open many more opportunities that you may otherwise not find. Many of the multinational companies I have worked with have also been flexible with employee mobility between cities, and they encourage it because they believe it produces more well-rounded individuals with different perspectives.

3) What resources at BU or elsewhere did you use to get your internship(s)?

Current students at BU and alumni network are a great resource to tap into. Before my final interview round, I went on LinkedIn to search for current students and alumni who worked at Macquarie. I managed to find a senior at the time who interned at Macquarie over the previous summer, and I reached out asking for a 30-minute coffee chat. We met in Questrom Starbucks later in the week and she was able to give me unique insights about the company culture/strengths having worked there, while answering questions I had about the company and interview process.

During my interview, I was able to present some of the insights I took away from the coffee chat and I owe her a great amount of gratitude for taking the time to meet me since it helped my interview. For behavioral and technical prep, I used interview guides online and contacts I have met inside the industry as resources to help me get my internship.

4) What is your biggest takeaway from your internship experience(s) that you would like to share with international students?

For large corporates, most firms have internal company databases, and I would take time before or after work to see if there are individuals who work in divisions I was interested in learning more about. After finding someone, I would send a short email to ask for a coffee chat and do some quick research on their background, what they do and mutual interests before meeting them. I had at least 25+ coffee chats over the weeks during my internship and made many connections that way while broadening my knowledge for personal and professional enrichment. I even reached out to people who worked in different regions for Zoom calls, and this can be especially helpful for international students if they want to establish relations in a new geography that they may previously be unfamiliar with.