Harriet Shen - Treasury

What does the Treasury do?
Treasury is often described as being bank to the banker and what that really means is that we look after the bank’s balance sheet, capital liquidity, allowing all the group’s businesses to grow and meet their business targets and also to meet regulatory requirements.

What have you been doing since you joined?
The first year on the Treasury grad scheme involves doing three-month rotations in all areas of the business so that you can get an overview of all the different roles the Treasury takes.

So far I’ve done a rotation in hedging, where they ensure that there is not so much PNL volatility through the use of fair value and cash flow hedges - the use of derivatives. One of the last rotations I did was with the MGC team. They report on the Treasury results and translate the capital results of the group into financial reports and analyse them.

My third rotation I did was in capital management, they basically optimise the use of capital across the group to make sure that the businesses have enough capital to grow and also to meet regulatory requirements.

Can you outline any interesting projects you’ve been involved with?
Most recently I’ve been working on a capital management project which involves working with subsidiaries around the group and across the world to more effectively use their capital, so you can free some up to other businesses, around the group. It’s been really interesting working with people in America and across the world on conference calls - it’s been a good experience in project management.

I’ve also spent two weeks on a liquidity project where we are comparing industry standards for liquidity policies and practices. It’s been a good way to get an overall view, well a pretty basic overall view of what liquidity is all about, but in a short period of time.

What support and training have you had since joining?
Support in Treasury is really good, day-to-day working alongside your colleagues and your line managers. Everyone is really supportive and helpful and willing to give you their time.

Other than that there is a really good mentoring scheme where it’s someone who is independent from your everyday work so you can go and talk to them about any career issues or work issues and that’s been really helpful.

There’s loads of training opportunities across Barclays, across the group, just for staff in general, and also for graduates. I’ve been on internal, technical skills courses for Treasury which have been valuable. It’s what you're doing everyday so its useful to learn about it in a classroom situation.

Also, soft skills courses are really good, presentation courses, personal presentation courses, there’s so much out there that you don’t have time to go on all of them. Whatever you want to do is available.

What qualities do you need to succeed at Barclays?
To succeed at Barclays is probably like succeeding anywhere else. You need the drive and ambition to achieve the results that you want to achieve. It’s important to be a team player and be able to get along with people. t’s also quite important at Barclays to be able to motivate yourself and encourage yourself to get on and broaden your role.

What qualities do you need to succeed in the Treasury?
Working in Treasury, it’s really important to be an effective communicator because sometimes we’re putting across quite complex ideas to different areas of the group which might not be the expertise of the person you're talking to, so that’s a really important skill to have. It’s important in Treasury to be dedicated and hard-working, because you will be working a lot harder than you ever did at university, but it’s enjoyable.

Have you been involved in any inspirational moments?
In Treasury, on the grad scheme, we’ve all been studying together at college every week. And at the weekend and in the evenings, we’ve got quite a good team of grads going, and it was really inspiring last week when we all got our exam results and we all passed.

Why join the Treasury?
The treasury grad scheme gives you a really good opportunity to learn about the key functions of banking alongside respected expert professionals, which is probably why I’d recommend it.