4th Year Analyst in elite boutique (aka “2020 is a special year”)

Hey folks,

By way of introduction, I am now a 4^th year analyst (yes, 4^th!) in the investment bank which is generally considered by WSO community as an elite boutique (see the likes of Lazard, Evercore, Houlihan Lokey, Rothschild, PJT).

At the very beginning of 2020, it indeed seemed that the year may become a disaster for the industry, however at the end the financial performance of most of the investment banks (and even more so elite boutiques) proved to be very competitive YoY. My bank is not an exception – our 2020 results are pretty much on par with what was achieved in previous years. As such, all bonuses and promotion policies remained intact / “business as usual” i.e bonuses were paid and promotions were granted to all the bankers eligible for such promotions (i.e all sufficiently performing 3^rd year Analysts were promoted to Associates, all sufficiently performing 3^rd year Associates were promoted to VPs etc). This has not become the case, however, only in one! office of the bank – unfortunately, it is the office where I am based. It is a relatively small-size office located in the emerging market. The bonuses were paid, however none of the people who were eligible for promotion in the team got the promotion. All that despite wonderful reviews and rankings of these people in the bank’s global review system – more than on par with relevant people from all other offices across the globe who got promoted. No meaningful explanation has been ever given by the local management, other than some vague narrative related to the fact that “2020 is a special year”.

Other than an obvious knock-down effect on the team spirit, such decision has created some sort of an intra-team conflict / sort of bottleneck for next year as within the next year few other people will become eligible for promotion. Will they be promoted or not? If yes, it means that people who did not get promotion earlier this year will effectively lose a year of career track with no reason whatsoever. If no, than other people (i.e the ones who will be eligible for promotion next year) can rightly question the reason for leaving them at their positions for the 4^th year with no reason whatsoever.

What is the purpose of global review system adopted in the investment banking then? What is the purpose of investment banking system of grades and years then? How could it even happen in a place that is considered by WSO community as a very reputable investment bank?

This situation is just something out of this world, honestly. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.