Name: Alan Chao

Year: Sophomore

Major(s): Math, Economics

CFS Class: Business Field Studies

Employer: UBS

Despite my initial interests in other industries, my CFS internship in wealth management provided me with an experience and insights into the financial industry that I greatly value. The markets are experiencing a bout of volatility created by coronavirus that has been compounded upon by other events such as the contention over oil prices by Russia and Saudi Arabia. Because of this volatility, my job has become extremely interesting seeing my executive director deal with clients and helping him out with responding to their requests. Every day for the last two to three weeks has been filled with anxious clients inquiring about their portfolios and our team trying to calm them and prevent them from making any rash decisions.

The team I worked with was also extremely accommodating and interested in my growth and development. They were always willing to sit down with me to guide me through a process and answer any questions I had. There was clearly a very positive firm culture as well. Directors and managers always treated their support staff well and the representation at the office was more diverse than I had expected. Moreover, all of the employees worked good hours and were out of the office most days before 5:30PM.

I was also able to sit on calls and meetings that I did not expect to have the clearance to. I was able to listen UBS executives talk about their outlook on the market and what they were expecting to happen in the future. I was also able to sit on meetings with investment banks and other funds that were marketing their financial instruments which was great as I am interested in the investment banking industry. All in all, I had a great experience with UBS Wealth management and learned much more than I had initially expected at my time there.