So You Want to Work in IB in China?

You’re a non-Chinese who has studied some Mandarin and is now totally inspired to get a super awesome IB job in China? That’s fantastic. Despite my sarcasm and what others may say, it is possible to get a job in investment banking in China as a non-Chinese with subpar Mandarin skills. I did it, and this is how I did it.

Things to know up front
Your best bet if you’re not a native Mandarin speaker is actually to go to Hong Kong or Singapore. Hong Kong naturally has a ton of China business and Singapore has more SE Asia, but both cities are jockeying with each other to be the financial center of Asia. But if you have your heart set on China, your target cities should be Beijing, Shanghai, and a little bit of Shenzhen. Beijing has a lot of IB presence because of the closeness between government and business in China. Shanghai is a more international, more financial city than Beijing. Go to Shanghai if you can- both cities are still backwards and corrupt, but Shanghai is much less so than Beijing.

It’s important to keep in mind that China doesn’t have the domestic M&A culture that the US does. Most of the activity here is related to financing rounds and public listings. Also there is also effectively no market for corporate debt.

“Your Mandarin sucks.”
As a non-native speaker trying to get a job/internship in China, having Mandarin ability shouldn’t be what you emphasize. Even if you have perfect Mandarin, you will still always be an outsider.

Your strong point should be your cross-cultural understanding and your flexibility. You can work both with both sides. Naturally the better your Mandarin, the more opportunities you will have. But try to position yourself as Mr. International; you understand how things work in China and you understand how things work outside China. The other foreigners can trust you because you’re not a sneaky Communist that will screw them at the first opportunity, and the Chinese side will listen to you because they have no idea how to navigate the business world outside China.

How to go about doing it
Although it can be done while living outside China, realistically you need to be here. You need a Chinese address on your resume to get people to pay attention to you. As far as I know you can still get a 12 month multiple-entry tourist visa to get you over here so you can hit the ground. Don’t find an apartment on your own. Live with a friend or a family. Even better, make friends with a Chinese person at your home university whose family might let you live with them for a month or two. The key here is flexibility; you don’t know which city or even where within a city you’re going to end up. There’s no point in locking yourself into an expensive long-term lease right away.

Unless you’re a native Mandarin speaker, don’t waste your time with the global full-service houses.

Focus your efforts on the small boutiques that have an international or cross-border interest. Check out the bios of the people that work there. Are there already any non-Chinese? If not, move on for two reasons: 1) if they wanted a non-Chinese they would have one already and 2) if they did hire you, there’s a good chance you might not do any real work and end up just being the junior token white guy.

Reach out the same way you would in the US: Linkedin, alumni directory, Google, etc.; but you want to be 100% focused on actually meeting the people, rather than just phone calls. Send cold emails not asking for a phone chat, but instead asking for a time to meet for coffee. Something along the lines of “I’m going to be in Shanghai and would like to pay you a courtesy visit. Might you be available for coffee after 2pm on next Tuesday or Wednesday?”

Throw any expectations about pay out the window. You have to be willing to work for a month or two for free. It not only gives the firm a chance to see if they like you, but also gives you a chance to figure out if you like the firm and how legitimate it is. Also once you do start getting paid, it won’t be anywhere close to what you would make working anywhere outside China, or even in Hong Kong.

Amount and type of work, as well as the number of hours are all completely variable. I once interned for a firm where everybody left the office at 5pm on the dot.

I’d be happy to expand on any points, or answer any questions in the comments.

 

"2) if they did hire you, there’s a good chance you might not do any real work and end up just being the junior token white guy." because obviously everyone with this ambitions is a white. guy.

"Dont compromise yourself; you're all you've got" - Janis Joplin
 

I'm a native and I don't want to work in the mainland.

The pay is ten times lower (maybe exagerated). You don't get much leverage and the market has a lot of restrictions that aren't found elsewhere. Home prices matches that in Manhattan and car is double/triple state price. You need to "leap over the wall" to browse facebook/twitter. The gov runs like a mob and collects protection every once in a while. And there's tons of pollution and people.

WHY ON EARTH do you want to do IB in the mainland as a foreigner?

