Internship in Finance

Depending on their internship requirements and the available internship positions in our partner companies, prospective interns may work in any of the following (or other) disciplines during their finance internship with AIP:

• Corporate Finance: Has to do with the planning, acquisition and financing of resources for businesses. Professionals specializing in this discipline are involved with managing the financial resources of non-financial firms.

• Investments: This finance discipline involves the estimation of the expected return and risk of an investment, as well as the assessment of alternative investment opportunities. This sector caters to both individuals needing to invest their savings, and businesses needing to invest their excess cash, premium payments, etc.

• Insurance: Insurance or risk management is all about identifying, evaluating, and managing pure risk situations for both businesses and individuals. Insurance typically covers property, life, health, and so on.

• Financial Institutions: Deal with the management of certain functions executed by employees of financial firms such as insurance companies, credit unions, commercial banks, savings and loans establishments, and so on.

In a competitive industry such as finance, an international finance internship, apart from giving you the chance to apply the theories and concepts you have learnt in school, will endow you with necessary “on-the-job” skills because you will get to perform different real-world finance tasks, such as undertaking due diligence, processing credit applications, assisting with marketing audits, generating and analyzing reports, and liaising with different clients.

The skills you will acquire while performing these and other tasks can turn out to be a critical factor in making your future career successful.

Because the financial sector is a diverse one, an internship provides new entrants into the field with the opportunity to explore their interests, discover the areas where their strengths and weaknesses lie, and decide on the best finance discipline to pursue in their future finance career.

In other words, after having worked in different roles and handled different responsibilities during your internship in Asia, you will gain valuable insight and perspective that will help you narrow down your career options in the field.

An internship with AIP will also go a long way towards helping you make important professional connections and develop your network. When you build and maintain good relationships with the professionals at your internship firm, chances are they will be willing to give you glowing references for future jobs when your internship is over

The roles played by financial systems in any economy are too numerous to discuss in only a few paragraphs. To mention but a few, the financial institutions of a country, such as development banks, fund infrastructure industries whose capital requirements are high; this helps to fuel the economic growth of the country, which, to an extent, is dependent on the quality of its infrastructural facilities.

Again, because businesses and industries are financed by them, financial systems directly or indirectly create employment which, in turn, increases economic activity and domestic trade.

Also, given that ventures are funded or invested in mostly by financial institutions due to the risks involved in doing so, these institutions bring about an increase in venture capital which then helps to boost economic growth. In fact, no economy can thrive without a sound financial system.

As the financial industry continues to evolve as a result of globalization and other factors, companies are scrambling to acquire new finance talent, and this demand for finance professionals will remain on the increase for the foreseeable future.

Actually, employment for occupations in the financial sector is expected to grow 10 percent by 2026, with more than 773,800 new jobs introduced to the marketplace. ^[1]

Today, with the increase in the number of business investments, companies are beginning to place more focus on cash optimization. As a result, finance professionals who specialize in investments and treasury are highly sought after by such companies.

Other finance professionals in higher demand because they play vital roles in a company’s growth strategy include financial analysts who analyze a company’s financial and investment data, and also estimate future expenditures and revenues; auditors who evaluate existing internal controls, identify business and financial risks as well as assess compliance with government regulations; budget analysts who assist companies with preparing budget reports, monitoring institutional spending and organizing their finances; and controllers who prepare financial reports and statements that summarize and forecast the activity and financial position of a business.

With a 10-year projected demand growth of 15 percent (faster than average) personal financial advisors are also in high demand because many individuals rely on them to understand the health of their finances and make the right personal investment decisions.