Prince William completes 3-week work experience assignment in the City

LONDON: Prince William has successfully completed his three-week work experience assignment in London’s financial district, under a programme organised by banking major HSBC. The stint offered him an insight into the working of “the City”, as the financial nerve centre is better known, the Clarence House announced in a communique Saturday.

The prince acquainted himself on carrying out company analysis, constructing deal tickets and participating in client meetings at HSBC, while at the Bank of England, he had a first hand exposure on how the central bank is involved in the financial management of the country. He had also spent “busy time” at the London Stock Exchange, Lloyds of London and the Billingsgate Fish Market.

The communique quoted William, 23, as saying he had a very busy three weeks spent in the City, and he has a better understanding how all the different financial institutions work and how they fit together. “Spending every day with people who contribute so much to this country’s economy gave me the chance to experience the atmosphere of the City and to see, as best as I could, what it’s really like to work there.”

The prince has already worked on a country estate to learn about land management and had visited the charity of Centrepoint. The last part of his training will cover mountain rescue operations.

William is a graduate of Scotland’s St. Andrews University. He will be enrolled into the Sandhurst military academy for military training in 2006.

Clarence House announced that the prince came on top in a stock picking competition – a competition to choose shares that will perform well — and understood during his interaction at the Billingsgate Fish Market how the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers regulated the fish trade. At Lloyd’s of London he was shown by specialist insurer Hiscox Plc how the firm underwrites risk, ranging from sportsmen and sporting events through to how risk is assessed for various industries.