Dealbreaker makes the amount seem atypical, what do you guys think? Is the environment this rough everywhere? Wonder if it's true about 25k bonus for 1st year associate.
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They are leaving before the shit hits the fan and they will be fired. They probably already have offers from somewhere else. Potentially buy side.
Bump - curious about this one. Anyone know the reason for the departures? few years back seemed like BAML was a top 5 player in M&A and obviously a key figure on the debt front. Were these departures due to low bonuses or shitty culture, etc.?
Both Shitty pay and poor culture/low morale
With a dollar deposit base the size of BAML's my grandma could be top 5 in US M&A league tables. Deploying your balance sheet to buy league table credit isn't exactly something to brag about.
Balance sheet size isn't really related to M&A that much
interesting - thanks for the insight. just comparing this with the situation at UBS, seems like mainly based on low pay which prompts departures, etc whereas UBS looks like its making a strategic shift away from IBD which prompts layoffs, low pay etc
With UBS and BAML you have to keep in mind that the regulatory regime and political climate is completely different. The Swiss banks are at a severe disadvantage to the American banks in many traditional investment banking spaces for regulatory reasons.
While that may be true, Credit Suisse has evidently "weathered the storm," which is manifested by their latest quarterly report. Their investment banking activities are doing quite well, however, I do agree with your qualifier. They are at a disadvantage given the Swiss regulations.
it seems like bonuses are possibly getting cut at european banks too (barcap) so what's left besides GS/MS/JPM? Is Deutsche still in good shape?
How do you guys expect the comp to change for analysts? Will they still break ~$120K ?
Street average for top bucket 1st year analysts was $55k last year right? Pretty sure both BAML and UBS paid higher than that, surprisingly enough
I knw analysts at both UBS and BAML and some 2nd years barely got 55k LOL this is not true. especially with UBS. I knw analysts that got 10k and some that got 0 bonus. where are you getting this info from??
Guys, top bucket is the most optimistic assumption - you'll likely make 10-15k less. Still, gotta love the inflated salaries on WSO.
BofA overall is in trouble their IB business and wealth management business can barley even function. I always wondered why Warren Buffett made a investment in BofA.
This is a ridiculous comment.
BAML top bucket was on-par with street, maybe ~$5k below. The range was a bit wider than some of the BBs that performed well, though. And it is absolutely correct that very few people make the top bucket bonus - that's fairly true across the street.
I dont get this. How can BAML be considered as "do bad" when they are on top of the M&A league YTD according to Bloombergs rankings?
Because - surprise - league tables don't mean anything. Especially league tables that represent 5 months of data. Especially league tables that are skewed by 3 huge deals. Especially for a lending bank that makes WAY more profit off of capital markets transactions than M&A fees.
Also, no one at the Analyst / Associate level (on which this article focuses) cares about league table rankings. They care about buyside placement, group culture and the quality of their work.
See some negative press and people go crazy
This means there are openings. Start the networking
Well, I wish there is. I'll be an summer interning in IBD at BAML, so hopefully conversion rates will be higher than those that I've heard of (~20%).
Where/For what group did you hear that number? From my understanding, SA conversion is much higher. Might be group dependent, though.
LOL. Whoever told you that was trying to scare you. Intern conversion rates are 70-90%, depending on the group.
I remember when I interviewed there back in 2010, an MD who was legacy Merrill Lynch told me the BoA acquisition would hurt the firm's cache and reputation. This certainly must be affecting the ML guys' morale.
I don't know much about pay, but I know a friend who joined a group out of school and the entire group got laid off shortly after. He was lucky enough to be picked up by another group and recently left to join a top boutique. I think it's fair to say things at BAML IB aren't going well.
BAML is not experiencing anything different from any other BB IB at this point. First year analysts leave to go to hedge funds, second years start their jobs early. Associates who don't see a lot of opportunity to climb up the ladder (Common at most banks these days, as senior people aren't leaving) try to head somewhere else. JPM, BAML, CS, DB all in similar situations. Pay overall remains at street level, and while it is true the Consumer Retail group has paid poorly, every bank has a group like that.
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