Market Oversight Graduate Programme 2024

At the FCA, we regulate the conduct of nearly 50,000 businesses in the UK to ensure that our financial markets are honest, competitive and fair.  Our ambition is to become a more innovative, more assertive and more adaptive regulator; one that fully capitalises on data and technology, ensures consumer protection and market integrity, and responds well to the challenges we face.  

We’re looking graduates to join our diverse and highly capable teams across the FCA

About the programme

Programme Length: Two years

Programme Type: Rotational

The Market Oversight programme is an exciting opportunity to keep your finger on the pulse of the UK financial system. You’ll help ensure financial markets are fair and work effectively by monitoring the securities market for cases of serious misconduct.

In Listing Transactions, you’ll review documentation relating to capital market transactions, prospectuses or seculars, before it gets published to market. Primary Market Oversight focuses on companies and makes sure they are compliant with regulation, while Secondary Market Oversight looks at the conduct of investors, including suspicious trading activity, cyber dealing and market abuse. Here you’ll develop cases for suspected market abuse, analyse financial information and present your findings to team members.

You can expect to be negotiating our local and international policy positions, reviewing Initial Public Offering (IPO) documents and you could even force a company to make an announcement relating to inside information leaks. You’ll be given your own work streams from the get-go and will be given autonomy to lead projects and make your own judgements. Your recommendations can feed into decisions made at every level of the FCA. Making the ‘what next’ decision after university isn’t easy, but if you want variety, challenge and genuine responsibility, our Market Oversight Graduate Programme could be the right choice for you.

Learning and development

As a graduate in Market Oversight, you’ll have the opportunity to study towards an Apprenticeship, Professional Qualification or enrol on a development pathway relevant to your graduate programme. We will also give you the support you need to develop your career at the FCA.

What we look for

We value diversity of thought and therefore welcome applications from graduates with all types of degrees. We look for people who have an interest in the financial wholesale market and those who enjoy solving problems using analytics. You’ll build strong relationships and be a brilliant communicator, both in person and in writing. Learning on the job is a natural part of this programme, so we don't expect you to have a detailed knowledge of regulatory matters, though an interest in the UK regulatory system would be beneficial.

What we offer

We’re committed to making the FCA a great place to work. We do this by:

• providing a rewarding environment, recognising that our people are motivated by meaningful work
• maintaining a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, allowing people to develop and progress without barriers
• looking after the well-being of our people, ensuring that they are safe and well and appropriately cared for
• promoting an environment in which people are valued and respected

Beyond this, we offer all our graduates a competitive range of benefits, including: 

• Base salary of £36,000  
• Flexible working options
• Private health care
• Career and family leave 
• Non-contributory pension
• Charity and volunteering initiatives 
• Minimum of 25 days’ holiday 
• Sports and social clubs 
• Subsidised on-site fitness centre (London only) 
• Free eye tests 
• Subsidised restaurant 
• Interest-free season ticket loans.  

Please note

• We only accept ONE application per person for our 2024 programmes, therefore, please apply to your first-choice programme. Any additional applications will not be progressed.
• For the 2024 Market Oversight Graduate Programme, submit your online application by Sunday 12th November 2023. However, we recruit on a rolling basis and therefore encourage early applications.
• Applicants must have obtained or be on track to achieve a minimum 2:1 degree from any university.
• Applicants for the 2024 graduate programmes must have graduated or be in their final year of study.
• Your application and any work you submit throughout the recruitment process must be all your own. You will not allow another person to complete any parts of the assessment nor submit responses provided or generated by an AI assistant or other similar software.