2024 UK Investment Banking Tier List
Overall:
Tier 1B: Lazard, Rothschild, PJT, BAML, Evercore, Citi
Tier 1C: Barclays, CVP, PWP, UBS, Robey Warshaw
Tier 2: DB, HL, BNPP, Jefferies, Moelis, Greenhill, RBC, HSBC, Nomura, Macquarie, Santander
Tier 3: SocGen, Blair, Guggenheim, DC Advisory, Piper Sandler, Baird, Cantor, Mediobanca(Arma Partners)
Tier 4: UniCredit, ING, Natixis, Mizuho, MUFG, Standard Chartered,
Tier 5: RBS, Stifel, Lincoln, Scotia, Credit Agricole, Berenberg, Big 4, Alantra
Top Exits per head(2021 onwards):
Tier 1A: GS, MS, JPM
(Everything T1-2 below this is more-so down to individual profile strength, same inbounds received more or less)
Tier 1B: Lazard, PJT, Evercore, BAML
Tier 1C: Rothschild, Citi, Barclays, UBS,DB
Tier 2: PWP, CVP, HL(rx strength)
Tier 3: BNPP, Jefferies, Moelis, Greenhill, RBC, HSBC, Nomura, Macquarie, Piper Sandler,
Tier 4: SocGen, Blair, DC Advisory, Robey Warshaw, Santander, Arma Partners, Cantor, Baird, Standard Chartered, Mediobanca(Arma Partners)
Tier 5: UniCredit, ING, Natixis, Mediobanca, Mizuho, MUFG,
Tier 6: RBS, Stifel, Lincoln, Scotia, Credit Agricole, Berenberg, Big 4, Alantra
Note: T3-7 largely based on last years thread as did not have enough mm data, however mostly confident in tier 1 placements based on insights from friends and acquaintances. Also currently at a top 3 BB so perhaps slight bias but think top tier is fair for London. RE Exits: Only going from 2021 onwards not only because it represents the complete cycle of the most recent analysts but also because that's 1 year into my ib stint start date so is the point from which I can make a justifiable tier list.
If mm banker please comment with your insights and will make adjustments.
Would probably bump up Baird, Stifel, and Piper Sandler
To What tiers and why
To Tier 3/4. There is no way that Baird is on the same level as Natixis, I'm sorry
Peel Hunt have to be in the conversation somewhere. Yes they’re small, but they have an outsized influence on the LSE through their broking and execution services.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they get bought by a bigger fish in the near future - esp. Barclays who need to do something radical to revitalise their IB division.
Why is CVP so low?
Associate at a BB,
Bump up Guggenheim, Baird, Natixis, Piper Sandler and I believe ING, DC, Standard Chartered should be a tier down, have never seen them on any prominent deals.
You work at natixis James.
Natixis got more PR from WSO than they ever got from anything else.
Congrats on Natixis James!
On the exits would slightly bump up firms that have expanded quick this year since it seems a lot like last year’s list
Such as?
Off the top of my head Guggenheim have massively increased their London presence (essentially non-existent this time last year and Santander have grown. Would assume putting them in the same tier as smth like Standard Chartered over historical records may not be very accurate (especially given Gugg is recognised as an EB globally so they’re likely getting better talent and ops than SC for example)
del
Good lists overall especially the first but for the second I just don’t see Standard Chartered even remotely near DC and Santander tbh - every tier will have some obviously better firms but this may be a bit much imo
Did you also rank them within each tier? Like Laz > Roth > PJT > BofA, etc.
Somewhat yes but not really. For overall ranking: The differences within tier 1 subtiers are marginal enough that you can assume them all as being equivalent when taking into account their respective strengths(deal experience. Exits/prestige, comp etc). Perhaps laz a notch above though as it’s the only one i know with candidates taking it over a tier 1a(jpm). Would’ve put laz in t1a just for that in older years but idk I feel like they’ve slacked off a bit in some aspects(e.g. recruiting summer interns exclusively through spring weeks and just overall less impressive exits than usual). Could just be a hiccup and would be willing to promote laz if anyone else agrees that’s probably the case. t2 and below I didn’t pay too much attention to the rankings within tiers.
For exit rankings: tier 1 subtiers all ranked within tiers, t2 and below not
Lol yeah DB = CVP nice
Felt weird putting it there but at the end of the day this is London we’re talking about in terms of exits, db and bbs in general have a better London track record than cvp (even in the recent years where other eb’s have shown impressive exits). Some would demote cvp for overall ranking too but I believe the deal experience there is still amazing even if inferior to nyc. Pay is obviously top of street. Open to changes though so will probably demote db if others agree
yeah you should demote DB on the first ranking to tier 2, it sits with BNP, Jeff and those guys in terms of reputation, deals, pay and exits overall.
DB is solid in Europe with some strong teams (industrials is top 3, tmt top 5) and they have been hiring aggressively lately. Bank as a whole is doing great too
Agree with others that DB should be in the tier below; it's just not on the same level as Barclays and UBS.
