February Update

It has been just over two months since my last blog post, which was based on my completion of the Introduction to Securities and Investments exam. Since then, I have been reading the UK Financial Regulation book provided by the CISI ahead of the exam in April.

I have found the material itself to be directed towards the procedures and principles that are in place as a requirement for approved persons to fulfil. The knowledge gained from this material will be extremely useful when faced with making significant decisions in my future career, so as to comply with the FCA/PRA.

With my time on Rathbone Pension & Advisory Services coming to an end in April, I am confident in saying that I have gained so much from the department. It is not only the technical aspects of pensions and insurance that I have improved on, but also my interpersonal and organisational skills, and I believe this will continue to improve with the more experience I gain in different departments.

Exam Result

Following on from my First Impressions of Pensions post, I mentioned that I was to sit my first IOC examination; Introduction to Securities and Investments in the first week of December.   I am now delighted to be able to say that I passed the exam on Thursday and achieved a ‘Pass with Merit’ result.

I found the course content very interesting and also very relevant to the jobs that I have done over the past fifteen months here at Rathbones.

As of this week, the second IOC exam material; UK Financial Regulation has been added to my online study page and I plan to start this right away in order to build on the material from the first exam.

In addition to this news, we had our office Christmas Party on Friday at the Marriott Hotel which turned out to be a fantastic night and also a great way to meet new people in the company. Although, I still find it hard to believe that it has been a year since the last office Christmas party!!

My Role on Pensions

One month on and I’m continuously learning new things about pensions, quite simply because there are so many pension plans and insurance schemes out there. 

The team that I have been assigned to is the RPAS admin support team. My current role on the team is to update client records with their information and pension plans, which with the more experience I gain, the more pension plans I will become familiar with and understand. 

I am also sending out letter of authority forms to companies in order for us to request information on a client’s pension that is held with an external provider. This involves a lot of communication via telephone to companies in order for me organise and keep track of the authority letters sent out and the information that we are waiting on.

Other tasks that I have taken responsibility of include monitoring and obtaining commission statements from other companies, and also preparing client annual review packs and sending them directly to the client.

First Impressions of Pensions

From today it has been a month since I started working on RPAS – Rathbone Pension & Advisory Services Limited. I didn’t quite know what to expect with it being a different line of business to Rathbone Investment Management, however I have found it very refreshing and interesting to experience the pension industry.

So far I am really enjoying this new challenge and the team have been very welcoming and helpful in order for me to settle in quickly. I have also been involved in two video conference meetings between our London and Liverpool RPAS office already, which is a strange experience compared to my previous team meetings which had been held in a room with everyone physically present.

On a final note, I have arranged to take my first IOC examination – Introduction to Securities and Investments in the first week of December. With the sole focus on the IOC qualification I am now studying this material a lot more and I am finding the content very interesting and relevant to the job I have done on a daily basis for the past year.

Update: 1 year on

It was one year yesterday that I joined Rathbones officially and started working on the dividends team. Since then I have learnt a huge deal in regards to businesses and investment management and I have accomplished several goals already. All in all, the year has flown by which can only be a good thing and I think the variety of what the apprenticeship offers has certainly helped towards this.

In addition to this week being the year anniversary since I joined, it was also my official end date for the NVQ on the 30^th September. I am very pleased to say that I have submitted the complete portfolio to the exam board for marking and I hope to be given the all clear from the exam board’s verifier. From now I will devote my study time solely to the CISI IOC examinations in order to achieve my goal of completing the three examinations to be certified within the investment industry.

Finally, as well as the above occurring within this week – it is also my last week on the transfers department. I will take a huge deal of skills and knowledge from my time on transfers and I only have good things to say about the team and how easy they made it to settle in.

From Monday 6^th October I will officially work on the Rathbones Advisory Pensions and Services team where I will gain an insight in to the growing pension services industry.  My next post will be an update on my first impressions of pensions – bye for now!

Benefits of the apprenticeship route

The apprenticeship route is a fantastic way to gain the invaluable experience that virtually every employer is asking for. I am delighted with my decision to opt for this apprenticeship as it has developed so many skills and characteristics that I personally do not think I would have gained through the university route.

With the opportunity to study for valuable qualifications and gain experience at the same time, it is a more attractive proposition to an employer than that of someone who only has a qualification when applying for a job.

My advice would be that if you are serious about a career working within a particular industry and there are apprenticeships available, then this route is the most beneficial for your prospects.

Dealing Overview

Yesterday I was given an overview of the Dealing department at Rathbones as part of my education from the apprenticeship. I saw this as a great opportunity to broaden my knowledge about what our company does and how it works, and to also decide on where I would like to end up further down the years.

Needless to say, the dealing role is a pressured, exciting and important role in our business as it epitomises much of what we do at Rathbones i.e. buying and selling shares for our clients as per the fund manager’s request. I was also impressed at the volume of analytical data that is used for certain trades on the dealing desk, and this I believe makes the job all the more interesting (and pressured!)

It is perhaps too soon to say that this is where I would like to be in the investment industry, but I certainly found this role to be very interesting and one I would most definitely consider aiming towards achieving.