Our People in Capital Finance
Want to know what it's like to work at Wells Fargo? Our team members can tell you more about what makes this a unique place to begin your career.
Meet Michael
Location: Boston, MA
Business Group: Wells Fargo Capital Finance
Education: B.S., Business Management, Bentley College
My role
I am an analyst in Wells Fargo Capital Finance, the asset-based lending group of Wells Fargo. I am doing six-month rotations through different business units in my division. My group provides collateralized debt products (meaning we only lend money if the client gives us rights to liquidate their assets if they cannot pay us back) to our clients to help fund their working capital needs or specific one-time purchases. This type of lending is especially useful for leveraged buyouts by private equity or venture capital firms.
What keeps me interested
Recently I took on a major national retailer who has been in a turnaround phase following a downturn in its business and desperately needed an infusion of capital. We worked with the retailer to establish its borrowing base (the assets available for collateral), and then determined how we could continue providing the working capital funds the client needed to keep it out of bankruptcy. We must constantly evaluate how to exit this specific relationship if it becomes necessary, and think about additional ways we might be able to help the client in its quest to become profitable again. The balancing act we must perform makes the job interesting and fast-paced.
Support for my career
The Financial Analyst Program is all about giving us everything we need to succeed in our jobs — and training is a huge component of the program. Credit Fundamentals is a class that all analysts take when they start with the program. It tested not only the skills that I brought to Wells Fargo from college, but it also taught me about different banking techniques and procedures I had not been exposed to in school. The class covers a lot of material in a short amount of time, but the staff is there to help you along the way. The instructors show you ways to evaluate corporate clients and structure deals, showing you everything from how to evaluate a borrowing base to how to value real estate as a source of repayment in a loan. They use real-life case studies so you can see how deals are presented. At the end, you work with a team of your peers to evaluate a case without the teacher’s assistance. One thing I took away from Credit Fundamentals was the ability to brainstorm and think critically and in new ways about potential deals.
Wells Fargo culture
The culture at Wells Fargo is amazing. As a new team member, I had lots of questions and I never once had someone turn me away or not take the extra step to make sure that I was equipped for the next time I encountered a problem. The team at Wells Fargo manages to find that difficult balance between working hard and having a bit of fun, too.
Everyone wants to see you succeed and no one will try to hold you back. Wells Fargo has been making a real name for itself in the past couple years, and its industry position makes it a great place to work. The people at Wells Fargo work hard to make this company so great, so you have to be a self-motivator and up for the challenge. If you are, the benefits are endless.