Zineb ARAQI, Author at SimTrade blog

In this article, Zineb ARAQI (ESSEC Business School, Global Bachelor in Business Administration (GBBA), 2021-2025) shares her professional experience as a Summer Intern at Bloomberg LP within the Sales & Analytics department

About the company

Bloomberg L.P. is a leading global provider of financial data, analytics, media and software services. The firm was co-founded on October 1, 1981 by Michael Bloomberg along with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan and Charles Zegar. Headquartered in the Bloomberg Tower at 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, the company has expanded massively since its founding, as of 2025, it operates globally with over 26,000 employees across roughly 159 offices in more than 69 countries.

One unique aspect of Bloomberg L.P. is that it is a privately held company. It has never gone through an IPO and remains majority-owned by Michael Bloomberg. Being non-public allows Bloomberg to focus on long-term strategic goals rather than quarterly earnings pressure, reinvesting heavily in data innovation, infrastructure, and client service.

Bloomberg’s flagship product is the Bloomberg Terminal, a real-time financial data and analytics platform that remains central to the workflows of banks, asset managers, hedge funds, and other institutional investors worldwide. The Terminal enables users to access live market data, historical price series, fixed-income yield curves, equity and credit analytics, news feeds, messaging.

Fun fact: The Bloomberg terminal pioneered real-time communication in financial markets with the launch of IB Chats.

Over time, Bloomberg has diversified beyond terminals. The group now encompasses a broad media and information-services ecosystem: a global news agency, television and radio networks, newsletters, and research & analytics services for legal, tax, government, and energy sectors.

Financially, Bloomberg remains a powerhouse in its industry. The company’s main competitors in the financial information & analytics industry include Refinitiv, FactSet Research Systems, Dow Jones & Company, and other specialized vendors such as Capital IQ. However, the terminal has been deeply embedded in financial institutions for decades. It’s breadth of data, analytics, and real-time functionality make it the most comprehensive and indispensable platform in the industry

Thanks to its combination of real-time data services, analytics platforms, global media reach, and multi-asset coverage, Bloomberg L.P. occupies a central place in financial markets infrastructure powering investment decisions, regulatory research, corporate finance, media coverage and more.

Beyond its core business, Bloomberg is also recognized for its major contribution to global philanthropy through Bloomberg Philanthropies. Founded by Michael Bloomberg, the foundation donates billions of dollars to public health, climate action, education, the arts, and government innovation. It is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world. In 2024, Bloomberg Philantropies invested $3.7 billion around the world. Over his lifetime, Mike has so far given $21.1 billion to philanthropy.

Logo of Bloomberg.

Source: the company.

I completed a 10-week internship in Bloomberg’s Sales & Analytics department, at the very heart of global capital markets. Sales & Analytics departments, are often called the bread and butter of the company

This division sits at the heart of Bloomberg’s business model, as it supports clients using the Bloomberg Terminal and ensures they can fully leverage its data, analytics, and market intelligence. During my internship, I rotated between the Sales and Analytics teams, which allowed me to understand both the technical problem-solving side and the commercial relationship-building side of the job. We also followed intensive finance and product courses, giving all interns, regardless of previous background, a strong foundation. One of the aspects I loved most was the diversity of profiles in the cohort: many interns came from humanities or non-quantitative degrees and had never touched a terminal before, yet the team valued curiosity, communication, and adaptability just as much as financial knowledge. This made the experience dynamic, collaborative, and intellectually stimulating.

My internship experience as a summer intern at Bloomberg HQ, London

My Missions

From day one, I was immersed in a fast-paced, data-driven environment where real-time information, market microstructure, and client strategy intersect. The internship, ranked among Glassdoor’s Best Internships for 2025, gave me direct exposure to the workflows of traders, portfolio managers, and investment strategists across multiple asset classes.

Throughout the summer, I supported clients across Fixed Income, Equities, and FX, analysing their use cases to optimise workflows on the Bloomberg Terminal. I handled incoming requests, troubleshot data discrepancies, mapped liquidity fragmentation across venues, and helped clients interpret complex analytics such as yield curve construction, fair-value curves, relative-value screens, and multi-factor equity models. Working in real time with market participants strengthened my ability to think fast, communicate clearly, and translate technical concepts into actionable insights for users.

