Catherine Ross is a prime example of the great things possible with a career in finance - even if you didn’t study economics at university.

Catherine holds an MA in Geography from Cambridge University. On leaving university she joined the finance sector via NM Rothschild & Sons on their graduate training programme. Following this she joined the Banking Advisory team that specialised in providing UK government advice for project and infrastructure finance transactions.

Catherine then joined M&G Investments in 2001, initially focusing on Fixed Income product development and worked on the launch of M&G’s European Loan Funds and Episode, before joining the Leveraged Finance team. Then in 2005, Catherine joined M&G Leveraged Finance as an Assistant Fund Manager on the open-ended market value loan funds.

Not pigeonholed by her degree

Catherine addressed an enthusiastic audience of university students at one of M&G’s highly successful career events at their City of London headquarters. In addition to explaining what she did and the various career opportunities available at M&G, Catherine also assured the students that university degrees do not necessarily pigeonhole into single directions - and that anything is possible with a career in finance.

Flexible yet traditional work

Part of the fixed income department at M&G, Leveraged Lending, focuses on making debt investments such as bonds and loans, rather than buying and selling shares and equities.

The loan market is a private market via entities being invited to participate in new loans. “You must know the key stakeholders. You need scale and flexibility,” explains Catherine. “And yet it’s a very old-fashioned and traditional market where everything must be documented. Even faxes are still common in the leveraged lending market. There are high barriers to entry and it’s hard to break into. But when you do get there, it’s incredibly rewarding and interesting work.”

Read more about the range of exciting career opportunities for graduates at M&G Investments.

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