2026 Lateral Timeline
Hi All,
Hope everyone had a great Christmas. I’m currently an AN1 at a middle-market firm and started in August. I’m using the holidays to organize my thoughts and prepare for 2026 recruiting, specifically PE interviews and potential IB lateral opportunities.
My goal is to move to the buyside after 2–3 years in banking, ideally lateraling after my first year to an EB or BB to improve exit opportunities. Given that context, when is the optimal time to recruit? From what I’ve read, bonus season in August seems like it may be the best window for my situation.
Now to April probably your best bet. If you wait till August the banks will have a new set of analysts coming in (+ summers) so not a lot of motivation to bring on laterals (especially for banks with larger classes where the work can just be redistributed).
Would caveat this though. My bank sees mass turnover in 3 of our groups specifically, and these positions are typically backfilled by either laterals or internally from adjacent groups. Know my bank specifically had multiple lateral positions open Aug-Oct
Would this also imply needing to forfeit your AN1 bonus (or at least the majority of it)?
Internal transferring no. External lateraling everyone waits until it hits their account to leave officially. No one is forgoing a bonus in July-August
What if your bonus is paid out later in the spring/early summer? Do people with these bonus timelines typically wait until then or just leave when you get a good offer elsewhere irrespective of bonus timelines?
There are two drivers for decision making when it comes to lateraling and bonuses:
1. Whether you are okay with forgoing your bonus at your current bank to secure the best seat available, irrespective of when you get paid at your current shop
2. If you can secure some form of compensation from the bank you are transferring to in order to be made whole, or close to whole (ie clause in offer letter agreeing to give you a full year bonus, even if you joined in May and bonuses are paid at end of June - be weary here though cuz they can F you over and under pay you but most will likely give you a mid-bucket bonus)
On timing of demand / open seats, there is no window better than another in your first year given very few people quit half way through the analyst program (so there won’t be a slew of openings in August).
All that being said, if I was in your shoes, I would be applying to roles in mid / early spring for a few reasons:
1. Seems M&A / cap markets are going to remain strong for now so need should still be there
2. You can market yourself as someone with closer to a full year of experience, rather than someone lateraling somewhat close to hitting the desk
3. If the bank you are interviewing at is at all flexible on timing and you are accepting an offer in late spring, you could ask for an end of summer start date and collect your bonus at your current shop then put in your notice and avoid that headache all together
I appreciate the insight. Is it normal for my firm to have a multi-month wait period before being able to switch to another firm? (i.e. once I collect my bonus in summer, I cannot move without forfeiting until Oct/Nov)
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