Last December 18, Mattia Menchi was one of the alumni present at the graduation ceremony for participants in the QTEM Masters Network, the network of international master’s programs in Economics and Finance.
In 2014, Mattia completed a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management having already decided to register for the master’s program in Economics and Finance with a major in Finance. Even before completing his bachelor’s degree, Mattia had already been selected for the QTEM Masters Degree. He explains: “During my bachelor’s I worked hard to be sure I met the requirements for QTEM and I was able to follow a course of studies based on my professional objectives.”
From among the academic partners of the QTEM Network, Mattia chose HEC Lausanne for the first semester and the University of Porto for the second. As he explains, QTEM gave him the opportunity to deepen his understanding of quantitative finance and concentrate his studies on actuarial science and financial derivatives.
He soon after began to gain experience in the international job market: “After a seven-month internship with a hedge fund, where I worked on algorithmic trading strategies and quantitative risk analysis, I worked for ING Group in data visualization tools, used to monitor costs, risks and opportunities for traders and market makers.”
Seven months ago, Mattia got the offer he had been waiting for: a full-time position as an analyst in structured finance at Moody’s in London. “Here I primarily work with large mortgage portfolios, but everything revolves around studying and applying rating methodology of complex products like covered bonds and ABS.” Mattia also enjoys living in London, a city where “encounters can change your career in a second and every single everyday experience encourages personal growth that is hard to find elsewhere.”
In the near future, Mattia intends to stay in London to increase his understanding of Europe’s finance capital: “My plan is to take on roles that allow me to learn quickly while still offering my contribution thanks to technical skills that I gained during QTEM which are highly requested in modern finance.”
To students preparing their applications for the QTEM program, Mattia extends his best wishes and advising students on how to get a high score in the GMAT, the Graduate Management Admission Test: “Don’t look at the GMAT like a barrier, but like a challenge before a university career that is engaging and gratifying.”