Corporate Banking to Fixed Income AM?
Hello all. I'm currently a second year analyst heading into my third year (starting in July) in corporate banking coverage at a large BB. For comp, I stood at $140k ($85k base, $55k bonus) in 2020-21 and expect 2021-22 to be roughly $160k (mainly due to base salary increase to $105k). I do enjoy the position and still hold the view that the senior level (MD/D) of corporate banking is one of the best hours/compensation ratio. That being said, I look down that career path and see that it does not challenge me or allow me to challenge myself as often as I would like. Because of this realization, I've been doing some research into other career paths and I've concluded that fixed income AM may be a good fit for me.
I currently cover Insurance clients in my role. Because of this, I have gotten a good amount of insight into the investment operations of large insurers and their decision making processes at a senior level (asset allocations, investment strategies, etc.). I don't know very much about the experience of a junior employee at one of these investment management arms of a large insurer. I've worked very closely with the DCM team at my bank the past two years and have a solid understanding around the process of issuing all types of investment grade debt, and the conversations between the issuer, investment bank, and investors. Out of all of my current responsibilities, working on a debt transaction or helping one of our clients with a markets solution for their investment management arm has been the most interesting. I am looking to get more exposure to higher leveraged clients and have developed an interest in investing lower down the capital stack into subordinated or mezzanine positions.
The goal of this post is to figure out what I need to know in order to best approach the application process and to get a sense of how competitive my application would be (and if not very, the best steps to take to improve it). I went to a non-target undergrad and double majored in Finance and another non-business major with a 3.5 GPA and was on the board of directors at my school's investment fund ($500k total AUM, individually managed ~$40k in my sector). I think the ideal employers for my specific set of skills is with the investment management arm of large insurers, given that I have experience with a variety of their overall business models and have exposure to their operations and objectives within the broader organization.
Appreciate anyone with a unique insight into the industry or if anyone has seen already existing resources that I should check out. Thanks in advance!
Edit: Don't know why the US-Midwest and Middle East tags are showing up and can't get rid of them. I'm located in NYC.
IMO you would be able to get some interviews. Assuming you are looking at FI research roles I would emphasize the credit skillset you have started to develop in CB. I don't know much about CB but think about some of the 'hairier' companies you worked with, highlight exposure to reading credit docs, and any modeling you have done. As for the insurance side, that might help on margin but at the end of the day those research roles are still fundamental credit work so that will trump any speciality insurance knowledge you have developed, more of a PM consideration. Looking into the trading dynamics of credit (need only the high level stuff), yields/spreads/duration etc, and understanding relative value are ways to improve yourself from an interview perspective as those are important and probably stuff you haven't seen as much of in your role. Also consider interviewing for equity research job's at an AM where you would work with/for the Financials/Insurance analysts, could be an interesting move and they would value the industry knowledge more-so than a credit role would.
Thanks for the suggestions, really appreciate the advice. I'm pretty unfamiliar with the title progression in research. Is it the same Analyst - Associate - VP structure as it is in banking (therefore I should look for senior analyst / associate roles)? I think in sell side equity research I recall the Analyst being the top guy that covers a given client, maybe it's different for the buy side? Any info on where you think I would fall into the progression would be super helpful. Would the 2 years in CB translate into anything in AM or would I essentially be starting at 0 YE given the jump in responsibilities?
Sed dicta fugit asperiores soluta necessitatibus inventore qui. Et sit vero consequatur accusantium sequi accusantium eos. Omnis assumenda qui ut molestiae officiis fugiat ab. Id qui et repellendus earum. Nemo sit similique quo ad iure eius sequi dolorem.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...