Selina Li

Economics and Finance helped Selina develop technical as well as communication and leadership skills that have supported her in several finance roles.

I came by myself to New Zealand after high school in China to gain my degree and develop my proficiency in English. Like many graduates, it wasn’t easy at first to find a job after completing my undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance as I had no work experience at that time. Then one of my friends introduced me to the Applied Finance programme at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and so I decided to continue my study.

It was a great decision to undertake postgraduate study and choose the Master of Applied Finance. Besides developing financial modelling and other technical skills, I also developed confidence in communicating, especially with lecturers. I learned the importance of asking questions if you don’t know, how to multitask and meet deadlines, and the ability to find solutions and be responsible for my own learning.

To get my English up to speed and get to know my subject better, I took on the role of sessional assistant supporting the lecturers. This was great work experience for me as it increased my confidence in relating to academics and students, enhanced my communication skills, and built up my networks. I gained so much from it that for several years I continued to be a teaching assistant for many courses in my spare time.

I landed a finance job with NZX, initially working with the indices team leading the index reviews and developing new index products. I then moved to the market surveillance team, monitoring trading activities and investigating potential market manipulation behaviour. Later, I moved to the market finance team of ANZ supporting the front office. My daily tasks included producing daily profit and loss (P&L) reports for foreign exchange (FX), rates, and balance sheet products; analysing any significant variances between dealers’ P&L estimates and actual results; and providing commentaries to the management team.

Update: Selina is currently Senior Product Controller at ANZ in Wellington.