My rotation in Operations started last week. I had no idea what exactly to expect from it, but one thing was sure – it will be very different from my Front office experience. So was it.

First thing that once notices is how quiet it is actually! No brokers shouting bids, no traders shouting their offers to sales, no sales fighting for the best conditions they can get for their clients... Just different! However, despite the difference in the working atmosphere, the business remains the same – complex and exciting!

The idea to rotate through Operations after spending time in Front Office was Gavin Catto’s. I suppose his intention was for me to build up a bigger picture of the processes in the securities business. And I did.
Although the people on the trading floor make the money for RBS, they wouldn’t be able to do anything without those peoples support. They run very essential processes to make sure that what Front Office trades will flow through the different stages afterwards smoothly until they settle eventually.

Despite the fact that RBSSJ is many times smaller than the London hub or New York hub, this is a huge operation. Apparently the team is “very global”. They work closely with Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney. They need to deal with London and New York as well, but many of the operations of those hubs are outsourced to Asia (mainly Singapore), so that the time difference does not interfere the processes.
On Monday and Tuesday I sat within the Fixed Income Middle Office. The role of the MO is an intermediation role. They work closely with Front office and their job is to make sure that all the information flows smoothly through the systems all the way to settlement and finance. Those guys use many, many different systems. Due to the Japanese regulation, some local systems need to be used, which is very time consuming and very global unfriendly. Currently there is an integration project ongoing which aims to reduce the Japan – specific systems and integrate all the functions they have in to the global system RBS uses for data entries and process procedures. This seems easier said than done and many people are sceptical that it could happen within the next year or two.

I spent Wednesday with Futures Operations and as Futures are traded on the exchange, my team organised a visit to Tokyo Stock Exchange for me! It was very interesting, especially comparing the pictures from the past and its current outlay. TSE is located in Kabutocho, Tokyo’s financial district which is one of the world’s 3 largest stock markets on par with NY’s Wall Street and the City of London. TSE has closed its trading floor in 1999 and is fully automated stock exchange. It is hard to believe that trillions of yen in stocks and securities are traded there every day. It is so quiet!

On Thursday and Friday I worked with settlements teams – domestic and foreign. I have been given presentations about the systems they use and their partners, i.e. other banks they work with. Those guys handle the last stage of the whole process and it is very important that they do not do any mistakes, because if the deal fails, many people efforts go wasted. Sometimes it happens that a deal fails, for various reasons, like loops.  However, the job of the settlement team is to do their best so that this occurs as rarely as possible.

After this week I can surely say that I have much better understanding of how financial industry works, I have the big picture!

My weekend was very exciting as well. I finally went to Tsukiji market and had pricy sushi breakfast. It was worth the money and the waiting though – it was so oishi. I spend Sunday shopping around in Shibuya and Harajuku, preparing for our Mt. Fuji adventure. I bought oxygen!! ...and what is even crazier – I needed it.

We made it to the top of Mt. Fuji (3776m) on Monday morning, just in time for the sunrise. It was once in a lifetime feeling, so pure and beautiful. It was very tough climb, but definitely worth all the efforts.

Another exciting week to come! Stay tuned!