This is my 2 cents. I may move to Hong Kong or Singore if I have a mid-level crysis and cannot do anything about it.

I know that diamonds mean money for this art, but that's not the shape of my heart.
 
Best Response
leonrox:
I'm a native and I don't want to work in the mainland.

The pay is ten times lower (maybe exagerated). You don't get much leverage and the market has a lot of restrictions that aren't found elsewhere. Home prices matches that in Manhattan and car is double/triple state price. You need to "leap over the wall" to browse facebook/twitter. The gov runs like a mob and collects protection every once in a while. And there's tons of pollution and people.

WHY ON EARTH do you want to do IB in the mainland as a foreigner?

This is my 2 cents. I may move to Hong Kong or Singore if I have a mid-level crysis and cannot do anything about it.

I second leonrox. I am close to native and work at a local bank here. Pay for our bank is actually not too far off from HK level pay, especially if you work for a top local firm (banking and PE) but the experience here is not exactly transferable to anywhere else in the world. There is a complete lack of the "institutional relationships" between banks and large MNC firms you see in developed markets, i.e. to win business, you better know people and suck up either through wining and dining or hiring the clients kid. While a lot more firms who decide to embark on an IPO or some other capital markets activity do send out RFPs, relationship is still key. Even on the buyside, MD level PE guys are out all the time wining and dining CEOs/Government Officials, trying to source quality deals. When you start executing transactions, you go through a ton of red tape, filling out a shit ton of "red heading" documents which are reviewed and stamped by various government agencies (think national development & reform commission, ministry of commerce, CSRC, etc). It's a pain in the ass for local people to deal here and a even bigger pain in the ass for foreigners.

 

Hong Kong is one of my top 3 choices upon graduation.. How do you convey "cross-cultural understanding" through your resume and show that you're not just going to move back home after 2 years? I'm assuming that's the really tough part because I heard recruiters are wary of foreign applicants for such reasons.

 

"As far as I know you can still get a 12 month multiple-entry tourist Visa to get you over here so you can hit the ground. "

12 month tourist Visa? Don't think it exists. I'm here on a formal work Visa, but I often hear of friends, contacts who operate here in the legal gray area going on "Visa runs" to Hong Kong to extend/swap tourist visas.

" if they did hire you, there’s a good chance you might not do any real work and end up just being the junior token white guy."

Think that's a real risk. Have heard of situation where dude was doing VC outside of Tier 1 + Shenzhen and was doing some editing essentially. Not much else. But did not hear it from horse's mouth.

I'd be interested to hear more about your situation or if you genuinely think there are many opportunities like you're describing....personally I doubt that there really are and that its easier to be recruited over in U.S. and moved to Shanghai.

(Not in IB)

 

Does Mainland China banks/foreign banks in Mainland offer any summer IB internships? Going into freshman year at a Canadian target (which is semi-target by American standard?) without much finance experience.

If I were to do an internship in Canada I will be lucky to just land a PWM for freshman summer, but if I could somehow leverage being fluent in Mando/Canto (native chinese here) and coming from a university that has ties with HKU and Beijing U/Tsinghua U + prehaps offer to work unpaid would give me a great start among my peers.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

It always amuses me when my Chinese friends tell me they've done an "internship" in China with a Chinese firm.

First of all, internships is a North American thing. In places like China, Australia or even Europe, your first work experience is what you get after graduation. The concept of hiring a dumb college kid like me for 2 months doesn't exist.

So whenever you hear people say they've done an "internship" in China, they are most likely kids of immigrants parents, who called up their friends back home. 99% of the time, these "internships" are acquired through informal channels. As I stated before, the concept of an internship doesn't exist in China.

 
Beretta:
It always amuses me when my Chinese friends tell me they've done an "internship" in China with a Chinese firm.

First of all, internships is a North American thing. In places like China, Australia or even Europe, your first work experience is what you get after graduation. The concept of hiring a dumb college kid like me for 2 months doesn't exist.

So whenever you hear people say they've done an "internship" in China, they are most likely kids of immigrants parents, who called up their friends back home. 99% of the time, these "internships" are acquired through informal channels. As I stated before, the concept of an internship doesn't exist in China.

