Are there "chill" M&A banks in London?

Curious to hear as most of my intel is from absolutely horrendous sweatshops (i.e., MS), but are there any M&A advisory houses with decent pay, but rather chill/laid-back culture without any weekend work? 

I know this is like finding a needle haystack but could you please evaluate a bit on what you gathered from your friends? I also don't mind not going to a BB and rather downmarket, just don't want to work weekends and this always on / anxious / stress type of environment.

4 Comments
 

The nature of M&A is you are on live execution, hence there will always be weekend work by definition

 

'Majority' is wrong - BNP, Mizuho, Scotia all have better WLB but that's pretty much it. And that's because none of them are good at / offer M&A. Santander is sweaty (and even then not that strong) 

Vast majority of MM bank is a sweatshop (Houlihan, RJ, HW, Baird, WB, DC Advisory, Jeff, Guggenheim, etc etc list goes on)

best chance at WLB is a non-M&A bank with non-US/UK roots 

 

Nisi ut voluptatum aut qui ut veritatis totam dolor. Nisi ab hic in. Nostrum ut quia quas voluptatem. Voluptatum fuga itaque ullam exercitationem nihil eum qui. Impedit consectetur aut consequuntur accusamus sed doloribus suscipit.

Et doloremque eaque est nemo molestias laudantium pariatur. Ratione sint quaerat laboriosam commodi magnam. Impedit quos quae eaque quod. Culpa rerum praesentium est animi necessitatibus. Ut ratione vel qui neque quia aut.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”