What is Investor Relations?
Investor Relations (IR) is the field of corporate communications specializing in information and disclosure management for the companies it holds as clients and the investment banks shareholders.
Investor relations encompasses the broad range of activities through which a quoted company communicates with its current and potential investors. The constantly evolving requirements of disclosure, transparency and corporate governance create significant challenges for all quoted companies. Investor relations practitioners, whether they work in-house or in an advisory capacity, have a vital role to play in helping companies to manage these issues and to communicate more effectively with the investment community.
The job of investor relations in investment banking can be split into three main roles:
- Communicating with the investment bank’s shareholders
- Communicating with the institution’s clients about the clients share price
- Communicating with investors in the institution’s public issues (ie. when the bank sells new shares in the market)
They communicate with the investment community at large. The term describes the department of a company devoted to handling inquiries from shareholders and investors, as well as others who might be interested in a company’s stock or financial stability.
The investor relations function also often includes the transmission of information relating to intangible values such as the company’s policy on corporate governance or corporate social responsibility.
If I work in Investor Relations what will I be doing?
A Day in the Life of an Investment Bank Investor Relations employee:
8:00 a.m.: After having coffee and bagel, check e-mails and phone messages from clients. Respond to client’s questions concerning performance of the companies and general market conditions.
9:00 a.m.: Work on writing the monthly newsletter. This involves getting all the analytics of the companies, which are obtained from the analysts. It requires the traders and analysts to summarize market conditions for the month and indicate which of our clients securities were impacted and which were not.
11:30 a.m.: Leave for a lunch with an existing investor. This lunch was arranged to discuss a potential investment in a new company that we are floating. Over lunch, you discuss the existing performance of the company, general market conditions and what differences the new investment would mean to his portfolio.
2:00 p.m.: Arrive back from lunch to respond to e-mails and voice messages. Respond to the e-mails, and continue to write the monthly newsletter, researching the macro economic conditions for the past month.
4:00 p.m.: Arrange meetings with potential investors for the flotation. Continue with the monthly newsletter -this usually takes a few full days to complete since the coordination of the different departments can be timely.
5:30 p.m.: Leave for a dinner with a potential investor and a corporate financier to discuss the investor’s potential investment into a new flotation the firm is launching. Over dinner, you discuss the existing performance of our IPO’s, general market conditions and what investing in the new company would mean to his portfolio.
8:00 p.m.: After dinner, grab a cab home and crash.
The role will include the following:
- Building and maintaining a database of existing and potential investors
- Keeping investors informed
- Identifying and educating new investors about your company
- Preparing presentations
- Briefing colleagues
- Co-ordinating relationship management internally and externally
- Monitoring the success of fund raising programmes
How do I get a graduate scheme / internship / entry level job or career in Investor Relations?
Obtaining a graduate scheme, internship or entry level role in Investor Relations can be very challenging and competitive – though very achievable by getting your application, CV, interview and general approach right. You can guarantee that ninety percent of applicants for Investor Relations roles will not know how to apply, so getting your application in the top ten percent makes things a lot more achievable.
Approaching the company in the right way will make all the difference. Combining the right approach with a strong interview (and in some cases assessment centre) writ a strong focused tailored CV will go a long way. Make sure you have gone through the free videos on this sight by entering your name and email address in the top right of this screen underneath the video. Once you have filled this in you will have instant access to everything you need to secure your career in Investor Relations.