Actually, I disagree. Internships does exist in China. In fact, you can find many F500 and consulting internships (maybe less for banking) postings on the internet and apply. I have noticed that in China a lot more F500 companies offer internships/part-time internships, as opposed to HK or SG, due to the lower wages. And most Chinese students take time off school to do internships. You just have to get used to working for RMB100 a day.

 
Beretta:
It always amuses me when my Chinese friends tell me they've done an "internship" in China with a Chinese firm.

First of all, internships is a North American thing. In places like China, Australia or even Europe, your first work experience is what you get after graduation. The concept of hiring a dumb college kid like me for 2 months doesn't exist.

So whenever you hear people say they've done an "internship" in China, they are most likely kids of immigrants parents, who called up their friends back home. 99% of the time, these "internships" are acquired through informal channels. As I stated before, the concept of an internship doesn't exist in China.

  1. This statement is completely incorrect. Internships certainly do exist in Australia and China. Every BB, boutique and even commerical banks have substantial internship programs for penultimate year students.

  2. Given all the discussion around recruiting on this forum - is securing an internship position through informal channels really a bad thing? I think not, networking pays off.

 

Beretta you are wrong. There are plenty of internships in China nowadays. I don't know if there is on-campus recruiting per se, but there certainly are resume drops and plenty of internship postings online. I myself did one at a boutique last summer in Shanghai and learned an incredible amount. And even though I am an ABC I did not get it through family connections, but by networking with an alum who is white.

Internships are still a relatively new concept but for locals it is more common for Chinese to do full-time internship placements during the school year like they do in the UK. It is even more common to do so during your fourth year.

Most of my native Chinese friends don't want to work in China INITIALLY because yes the pay is low and the training isn't as good. Additionally, since they are on a China passport they want to experience working life in the US since it will be harder to do so if they start out in China and try to transfer later on in their career.

Personally I want to work in China because it's a great experience and since I grew up in the US, China is still new and fascinating to me. The pay is low but if you want to build a career in China you have to become fluent in Mandarin. I wasn't going to improve my Mandarin in New York and wanted to come here while I didn't have any strings attached or girlfriend in the US holding me back. The difference between me and a native Chinese is that they already are fluent in Mandarin and understand the culture. If you're an ABC, you're still a foreigner and you have to commit your time to learning the language and the local business culture. Lastly, international experience looks great when applying to business school. Showing that you had the balls to move to a foreign country by yourself, networking to break into IB, and committing to learn a difficult language is looked upon favorably, I would assume. After an MBA I imagine pay would be at or near international wages, if you do choose to return.

There are a lot of restrictions on the mainland and many industries are premature or heavily controlled by the government, but it is very, very interesting to see how it all changes and evolves firsthand rather than reading about it from a cubicle in New York. Additionally, from what I've noticed you do get a fair amount of responsibility because the teams are smaller and the corporate culture is more relaxed. Analysts in HK regularly accompany their seniors to meetings/pitches with clients on the mainland. It sucks because you're working 100-120 hours on top of flying every week or every other week, but the exposure is great.

 
Jamin:
When you say studying "some" Mandarin, what was your ability going into this?
I studied 8 semesters in college and lived in China for 2 summers. Upon arrival my ability was such that I could make conversation, but couldn't do any type of business-level work unless it was written correspondence and I had my dictionary nearby.
c_z:
Curious to hear what type of firm and work you are doing and plans for next 5 years?
I work for a small firm that focuses on putting together cross-border strategic partnerships / M&A between Chinese and non-Chinese companies. The firm's partners are mostly former senior management from investment banks and insurance companies in HK. My work includes the standard powerpoint stuff and some financial modeling but not much because nobody actually believes numbers here. I also have to go out and try to win new business too. So I'm doing work at all levels of the job-title food chain.

5 years from now I don't see myself in China. At some point you in essence have to make the decision as to whether you want to commit long-term to being a "China guy" or not, which can pigeon-hole you if you ever want to get out. Also I'm just getting burned out on living in China.

