KELVINDER SINGH

“At Societe Generale, we conduct our business in a dynamic, high-octane, diverse and international workplace. And we have the scale: this is a truly global company.”

I am an Associate within the Metals and Mining Finance group, part of the global Natural Resources platform at Societe Generale.

The Metals and Mining Finance group is responsible for providing various financing solutions across the debt spectrum, including but not limited to debt advisory, structured commodity finance, project finance and event driven debt solutions to Societe Generale’s global commodity clients.
Our Natural Resources platform has a global team. As part of the role I work closely with other team members in different geographical locations including in New York, London, Paris and Australia, whilst partnering with other divisions such as Commodity Markets, Debt Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions in providing complete solutions for our clients.
My responsibilities includes performing financing and technical due diligence on assets in ensuring internal business, credit and regulatory compliance criteria’s are met, further to supporting idea generation initiatives with an aim to growth the regional portfolio.

The bank is a very international, demanding and innovative global Investment Bank.

Societe Generale is a global leader in natural resources, where the bank has developed both strong in-house financial and technical expertise in raising large quantums of customized structured financings.
From the first day, members of the team are required to perform and bring their expertise to the team. Thanks to our collaborative approach and mentoring initiatives by senior management, a new joiner can expect a steep proactive learning curve where they are able to present ideas openly to management teams; creating a fantastic learning platform. 
Members of the team are able to sharpen their skills on a daily basis and gain ideas from highly respected industry leaders. The technical knowledge I gained and the relationships and friendships that I have developed here make it a great place to build a career!

Training and internal development are strongly encouraged to keep up with innovation and regulation within the sector.

This is a constantly evolving subject within both the natural resources and financial industry.
Knowledge sharing within teams and divisions are often done in informal ways with managers taking time in outlining and walking through relevant aspects of the business with junior members.

There are numerous product teams that focuses on different bespoke solutions within the banking sector.

Candidates would need to understand what exactly they would want to do in their career. Having conversations with numerous stakeholders and building networks within the sector would given candidates a clearer perspectives to which path of the financial sector they would like to pursue.
During my hiring process, I met with several senior bankers both internally and externally, and this gave me a great chance to enquire in regards to the overall business strategy, not only for Societe Generale but also from an overall Metals and Mining stand point.
Secondly, once within a team, being creative and proactive in leading tasks and projects are key due to the nature of the business; however at the same time, being diligent from a risk management standpoint plays an equally important role.

“My working relationships with colleagues are based on trust, mutual respect and closeness. Here we pay attention to others and provide support.” 

I look forward to further developing my expertise within the natural resources sector.

Also, I wish to increase my knowledge of the broader debt spectrum. Given the global nature of the commodities business, in the medium to longer term, taking up a leadership role in Asia Pacific or abroad comes to mind, especially given the strong encouragement of internal mobility within Societe Generale.