BAML putting all junior bankers into a "pool"?

Just saw this: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304…

"One structural shift being planned will pool junior investment-banking employees across different industry sectors so the younger bankers can be routed to whatever area is most in demand at that moment, said people familiar with the situation. Proponents say that move will help younger workers gain more experience, while others say it will detract from the bank's service to clients."

WTF? They trying to turn it into a boutique?

7 Comments
 
FeinsteinAnyone at BAML know whats going on here? At MS, they have pools, but its only for the first year. And it turns into hardcore politicking as ppl jockey to figure out what group they end up in. This is only going to worsen that to the infinite degree, IMHO. And what is a "junior banker"? Analysts? Associates? VPs?
MS pools at the Associate level.
I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

it does make a lot of sense to have a pool at Analyst and junior Assoc level, but it should also come along with leaning towards a specialisation as people become senior Assocs and VPs and run parts of transactions more independently.
For the firm, it means that they get the max capacity utilisation from their resources, while for the employees it means greater exposure esp. at the early stages of the career when breadth of experience is much more useful than depth of experience.

However, a lot of banks try the pooling when times are bad, and then move to specialised teams when times become better. In any case, there is de facto specialisation because MDs or Ds generally have their own bItches who they prefer to give work to.

 

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