How the Trading Floor Really Works

Know Your Client

Most banks have existing relationships with a lot of clients. A new sales person out of university will often be assigned to work as the junior sales (also called coverage) person to a few different senior sales people. Over time, that junior sales person will either be handed smaller clients to manage themselves or a more senior sales person will move on, leaving a gap for the junior sales person to fill. However, there are always new clients to develop. This could be a bank looking to expand its coverage into a new region, a new client type or a new asset class. But often this is just new entities that need access to the financial markets.

This means that part of the job of the sales person is to set up new accounts for the ...