Last month, our fresh (or at least some of them still are) batch of MFM students went to Amsterdam, the city of canals, bikes, parties and, well… finance! The well-filled agenda of this day consisted of 3 company visits, of which the first one definitely the most appealing to most: ABN Amro. A handful of employees of its corporate finance department gave the students a warm and direct Holland-like welcome and introduced them to the company and its ample career opportunities, after which they were put in teams and did what they do best: case solving! Using spreadsheet models, groups of 5 students prepared for negotiations in a real-life M&A simulation, during which ABN Amro’s associates and trainees gave them helpful insights and guided them through successful negotiations. Eventually, one team won the M&A game. The prize: two bottles of champagne. Cheers!

In the afternoon, the group visited Optiver, which is a trading room. Forget Wolf of Wall Street-like scenario’s where men in suits shout and curse over telephones and figuratively throw around $ 100 bills. This trading room is nothing like you’ve ever seen (or thought of as) before. Some 100 mathematicians and engineers, having 24/7 access to a ping pong table, a restaurant with a personal chef, a bar and two PlayStation 4’s, wander around a campus-like office in sport shoes, jogging pants and hoodies. For once, our suited-up students felt awkwardly overdressed. After an exciting trading game, an exclusive and brief visit to the trading room and some testimonials from the traders and researchers themselves, our students were rewarded for their attention with nothing less than pizza and beers.

Gilles