This list provides descriptions of all major financial companies in which you can apply for internships within the UK during University.

Barclays -
Headquartered in Canary Wharf, London Dockland's the company's history goes back to 1680 with John Freame and Thomas Gould who started trading as Goldsmith bankers. It wasn't until James Barclay (son-in-law to Freame) joined the team before the name spread. Based on asset size, Barclays is the second largest bank in the UK. The British bank in 2008 was ironically helped out by the American tax payers, after the US bailed out AIG: Barclay's insurance company. The bank received $8.5bn.

Citigroup -
This New York based American Financial Services company was created on October 8, 1998 from the merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group. It is the biggest financial services company spanning over 140 countries with more than 200 million customer accounts. It primarily deals with US Treasury Securities. The United States Government was announced to take a 36% equity stake after $25 billion emergency aid was converted into emergency aid. It's history dates back to 1812 where it started off as the City Bank of New York.

Credit Suisse - Founded in 1856 by Alfred Escher and headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.  The Credit Suisse Group focuses on Asset Management, Private Banking and Investment Banking. In the first quarter of 2009, they reported £2,006 million 'net income attributal to shareholders' compared with a net loss of £2,148 million this time last year.

Deloitte - A 'professional services' organisation, Deloitte offers auditing, tax consulting, and financial advisory to over 140 countries with 165,000 employees. European headquarters are in London, founded by William Welsh Deloitte - the first person to be appointed an independent auditor for a public company.

Deutsche Bank - This time the scene is set in 1870, Berlin. The bank began as a specialist in foreign trading then spread to London in 1873. It's reputation was tarnished in the 1990's as it revealed openly involvement in the aryanization of Jewish businesses, and the loaning of funds to the Auschwitz camp. Consequently it contributed to a $5.2 billion compensation fund following lawsuits brought by Holocaust survivors. After the war the bank was divided into ten smaller regional offices, who then in 1957 merged once more to form Deutsche Bank AG with headquaters in Frankfurt. The bank has a strategy of bolt-on acquisitions in preference to so-called “transformational” mergers. These form part of an overall growth strategy that also targeted a sustainable 25% return on equity, something the bank achieved in 2005. 2008 however showed -29%.

Goldman Sachs - With £2.1bn net profit between April and June 2009, Goldman Sachs has proven itself once again to be a super bank. It specialises in investment banking, securities and investment management services. A younger bank, founded in 1879 with headquarters in Lower Manhatten, New York it has come under scrutiny (alongside with other major banks) for the 'bonus culture' which is currently undergoing review by regulatory offices in an attempt to prevent a similar stock market crash.

HSBC - Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was established in England and Wales with headquarters in The City of London in 1990. Regretably Europe's biggest bank, HSBC expanded in the United States, spending £9bn (US$15.5bn) to acquire Household Finance Corporation (HFC), a US credit card issuer and subprime lender. In March 2009 it reported losses of $62bn and had to cut 6000 jobs within this sector. Across the board however it reported record first quarter profits for 2009 on the back of strong trading in foreign exchange and interest rates.

JP Morgan - The second quater of 2009 revealed net profits of £1.6bn, an increase of 36% on 2008. Created by John Pierpont Morgan, American Financier and art collector, JP Morgan Chase & Co have assets of $2.3 trillion and America's second largest hedge fund (as of 2007 data). Business Week awarded the company one of the 'Top 10 Places To Launch A Career' - see article

KBC Bank - Belgian based, it focuses on retail banking, insurance and asset management services. 57,000 staff serve 11 million customers worldwide. Founded in 1889, KBC was the only Belgian bank to surive the great depression of the 1930s. It wasn't until 1966 did the bank implement a foreign growth strategy leading to new branches in London and New York.

Lloyds Banking Group - Formed by the acquisition of HBOS in 2009. View their Headquarters in London here with Google Street view. HM Treasury has a 43% shareholding in the company, whose four business divisions operate Retail Banking (incl. Mortgages), Wholesale, Insurance, and Wealth & International. One of it's subsidiary companies is Scottish Widows (life assurance).

Morgan Stanley - New York headquarters, it's a financial services company that operates in 33 countries with over 600 offices. Estabilished in 1925 between Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley. Mitchibushi UFJ Financial Group has a $9bn stake in Morgan Stanley equity (21% company holding). Here's a bit of fun, Morgan Stanley sought to produce a report on teenagers' media habits, so they turned to their 15 year old summer intern student for assistance. The teenager claimed game consoles like Wii, which are now able to connect to the internet and offer free voice chat between users, have emerged as a more popular choice for chatting with friends than the phone..."Hey mate, I'll give you a call on Wii in ten." Mmm, I'm skeptical.

RBS - Royal Bank of Scotland reported the biggest ever corporate loss in 2008 of £24.1bn. It also said it would put £325bn of toxic assets into a scheme that offers insurance for any further losses, and said the Treasury was also injecting a further £13bn into the bank. Ouch. RBS set up Direct Line as an 'innovative car insurance' firm in 1985. It was founded in Edinburgh, by royal charter in 1727 and opened it's first London branch in 1874.

Rothschild - The Rothschild family established the global banking and finance operations that we now see today. It began in Frankfurt (similar to Deutsche bank) in 1774 as a money changing operation. Then, spread using only close relatives the company spread to Austria and the UK and profited hugely from the Napoleonic wars. Nathan Mayer Rothschild gained a high powered role in the British Government, selling bonds to raise capital. He succeed so well that it resulted in a liquity crisis - too many coins. Rothschild does most of it's business acting as an advisory to mergers and acquisitions. In 2006, it ranked second in UK M&A with deals totalling $104.9 bn. The banks history is fascinating and highly recommended to explore further.

UBS - "You and us: UBS." It is the world's largest private wealth manager with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland (similar to Credit Suisse) hence the acronym meaning Union Bank of Switzerland - it's predessor's name. UBS is undergoing trial in the US for allegedly helping 17,000 Americans from paying tax. In 2009 the bank surprising revealed details of 200 clients and paid $780 million in fines.




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