Financial Services Careers Fair 2023

Welcome

Welcome to our Financial Services Careers Fair. We are hugely grateful to all the individuals and organisations who have come together to support our event and share their experience and wisdom with the next generation. The exhibitors at the Fair are looking forward to talking to students about a wide range of different career areas including accounting, banking, financial planning, tax,insurance, investments, pensions, fintech and policy, as well as different pathways including degrees and apprenticeships. Alongside the ‘Marketplace’ in The Great Hall and the Exam Hall, there will be two special interest talks taking place in the Lecture Theatre at 6pm and 6.30pm. One talk will explore the world of investment banking and the other will provide insight into the apprenticeship route within Financial Services. We hope the evening will help the many MTS pupils who express a desire to work in the world of Financial Services but may not yet have a wide understanding of the scope of the roles or the educational pathways available, find out valuable information and insight to further their own career thinking. We could not run our careers programme without all the enthusiastic volunteers who take part in our programme of short talks, wider school events and targeted online encounters. On Tuesday 13th February we will be hosting a ‘Careers in STEM Fair’. If you like the look of the exhibitor role at the Financial Services Careers Fair and work in a STEM career, please use this form to express your interest and we will get in touch. We can also be reached at Careers@mtsn.org.uk

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/S62V636

We very much look forward to seeing you for what we hope will be an informative and inspiring occasion. Please do look out for our post-event survey as we would very much welcome constructive feedback.

MTS student business

- Undercroft The Young Enterprise Company Programme provides a real-life learning opportunity that introduces young people aged 13-19 to the realities of the world of work. It empowers young people to set up and run a student company under the guidance of a business volunteer. Students make all the decisions about their business, from deciding on the company name, managing the company finances and selling to the public. Participants gain practical business experience and key skills. Do look out for a couple of the MTS YE teams who are hoping to talk to parents at the event about their product development and try out their market research skills. They may also sell some snacks to practice their selling skills and raise some funds for their project.

Special Interest talks – Lecture Theatre

Our programme of talks will run as follows:

6pm – 6.20pm Insight into the world of Investment Banking

6.30pm – 6.50pm OMT experiences on the Apprenticeship route

Talk at 6pm: Insight into the world of Investment Banking – Saurav Sen and Alex Davies

Current parent, Simon Ives, had very kindly offered to give an overview of investment banking but Covid had other plans. We are very grateful to current parents Saurav Sen and Alex Davies who both work at UBS, who have offered to step in at the very last minute and give this talk instead.

Talk at 6.30pm: OMT experiences on the Apprenticeship route – Ayaan Sheikh and Toby Michaels

Ayaan joined Ernst & Young upon leaving MTS in 2022 and Toby Michaels joined Deloitte upon leaving MTS in 2021. They are on different types of Apprenticeship routes with these firms and will explain how they came to take the school leaver pathway and describe their experiences thus far.

At the Markeplace you will find InvestIN Education. Do go along to talk to Lilly Walker about how you can make the most of work insight and work experience opportunities. InvestIN Education are an organisation dedicated to bridging the gap between school and industry by equipping students with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed in the future. They predominantly do this by providing immersive career experiences for students aged 12-18 in 18 different industries, from the popular Medicine and Law, through to up-and-coming careers like Video Game Design and Forensic Science. Over 150 Merchant Taylors’ students have attended their programmes in the past, which offer an invaluable insight into each career, through interactive activities, exclusive site visits and industry-specific career coaching - all led by top professionals. Their flagship Summer Experiences run throughout July and August for 5, 10 or 15 days and are always popular with Merchant Taylors’ students. To find out more, please do visit their website (www.investin.org), where full timetable breakdowns, testimonials and further information can be found. You can also benefit from a 20% discount off any InvestIN programme by use of the code MTS20 at registration.

Exhibitor Biographies

Alexander Margolin (OMT, 2009)

Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol

Managing Director at Sioma

Alexander spent 6 years at Allianz prior to founding Sioma in 2018. During his time at Allianz, Alexander was recognized by the industry and awarded Young Underwriter of the Year at the Insurance Post Underwriting Services Awards in 2015. While working as Senior Property and Liability Underwriter in the City of London at Allianz, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, Alexander completed his insurance professional exams in 2015 to become an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and holds the title of Chartered Insurance Broker. In 2019, after a decade in the industry, he was named as one of the top 24 talents under the age of 35 in the UK insurance industry by Insurance Business UK. In 2021, Alexander won the coveted Young Broker of the Year (under 35) award from the industry trade body - British Insurance Broking Association

Anton Nyman (OMT, 2006)

Computer Science, University of Birmingham

Global Head of Position & Risk Support,

BNP Paribas

Anton has worked for BNP Paribas for 12 years, having started his career there, and is currently Global Head of Position and Risk Support. Anton’s innate interest in technology started when he built his own computer when he was 13 years old, and he has had a clear direction in his mind of where he wanted to get to from that age. Anton now manages 60+ people across Singapore, Mumbai, London, Paris, Lisbon, New York and Montreal and runs the IT graduate programme within the bank.

