Advice - Investment Banking in Asia
Hi All,
I just wanted to get some advice from you guys regarding my current scenario and perhaps get some feedback around my prospects of landing a job in investment banking. In particular, I am aiming to get into a BB firm in Singapore/HK/Shanghai in a year or two's time.
By way of background, I am currently 26 and am from Brisbane, Australia. I am of Chinese origin (moved from Hong Kong to Australia when I was young) and hence, I am fairly fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese (speaking and reading). However, I am unable to write Chinese - which is an area of focus for me in the next two years.
In terms of education, I studied Accounting & Finance at an average university in Brisbane but managed to score fairly high marks. On top of that, I have already finished my Chartered Accounting course (obtaining merits in two subjects) and have passed two levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst Program (still awaiting my results for level three - fingers crossed!!).
I currently work in Corporate Finance at an international mid-tier accounting firm and have been heavily involved with financial modelling, valuation and M&A work for mid-sized clients. Whilst I am a manager in that division, I have only really 2 years of true Corporate Finance experience as I worked as some research analyst in a tax division beforehand.
In terms of my questions:
1. I know that most investment banks have target schools and, unfortunately being situated in Australia.. the schools here are probably not too flash in comparison to those in the States. As a result, I was hoping to get some feedback as to what you guys think my employment prospects would be per my current situation? Do I have no chance?
2. Apart from networking, is there anything I can actually do to improve my prospects, so that I can stand out?
3. I am assuming that I will be targeting the Associate level, if I was to apply for any investment banking position. Is this assumption correct, or am I overshooting in terms of expectations?
4. Are there other options out there I should be considering (i.e. moving to a local big 4 bank and leveraging off their Asian presence for a transfer and then consider moving to a IB?)
Thank you in advance for your recommendations!





I would be thinking about
I would be thinking about getting an MBA at a university which is a target for IBs in those locations. Most associates have MBAs. Plus, this can help make up for your non-target undergrad school.
See my other WSO blog posts
Chinese people love degrees..
Chinese people love degrees..
You should get an MBA. A lot
You should get an MBA. A lot of the associates/analysts in Asia I've met or know of are either planning to get one, in one right now, or already got one. So, basically if your in Asia, going to Stanford GSB, Harvard, Wharton will help alot... Also, as a side note the spots for Asia are not as huge as US so you probably do want to be from a target school.