Impactful Careers @ Vontobel Transaction Banking

From electronic multi-asset trading solutions for equities, bonds, structured products, foreign exchange and ETDs to global custody, settlement, clearing and tax reclaim: execution and security services are at the core of what we do at Vontobel Transaction Banking. This multifaceted environment offers many exciting job profiles.

Discover how and why Shahira, Adriano and Joël joined Vontobel, what they have accomplished in their role and how Vontobel is helping them realize their full potential.

	Interview with Shahira Grace Sampietro
	Interview with Adriano Mundo
	Interview with Joël Bono

Shahira Grace Sampietro

What attracted you to Vontobel and made you want to apply for your current position?

From a young age, I was interested in the world of banking. I grew up in a "banker's family" and always enjoyed dropping by my parents' office to ask lots of questions. That's why it was clear to me early on that I wanted to do a banking apprenticeship. In 2015, I decided to do a banking apprenticeship at Vontobel because it is an international investment house with family roots. Because I didn't want to be simply one of many, I chose a family business. In addition, it was important to me from the beginning that my achievements are seen and that I can make a difference.

During my apprenticeship, I spent most of my time in Transaction Banking and was able to gain a lot of knowledge and professional experience in the individual departments, on the one hand in the back and middle office, and on the other hand in Global Execution. After successfully completing my apprenticeship, I started in the Trade Middle Office, where I was able to further deepen my knowledge in the area of securities settlement. Thus, I was active in an important support function for our trading.

My goal was always to work in trading myself at some point. With some patience and hard and diligent work, I was able to join Fabienne Béguin's Global Execution Team in September 2021. My responsibilities include the execution of all primary and secondary traded funds (except ETFs) and structured products of Vontobel.

What have you learned at Vontobel and what do you see as your most impactful professional accomplishment to date with Vontobel?

Since I've been working in Global Execution, I've learned to deal with pressure and prioritise daily work. There are days when the phones are ringing off the hook and the chats are blinking non-stop. Accordingly, it is important to maintain top performance even in stressful situations and never lose sight of the big picture.

I consider my most important professional achievement to be that I have initiated studying for my Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education in Business Administration while working and aim to complete it successfully this year. In addition, I was promoted last year and have been allowed to take over as deputy head of the team for a few months now. This shows me that Vontobel values my work, supports me, and rewards me accordingly.

What do you hope to achieve in your career and how do you think your current position with Transaction Banking at Vontobel will help you reach those goals?

I would definitely like to continue on my current path in Global Execution to deepen my knowledge in trading funds and structured products. In addition, I would like to learn how to trade other asset classes such as foreign exchange or derivatives. Each asset class brings its own challenges and requires years of experience. Accordingly, I can well imagine completing further training in this regard later. It is important to me to be able to put the theoretical knowledge I have acquired into practice.

I am convinced that my managers and my team will support me on my way and that this will also help me to progress in my career.

Adriano Mundo

What attracted you to Vontobel and made you want to apply for your current position?

It has been a mix of luck and vision. When I was looking for my first full-time job, I learned by chance from a former trainee that Vontobel offered a trainee program for university graduates. Applying to the Electronic Trading Engineer track was a no-brainer given the combination of my background in data science and software engineering alongside my genuine interest in finance.

I am particularly fascinated by trading, which is one of the most challenging, interesting, and fast-changing areas of the financial industry. However, getting started in trading is not easy if you have no experience in this field. Therefore, it was immediately clear to me that this was a unique opportunity. Hence, the Graduate Trainee Program (GTP) was the right next step since I could leverage my technical know-how and significantly improve my domain knowledge.

What have you learned at Vontobel and what do you see as your most impactful professional accomplishment to date with Vontobel?

I had the opportunity to learn a lot about trading and the markets, not only from a theoretical point of view, but also practically by breathing this world daily. This was possible thanks to the collaboration with experienced coworkers who were eager to mentor their youngest colleagues. I learned the entire end-to-end process of the execution business and developed expertise around our suite of products and services ranging from equities and FX execution to algorithmic trading.

If I have to mention one remarkable, more general, accomplishment is that I am delighted to be part of the trend that is reshaping the industry with data and technology. It’s clear to everybody how those factors are having a disruptive effect. That is ultimately what I am passionate about, being able to advance the state-of-the-art thanks to the capabilities of computer science and statistics in a field constantly evolving. Indeed, as a GTP I’ve been involved in several projects getting trust and ownership to work on products that have a direct impact on trader’s workflow.

What do you hope to achieve in your career and how do you think your current position with Transaction Banking at Vontobel will help you reach those goals?

I enjoy keeping up to date with what is happening in the world while researching and implementing algorithms or advanced statistical models. This is my main drive to pursue a career in quantitative trading. At the end of my GTP, I will join the Algorithmic Trading Team within Vontobel Transaction Banking.

In my future, I see myself moving into a position where I can manage projects or products in the trading realm having a couple years of technical experience. Given my ambitions, I think I'm in the perfect place to advance professionally because I believe it's important to find a company that pursues opportunities with determination and is at the forefront of technological innovation. The mindset of pushing the boundaries is crucial to always stay one step ahead of the competition in a world where everything quickly becomes obsolete.  I’ve seen those values at Vontobel and that’s why I am confident to be in the right company for my career development and personal growth.

Joël Bono

What attracted you to Vontobel and made you want to apply for your current position?

Vontobel has an excellent reputation as a first-class employer. In my case, Vontobel’s reputation has preceded any personal interactions, trough the accounts of colleagues in my private and professional network. When an interesting and fitting job opportunity arose, I did not have to think twice.

For me Vontobel is a good culture fit. What continues to attract me is the great work environment, the experienced experts with whom I get to work and the work content, which is challenging and highly relevant. For me, as someone who enjoys solving challenging problems in an agile work environment, opportunities to take ownership and add value for both clients and the organisation come up almost every day.

What have you learned at Vontobel and what do you see as your most impactful professional accomplishment to date with Vontobel?

At work I enjoy the proximity to partners who are at the forefront of their respected fields, who face their work with passion and the determination to deliver above what is expected. I am exposed to new knowledge every day, which enriches and deepens my own professional abilities. Working at Vontobel I encounter a unique sense of forward motion, general optimism towards outcomes and a culture of framing complex challenges as opportunities. This mindset has become essential in my own professional development.

During my career at Vontobel I was given the opportunity to oversee the development and the launch of several successful and innovative solutions, which delivered meaningful insights and I had a positive impact on revenues and understanding of the business in general. The results of some of these projects formed the essential reasoning to guide the strategic road map for these topics.

What do you hope to achieve in your career and how do you think your current position with Transaction Banking at Vontobel will help you reach those goals?

I am passionate about delivering innovative features and new products by leveraging the power of technology and data. Data engineering and analytics have become essential in the trading industry as companies aim to gain a competitive edge by leveraging data to make informed trading decisions. With the Trading Analytics Platform built in our team we enable our clients and internal stakeholders to access and assess highly relevant, curated information to make data driven decisions confidently and effectively.

Transaction Banking at Vontobel offers a work ecosystem, including resources, knowledge of business processes and the opportunities, which enables me to apply my expertise, solve business problems and develop solutions which deliver value to our clients. In my career I hope to achieve just that. Employ cutting edge technology to automate data pipelines which power our solutions. Ensure that our products are well aligned with the needs of our clients, as well as the organisation’s strategy. Thereby, hopefully playing an essential role in the organisation’s digitalisation agenda.