First Day

ToBankOrNotToBank — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:13:24 -0400

Out of curiosity, do summer analysts generally meet their group on the first day or is it spent doing administrative tasks and going through training stuff (I guess I'm assuming your group/the actual bankers won't be wasting their time training you?)

Letter of Rec

ToBankOrNotToBank — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 09:45:05 -0400

Kind of a random question...I'm heading into junior year and worked at a F50 company in their commercial finance/lending division this summer (rotating between a bit of underwriting, some capital markets work, basic valuation/pricing of assets and loans, etc.)

My direct manager is the PM for a loan portfolio and I was wondering if it would be worthwhile for me to ask him for a letter of recommendation.

Pink Slips

ToBankOrNotToBank — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:32:42 -0400

Apparently it's started to happen. According to CNNMoney, BSC handed them out today (about a hundred to folks in its subprime credit group) ...how far do you think it'll go?

More importantly, can we all pray that we're heading into another upturn by '09...(can I get an amen from all my upcoming juniors out there?)

sub 13000?

ToBankOrNotToBank — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:18:08 -0400

looks like Dow might close below 13k tomorrow.
and it seems like just ~3 weeks ago the Dow hit 14000...

modeling

ToBankOrNotToBank — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:19:00 -0400

There have been a couple forums on similar issues that I've seen, but with regards to modeling and valuation, I'm confident that all the banks have their own in-house templates they use. Are these the models analysts always use in their day-to-day work or does the nature of the work require creation of models from scratch on-the-go?

My internship this summer isn't at a bank, but we do a lot of valuing and modeling. We always (ALWAYS) use the company's basic model. In situations where the model is too rigid, we'll hard code some additional assumptions or make tweaks (and then have to defend our necessary changes with the higher-ups who ultimately end up acting like the tweaks were their idea anyway...). Just wondering what the deal with banks was because the assets and companies we're working with are usually fairly similar so this approach makes some sense but I can see how a banking analyst would be working with a number of different, varied, and likely more complex companies/assets/etc.

Downsizing of future analyst classes?

ToBankOrNotToBank — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:03:04 -0400

Recently I've been hearing that some of the larger banks are cutting the size of their analyst/summer intern classes in the next couple of years. Specifically I believe Goldman and Bear were mentioned by a friend who interns at the former...anyone else heard anything definitive on the matter? And more importantly, if maybe a couple BBs did follow through on this rumor, would other banks follow suit or would this be isolated?

Quants?

ToBankOrNotToBank — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:28:53 -0400

Where exactly do these guys fit in? I know some of them get into say algorithmic trading and that kind of stuff, but otherwise, I'm really not too sure what they do. Is it accurate to say they're usually on the trading side of things or do they have a niche in IBD or corpfin or anywhere else? I figure I ought to know since quantitative finance is one of the positions my degree supposedly prepares

Fall Internship?

ToBankOrNotToBank — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:17:43 -0400

Hey all, anyone familiar with any firms in New York that take interns during Fall semester (or Spring too I guess)? I'm going to be a junior this fall and go to school in the city. Since my only real internship experience so far has been in commercial lending at a F5 (I did get experience with some modeling (real estate), general familiarity with the capital markets side of business, and some risk management as it pertains to CDO/CMBS products), I want to try and get more relevant experience. Ideally I think I'd like to find a position in S&T but am open to most positions (i.e. CorpFin/IBD/maybe even research or CM) since my interests haven't really solidified yet. If anyone's familiar with any firms (big or small) I'd appreciate any names or info you have.