Coming from an Ivy Target
Less than 1 year experience at a no name boutique
All options are into coverage groups
Looking to be at this bank and in banking for the long term, that is a large portion of my choice and would love to hear about the career prospects and culture at each of these
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From an outsider at an EB looking in at those three banks, I'd say Jefferies is easily the choice for a long-term career in banking. Jefferies easily pays the highest bonuses out of the three, and all in cash, although they do have clawbacks, which shouldn't be too big of a consideration if you're interested in banking in the long term. Jefferies is also probably the most committed out of the three to its IB franchise, and they've increased their MD count by more than 20% this year. WF's current management is also focused on growing IB, but it's less predictable down the line as IB isn't as core to WF's franchise while Jefferies will live and die by its IB franchise. WF also has by far the smallest IB practice out of the three (WF's IB division had $1.7B revenue for FY-21, Jefferies IB had $4.4B of revenue, DB hasn't released FY-21 numbers yet). As for DB, they've obviously struggled since the GFC with rebuilding their IB franchise, although they're still a solid place to be.
On the deal flow side, all three banks will give you the full coverage model with debt issuances, equity raises, and M&A. Jefferies is by a large margin the strongest in terms of advisory deal flow and is also the strongest in terms of equity deal flow, but WF and DB are much stronger DCM shops. The strength across product groups becomes increasingly important as you progress, because at the beginning of the more senior levels you increasingly need to build advisory relationships, and from what I've heard from MDs at my firm who started at BBs, its much easier to build relationships over time as a new MD when you have more products and services to offer to the client. Also, keep in mind deal flow varies by coverage group at each bank, so learn which groups you're considering and how strong they are.
Culturally, my friends at WF seem to be the most chill by some margin, but once again it's very group and MD-dependent. The people I know at Jefferies are very "work-hard play-hard" people, where they're absolute hardos when they're on the job but are also great people to hang out with outside of the office. DB's culture varies, but I can definitely say that DB Sponsors has a great culture with great MDs who treat juniors like humans.
Incoming SA at WF. Could you provide insight into the top groups? Appreciate it!
chill culture, no deal flow.
Lol. “FSG has the best culture. Didn’t the head of FSG bite an analyst’s ear off in the past. If that’s good culture then idk what to say. Not about to lost a ear for a job lol.
I would personally go with Deutsche Bank.
Firstly, it’s the only BB out of the three, and brand will be better overall even if you want to move in the long term. You will gain better experience product wise, besides solely M&A advisory, as you will work on DCM/ECM/LevFin deals. Culture is good in most teams. For Jefferies, I have heard that culture can be bad in certain teams, and work can be more origination oriented, especially compared to the strong teams of DB. Wells Fargo would be my bottom choice out of the three.
Agree that DB still has the strongest global brand, but I disagree that DB would give a better product experience. The only product that DB is really strong at is debt. DB hasn't released their 2021 annual report, but looking at 2020 numbers, DB is significantly weaker than Jefferies at advisory (277M euros ~ $310M FY-20 revenue vs $1.1B for Jefferies) as well as equity (379M euros ~ $425M FY-20 revenue vs $902M for Jefferies).
Agree with the above, imo easily Jefferies. Out of the three, Jefferies has the highest comp, fastest expanding IB division, strongest M&A and ECM deal flow, and overall best future outlook. Culturally, all three banks are very group-dependent, so I can't generalize.
Also, you can't overlook how important having IB be a core business of your firm is. Jefferies almost completely relies on its IB division (over 50% of firm revenue), and they will never strategically look to cut IB because how important it is to their business. IB makes up a much smaller part of DB's operations and an even smaller portion of WF's. While both DB and WF's management have committed to their IB divisions, you never know what might happen when the guards at the top change. We previously saw this with UBS, with its upper management changing direction every few years on whether they wanted to expand their IB practice or focus more on PWM.
Because you said you want to be a career banker, I’d suggest Wells Fargo. It’s very laid back and they are happy being right on deals. Very similar relaxed atmosphere to Mizuho, where bankers are totally cool not leading stuff and just coasting.
Jefferies is an up or out type place, so you’ll learn a lot about sponsor deals but can be a grind.
And DB just has been sucking lately and who knows their long term dedication to the US.
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