• Banking
  • Sally Sun (HK)
  • David Pointon (Australia)
  • James Kingston (London)
• Sales & Trading
• Asset Management
• Risk Management
• Technology
• Consumer Client Segment
• Commercial Client Segment

James Kingston

Real Estate Capital, London BSc Mathematics and Physics with Astrophysics, King’s College London MSc Astrophysics, University College London Joined ABN AMRO, October 2006

Although I had no idea which direction I wanted to take in my career, being on a rotation scheme allowed me to become more familiar with areas that interested me, which helped me make a more informed decision. The rotations gave me a cross-departmental knowledge and allowed me to develop skills that I wouldn't otherwise have had if I'd been fixed to one team. It was this, along with the fact that my experiences of meeting people from ABN AMRO were very positive, that helped me to decide that joining the bank was the best move for me.

Coming from an astrophysics background, my financial knowledge was practically non-existent when I started here. I thought it would be a steep learning curve to get up to speed, and get to the level of other graduates but the bank doesn’t expect new graduates to be financial experts, and the teams I've worked with have been more than understanding and very accommodating in teaching me about their respective areas. I've completed two rotations so far, in Oil and Gas Corporate Finance and in Structured Real Estate Capital, as well as an internship at ABN AMRO in Equity Capital Markets. Through these I've gained exposure to clients and investors, which has really helped me to develop my sales pitching technique. It's also taught me that everyone wants everything yesterday!

The benefits of being in a structured programme run by a team of professionals at such an early stage in your career can't be overstated. The support you get from HR, mentors, colleagues and senior management at ABN AMRO is very impressive on the graduate programme, and to my knowledge one of the best in the industry. Collectively these people are there to support you, to choose the career path that's right for you, and to help you to provide you with the knowledge, skills and mentality to survive and succeed in the cut-throat world of investment banking.