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From Prime Minister to Goldman Senior Advisor

Rishi Sunak, former prime minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the conservative party from 2022 to 2024, is set to rejoin Goldman Sachs as a Senior Advisor. According to David Solomon, Sunak will be be focused on international relations with clients along with supporting the cultural development of the bank. Sunak previously worked for Goldman Sachs as a summer intern in 2000 and as an analyst from 2001 to 2004. Sunak also co-founded an investment firm where he specialized in International relationships with companies.
Why it matters: Understanding and being up-to-date with international business is crucial for navigating our increasingly interconnected world.

Tip: If you’re studying finance or accounting in school, it’s important to spend some extra time studying international business. It will help you develop a broad global business perspective, allowing you to broaden your horizons on how a business is ran across multiple cultures and countries.

Big U.S Banks (JPMorgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo) Surge During Q2

JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo all reported strong earnings at the end of the second quarter. JPMorgan +7%, Citigroup +15%, Wells Fargo +8%. Citigroup stock price reached it’s highest level since 2008. Big banks are back in deal mode. If momentum continues, expect increased hiring, strong bonuses, and more analyst/associate work tied to IPOs, M&A, and debt deals. This rebound is great news for aspiring investment bankers — especially those entering recruiting in late 2025/early 2026.

Student Takeaway: Now’s a great time to break into the industry, or to start wanting/looking to break in. The rebound in M&A and capital markets means more deal activity, more hiring, and better exit opportunities —especially at firms like JPMorgan, Citi, Wells Fargo, and many others.

Definition: Synergies refer to the idea that two companies together are worth more than the sum of their parts. When firms merge, they often expect to reduce costs or increase revenue in ways they couldn’t achieve alone.

2 Types: Cost Synergies and Revenue Synergies

-Cost Synergies: These are savings that result from eliminating redundancies or combining operations.

Examples:

💡 Typical in horizontal mergers (between similar businesses).

-Revenue Synergies: These are new income streams made possible by the merger.

Examples:

💡 Often harder to forecast and riskier to rely on in valuations.

Why Synergies Matter: They help justify the premium paid in mergers and acquisitions by showing how the combined company can generate more value than the two firms separately. They can come from cost savings (like eliminating duplicate departments) or revenue growth (like cross-selling products). Accurately projecting and realizing synergies is critical for achieving strong returns and making a deal accretive. In valuation models like DCFs or merger models, synergies directly increase projected cash flows and company value.

Mistake: Rambling or Over-Explaining

Long, unfocused answers lose your interviewer’s attention and make you seem unsure.

To avoid rambling, it helps to structure your answers. For behavioral questions, the STAR method is useful: briefly describe the Situation, explain your Task, focus on the Actions you took, and finish with the Result. For technical questions, start with a short summary of your answer and explain your reasoning step-by-step, but pause to check if the interviewer wants more detail before going further.

Practicing your answers out loud, timing yourself, and trimming unnecessary details can help you get comfortable with concise, confident responses.

In finance, strong technical knowledge is essential, but soft skills like communication, teamwork, and adaptability often make the biggest difference in your career progression. Being able to explain complex financial concepts clearly and confidently—whether to clients, senior management, or colleagues—is crucial. If you can break down numbers into stories that non-experts understand, you become a trusted advisor rather than just a number cruncher.

Over time, these abilities will complement your technical skills and help you stand out in interviews and on the job.

As I stated in last weeks issue, the start of school is drawing closer and closer to us finance and accounting students. Be prepared. And if you’re not a finance or accounting student, try to help out someone who is. Everyone knows just how important connections are in this industry, especially someone that can be a mentor and lead us in the right direction. Students, put yourself out there. Find someone who is willing to take a chance on your and pour their time into your success.

Welcome to Campus Capital. Each week, we’ll break down the finance world in 5 minutes or less.
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My name is Braunsen Bax, I’m a honors finance and accounting student-athlete at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois (45 mins outside of Chicago). I graduated from Walton High School in Marietta Georgia. Outside of the classroom I compete in the throws events for the Track & Field team, 35 time NCAA DIII national champions. I’ve had a love of finance and the business world since my sophomore year of high school and started Campus Capital to share that love with my community and like minded individuals in a similar position, with similar goals. My mission is to help people like me shape their futures to ensure they reach their goals while being up to date and educated in the Finance industry.