Banking in Israel
I know there's a lot of tech related and VC jobs in Tel Aviv, but does anyone know the status of the banks in Israel?
I've seen on LinkedIn a bunch of the banks that have offices in Tel Aviv including Barclays, Evercore, JPM and others, but how big are the offices? Is the pay similar? Are the hours, work on the job, and exit opportunities similar?
Bump
Have heard that Oppenheimer has a whole Tel Aviv program
From the global shops, Barclays, Evercore and Citi are the only ones with true execution teams there. My understanding is pay is equal to London.
Barclays is like has 1 MD, 3-4 Mid bankers, and like 3 analysts, Citi is slightly smaller. Not sure about Evercore. Other offices are coverage only (retirement plan for MD with perhaps an associate and analyst, zero execution, no trajectory) Jeffries and a couple of others cover from the US. Big 4 + BDO do a lot of the "mid-market" M&A advisory. Local shops are mediocre. Local capital market exists, but is small and underdeveloped. BBs provide access to NYSE / NASDAQ. The entire ecosystem is probably at Dunbar's number. Hours are a bit lighter than in the US, but still banking hours. Most common feeder schools are TAU, HUJI and the IDC , but you basically need to be Summa Cum Laude to have a chance, and there is no grade inflation.
Growth equity exists and is more relevant for banking exits but is rare. Only MF with boots on the ground is Apax Partners, although others certainly invest.
VC jobs are certainly there but not a lot of crossover between them and banking. Important note that in many ways, your military service basically replaces your college for pedigree (but not for skillset), especially Israeli elite SIGINT and technology units as well as special forces. School is important but degree (Comp Sci) more so, because admission is based on majors, not per university.
Oppenheimer has some ER, and an equities desk.
Goldman Sachs, JPM, Barclays, Citi, Evercore all have true executions teams. Morgan Stanley and UBS are coverage mainly building/creating relationships where they feed transactions to their NYC/London execution teams. Credit Suisse is almost hybrid with a small team of a couple MDs and juniors assisting execution with NYC/London deal teams. Jefferies has an Israel Coverage team that is based in NYC that does true execution.
Pay is actually equal to the US and hours can be slightly lighter (still banking hours), equal to or worse than the US depending on the deal/ # of staffings/ week where sometimes you work well into the night with US based teams (this also depends on which BB as some are worse than others). Something to keep is mind is that given the work week in Israel is Sunday-Thursday, Fridays (especially late afternoon/evening, east coast morning/afternoon) tend to have lots of meetings with US based teams/clients as those (US based) who set the meetings do not take into consideration this is a weekend day in Israel. Analyst counterparts in NYC are typically willing to cover for analysts who cannot join meetings especially if its later into the evening/night on Friday because of shabbat.
There are 2 "typical" ways to get a spot at a BB in Israel:
1. Off-cycle 6-month internship that you then convert into a full time analyst role (no 10-week summer internships offered) - typically no relevant work experience required but still need good technical knowledge (interns are treated as any normal analyst and are staffed on deals just as any analyst 1 would be).
2. typically some sort of prior experience is expected for a full-time position (many work in Big 4 TAS/accounting/boutique IB/or small investment funds) as the BBs in Tel Aviv are small offices (and deal teams) so analysts are typically thrown into the mix very quickly. Because the market is so hot, some of the BBs have begun to consider recent graduates for full time hires as the Israeli market (still tough barrier, typically come in as interns) sees no signs of slowing down and competition for relevant talent is high. It has gotten to a point where BBs are actively trying to poach juniors with experience away from each other.
Keep in mind that because Israelis serve in the army and attend university "later" than US/Europe based analysts they tend to be older when they start (anywhere from 25-30 years old as Analyst 1) and this is seen as normal (also because many analyst 1 come in with some sort of previous experience as mentioned earlier)
Very interesting work for analysts as the offices are Industry & Product agnostic so deals span M&A, ECM, DCM and all industries, though naturally many of the deals are tech. Another interesting point is that deals are done alongside industry and product groups so you work and meet with lots of NYC/London based juniors and seniors.
For anonymity wont specify my team, but typically you will see 1-2 MDs, 1-4 Mid levels bankers (Associate/VP/Director), 2-5 analysts, 1 intern
Exits typically are to VC, Growth Equity or fast growing tech companies as the deal teams here work very closely with the hi-tech ecosystem (everyone knows Israel's hi-tech ecosystem is absolutely on fire, the country accounts for ~10% of global tech unicorns).
Source: I am current Tel Aviv BB analyst
+1 on the interesting work. Great to hear about comp, I have a pretty good idea on which team you are on, seniors are good people.
Any idea on the consideration for ex Big4 valuation analysts?
Would be considered "relevant" experience. Key is to be strong on technicals and know your deals, especially in an IB context
Hey man, I am an Israeli working in NYC right now after graduating college here in the US.
I would really appreciate if we can talk offline.
Hey i'm currently interview with a firm in Israel as an American. Can we chat offline?
Hey, as an assoc 2 in NYC in coverage at a top BB, would lateraling be feasible if I don’t speak Hebrew?
Thanks for the helpful information.
I'm an international student at a target school in the US, but I might have to go back to studying in Israel (costs are too high - oh well). Do you think it matters where I'll be studying? what major and what GPA? is it really just for the top 5%? should I maybe try and find any way to stay in the target school in the US?
Hey man, I’m currently working in wealth management and looking for a career in IB. I would appreciate if you if we can chat online via LinkedIn or Instagram if that’s possible. I would like to hear some personal advice on the matter.
Thanks, really helpful. Might see my application in the coming years after a few years of experience in NYC so I appreciate all the information.
EDIT: Just saw you are only an incoming analyst, nvm.
Hope you are not one of them super-liberal types, Israel could be hard on you
Definitely not haha. But I probably wouldn't want to move for 2 years or so, I'm really technically in Markets, so I think I would need 1 year in Markets and then try to switch to an M&A or coverage group before trying to move to one of the BB offices in Israel.
Do you need to be a native hebrew speaker?
For off cycle internships, are these banks typically looking for undergrads or recent graduates?
Undergrads would not be relevant as they would not be able to give the necessary time commitment while still attending classes/writing exams. Off-cycle interns are expected to be available just like a full time analyst. Typically recent graduates with no experience fill those roles with the "chance" to convert to a full time offer should there be available head count.
What about an undergrad who takes a semester off to do the internship?
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