This is obviously all anecdotal, but in 4 years of BB banking (all the deals I did were >€1b) and 2 years of UMMPE I never saw PJT on a single deal. Are they actually that good?
Think they typically work on less sponsor work in london and kinda do a large cap corp deal every now and again similarly to cvp but to a lesser extent. Gave them a high ranking because they absolutely outshine in rx and I believe have a bigger share in the uk rx market than in nyc where they would have to compete with evercore and lazards strong practice. HL and laz(kinda) is their top ldn competitor which is a much more pleasant foe than the beast that is evercore nyc.
Evercore NYC got some dawg in them. I will argue that Moelis Ldn is being carried HEAVILY by Moelis Middle East, they share a lot of deals, and quite frankly if not for their SA/Dubai office (which is profiting off of the appetite of Saudi PIF and UAE's sovereign wealth funds and their respective national oil companies) , deal flow would be scant AF
Thanks, SB’d.
Guess I’ll wait for one of my deals to go very badly wrong before I see them on something
From what I hear they are very strong in RX but surprisingly weak in M&A otherwise.
My thoughts based purely on dealflow and perception in the market (as opposed to buyside exits):
PJT is too high. They have a solid RX practice but don't really do much else.
Evercore should be in Tier 1C, I wouldn't rank them above any of the BBs.
DB is too low, they're solid in EMEA and I'd rate them as high as Barclays and UBS.
I don't know much about working at Robey Warshaw but given they're small and work on a ton of mega deals, I think they're too low here.
Could argue that BNPP is Tier 1C as well.
RBC is too high and much weaker than the other "Tier 2" banks. They have one good team (P&U) is well respected in their space but really only does sponsor work. Rest of the groups are lower MM with zero dealflow.
Same comment for HL - not really a player outside the RX team.
Mizuho and MUFG are probably too high as well; believe they're just debt shops.
Thanks for the comments. Going to assume you're referring to the first list then. (Also I have no idea why you're referring to only 2 attributes especially not things as significant as buyside exits / pay like those aren't the main 2 reasons people go into banking anyways)
RE PJT: I feel like its quite irresponsible(Especially as a 'vp') to just say a firm being mainly great at one thing diminishes their quality, let alone if that one thing is in a practice which is frankly more sophisticated than m&a. E.g. roths is mainly great at m&a but their relatively weak rx franchise doesn't negate them to the extent they should be demoted. What makes PJT the same level as GS in US rankings is that they balance their absolutely insane RX practice over there with a similarly fantastic m&a practice(the lack of which in the uk is what gives them the demotion but not to that much of an extent).
RE EVR: Omitting the culture factor, most at my top 3 BB would only consider lateraling to another eb such as laz,pjt,evr,roths,pwp than any of the other BB's so im going to assume your ranking is based only on deal flow and not 'perception in the market'. Even at that, while the deal flow case can quite frankly not be made for pjt at this point, it could start being made for evr(for uk completed: 5th in h1 2023 and I highlight that specifically because ms was 6th and db was 19th).
RE DB: Just no, would not recommend any of my mentees to pick this over evr for example.
RE Robey: Agree, will probably promote.
RE BNPP: Congrats on BNPP. There is no way the case can be made that EVR/PWP/CVP is on the same tier as BNPP. Goodness Gracious.
RE the rest: Agree
.
For the avoidance of doubt, you are aware that investment banking in the UK basically covers investment banking in Emea, i.e. if you work in London you cover all of Europe and the majority of deals are executed out of London? So, unless your question is specifically about a ranking of dedicated UK coverage teams within banks in London, your question is effectively asking for the strongest banks in Emea.
The fact this has any sb is alarming. DB and BNPP bankers have too much time on their hands
I don't woking in IB anymore but worked at a US BB for over a decade. But yeah, go ahead and tell me what the EMEA market is like, Analyst.
Nobody is saying BNPP juniors are getting top exits but look at the actual fees they've earned in the market (which is what I based my tiering on) and they're in the Top 10 (may have been 6th last year I believe from memory). They lent aggressively during/after COVID and picked up a ton of market share and frankly they were always pretty solid in Europe (ok maybe not UK and get OP's point). DB again, is also strong in EMEA. Always has been.
EVR and PJT and those guys are nowhere. I dont doubt that they're great places to get junior experience and buyside exits but they're just not relevant players outside of certain niches. This isn't the US. It's a fundamentally different market with a different pecking order.
Big 4 in Euro do more (and larger size) M&A work than t5 and 6
Will add later
Bit confused because I've seen many posts on this site stating that (broadly) BB > EB for exits in London but these rankings suggest otherwise.
