Difference Between AM at a Bank vs AM Firms (Blackrock etc)

What is the difference between AM at a bank vs AM at one of the large institutional asset managers like Blackrock, Fidelity, etc)? Also is the AM at banks more wealth management/individual focused or is that a separate division?

14 Comments
 
Most Helpful

One's independent and the other is under a corporate parent?

EDIT: not sure why this got MS? The AM arm of a bank is in the exact same business doing the exact same thing as an independent AM firm: offering active or passive fund products in various asset classes / strategies to retail and institutional investors for a fee.

The main difference is the ownership - being under a corporate parent means you're more beholden to corporate bureaucracy, decisions made at the top aren't always in your division's best interests and bonus pools can get torpedoed based on terrible firmwide performance even if the AM division does well.

PWM: servicing wealthy individuals / families and small asset owners then (more often than not) outsourcing the AM part to external managers is not AM. It can be if the firm / group has an in-house investment team with their own funds / strategies but that would only be for the investment team. The advisor is still mostly a relationship manager

 

Thanks for explaining this it was helpful. Do you know which banks AM divisions are highly ranked? (AM divisions that are separate from the PWM divisions) Also, (as an example using JPM Asset & Wealth Mgmt here) is divisons that are called Asset & wealth mgmt just classifying the two under the same umbrella which are actually 2 separate divisions? Or is this really just the wealth management divison?

 

Firms like JPM have both. The JP Asset Mgmt has a division that manages assets / builds portfolios, etc like a fund. It also has a division that handles distribution of that asset mgmt to both institutional clients and retail advisors. They also have a Wealth Management arm which is similar to Private Banking dealing directly with ultra high net worth. All of them fall under JPM Asset Mgmt. You have to know which division you are speaking to.

 

Could you explain the differences? Is AM at a bank the same thing as PWM at the bank? Or are those two separate divisions and what I'm assuming the banks that call their division 'Asset & Wealth Management' is just PWM?

 

Est aspernatur dolore error qui. Est tenetur iusto culpa molestiae eius ab ut labore. Omnis illum vel et dicta ea consequuntur. Hic at sed nesciunt velit iste neque aperiam hic. Officiis numquam et a et est dolore officiis.

Enim velit eum quisquam voluptatem eligendi quia architecto. Iste est vel ut. Laborum voluptatum consequatur est aut ipsum non.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”