Investment Banking - Personal Trading Compliance

I interned in an industry coverage group last summer and start full-time in the same industry coverage group in August. I own shares in two companies in said coverage group. I know there are fairly strict restrictions on personal trading especially in coverage groups. Note: these two companies have both been clients of my bank but not in my term of employment. In a perfect world I could hold these shares for 5+ years and wait for the commodity cycle to hopefully rebound but c'est la vie. The way I see this, I have two options.

1.) Sell my shares before I begin work in the next 3 months. One at a ~50% loss and the other at a ~80% loss as both have been thrashed since mid-January.

2.) Hold onto my shares, get my holdings cleared with compliance, and hold onto these companies for potentially several years as I do not know how or when I will get clearance through compliance to sell these shares.

Has anyone been in a similar experience? For those of you that work in coverage groups - have you ever owned shares in companies in your coverage group? How should I bring this up with compliance as I get my on-boarding paperwork finished in the following months? I do not want to sell at a several thousand dollar loss but I would rather do that than be in hot water with compliance on my first day of Full-Time work. Thank you!

3 Comments
 

At RBC it's not a big deal. Analysts buy shares in companies that are about to be acquired all the time. Just take a look at what an analyst made off of an investment last year! This kid went to NYU and is making huge bucks.

Honest answer: You can always ask HR if you can speak to a compliance person and ask them this very same question..

I think you might want to gift the shares to a family member that (DOES NOT LIVE WITH YOU) and have them hold on to it. In my opinion, compliance may force you to sell if you hold on to them. Make sure you do not fucking sell those shares.

 

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