Pari Vandra (OMT, 1997)

French and German, King College London

Managing Director at EFG Private Bank

Pari has worked at Barclays and UBS and is currently Managing Director at EFG Private Bank. Pari manages the assets of some of the wealthiest families in the world.

Anthony Vijaykumar (OMT, 2014)

Economics and Finance, University of Bristol

Assistant Manager at KPMG

Anthony has been with KPMG since March 2022, following more than four years in assurance, specialising in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sector. Anthony’s current role at KPMG is Assistant Manager, Deal Advisory. He works in the infrastructure, real estate and transport team.

Adrian Lurie (Parent)

Economics and Politics, University of Warwick

Partner at Alcuin Capital Partners LLP

Adrian began his career in investment banking with NatWest Markets and then Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, where he focused early upon lending to and investing in businesses in both the UK and across Europe. Today Adrian co-manages a private equity investment company that focuses on providing growth capital to UK companies, with some £400 million under management in businesses in a variety of sectors. His responsibilities today include appraising and converting new investment opportunities and, together with the Alcuin team, working with those businesses to develop their strategy and support their continued success. Adrian looks forward to talking to students about his experiences in investment banking as well as investing.

Max Weitzmann (OMT, 2002)

Management, IT & Languages, University of York

Investment Director at Octopus Real Estate

After a false start at RBS (joining the week they bought ABN Amro), Max pivoted towards real estate, qualifying as a RICS Chartered Surveyor in 2013 with one of the large consultancies. He now works on the team managing a £1.5bn specialist healthcare real estate Fund at Octopus Investments.

Dan Abrahams (Parent)

Economics and Management, University of Oxford

Chief Investment Officer at Alfreton Capital

Daniel Abrahams, CFA, is the CIO at Alfreton Capital and has been the Portfolio Manager since he founded the Alfreton Leopard Fund at Praxient Capital in 2013. Previously, Daniel had been a Partner and Analyst at Praxient since its inception in 2007 and played a key role in building their team and processes during its first five years. From 2003 to 2007, he was at Deutsche Bank, where he predominantly worked on European M&A mandates. Daniel began his career at Arthur Andersen in London and began investing in equities as a teenager.

James Smyth (OMT, 2013)

Geography, University of Exeter

ESG Research Analyst at M&G Plc

James joined M&G Investments in May 2021 as an ESG Analyst in the ESG Research team, sitting within the wider Stewardship & Sustainability team at M&G Investments. The main focus areas of James’s role have been undertaking quarterly ESG reviews across Equity and Fixed Income strategies, assessing ESG themed bonds and producing ESG research at sector, thematic and company level for the financial sector. James started his career in 2016 as a Junior Research Analyst with CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), producing award-winning Investor-focused reports on a number of high-emitting sectors, focusing on how ESG issues could have a material impact on company earnings.

Rikhil Morjaria (OMT, 2011)

Geography and Economics, University of Reading

Financial Advisory for one of the Big Four

accounting firms

Rikhil joined the Civil Service Fast Stream in 2018 and spent 5 years working across HM Courts & Tribunals, Department for Work and Pensions, UK Health Security Agency, UK Ministry of Defence and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Rikhil departed Westminster this year and has recently started working as Manager, Financial Advisory for one of the Big Four accounting firms.

Nikhil Sangani (OMT, 2007)

Economics at LSE

Senior Manager at Sage & Co

After graduating, Nikhil joined Goldman Sachs within Investment Banking, leaving as an Executive Director in 2016. Nikhil then spent 3 years at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the Audit and Assurance of FTSE 100 companies where he qualified as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. In 2019, Nikhil joined his father’s accountancy practice Sage & Co based in Northwood as a Senior Manager. He is the youngest member of the national ICAEW Practice Committee which he joined in 2020 and a founding advisory committee member of the ICAEW Small Practitioners Community since 2021. In February 2023, Nikhil was invited to be part of a panel at the LSE Students Union Accounting Society Conference discussing the future of accounting.

Karan Chopra (OMT, 2002)

Law, University of Bristol

Partner, Paul Hastings LLP

Karan qualified as a lawyer in 2009 and became partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in 2019. He is now a partner in the finance group at Paul Hastings LLP in London and advises banks and credit funds on European leveraged finance transactions where they provide the financing.

