[2026 - October] Unbiased Prestige Rankings
S++ : PJT RSSG, EVR RX/M&A, GS TMT, CVP HC, Q
S+ : GS FIG, MS MENLO/M&A, CVP (rest)
S : MOE/RX/HC/LA, JPM HC/M&A, GS (classics)
S- : , MOE (rest), HL RX, Lazard PE&I/HC, GS (classics), JPM (rest), MS (rest)
A+ : PJT M&A, BofA M&A/TMT/FSG, Lazard (rest), Raine, Barc PU&I/TECH/HC/FSG, Citi M&A/IND/FSG, PWP HC/RX, Allen&Co
A : BofA REGL/IND, LionTree, Gordon Dyal, Ducera, PWP (rest), GS (Financing), MS LevFin/ECM, JPM LevFin
A- : BofA (rest), Citi (rest), Barc (rest)
B+ : Guggenheim, UBS GIG/LevFin/IND, Jefferies, Greenhill, Macquarie IEC, RBC PU&I
B : Rothschild, DB FSG/LevFin/REGL/IND, BMO M&M/M&A, RJ CR, DB (rest), William Blair HC, UBS (rest), RBC, Macquarie, Wells Fargo M&A, Piper Sandler CR
B- : Cain Brothers, Wells Fargo (rest), BMO (rest), Harris Williams
C+ : TD Cowen HC/TECH, Piper Sandler (rest), RJ (rest), Baird, FTP, Solomon Partners
C : KBW FIG, Oppenheimer & Co., TD Cowen (rest), Nomura, BNP Paribas
D : KBW, Lincoln International, HSBC, Cantor Fitzgerald, Mizuho, Stifel, MUFG
F : KeyBanc, BGL
My bank is ranked below what my ego prefers. That said, this is objectively wrong.
Addn comments: JPM M&A does not exist as a group anymore. Also isn’t UBS GIG = IND???
Plz fix, this looks amateur
You mean there are professional investment bank tierlist makers? How can I break into that industry?
UBS too high
UBS more like a C tier
wtf is a Ducera
Boutique RX only, growing pretty well rn
No longer only RX, have a growing M&A practice and a VC arm (agtech focused)
you in IB and dont know who Ducera is????
F
WF is top 5ish in league tables. To rank them with BMO and Cain is laughable
Gugg RX alone should be Ducera tier (A), HL RX is objectively better than MOE RX
This is simply not true. MOE RX has been on a company side tear in '25/'26 (OPI, Allen Media, Cast & Crew to name a few) + cleaned up with the creditor side building products names (Cornerstone, JELD). HL RX, iykyk, is a falling star (or a plateaued star). HL MN picked up Mercer Intl. which was a nice company side get + HL LA cleans up with the CLO tech creditor groups, but outside of niche strongholds, HL broadly as a platform is not what it used to be.
Gugg RX IMO has fallen off from an initially impressive '23/'24 run with the Company side mandates (they picked up Getty Co side which was a nice get). Not sure what happened to them but I don't see them on big names (they'll win the occasional bondholder group like Multi-Color). I would give Ducera the slight edge over Gugg IMO.
What are you talking about, HL is fine. NFE was a huge recent mandate.
Joined WSO 24 hours ago and first thing you do is post a tier list 🥴
Hey that's longer than most prospects make it
Lincoln is competing with the WB, Baird, HLs of the world and deserves more recognition, especially in industrials. Coming from someone in another MM industrials group.
I'll bite on the RX names (pursuant to my comment above).
RSSG and EVR RX in S++ makes sense. Purely personal opinion however, I would give the slight edge to EVR RX these days, just feel like I see them more on Co sides recently (JELD, RSA, Resource Label, MCC, OBE to name a few; I appreciate this really is a toss-up). Iykyk, EVR RX is probably the top dog in RX, at the moment.
CVP RX (implied from your "CVP rest" comment) in S+ I think is giving them too much credit. They have some heavy hitters and know their Company-side spots from M&A corporate relationships (think Cable One, Entertainment Partners, etc), but would not put them as S+ tier. Probably S tier, on par with MOE RX (could see an argument for S- tier). Creditor-side business is meh, don't see them on much.
