Choosing sector coverage

Context: Hopeful lateral hire here. Currently building up an investment blog to have a ready set of pitches to choose from when I apply after competing my CFA in May ‘25. Looking at p72 academy but happy to lateral into any decent ER/smaller LO fund.

Question: Should I start focusing on specific sectors as part of my prep and eventual sector allocation? If yes how should I choose?

Obviously interest plays a role. But should I also consider things like how many analysts there already are in X sector at p72? Should I focus on a less sexy more niche sector where my chances of differentiating value add would be higher? Since I’m based in Singapore, I think focusing on China/Australia would also be a no-brainer to maximise my chances.

Thanks!

13 Comments
 

What other markets do you suggest I focus on in preparing my pitches for interviews then? The argument about over coverage applies even more so to USA right

 

very hard for you to lateral to those programs without ss experience. You can look up profiles of those who joined the academy/CAP program in SNG/HK. Either its through SA out of college or lateraling from SS ER and some from IBD. Especially in today's asia market, even smaller er/lo funds are being very picky as they have a pool of laid-off IB analysts looking for jobs.

Edit: btw this is responding to your previous posts about lateraling

 

Thanks for this! Yep p72 straightaway is a long shot but I’ll try anw, alongside SS ER and smaller LO funds.

A follow up about SS ER in Singapore. Don’t see that many banks recruiting for such roles in SG? Maybe just UBS, occasionally. Any idea why that is?

Also, any smaller LO shops you recommend for someone lateraling?

 
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SS ER at large banks has been declining for quite a while now. Cohort sizes back when I did my sa in HK were a fraction of the IBD/ST counterparts. I’m not in SS ER anymore so I'm not sure how active the lateral market is, but I would imagine most shops are not expanding coverage and merely filling in the seats of those who left. 

Not extremely familiar with the Singapore ss er scene, but most of China/Australian company's coverage is done out of the HK office, so those with southeast asian companies coverage might be your best bet. (this is for SS btw, pod shops and family office have some people covering china out of singapore, but they target those with a few years of er experience.)

 

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