BTbanker:
Sooo, why would anyone want to do IB in China? Not being facetious.
The reason I went for it was because I wanted to combine my interest in China with my interest in banking.
Pancakes:
Hong Kong is one of my top 3 choices upon graduation.. How do you convey "cross-cultural understanding" through your resume and show that you're not just going to move back home after 2 years? I'm assuming that's the really tough part because I heard recruiters are wary of foreign applicants for such reasons.
Study abroad in non-English speaking environments definitely helps. Also check out if your school has any semester courses about business in a particular country (my school had one for China) that includes a two week study trip to whatever country to do company visits, etc.

Of course its risky, but moving over there without a job in hand (as long as you can afford it) would be one of the best ways to demonstrate your commitment.

Culcet:
You read this article?
I hadn't before, but thank you for sharing it. A very good article, and I agree strongly with most of his points.
wotingyu:
12 month tourist Visa? Don't think it exists. I'm here on a formal work Visa, but I often hear of friends, contacts who operate here in the legal gray area going on "Visa runs" to Hong Kong to extend/swap tourist visas.

I'd be interested to hear more about your situation or if you genuinely think there are many opportunities like you're describing....personally I doubt that there really are and that its easier to be recruited over in U.S. and moved to Shanghai.

It does, I had one issued in the US. Valid for entry for 12 months, but only 90 days per entry, which means I had to go to HK or Macau or wherever every three months.

There is a massive gray market for visas in the Mainland. What type of Visa you want depends on how much cash you're willing to part with.

There are definitely opportunities- not a lot and they aren't always easy to find, but they are out there. Working in the US and then being transferred over is possible with the larger banks, but not likely until you're at the VP-level unless they for some weird reason had an immediate shortage of analysts. And even then unless you were a native Mandarin speaker, they'd probably send you to HK or Singapore instead of Shanghai.

Mr.Saxman:
Does Mainland China banks/foreign banks in Mainland offer any summer IB internships? Going into freshman year at a Canadian target (which is semi-target by American standard?) without much finance experience.

If I were to do an internship in Canada I will be lucky to just land a PWM for freshman summer, but if I could somehow leverage being fluent in Mando/Canto (native chinese here) and coming from a university that has ties with HKU and Beijing U/Tsinghua U + prehaps offer to work unpaid would give me a great start among my peers.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Yes the major banks offer internships, but unless you're a native speaker and your mom and dad are connected Mainlanders, don't bother applying.

Having "ties" to Beida or Tsinhgua wouldn't really mean anything unless you actually attended the school. If you're at a "target" in Canada, definitely use the alumni directory.

 

How would mainland China view a tall white guy - I'm 6'4 with striking good looks and great hair. SB for good answers. Really want to go to China for two years and work. US Citizen.

 
Ches:
How would mainland China view a tall white guy - I'm 6'4 with striking good looks and great hair. SB for good answers. Really want to go to China for two years and work. US Citizen.

Would definitely recommend going to do some study before working there.

 

Well, I think HK can be a good start. Shanghai or Beijing are still very Chinese centric in terms of culture and language and working environment and for a western background, breaking into HK with a good white guy look is actually a plus.

Dreams get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants can get you a long way.
 

If you're interested in China or the Chinese culture, take a few weeks off and travel around the country. I really don't think its worth it to be working there unless you're truly committed.

As for internships, yes there are definitely those F500 companies that offer structured programs but I feel the majority of internships there aren't too structured.

 

For what it's worth, I spent a summer working at a private equity shop in Shanghai. I don't know any Mandarin, and was completely fine (for this admittedly short period of time). I encountered more language-barrier-related difficulties outside the office. Shanghai and Hong Kong are remarkably different cities, and I would caution anyone thinking of heading over there to spend some time figuring out exactly which type of Asian market he or she is looking for.

