Rothschild vs Bank of America - London

Hi WSO

Currently deciding between two summer offers for IBD in London for Bank of America and Rothschild. Both offers aren't for a specific team but at Rothschild you get placed into a team for the whole of the internship. At BoA, you work across all teams in the summer and then narrow down where you want to spend more time. 

Would appreciate pointers/thoughts 

 

Roths is as well. Any other reasons for BoA, or in that case take Rothschild?

 

Larger deals on BofA side, better PE placement and opportunity to move to international offices after 2 years

 

How come? If its because more MM deals, I don't really mind that and not having the best PE exit opps. I understand that Roths in London have a strong reputation and are quite prestigious there. Any insights into the culture at both places?

 

I would say that reputation wise BofA is ahead from Rothschild in Europe (in France I wouldnt say so).

Deals are usually larger, but its true that at Roths the deal flow is quite good, a lot of MM deals.

Regarding the culture I cant say much, got some friends at Roths who are working very long hours and same at BofA.

That's why I would focus on fit if prestige/exit opps are not important for you, where I cant give an educated view.

PD: BofA will help you yo get better PE exits or corp development exit due to brand name. Anyways Rothschild is still a great opportunity so take into account the culture you faced during the spring weeks.

 
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LDN is so weird - you have 20 yr old Brits who have never worked a day in their lives having their pick over which SA they want to do because of converted springs. Then they intern with a 27 yr old European with over a year of IB internship experience who barely got an offer.

 

And so what? Is it all about career/IB? Why not use being older, possibly more mature and having more experience both on and off the job to your advantage? Basically all continental Europeans (assuming masters or even master 1 & 2 in some cases!) are older than brits! If you think about fairness and who should have what, it won't make you happy at all. A sure path to pure negativity IMO.

Also, I believe it's not our job to think who deserved his seat or not!

 

Most things are debatable like "better" exits, culture, etc. as it entirely depends on you and your long-term goals (MM/MF PE, long-term banking, sector-specific PE/VC, corp dev). However, BAML surely has a better brand name on an international level (think APAC, Americas) but also in Europe IMO as they generally advise on bigger deals. 

Where do you see yourself (i.e which sector/product/geography)? Every bank has their specialities/strengths and I think users could help you a lot more if you could narrow it down if possible :). Appreciate you're quite early on in your career since it's about an SA!

On a personal side note: I think that the rotational character of BAMLs internship is quite nice as you can see more sectors/products and have a higher potential to find teams/people you vibe with!

 

Thanks this is helpful. 

Yeah I feel there's not much in it in terms of brand name in London/Europe as Rothschild is also a well known name and is n1 in volume. 

Geography, tbh i'm not really interested in international. I pretty easily see myself working in london for life so emea geography focus.

Sectors, I think TMT, healthcare, real estate and energy/natural resources are all pretty cool. I think I'd find interesting aspects working in all of them but i'm pretty open. 

Products, I'm inclined to say m&a but that's also what i've had most exposure to. It would also give the most options to work with the other products down the line because of strong technical skills developed vs ecm/dcm but happy to be corrected on this. 

I agree about the rotational bit of the BoA internship, that is attractive. How much of a substitute is a lot of networking pre the internship to get a feel of the different teams and people?

 

Since you have such a broad sector interest I would highly suggest you try out BAML's internship. If I recall correctly, you are able to try out 2-3 different teams (at least pre-COVID). Especially since industries like NatRes, HC and RE are as different from each other as sectors can be (re. valuation/modelling, business models, etc.)! You could also try to have a stint in their M&A or LevFin teams and see if you could see yourself as a product banker? Not to sh*t on Roths but it was incredibly helpful for me to have seen multiple industries and products before trying to settle on a single team for FT!

Regarding reaching out to people pre-internship: IMO networking is like dating. It's nice to chat/text with someone you've met online to test the waters but it's by no means a substitute to spending weeks/months together side-by-side before calling someone your significant other. Agree?

It's always gonna be like doing due diligence as you can never be 100% sure how it's gonna be before you're actually there and hitting the desk. At least you can dodge a complete cultural fit fallout with the rotational nature as you can see different teams! Honestly, that's the most important part. Being part of the top-notch team of the city is worth exactly nothing if you can't bear the sight of your colleagues/seniors.

 

Given your sector preferences

From BofA

- NRG team is usually top3, normally leading it. Very strong sell-side franchise

- TMT ranked 4th normally, one of the fastest growing teams

- RE franchise usually behind JP, providing one of the best RE exits 

- Healthcare usually top3, very large deals and with one of the best hours in the street

Regarding to the culture its difficult to say, networking is one thing, working along them is another stuff

 

Any way to find the info for Rothschild as a student w/o factset etc susbscription? I know CRL/Healthcare are strong for Roths but would be interested to see how they do in other teams

 

Most of the stuff on this thread isn't really that beneficial to you. From the way you're responding it sounds like you're leaning towards Roth's.

What I think it comes down to is three key things: Firstly, you've done a week at both- what did you prefer? I think it is pretty problematic that you're asking on here as in reality these are both great places and you should just reflect on YOUR experience. Secondly, do you prefer working in an environment of an independent advisory firm or that of a large American bank, because there is a considerable difference. Thirdly, how much of an industry preference do you have. The generalist nature of a summer at BoA is basically what sets it apart from other BB SA roles.

I would also hesitate to compare based on exit-ops or prestige. The former is mainly dependent on you, both those places are v reputable and you can get buy-side looks (although less recruit from R than BoA, which can explain the difference in numbers on that front). The latter is a manifestation of this site- most people in London don't care and also realise all these firms are great, just different.

 

Both are great places to work - culture wise and reputationally, well done for converting springs into summers for both places. 

As other people have mentioned, it depends on a few things:

  • Your preference from SW
  • Whether you want to move out of Europe - in Europe both are relatively equal, but in the USA ovbs BoA is stronger
  • How strong is your desire to work in a particular team? Given you lack of exp rn I would suggest keeping your options as open as possible, often you may not enjoy working in a sector even if you enjoy the economics of the sector etc
  • PE Exits - with both being highly regarded, your skill level, deal experience and languages will matter much more than the firm name between these two
  • Average summer internship conversion rates? - the main aim of the summer is to convert to a FT. I suspect the conversion rates are p similar between the two but worth keeping in mind

Hope this helps

 

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