The Bristol Trading Society is one of the most prestigious student-led investment societies in Bristol and is the only society specialising in trading and financial markets education. They are led by an experienced and knowledgeable team, with industry connections. Their mission is to enhance members’ financial literacy, nurture their passion for trading, educate, engage, and provide exposure with our unique hands-on approach.
Below the President tells us all about what the society offers to the University of Bristol Business School students and how you can join and attend to further your passion in the financial markets and trading.
What we offer as a society
I serve as the current President of the Bristol Trading Society, which currently stands at over 250 members in the month since our re-launch & re-structure including a variety of experience in the financial markets and trading spaces which spans over three years.
Our society consists of seven trading desks serving on both the buy-and-sell sides, in which we cover the majority of asset classes. This is part of our analyst program which runs throughout the academic year, where each division is given its own portfolio to trade and manage in its particular asset class segment. Other activities/programs that we run throughout the year will be trading competitions, simulations and networking events with professionals, alumni, academics and the wider community.
We also run speaker-series events where we invite speakers and professionals from the industry to give talks about their careers, expertise and any general advice – these currently run on a monthly basis. We also run our own flagship mentorship scheme in which we educate members from a non-finance/trading background who are interested in joining, and once they are equipped with the knowledge and feel confident enough, they then have the opportunity to enrol onto our analyst program, which we keep flexible throughout the year so more people have the opportunity to apply and practice their skills. We are proud to have general career guidance sessions, to advise and help members with their career applications during application seasons, including; how to land their dream jobs through a few unique techniques and how to make their portfolio stand out amongst other applicants.
Our society offers a diverse environment, from academic backgrounds to a variety of nationalities. We have many members who come from a non-finance background such as engineering, computer science and law, we welcome all who are interested in trading. We are happy to have many members who come from different nationalities, representing over 50+ countries. We are proud to keep a gender balance within our society, due to our successful gender-equality policies, giving men and women who are interested in trading and finance the opportunity to join our society.
We have extensive industry links
We have a variety of partnerships with Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, SIGMA Financial, AmplifyME, Kujira and Bright Network. Our connections with these organisations offer many benefits to our members and gives us the opportunity to host various career-related events:
- With AmplifyME and Morgan Stanley, we recently hosted a finance accelerator simulation with an excellent opening by three Bristol alumni working at Morgan Stanley in senior positions, one of them being Global Head of ALM.
- With Societe Generale, we are planning to host their Global Head of Derivatives offering a talk soon.
- With Standard Chartered we are planning to host a panel event with their senior leaders.
- With SIGMA Financial, we are planning to host sessions showcasing their revolutionary programs and activities which many students will benefit from.
We plan to continue growing and maintaining our network of strong connections across many firms and levels in the industry.
Alumni events have already kicked off
One of the most recent events was the Morgan Stanley talks and discussions which you can view on our social media. We have reached out to many Bristol alumni across the industry in firms such as Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered and many more. We have gotten excellent feedback regarding alumni events, and we are planning to host many more over the year.
Students can find out more about our society and updates on our Instagram page and our LinkedIn page.
Bader Al Sarraf, President of the Bristol Trading Society (2022/23).