Finance

There are a lot of good networking events that are organised by Imperial Finance Society very frequently, but there are many drawbacks. Firstly, the vast majority of the networking events are held by investment banks - there are no visits by Quantitative finance firms (proprietary/high frequency trading) which is where the skillset of Imperial students lies. The society would benefit hugely from inviting other financial institutions such as hedge funds, private equity firms and fintech firms. Secondly, internships at investment banks are very competitive and few people in the finance society ever secure positions at investment banks. The society doesn't provide any training or guidance on which divisions to apply to, how to make an effective application or how to prepare for applications. Many networking events are oversaturated by people who only attend for free pizza, which reduces contact time with guests. Finally I question whether successful applicants of prize draws are chosen entirely meritocratically.