Internship Spotlight: Edison Siu ’24, J.P. Morgan Private Bank
Edison Siu ’24 says the skills learned in his Negotiations and Behavioral Finance courses helped when working at J.P. Morgan Private Bank this summer.
We asked rising second-year MBA students to check in from their summer internships, where they are applying the lessons of their first year at Yale SOM.
Edison Siu ’24
Internship: J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Global Families Group Asia in San Francisco
Hometown: Hong Kong & Taipei
Pronouns: he/him/his
Clubs and affiliations: Blockchain Club, Economies of Scale
Favorite classes at SOM: Behavioral Finance, Entrepreneurship in the Art Market
This summer, I interned at J.P. Morgan Private Bank with the Global Families Group Asia team in San Francisco. Our team served ultra-high net-worth clients with roots in Asia and cross-border needs. I was chosen for the team because of my quadrilingual skills in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese, allowing me to communicate with a vast number of Greater China clients in the Bay Area. The company also saw my non-traditional background as an entrepreneur with a startup mindset as a competitive edge, enabling me to connect with many potential clients who are tech entrepreneurs in the region.
The adventure kicked off with a week-long training in New York City, where I met all the other MBA interns in the Private Bank, both in the U.S. Private Bank team and the International Private Bank team. Although we couldn’t access client data or meet clients due to licensing issues, we immersed ourselves in simulations and roleplays, which proved to be valuable learning experiences.
The courses at SOM came into play, too. The principles I learned in the negotiation class about maximizing and splitting the pie directly applied to our roleplays. Likewise, the insights from the Behavioral Finance elective helped me understand individual investor decision-making. These skills enabled me to better predict client wants and expectations. Keeping up with the market and economy every day was crucial. SOM’s Global Macroeconomy and Investors courses provided the knowledge needed to understand fiscal and monetary policies, making it easier to learn about J.P. Morgan’s products.
Transitioning to the Bay Area and working in the wealth management industry were big goals of mine before I came to SOM. Reflecting on this amazing summer, I'm grateful for the opportunity and eager to share my non-traditional background story with any first-year students interested in breaking into Private Banking. It's been an incredible journey, and I can't wait to see where it leads next!
