Wealth management graduate programme
The requirement
The client, a big global name in wealth management, needed a simulation to complement its intense, 4-week graduate program. The simulation needed not only to introduce delegates to the general principles and practicalities of tactical asset allocation, but to serve as a stepping stone by which they could gain insight into the investment products offered by the bank, and access the internal research resources they would soon be using as practising analysts. The client was also keen that the simulation reflected the client relationship aspects of wealth management.
Our solution
The online portfolio simulation platform was configured as a fund of funds, with 25 of the client's offerings across Fixed Income, Money Market and Equity. The platform was rebranded to a look and feel consistent with the wider graduate program and the client's corporate image as used on its internal systems.
Delegates traded in paired teams across a four-week period, during which one of the first tremors preceding the events of 2009 was felt. Consequently, delegate engagement with the simulation platform reached a record high with over 300 updates per day.
Teams needed to do more than amassing greater profits than their peers. They were given a mandate requiring them to focus not only on quantitative factors, but also on the reputational risks and investment needs of a specified client. To capture the latter points, the simulation required a daily briefing in which investment decisions needed to be rationalised on the grounds of risks taken, expected returns and meeting client expectations.
At the close, teams presented a performance review to the client (an assessment committee from across the business) providing the assessment committee with a range of observable outputs unattainable from other conventional forms of assessment.