I also worked on several technical initiatives. I placed second in the BQuant project by engineering a Python model to forecast dividend behaviour using historical regimes, percentile-based distributions, volatility clustering patterns, and price-dividend spread diagnostics. With my team, I also developed a UN SDGs portfolio alignment tool, building a scoring engine that maps holdings to SDG targets using company-level disclosures, sector baselines, and ESG controversy filters helping portfolio managers assess the sustainability profile of their books.

On the product side, I pitched a feature enhancement for the Terminal: an audio-pronunciation function for client names to support global coverage teams and reduce communication friction. The proposal was selected for implementation after technical feasibility review. I additionally explored workflow gaps between Sales and Enterprise Solutions, analysing how data pipelines, entitlement systems, and API usage influence client onboarding and retention.

Beyond the technical work, the internship offered unforgettable moments: meeting Mike Bloomberg, attending senior leadership sessions on data, AI, and market evolution, and joining client visits to observe how relationships are built at scale in a highly competitive industry. This experience placed me at the intersection of analytics, markets, and client strategy, sharpening both my technical capabilities and my commercial intuition.

Required skills and knowledge

My role required a combination of hard and soft skills. On the technical side, a strong understanding of capital markets was essential particularly yield curve mechanics, equity valuation logic, and the functioning of foreign exchange markets. I relied heavily on analytical skills to diagnose client issues, read market diagnostics, and navigate complex datasets across functions like YAS (bond pricing), EQS (equity screening), and FXFM (FX forwards). In parallel, I needed strong communication skills to articulate solutions clearly, ask precise diagnostic questions, and adapt technical explanations to traders, PMs, or analysts under time pressure. The role also required resilience, curiosity, and the ability to build trust quickly with clients. This combination of market knowledge, fast problem-solving, and client-centric communication was central to succeeding in Sales & Analytics.

What I learned

The internship taught me the importance of deep technical knowledge when speaking to clients, especially traders who rely on speed and accuracy. I learned how the Bloomberg Terminal integrates data, analytics, and market infrastructure into a seamless workflow, and how small optimizations can materially improve a client’s decision-making process. I also discovered the strategic role of Sales & Analytics in connecting client needs with product development, which reinforced my interest in financial technology and market analytics.

Financial concepts related to my internship

I present below three financial concepts related to my internship. These concepts reflect the analytical tools and market mechanisms I interacted with daily, and demonstrate how my work required understanding both financial theory and real-world applications.

Yield Curves and Term Structure of Interest Rates

A major part of supporting Fixed Income clients involved helping them analyse the term structure of interest rates. I frequently used the Bloomberg function YCRV, which constructs and visualizes sovereign yield curves using benchmark bonds or swaps. Understanding the shape of the curve upward sloping, flat, or inverted allowed clients to assess market expectations for inflation, monetary policy, and recession risk. My role was to explain how yield curves are calibrated, why certain instruments are used as pillars, and how shifts in the curve affect duration, convexity, and bond valuation. This concept was central to my interactions with rates traders and portfolio managers.

Relative Value Analysis in Equities

Equity clients often asked about screening methods to identify mispriced securities. I worked extensively with EQRV (Equity Relative Value), which compares companies across valuation metrics such as EV/EBITDA, P/E ratios, or free-cash-flow yield. Mastering this concept was essential to explain how traders and analysts use relative value strategies to detect pricing discrepancies within a sector or region. My work involved guiding clients through constructing peer sets, interpreting valuation z-scores, and integrating forward earnings revisions into their screens, illustrating how quantitative equity analysis informs investment decisions.

FX Forward Pricing and Interest Rate Parity

In FX, one of the most frequent topics was the pricing of forward contracts. Using functions like FXFW and FXFM, I helped clients compute forward points, measure carry, and understand deviations from covered interest rate parity. The concept links interest rate differentials to expected currency movements and determines the fair value of forward exchange rates. My role required explaining how forward curves are built, how central bank rate expectations feed into pricing, and why liquidity varies across tenors. This concept was crucial when assisting FX traders and corporate clients in hedging currency exposures.

Useful resources

Bllomberg

Bloomberg – Rates & Bonds Bloomberg Currency Implied Yield Indices Methodology (PDF) Bloomberg functions & shortcuts list – Corporate Finance Institute Glassdoor – A Guide to the Best Internships Bloomberg About Us Bloomberg Philantropies – About Us LSEG (Refinitv) Factset Dow Jones & company

About the author

The article was written in November 2025 by Zineb ARAQI (ESSEC Business School, Global Bachelor in Business Administration (GBBA), 2021-2025).

My internship Experience at Bloomberg