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ANALYST FOCUS
The 2016 Bronwen Wood winner describes his experience of the STA course: Marco Meola
What is your background and how did you get into the financial industry? My decision to go to university and then to join the financial industry was mainly to avoid my family’s business of Italian restaurants! I wanted to stand on my own two feet. After studying Economics and Management at Oxford University, I was selected for an internship at UBS in 2010 and then joined the Foreign Exchange Institutional Sales team full time in 2011. I do sometimes regret this choice when trying to spot trendlines rather than perfecting pasta sauces with my father and brother! What is your role at UBS Investment Bank? Foreign Exchange Institutional Sales involves interacting with a mixture of hedge funds, insurance companies and pension funds, providing a range of services including trade execution, content production and account management. These three quite varied functions, combined with the fact
that the team looks at a very broad range of markets and financial instruments, makes the role especially interesting. When did you first hear about technical analysis? I was introduced to technical analysis by Mike Bichan, now global head of FX sales at UBS, when I joined UBS. Alongside fundamental analysis, he used technicals to gain a better understanding of market sentiment and I found this approach very useful. I also spent some time with Richard Adcock, then the in-house technical analyst at UBS, who explained the key indicators and methods he looks at, further catalysing my interest. What made you decide to take the STA diploma course? I heard about the diploma from a number of colleagues and clients. In particular I thought it would help me better understand market sentiment and timing, as well as adding an element of objectivity to how I think about markets. I was