MJS
 

there'll always b consistent reports for ER while IBD is dependent on deal flow esp in China/HK

it'll def b bad if u renege 1 week b4, no doubt about that - r u in HK or mainland?

in China local firms dominate , CITIC CICC and SWS are all excellent names lol - but UBS is also very strong as is MS

i think u answered ur pwn question when u stated u liked ER more, exit opps better, and JV are dying out

I believe u r jus trying to justify reneging, just do it no one will care since u'll b working in China

"so i herd u liek mudkipz" - sum kid "I'd watergun the **** outta that." - Kassad
 

I'm in mainland and indeed leaning towards ER a little, but I'm pretty sure ER in China are already very crowded and it will be like mission impossible to get return offer unless you are both exceptional and lucky. IBD is relatively less crowded although it's very hard to get in as well. I just want to get a FT offer in the end no matter what I do lol. Just trying to hear more thoughts, thank you for the reply!

 

I also think the heat of IPO is dying out in China. I am working as a SA in an IBD of a Boutique in HK, and it's quite true that we have very few deals going on, and that's why I am bullshitting here during office hour DAMN... I would say as long as it's a front office job like ER, it will not be difficult for you to switch to a IBD job when the market gets better...

 

Hey OP I am working as a SA in a JV IBD as well. The work is indeed quite painful for the first week but hopefully I could be staffed on some M&A deals. Personal opinion: take UBSS over MS HX and JPMFC. UBSS should have better deal flows. I have some friends in buy-side and the dealflow is low as well. I guess that's just the picture.

Also: PM me if you are in BJ.

 

@bullshitmonkey Thanks for your reply, but from what I heard, it'll be difficult to transfer from ER to IBD.

@henryxub My account is too new to PM anyone, but I'd happy to meet up in BJ.

@JYFresh My estimation is ER pays ~10k-12k less than JV IBD.

 

What would you consider as the top banks in China...I know a lot of other foreign banks (U.S. & European) been having issues tapping into China because of the government.

 

Thanks guys for the advice. How do you go about applying to CICC and the US BBs in China as an experienced recruit? I don't think pressing the online send application button will do anything. I'd appreciate any PM for contacts at these places!

 

first and foremost, lifestyle's supposed to be crap in asia apart from longer hours (yes, that's right), there's nowhere to play football, golf, baseball etc... in hk

as for pay, maybe more, and you get housing allowance. of course, you go for the tax rate. mmm... :)

that's the consensus i've heard anyway

 

A lot of the top BB banks took away the housing allowance stipend (~$20k US) last year, so that may be a thing of the past.

While I do agree that living in HK does lack some of the amenities of living in NYC, I would counter that by saying that because you are so close to SE Asia and Thailand and stuff, you have almost unparalleled opportunity to do some traveling in the region if you are interested in that kind of stuff.

 

A lot of the top BB banks took away the housing allowance stipend (~$20k US) last year, so that may be a thing of the past.

While I do agree that living in HK does lack some of the amenities of living in NYC, I would counter that by saying that because you are so close to SE Asia and Thailand and stuff, you have almost unparalleled opportunity to do some traveling in the region if you are interested in that kind of stuff.

 
gammaovertheta:
Not interested in HK IBD, but for the sake of English readers, do you care to give a brief summary in English? Just a handfull of key points would suffice

There's not much interesting info in that document. It's basically talking about various valuation methods & the pros/cons of each method.

 

This is just a training manual put together by China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC) for basic valuation methods using comparable, precedent transaction and DCF. It also talks about IPO & M&A process which you can learn everything from Investment Banking training programs.

Thanks for sharing so that I can practice my Chinese. Native Chinese speaker and I taught myself how to read and speak Chinese (my parents speak a different dialect, not Mandarin Chinese). I am still trying to learn business terms used in IBD in China so this comes in handy.

"I am the hero of the story. I don't need to be saved."
 

Cantonese?

Human:
This is just a training manual put together by China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC) for basic valuation methods using comparable, precedent transaction and DCF. It also talks about IPO & M&A process which you can learn everything from Investment Banking training programs.

Thanks for sharing so that I can practice my Chinese. Native Chinese speaker and I taught myself how to read and speak Chinese (my parents speak a different dialect, not Mandarin Chinese). I am still trying to learn business terms used in IBD in China so this comes in handy.

 
Human:
^Yunan Chinese 云南话. Parent speaks Burmese at home.

Interesting. I've actually never met anyone who's from there. Everyone I know is from either Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or HK.

 

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My name is Nicky, but you can call me Dre.
 

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