MOE RX as S tier makes sense (see my comment above re Company side tear). Genuinely solid group.
HL RX as S- tier is too high, probably bump them down to A+ tier. Don't really have a broad "bread and butter" angle anymore outside of niche angles + dealing with serious senior turnover problem. HL NY is kind of a ghost at the moment (iykyk LA and MN are the best offices currently, pound for pound).
PWP RX as A+ tier is an absolutely abysmal take (and probably the worst take in the entire rankings list). Ifykyk, this group has fallen off completely to a point where they're competing for small creditor side mandates and undercutting on fees like crazy. Have a few accounts with MM sponsors (Cornell Capital for ex.) but not much of a Co-side presence since the 2023/24 days. If I was nice, I'd give them A- tier, but really B+.
Lazard RX as A+ tier (inferring from your "rest" comment) - this is probably fine. Cowen is a beast - First Brands, Xerox Co-side mandates for example, and a decent creditor-side business, though they aren't great when it comes to creditor-side bake offs versus the likes of HL, Ducera, PWP, GHLs of the world.
Ducera as A tier is probably fine. Would maybe put them in A+ tier if I was being nice. Some sneaky Company side mandates + decent creditor business.
Gugg RX as B+ tier is probably accurate, maybe a bit too harsh. But agree, they aren't what they were a few years ago when they were dominating Company sides.
Would not put GHL and JEF in the same category. JEF has some sneaky minority creditor group wins (seems like they're pivoting to that angle as their niche), and GHL is still trying to catch bake-off wins with creditor groups (with a modicum of success). GHL has some interesting Co side wins recently however, (Planview for ex).
Any thoughts on Ensis, GLC, MB? Appreciate the info provided, super helpful
Ensis is interesting. My preliminary read is that we are in a different state of the RX world compared to 10 years ago when spin-outs were more popular (think PJT from BX, Ducera from PWP, etc). The world back then was a lot more ripe with open market share as creative LME / doc-twisting ideas were nascent and creative, daring transaction structures actually won you business. Not to mention those spin-outs had real M&A backgrounds to help cement corporate accounts and eventually help win RX business.
Today, creative ideas and bespoke transaction structures do not differentiate RX bankers (if anything, a lot of companies / lenders are not interested in these ideas anymore / fatigued from being fk'd over during the last 5-6 years of stupid drop-down / NLP financings that ended up creating zombie cap structures and making businesses worse off). So the question is, in what RX niche does an Ensis type of boutique fit? They've "claimed" a niche of MM company sides... I guess? Good luck taking business from the EVRs and MOEs of the world. Want to go creditor side? Have fun convincing Benefit Street and the other CLOs to not to hire HL. Want to go bottom of the stack / bespoke groups? You'll be competing with the Ducera, Lazard, PWPs of the world in competitive bake-offs.
It would be one thing if Ensis had a dedicated M&A / strategic advisory angle where you have a set of corporate accounts that will toss you business (similar to Centerview biz model). And maybe the partners do have these accounts? Long story short, Ensis is a bit of a head scratcher. I don't want to write them off, but its difficult to see where their differentiated niche is. There are only so many variables that you can command to win business (i.e., you have long-standing corporate / sponsor accounts, you've been in front of recurring CLOs for years with different pitches/decks, you bottomfeed on fees, etc). Most of the RX banks have tried these playbooks already. IMO, there are too many RX groups that exist relative to the TAM. Its not even so much a TAM problem but rather a pareto distribution issue (i.e., EVR/PJT/MOL win all the Co sides and HL/LAZ/PWP win all the creditor sides + loser of EVR/PJT/MOL that didn't get the Co side).
GLC, pound for pound, is actually not a bad shop. They know their role and slot in bespoke smaller cap structures and can win. Truly a "special situations" firm where they know where they can win. Don't have too much color, but I wouldn't rank them poorly - they just have a different niche. Maybe that's the route Ensis ends up taking - time will tell.