Things have kinda changed. Ofc us top 3 boys have been top and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future but for the other BBs I just don’t think the case can be made anymore that the exits are better when you take into account analyst/assoc class size. Laz/Roths have always competed with bbs so (some)eb>(most)bb for exits is nothing new on this forum. Just would add pjt evr and maybe pwp to that bunch based on recency. Might be controversial but I personally know a good amount from those mentioned with some top exits but I don’t really mind downgrading if enough people agree, it’s all based on consensus at the end of the day. I have friends at pretty much every firm in tier 1 so I know they all receive the same inbounds on average (except t1a) so it could just be purely down to analyst/assoc quality in the past 2 years and how well they interviewed, could very well see evr pjt in tier 1c behind db etc if they don’t keep performance up for years to come.
recent evr exits since 2021: 2x Advent, 2x CVC, 1x Apollo, 1x Partners Group, 1x Carlyle (Secondaries), 1x EQT, 1x TPG, 1x Silverlake, 2x Ares, 1x GIC (Credit), 1x General Atlantic, 2x Oaktree (Direct Lending), 1x Mubadala, 1x Hg, 1x Permira, 1x Apax, 1x Antin.
Yeah I agree with you, seems off from what I know/saw in my class (US BB). My friends at Rothschild absolutely sweated on an endless stream of €200m healthcare sellsides and their exits reflected that
Why was Big 4 added to Tier 3/4 if this is a UK ranking? Won't dispute it if we take Europe/EMEA in context.
I've seen ACA guys leave Big 4 in the UK to join places like Berenberg, Alantra etc.
Was honestly just trying to cater to everyone. not too familiar with their game to be honest. I have seen BIG 4 exits to BB/EB though but perhaps that breakthrough might just be occurring due to the sheer number of big 4 trying to move into ib.
Fair enough, makes sense! Think most Big 4 just try to move into anywhere in IB (have also seen moves into ER) as long as it increases their salaries (2-3x).
Big 4 shouldn't be that high at all. No one is taking big 4 over any bank
Would it be a good exit to go from MBB to HL M&A before switching to PE?
Unless you are at McKinsey, then yes.
I'm actually at McK. So rather stay and gun for direct PE exit?
delete
If i were to enter a masters program, how would the SA recruitment work as courses start in September but SA2025 applications open in August. Any advice? Sorry in advance if this is OOT
Where is Raymond James on here? They recruit 10 SAs per year so should be on given much smaller firms are
Where
T3
Would also add Arma Partners since they grow rapidly in an attractive sector and pay top of market
Where
3, but arma was bought by Mediobanca so just push mediobanca up and put arma in brackets.
Anyone have insight into where Gleacher Shacklock would look on here?
Between 2 and 3
Why does it even matter?
Be happy to have a job, there are more important things in life than tier of your bank
Peace and love
Some people may also be interested in where this ranking will be in 3 to 4 years if you are a student looking to enter IB. Expect Barclays to retrench a ranking to tier 2 as it reduces the size of its investment bank and there being a significant outflow of MDs due to a commercial-banking oriented board. Expect RBC, Macquarie, and Moelis to move up to 1c as they have been growing at a steady pace for a while over the past few years and making significant recruiting efforts. Citi might move down to 1c if its restructurings fail, and we have already seen the announcement of the firm reducing headcount as it faces a significant loss in the past quarter. Expect UBS to decline to tier 2 as it focuses on integration and limiting expansion of the investment bank.
Far too bearish on Barclays and not bearish enough on Citi.
We don't know yet what the Barclays restructuring will look like in full, but so far the cuts have been almost entirely in back-office and retail jobs, with it being explicitly stated that the cuts were done to ensure front-office talent could be kept. MDs leaving is a big problem in the US, but in London the effect has been small.
The news about Citi today is concrete and very significant. Big layoffs and a big restructuring that could very easily fail. If there is a bank to worry about in London, it's them.
fair enough
Curious to know where WF would sit on this list?
I am at Wells and I know we have EMEA Coverage, M&A, DCM, Sponsors, Fund Finance teams in London.
Not sure if they do as well as the teams in the US
probs 3, know they're expanding hella here.
I wouldn't group all the "Big 4" together, they really aren't all equal in their deal flow and prestige of deals they get. I also think some of them deserve more credit than bottom tier. They have huge resource pools and global reach. And their are a great feeder to draw junior talent from.
Congrats on EY!
Moelis gotta be more like T1-B or C in London tbh
loooool congrats on moelis, your deals are sourced out of the Middle East and you're heavily dependent on energy and life sciences, and you have no proper internship and grad recruitment programme, take like 10 interns or something. Small presence in London/UK hahaha
dunno why you carry so much hate with your intern ass, but I actually made my exit from T1A to a mega PE already so... keep on networking, maybe u will find me on linkedin baby. I was merely putting my opinion there based on what I have actually seen from our and our competitor' incoming class.
Sorry, can't edit any more but nonetheless I don't think Moelis has earned tier 1 in London yet. Ken really needs to start growing out his London practice if he wants it to be joining the top eb's. The continental/uk market is already small enough as is and I personally think there might not be any more room for another top eb with significant market share outside the top 5(Lazard,evercore, pjt, roths, cvp) and if there is then that would most likely be pwp first.
Thoughts? Pan European Monkey
Is Standard Chartered a good place to start a career if you cannot get an offer from any of the tiers above?
Bro, anything is better than nothing in this job environment.
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