Day 7. Sales Meeting, The German Desk, More Structured Products.

Day Seven

Just made it in for the morning meeting. Traders plugged more axes and the economist justified his total miscalculation of Friday’s data. And I still had no idea what the salespeople were on about.

The rest of the day was spent with the German desk. As with the Italian desk, I had been looking forward to it. I spoke German, I had lived in Germany and in my previous career I had done business with Germans. I liked Germans.

The German desk was manned by three people, Juergen Dobmeier, Claudia Olbrich and Dieter Schmidt. Juergen was the head of the desk and he spent a lot of time telling me how wonderful and clever he was and that without him SDB would have no business in Germany. He refused to speak German with me, I suppose because he felt his English was more than adequate. It was.

Like the Italian desk, the German desk sold everything and anything. Claudia and Dieter went over their clients and how their client’s investment needs differed. I learnt a little about German Mutual Funds and Pension Funds and how keen Savings Banks were on structured products as were insurance companies as a means to invest in Hedge Funds.

Juergen did inform me that he would be telling the Head of Sales that there was no place for me on the German team and that I was not to cold call any German clients.

Well at least he gave me some advance warning.

Did anyone like me at SDB?

At the end of my fourth business day at SDB I sat at my desk wondering whom I would sell to. My horizons were shortening. So far The Italians and Germans wanted nothing to do with me and Sara Dudley on the Hedge Fund desk said that I was not qualified enough. Mind you at least she had not complained to the Head of Sales. Tomorrow I would spend time with the UK Institutional Desk. Maybe that would go better.