Forget Wall Street lingo. The language Citigroup Inc. Wants its incoming investment bank analysts to know is Python.
The computer-programming language will be taught as part of training classes for the bank’s analysts who start in July, said Lee Waite, who leads the markets and securities-services unit in North America. The New York-based bank is testing adding the classes to the curriculum after traders expressed interest in this type of continuing education, he said.
“We’re moving more quickly into this world,” Waite said in a interview. “At least an understanding of coding seems to be valuable.”
Financial firms have turned to digital tools to help cut costs and improve trading and investment-banking revenue. Banks have grown to value good coding skills nearly as much as finance degrees from elite business schools.
There’s support for the training from the top. Paco Ybarra, Citigroup’s global head of markets and securities services, has also taken a version of the Python class, Waite said.