BofA Wholsale Credit vs Credit Risk
BofA has a global wholesale credit team, which seems to have vaguely similar responsibilities to a typical CIB credit risk team as I understand it, but BofA also has a credit risk team within global risk management and I was wondering what these two teams actually do. From some reading I've done online it seems like wholesale credit is considered FO because they get some client interaction while credit risk is definitely MO. This made me think that wholesale credit might be more like corporate/commercial banking than credit risk but BofA has corporate and commercial banking teams. I'm also curious about what the comp and hours are like at different seniority levels in wholesale credit at BofA.
I can provide some color. Background: I did a stint in BofA WC as an analyst in NYC but have since left to do IB at a BB/EB. Feel free to reply with any questions.
TLDR: consider Credit if you prioritize work-life balance but want exposure to the financial industry.
If I were to summarize WC into two sentences, the function of Wholesale Credit is to underwrite loans (typically credit facilities) to companies or HNW individuals. Financial exposure is limited to looking at the three financial statements for any red flags so little to no modeling work.
The difference between Wholesale Credit and Credit Risk is that WC underwrites the deal/facility and presents it to Credit Risk for input/approval. Credit Risk guys are usually a lot more senior with a lot of experience in lending and are usually VP+ level (0 analysts/associates). WC guys are the foot soldiers (Analysts -- MD) analyzing the financials and putting together the risk ratings and Credit Approval Memos (which are 10-15+ page docs explaining lending thesis and risk mitigation) for Credit Risk.
Groups: Most coveted divisions due to location (NYC) and exit opps are GCIB Credit, Global Markets Credit and CREB (Commercial Real Estate), though quite a few teams within those are also based in Charlotte. Everything else (Commercialized Lending, Middle Market ABL, GWIM, etc.) are not great in terms of exit opps due to the nature of the work and location (very small cap companies, family offices, etc. + based in Charlotte). I have noticed the people in GCIB Credit and Global Markets Credit come from both target and non-target (a few UPenn/Cornell/Columbia kids). The other divisions are almost exclusively non-target.
Hours: Mon-Fri, 9 to 6PM across all levels. I did not work one Sat/Sun. Some VP+ people occasionally leave at 4PM on slow days. You can leave earlier if you/your team have nothing to do. When there is a "fire drill" (very rarely) expect some 9PMs. WFH is completely team-dependent (e.g. GCIB Credit Energy will have different WFH policies than GCIB Credit TMT).
Comp: 1st year analyst base is $75k. 2nd year analyst base is $80k. Bonus dependent on group/team (my annual bonus was $20k last year, which was considered a "bad" year for the bank and bonuses). Not bad considering you work max 45 hours/week and have a lot of downtime during the day (30 of the 45 hours is "real work"). After that, it is all dependent on your background and division/team-- base/bonus is not as standardized as IB. I know of some Directors (age 40-50) who make $500k+ working 9-5PM and some VPs who make ~$150k working the same hours. The best way to get a better comp is to lateral to do Credit at another bank and get a raise.
FO/MO: Combination of both depending on division/team. How it works in GCIB Credit is the corporate bankers (the "Front Line Unit") will send you a potential deal you will have to underwrite but during that process, you have the opportunity to jump on calls with the client if needed (esp. if deal is a bilateral financing). Besides analyzing financials and writing the Credit Memos, you will also have to process the loans and monitor your lending portfolio whenever there is a financial statement released (update your internal risk rating scorecards).
Exit Opps: Not a ton to be completely honest unless you work in GCIB/GMC/CREB for a very financial-analysis focused team with heavy deal flow (e.g. GCIB Credit TMT). The most common exit opp is jumping to another bank or staying in Credit as a career banker. I know some people who have jumped to ER and Sales (S&T) from WC but it took a lot of outside effort and is generally rare to see. A lot of the people in my division are family-oriented and have been with BofA WC for the majority of their careers-- easy to get stuck at the VP level. Contrary to popular belief, Private Credit or other credit related buy side opps are NOT exit opps from Credit. Though it is rare, you can lateral into IB from the same credit coverage group (e.g. Energy Credit --> Energy IB or LevFin Credit --> LevFin IB) if you have studied extensively and networked outside of work. Typically that would entail restarting as an Analyst/Associate.
Pros: Great work life balance, pay is decent considering true hours worked. People are very understanding of personal commitments as they themselves are WLB-oriented. At times might have lending deals to interesting companies. Directors and MDs are genuinely nice people who care about your career and development and are generally open books b/c they have families/kids themselves. I believe BofA is one of the best banks to internal transfer.
Cons: Repetitive nature of work (analyze financials, complete risk rating scorecard, write up CAM, repeat). Very operationally intensive as you also need to process the loans and monitor your portfolio on a quarterly basis. Exit opps might not be as great for specific divisions/teams. Culture of my specific team was not great-- it was dictated by one MD that mandated we had to come in everyday while the rest of the floor was empty.