Investment Competitions

Where Financial Literacy Meets the Trading Floor

Thousands of secondary school students have explored the fundamentals of investing and financial markets through our City Pay it Forward Investment Competitions. A highlight has been the winning teams stepping onto live trading floors, where they see firsthand the speed, pressure, and teamwork that drive global markets.

For many, it is the first time they have imagined themselves in that environment, not as outsiders but as future participants. Our involvement in the London Stock Exchange’s Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy initiative underscored the importance of opening these doors.

These experiences are giving young people a genuine taste of the City of London, showing them that careers in finance are accessible and diverse.

At a time when graduate schemes attract thousands of applicants for only a handful of places, the combination of financial literacy, practical exposure, and career insight can make all the difference.

We are helping students gain not only the knowledge but also the belief that they have a place in the Square Mile.

Investment Club and Competition

The Investment Club brings together ambition and structure in a setting where students are able to bring the world of investing to life at an early age. Each year, more than a hundred applicants compete for a limited number of places in our investment club, and those selected move quickly from theory to practice, building and managing mock portfolios, debating investment theses, and defending their reasoning in real time as markets shift. Finance becomes tangible rather than abstract, shaped by discussion, analysis, and decision making, and for many students this is the first moment they begin to see themselves not simply as observers of the financial system but as future participants in it.

Designed as an experiential bridge between education and industry, the programme connects classroom learning to the realities of global markets by encouraging students to link economic headlines with the carefully designed simulated portfolios. Over six structured sessions, investment professionals act as mentors to share their expertise and career journeys with candour, widening students’ understanding of what roles exist within the sector and how different pathways unfold. The culmination, a day spent on a live trading floor, transforms exposure into lived experience, making careers in finance feel not only visible but genuinely attainable.

Where Financial Literacy Meets the Trading Floor

At the heart of the programme is sustained mentorship from professionals working across investment management, wealth management, banking and trading, offering students not only insight into the mechanics of finance but access to people and pathways that may previously have felt out of reach. Through open and honest conversations, alongside practical guidance, students gain a clearer understanding of how decisions are made, how careers are shaped and how resilience and judgement matter as much as technical skill. For many, it is the first time they encounter someone from a background not unlike their own working at the centre of the industry, and that visibility gently but powerfully expands what feels possible, turning aspiration into something credible, tangible and within reach.