Monday in Frankfurt Germany was the first day of our company meetings for the AFM 415 International Study Trip. Our first meeting for the day was with the European Central Bank (ECB) at 10:30 AM. The first segment of our meeting included a tour of the Visitor Center, where we learned more about the history and purpose of the ECB, sectioned into four areas:
- Maintenance: How the ECB achieves their primary goal – price stability.
- Safeguard: How the bank provides greater financial stability and another key operation – supervision of banks.
- Connect: This part of the tour was designed around ECB’s ability to supply the euro currency to constituents.
- Achieve: The final part of the tour was an overall perspective on Europe and the continent’s achievements. We saw an exhibit of the different euros minted by each country, like Germany’s 2-euro coin featuring their Eagle, and the Italian 1-euro coin with Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man”. Very fascinating!
We next met with the CFA Society Germany, to which our hosts engaged us in the evaluation of sample financial situations. We were asked to review a situation where there was a potential ethical dilemma and vote separately on solutions that each of us believed to be the most appropriate. We impressed our hosts by unanimously reaching the same conclusions on some of the presented situations.
Our last meeting of the day was with BDO(Binder Dijker Otte). At this meeting we learned about BDO’s operations, their advantage over competitors, Germany specific regulations, and the company’s focus on expanding both within Germany and internationally. We also had the opportunity of speaking with employees at the offices who had originally worked in Australia, Dubai, and the United States. Speaking with these employees provided us with other international perspectives on businesses.
The first day of meetings was exhausting, yet extremely educational and relevant for our programs and our future career successes.
Learn more about SAF International Study Trip