James Schofield (OMT, 1999)

Classics, Durham University

Director of Operations, Peel Hunt

James is a Chartered Management Accountant and has worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, BGC Partners and HSBC in various roles within the financial, accounting and reporting functions. James joined Peel Hunt, a leading UK investment bank, in 2015 to establish the Business Management function and in 2022 he became Director of Operations, overseeing functions including treasury, trade management & settlement, business management and procurement. Peel Hunt is one of the largest traders on the LSE accounting for c.14% of the LSE’s total volume (c.£84bn in value terms) of the LSE’s total annual trading, writes research on c.450 LSE listed companies and acts, as corporate broker for c.150 clients whose average market capitalisation is c.£700m. James looks forward to discussing accountancy routes with students as well as investment banking/financial services.

Prahalad Prasad (OMT, 2015)

Politics, Philosophy and Economics,

University of Warwick

Associate Director, Corporate Financing & Risk

Management at Lloyds Banking Group

Prahalad undertook a summer internship at Lloyds in between his 2nd and final years and was offered a place on the graduate scheme the following year. This involved 4 rotations in various teams around the Commercial part of the bank. Having enjoyed his time in Debt Capital Markets, he secured a permanent role in that team. Prahalad looks forward to advising students on how to enter the financial services industry, talking about why he enjoys working in the sector and offering any other university related advice.

Vishal Sodha (OMT, 1996)

Economics at LSE

Senior Risk Solutions Consultant,

SS&C Technologies Inc.

Vishal spent 18 years of his career in investment banking. He has been Managing Director at Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Nomura. Vishal is now a senior risk advisor at SS&C Technologies, a $13bn Nasdaq-listed FinTech to leverage his banking experience in the technology solutions sector. Therefore, Vishal can talk to students about both a career in Financial Services and within FinTech.

Mark Bassett (Parent)

MA in Health Services Management,

University of Manchester

Consultant, Asian Development Bank

Mark enjoys developing and realising health system strategies in conditions of unusually high political and economic uncertainty, challenge, and change. His core competencies include the development of healthcare financing, public private partnerships, and system-wide healthcare governance. Over the last two decades, Mark has advised diverse governments through work for Bupa Group, the World Bank Group and WHO, and now does the same through the Asian Development Bank. His mid-career was in the UK NHS, NHS Overseas and UK Department of Health. His early career was with NatWest Bank, the Royal Air Force and Esso.

William Hornsby-Martinez (OMT, 2011)

Management with Spanish,

University of Nottingham

Senior Finance Business Partner, Vanquis Bank

Will has over 8 years' experience in the Financial Services sector and is a chartered accountant. He has worked in a large, global bank as well as a smaller, UK-focused bank - there are pros and cons to both which he would be happy to talk about. Will has held a variety of roles from Product Management to Strategy to Finance; his current role allows him to combine his interests in both finance and business, by guiding the commercial teams on financial impacts, strategy and decision-making. Will looks forward to talking to students about career paths, degree choices, personal development and their own aspirations.

Jasi Halai (Parent)

Investment Management at CASS Business School

Chief Operating Officer, 3i Group plc

Jasi Halai is Chief Operating Officer at 3i. She was appointed to the Board in May 2022 and is a member of the Executive, Investment, Group Risk and ESG Committees. Jasi Joined 3i in 2005 and has held a variety of posts in the business, most recently as Group Financial Controller and Operating Officer. Prior to joining 3i, she worked for CDC Group (now British International Investment) and at Actis. Jasi is a non-executive director at Barratt Developments PLC and was previously a non-executive director at Porvair Plc. She is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds an MSc in investment management from the CASS Business School.

Ayaan Sheikh (OMT, 2022)

Currently undertaking a Level 7 Accounting

Apprenticeship at Ernst & Young

Audit Associate, EY

Ayaan is a second-year Audit Associate at EY having joined straight from MTS in 2022. He is happy to talk about audit and working at the Big 4 in general as well as the school leaver pathway and his experiences of it so far.

Rakhee Dave-Shah (Parent)

Pharmaceutical Services, Kingston University

Deputy Director, Commercial Specialist at

The Cabinet Office

Having started her career as a graduate trainee in Financial Services, Rakhee has had a varied career in the public and private sector. She has worked on several exciting Commercial projects including COP26 and G7, Russian Sanctions, Afghan evacuation, FCO and DFID merger, crisis response to repatriate British Nationals in response to Covid-19. Rakhee currently works in the Cabinet Office Complex Transactions Team on some of the highest profile and complex commercial programmes across Government.

