Partners & Projects

Our core group of partner banks

The Investment Banking IT Track of the MSc is supported by and developed in collaboration with a core group of leading investment banks, who also contribute to the delivery of the programme by giving lectures. These core partner banks are members of the Financial Markets Forum diversity interest group, run by Expand and the IMPACT programme. Each partner will also select a number of students to host for their summer project placements, normally after a CV review and an assessment day.

The core group of partner banks comprises:

• Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Credit Suisse
• Goldman Sachs
• Morgan Stanley

Technology partners

The Virtual Trading Floor, launched in 2007, was developed and operates in collaboration with Thomson Reuters, who provide market data feeds and their spreadsheet analytics system.

What is a project host?

Each student will preferably have a "host" financial services organisation for their summer project. The project will take place as a placement at the premises of the host organisation, which can be located anywhere in the world.

Some applicants may already be working for a financial services organisation and wish to use the MSc to accelerate their career - in this case, their existing employer can be their host. Applications to our four partner banks should be made after starting the MSc - you will need a prepared CV and covering letter, and full details of how to apply will be given after arrival at UCL.

These four banks will however each host only a small number of students' projects, holding assessments towards the end of the first term, which are highly competitive. You should therefore also consider approaching other financial services organisations, who will recruit just after. Other organisations that have hosted students in previous years include:

• BLME
• Barclays Capital
• BNP Paribas
• Deutsche Bank
• Dubai Bank
• Financial Services Authority
• JP Morgan
• London Stock Exchange
• Markit
• Orbis Funds
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Satalia
• Skyron
• UBS

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The charts below show the distribution of students among types of project host in the previous years of the programme: Finding a project host is your responsibility, but of course we will help where possible. If you have personal contacts you may approach an organisation about hosting your project before you start at UCL - this will have the added benefit of saving time and effort during the main part of the course. If an organisation agrees to acting as your host, details of what commitments they need to make will be available on your arrival at UCL. Finding a host for the summer project does not necessarily guarantee a job with the host. However, it gives a strong indication that, on first impressions, you have a good mixture of appropriate skills and that on successful completion of the MSc you would be a very attractive prospect for employment in IT, IT management or financial services. For those embarking on a career change, this provides important additional confidence as the first step on the path to a new career.

Projects

The project will preferably take place as a placement at the premises of the host organisation, which can be located anywhere in the world. If you are unable to find a host organisation, then the Department of Computer Science at UCL will host your project. The actual project that you undertake will be decided by your host organisation, in negotiation with the Programme Director. Typically, it will entail one month of analysis and design, one month of implementation, and one month writing a substantial dissertation. Previous projects have included:

• Equity Technology Service Dashboards;
• Dividend Forecast Accuracy Tracker;
• Historical Volatility Data Store;
• Product & Pricing Technology - Java re-design for data feeds flexibility
• Equity Derivatives Dynamic Pricing Strategy Technology.