Recruiting for European banks from U.S. school?

I'm a student at a top U.S. public university and I am interested in positions in project finance. Only issue is, all the big players in project finance seem to be European (SocGen, CA, BNPP, HSBC, RBS). I can't help but think that being in the U.S. will make it difficult to land interviews with these European banks (I don't think any of the banks mentioned above recruit at my school).

So my question is -- how receptive are the European banks to off-campus applications from U.S.-based students? Does anyone have experience successfully making this kind of jump? My background is East Asian and I am more than willing to move to HK / Singapore, if that's relevant.

 

Do you want to stay in the US or work in Asia? Most of the banks you mentioned will have structured programs of some sort that will place analysts into their project finance groups. Unlike US banks, the banks you mentioned might very well offer more flexibility in joining without going through campus recruitment. Definitely look at their website to see if they list graduate program applications (they probably do, but perhaps not in your target geography) and try to network (alumni, linkedin...).

Also you're missing Mizuho, BTMU and SMBC from your list - especially if you're targeting project finance in Asia.

 

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