Joseph Pike (OMT, 2005)

Geography, University of Manchester

Class Underwriter at Chaucer Group

Joe started his career in the insurance industry with RSA in 2009, taking part in the Graduate Scheme, specialising in Motor and EL/PL Claims. In 2010 he moved on to an Underwriting Graduate Scheme at Brit Syndicates, rotating through many areas of the business such as Property, Terrorism, Marine Liability, Marine Hull, Satellite, Cyber and FI, before coming off the scheme a year early to underwrite North American Professional Liability Binding Authority business. Whilst there, Joe specialised mainly in Architects and Engineers, Miscellaneous and Allied Medical E&O, but gained a wide experience in the management of niche/specialist MGAs. He moved across to Chaucer in April 2015 to deputise on the Specialist Lines team, writing a range of US Casualty/Specialist Liability business. Since April 2019, Joe has headed up the team, which includes E&O, GL, Life Sciences, Medical Malpractice, Miscellaneous Casualty, Transactional Liability, Financial Institutions and Title lines of business.

Nigel Walsh (Parent)

Business Studies, University of Salford

Managing Director for Insurance at Google Cloud

Nigel is responsible for leading the firm’s global strategy to insurance, leveraging the best in market capability from Google Cloud, addressing mission critical Insurance challenges, from claims and underwriting to leveraging Generative AI and ML. Nigel also works with the broader Alphabet companies to bring their experience and insights to partner with existing insurance customers and serves as a Go To Market Advisor for CapitalG. Prior to this, Nigel was a Partner in Deloitte where he led on several areas for the firm including Global Future of Insurance and Global InsurTech.

Simon Ives (Parent)

Economics and Social History, University of Bristol

Managing Director, Chairman Investment

Banking (Healthcare) at Bank of America

Simon started his career at PwC in London where he worked for four years in the tax advisory practice. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2000. In early 2001, Simon joined Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America) working in the Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group. He ran the EMEA Healthcare business for six years before taking on his current role as a Chairman of Investment Banking in 2018. Simon is responsible for the origination and execution of advisory and financing assignments for healthcare clients (pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies). Typical projects include advising on acquisitions, mergers, divestments, corporate separations, initial public offerings, equity, equity-linked and debt financings.

Matt Isherwood (Parent)

Physics, University College London

Portfolio Manager, Walleye Capital

Having completed a Physics degree and a PhD in chaos theory, Matt chose to step away from academia and enter the world of finance, specifically the slightly more niche, entrepreneurial and dynamic arena of hedge funds. Initially, given his scientific background, he was involved primarily in quantitative research into new trading strategies but migrated into portfolio management, which he has been doing now for the past 18 years at various firms. Working mostly for smaller companies, Matt has been involved in all areas of the business, including extensive global travel for client sales and marketing. He spent 9 years at a systematic (computer-driven) equity hedge fund, Sabre, before moving on to set up equity trading strategies at Capula, Element Capital and Man Group. Matt explored starting his own firm with a colleague (an experience he is happy to cover) before they joined Walleye Capital in November 2022.

Tariq Attia (OMT, 2008)

Economics, University of Reading

Director, IW Capital

Tariq runs the investment house IW Capital. As part of his role, he advises his vast network of High Net Worth Individuals, Wealth Managers and IFAs on their SME investments in both the equity and debt arenas; he is responsible for hundreds of millions of pounds being invested into UK SMEs. Alongside this, Tariq sits on the investment committee, assessing investment opportunities. He holds the Investment Advice Diploma and is a Chartered Member of the CISI.

Toby Michaels (OMT, 2021)

Currently in his third year of Deloitte’s Degree

Apprenticeship programme

Senior Analyst in Strategy Consulting, Deloitte

Toby is currently working in Deloitte’s Strategy Consulting practice, Monitor. Alongside his day-to-day work, he is studying for both a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Practice and the Chartered Manager (CMgr MCMI) professional qualification. Since joining Deloitte straight from Merchant Taylors’, Toby has worked across a range of industries including Consumer goods, Automotive, Hospitality and Public Sector clients. He has had opportunities to take on responsibilities above his grade, including leading presentations and workshops for senior clients at this early stage of his career. These varied project experiences have helped Toby identify his special interests, including emerging trends and technologies research, supporting customer experience enhancement, and digital transformations. Toby was recently appointed to the Young Management Consultancies Association (MCA) Executive Committee, where he leads the School Leavers and Apprentices workstream. This role in the Consulting industry’s representative body for young professionals enables him to share his passion and experiences, supporting both school leavers with their pathway decisions and apprentices with their career journeys in Consulting. Toby is looking forward to speaking to you about all things degree apprenticeships, consulting, strategy and early career options, as well as answering any questions you have for him!

