I started my internship on June 29th as a Portfolio Monitoring Analyst (PMA) within the Portfolio Credit Support (PCS) group at U.S. Bancorp. In summary, a PMA is tasked with supporting Portfolio Managers in assessing the financial performance of middle-market banking clients while also being held responsible for communicating with Portfolio Managers and Relationship Managers, as appropriate, regarding our client’s financial statements and reporting requirements. For the time I was there, I was tasked with working with the other PMAs to learn the software that the bank uses to assess our client’s financial performance and to increase not only the number of clients that I got through in a day, but also decrease the number of errors that can be generated when inputting the client’s numbers into the software. This is something that takes a PMA anywhere from 9-12 months to master (this is when a PMA reaches “Independent” status). Within PCS, I had the pleasure of engaging with a wonderful boss by the name of Christopher Parsons who was there to guide and help me navigate through this new virtual world of ours while also enabling me to get the most out of the six weeks that I was there at the bank.
In addition to working within PCS, I also had the opportunity to participate in various acts around the bank including; an intern-wide case study competition, a virtual volunteer event, “Lunch with Leaders” where we got to meet and talk with all the executive officers that run the bank, “Virtual Coffees” where I got to network and talk to people from all around the bank, and business line events that hosted different seminars to help the interns figure out what they wanted to explore next after the internship concluded.
Overall, I concluded my six-week internship having connected, and conducted, 18+ “virtual coffees” with individuals from around the bank in various departments that struck my interest while also greatly understanding the role of a PMA and the value that the PCS department brings to the bank. I left the internship having a greater understanding of who I am as an employee and in what ways can I bring value to the 6th largest bank in the country. An experience that will follow me for the rest of my life!
~Joe Crowley
Portfolio Monitoring Analyst at U.S. Bank