What’s the minority creditor group? I’m guessing anything less than 800mm in deal size? But Jef cares more about deal quantity rather than quality so yeah, agreed
Missing Ardea, Tidal, Mklein
lol this is literally just a copy and paste of the last rankings I saw on this site
Hey I heard Touch Grass Partners and Fresh Air Advisors are S++++++ think you should apply
Jesus, do you jerk off with these names?
OP has an inflatable doll of Paul Jefferey Taubman
PJT should be a tier above (still get on big deals like Comcast spin / GE / First Eagle)
Evercore M&A should not be in the same tier as Evercore RX esp from the exits perspective and relative to last year, not the biggest year for EVR M&A (albeit still a great year)
Lazard PEI should be in S+ tier based on deal flow and Laz HC should be S
And congrats on Moelis (not LA). And also no one views JPM rest on the same tier of GS (and arguably MS, but they’re a great franchise)
Congrats on Raine!
10/10 ragebait. Pls fix
Moelis is an incredible shop, but not S-, esp this year
MOE HCS or LS when you say HC?
Why is JPM HC so prestigious? It doesn’t seem like a high tier group from league tables ECM wise? Didn’t GS beat it hard in 2025?
Who’s making this?
JPM hosts the largest and most important healthcare conference....
Doesnt really mean shit when they're nose diving on the league tables - our own internal team had them at like 4th around mid year for the M&A side
Why is this yearly thread always filled with RX virgins typing 5 paragraph essays on who can build a better credit memo or some shit lmao
Ah yes, providing data points and thoughtful insights on a relatively opaque area of investment banking and investing, I suppose, renders me a virgin. Thank you for the insightful contribution, coverage analyst.
Relax pal
Someone clearly has it out for FTP
JPM should be higher
PWP too high given potential Piper Sandler takeover
This is very very inaccurate
Any color on MS levfin/ECM? Is it actually in the same tier as BofA REGL/IND, LionTree, Gordon Dyal, Ducera, PWP (rest)? Have heard mixed opinions
Not sure I agree with this ranking tbh. EVR RX/M&A ≈ PJT RSSG > GS TMT ≥ CVP HC >>> MS Menlo/M&A ≈ Q > GS FIG ≥ JPM HC/M&A > MOE RX/HC/LA ≈ HL RX >>> Lazard PE&I/HC ≥ PJT M&A > BofA M&A/TMT.
However, if we’re talking if you know you know prestige rather than lay prestige, EVR RX/M&A >>> GS TMT ≈ PJT RSSG > CVP HC >>> MS M&A. GS obviously has higher normie recognition but amongst people actually plugged into the street EVR ≈ PJT >>> GS/MS. It’s a completely different conversation when you factor in true IYKYK prestige.
Would also argue EVR RX/M&A ≥ PJT RSSG for MF PE but PJT RSSG ≈ EVR RX > HL RX for distressed. CVP HC ≥ GS TMT for HC-specific exits but GS TMT > CVP HC for tech MF, whereas Q ≈ EVR M&A for generalist exits depending on fund. Obviously geography matters too, EVR London ≈ PJT NY ≥ GS NY for IYKYK prestige but GS SF TMT ≈ EVR NY for tech.
I’m pretty heavy into recruiting atm, probably spending 60-70 hours a week between WSO, LinkedIn and coffee chats. Spoken to a lot of incoming summer interns at GS, EVR, PJT, MS etc and honestly the consensus seems pretty clear. Obviously everyone’s biased towards their own shop but you start to notice patterns after a while.
For context I’m a rising sophomore at a semi-target and have already started recruiting for 2028 SA. Got a 91% in my Accounting and Finance module last semester so feeling pretty good about the technical side of things, just trying to build out my network now. Had some really solid conversations with incoming 2027 SAs recently and one of them actually said my understanding of the industry was pretty advanced for my year, which was nice to hear.
Happy to break down individual groups further if anyone wants, especially in terms of MF/UMM exits vs pure IYKYK prestige as I think there’s quite a bit of nuance people are missing here.
Thanks for your willingness to share your insights, O Freshman at a Semi Target
lol not this fuck again, look at his previous comments in other threads - man lives for trolling on WSO
why are you even ranking non-m&a teams like ecm let alone putting them in A lmao
Piper S tier now
Where would Santander be? LevFin/Energy must be up there, right?
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