Zurich vs. London vs. FFM

Hi Guys,

how do you see Zurich and FFM compared to London for an M&A Analyst position in terms of
(a) Exit Ops / moving into Private Equity / HF after Analyst years
(b) salary and general lifestyle
(c) exposure to big deals / impact on big deals ?
(d) how hard it is to get into a full time analyst position

For example, do HH firms for PE positions in London also look at candidates from Zurich?

Would it be possible to move from FFM or Zurich to London after your analyst years?

I was surprised that I didn't find much information on that here on WSO.

thanks for your help!

(And do not get confused with my username. I'm not asking for myself)

 
Best Response

I'm interested in this as well, especially for FFM vs. Zurich. I don't know anything about IBD in Zurich but do all the major banks do have IBD offices there? I'm asking because I thought that some BBs cover the whole german speaking region (Austria, Switzerland) from Frankfurt..

Regarding lifestyle: This is not first hand knowledge, but I heard that Frankfurt offices work longer hours than the their peers in London, but I'm not sure about that.

In terms of "how hard is it to break in": Me and some of my other friends experienced the interviews in Frankfurt to be much more technical than those in London, but that's just our experience from a few interviews in LND and FFM and it's by no way representative.

 

zrh has the best pay and lifestyle, ffm is just shit in general hours are worse and you're still just in a regional office.

just go to london, fun city, most exposure, best network, deals etc...

zrh is an alternative for more chilled lifestyle with better comp but limits future upside alot, nice place to retire to later on, don't want to stay at london tax rates once you are making actual money (has no real M&A tough but M&A is shit anyway just run your hf from zrh and have the team in london, easy. lots of UK hf guys are doing that).

just stay the fk away from ffm its shit, you work more than london cuz ppl have a huge inferiority complex cuz their just a regional office lol

 
leveredarb:
just stay the fk away from ffm its shit, you work more than london cuz ppl have a huge inferiority complex cuz their just a regional office lol

I agree with that - FFM is really, really bad.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

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I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA

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