Pramal Patel (Parent)

Accounting and Finance, Kingston University

Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer

at Rothschild & Co

Pramal started his career as a trainee Chartered Accountant which provided him with a wide range of industry experiences to help him develop the skills required to do his job today. Having worked in financial services for over 25 years the technological revolution has been mind-blowing to witness and be a part of. Rothschild & Co is one of world’s largest independent financial services groups with 4,200 professionals in over 40 countries. Pramal works for their Alternative Investments arm, covering a range of responsibilities.

Shahil Kotecha (OMT, 2005)

Management at LSE

CEO at Pivot

Shahil spent the first part of his career as a Management Consultant, working for PA Consulting in their Financial Services practice. For the last 9 years he has run PIVOT. This is a Real Estate Debt Platform - a non-bank lender - who provides loans for residential construction projects. The firm facilitates the development of housing projects and has lent over £400m which has supported the building of thousands of properties across the UK.

Rob Fishman (OMT, 2000)

Accounting & Finance, University of Manchester

Senior Managing Director at Teneo

Financial Advisory

Rob joined the Deloitte Audit Team after graduating and qualified as a chartered accountant. He moved to the Deloitte restructuring team in 2007, qualifying as an Insolvency Practitioner in 2011 and was made partner in 2020. Rob currently works for Teneo Financial Advisory, which was formed in 2021, following the sale of the UK Deloitte Restructuring business to a private equity owned business, Teneo. Rob advises multiple stakeholders in connection with businesses that are distressed.

James Elton (OMT, 2009)

Economics, University of Nottingham

Tax Director at Deloitte

James joined Deloitte in 2013. Since then, he has focused on advising large multinational groups on M&A and international tax matters.

Greg Brown (OMT, 1999)

Engineering and Computer Science,

University of Oxford

Partner at Oxbow Partners

Greg Brown is a Partner at Oxbow Partners, an insurance-only strategy consulting business. Greg helps insurers, brokers and reinsurers improve the way they operate. He does this either by designing new products (e.g. insuring against computer hacking), using technology to make their businesses more efficient (e.g. online shopping) or by using data to better understand the nature of the risk they are taking on (e.g. Tesco worked out that people who buy broccoli crash cars less often).

Akber Datoo (Parent)

Computer Science, University of Cambridge

Founder & CEO, D2 Legal Technology

Akber is Founder and CEO at D2 Legal Technology (D2LT), an award-winning global legal data consultancy advising firms on the use of technology and data to unlock business value through legal change. He advises financial institutions at the intersection of FinTech and LegalTech to achieve business optimisation, regulatory compliance and operational efficiencies. Prior to D2LT, he started his career at UBS, working as part of the front-office IT team within fixed income derivatives. He then requalified as a derivatives lawyer with Allen & Overy. Akber founded D2LT in 2011, where he has overseen its growth during the last twelve years across the UK, US and Asia. He is a professor at the University of Surrey, teaching “Law & Technology”, “Financial Services Regulation & FinTech Policy” and “AI & Ethics” to final year undergraduate and masters students.

Hemal Shah (Parent)

International Business Administrtion,

University in Kenya

Partner at Grant Thornton

Hemal trained in audit with Grant Thornton in Kenya and London. In 2003, he moved to the Deals business where he supports private equity, entrepreneurial and corporate clients with due diligence on acquisitions, disposals, refinancing and IPOs. Hemal mainly focuses on the technology, media and consumer sectors, particularly on businesses in technology services, TV, film, computer games, marketing services, travel and retail. He was appointed as a partner of Grant Thornton in 2018 and now leads the London Transaction Advisory team. Hemal was also elected to the firm’s Partnership Governance Board in 2020.

Nicholas Berman (OMT, 2006)

Geography and Business, University of Nottingham

Client Adviser at Rothschild & Co

Nick is a Client Adviser at Rothschild & Co Wealth Management and partners with ultra-high net worth individuals and their families. Prior to joining Rothschild & Co, he was a Director at UBS, and began his investment career with Citigroup in the Global Markets Division. Nick is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Wealth Manager.

Alex Davies (Parent)

Modern Languages, University of Oxford

Head of EMEA Structured Finance at UBS

Alex qualified as a solicitor in 2000 before leaving legal practice in 2004 to work at the investment bank at UBS.

Saurav Sen (Parent)

Mathematics, University of Oxford

Executive Director at UBS

Saurav is Executive Director at UBS having worked there for the past 14 years. He has worked previously at Calimere Point and Merrill Lynch.