London Called …and Emma Answered By Jennifer Chiu, Publications Coordinator Emma Norman’s (OGC 1998) working day typically starts at 6am. As Westpac Institutional Bank’s London-based Lead Portfolio Manager in Electronic Execution and Pricing, Emma’s priority is ensuring currency exchange customers are served smoothly 24 hours a day. She runs her eyes over the overnight news and looks ahead to upcoming economic events in the European and US markets, and monitors Westpac’s e-Foreign Exchange (eFX) portfolio – which includes spot prices to publish to markets, managing market risk and trading decisions, liaising with sales desks and monitoring technology and networks to check if they are behaving as expected. All this is part of assessing the currency market, making judgements on how they could affect trading, the bank and its customers.
But Emma’s day doesn’t stop there. As a mother of two (Harry, 3, and Charlie, 2) with a third on the way, she has plenty of responsibilities beyond the office. Ad Astra: What have you been doing since you left College and how did that lead you to London? Emma Norman: After Geelong College I attended Melbourne University, studying a double degree in Engineering/Commerce majoring in Civil Engineering and Finance and living on campus at Newman College. I had always known I wanted to work in Finance rather than Engineering so after finishing the five-year degree, I applied and was offered a place on the Westpac Financial Markets Graduate Program which was based in Sydney. After three years as a trader on the FX Options desk in Sydney, I jumped at the chance to move to London to help
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Emma Norman lives in London with her husband Tim Nally and sons Harry and Charlie. 38 AD ASTRA ISSUE NO 127