Financial Planning Administrator Review

My role at UBS is to process new business and complete day to day administrative tasks for our client book. This will include anything from processing pension contributions to setting up offshore bonds. I also prepare for the Financial Planner's Annual Review meetings with clients, and then writing out to the client afterwards. I work within a pod structure with a Paraplanner and a Financial Planner, meaning work is very streamlined and structured.

I have learnt many new skills within my role but the most challenging I believe was learning how to work in a 9-5 role, coming straight from a sixth form college into full time work at a huge corporate company is a huge shift and took some getting used to. I have also developed in my organisation and time management, meaning I am as efficient as can be in my role.

There were I believe 3 parts to my programme. The first being obviously the day-to-day work, which I have loved every second of and believe this has been extremely valuable to me in my development as a person. The second part would be the examination I had to complete whilst doing my apprenticeship, which was the R01, Regulation, Ethics and the Financial Conduct Authority exam, which was useful as it taught me some background information and helped me dive into the more technical aspects of my role and the role I play for the bank. The third part of the course would be the coursework, which I really felt let the whole experience down, the communication with the training provider was dreadful and has put me off doing a similar apprenticeship again, I would prefer to take the exams involved by myself instead of having the baggage of coursework to go along with it.

The structure from a UBS perspective is great, and there is a clear progression path for me if I continue to be a part of the Financial Planning team. However, the structure of the apprenticeship course from the training provider side was not great, it was difficult to communicate and the training coach it seemed did not know what he was doing a lot of the time.

I receive a lot of support from my employer, I may not get a bundle of self study time and have to squeeze it in a lot of the time, however this has been great as I have been working and really feeling like a part of the team, with my own responsibilities and tasks that are delegated to me, I feel like I have been chucked in the deep end but it is the best way for me to learn!

Not very much at all. I feel the training provider was just trying to rush us through the course as it would make them loom good. I have complained to my employer several times regarding the training provider and I do not believe we will be using them again in the near future.

I believe the R01 examination has helped improve my technical skills and have a bit of context about what I'm doing and what it's for, however apart from this, I do not believe so. I think due to the requirements needed from the training provider a lot of it was a waste of time and stopped us from reaching our full potential in the workplace.

Yes, there are many extra-curricular activities and different networks to join, which is great and is a good way to socialise, when you have the time! There are also many social occasions within each team and it feels like a small family. It is very inclusive and a great company to work for.

Yes

It is a great organisation to work for and really cares about it's employees welfare and being. It is hard work and stressful at times but I believe every role will be like this, it is also very rewarding to finish business cases as there are large amounts of money involved, it can also be very financially rewarding too!

Be yourself, as there is no point in pretending to be something you're not and then get a job and struggle to keep up. It is a large business and expects people to keep the high standards with are required. You should be proud to work for a company like UBS, and it is a great company to work for.