Banks with intellectual culture
I’m super interested in banking but I’m also kind of a nerd, and enjoy learning on a daily basis, especially from other people. I’ve seen a lot of threads on here where people are talking about how they’re disappointed by the quality of the people they work with, and it’s putting me off a bit. Are there any banks that are less frat-bro oriented and more geared towards an intellectual culture? I know most people in banking are highly intelligent, and I’m obviously going to take an offer where I can get it, but it would definitely be something to consider for me. Thanks.
I'm doing RX and noticed the people I worked with this summer were a tad more into it than the M&A people. Think that's just an RX thing
Agree, RX tends to be a little more intellectually rigorous given the uniqueness of each situation and creativity needed + restrictions around credit agreements / legal nature of it
Agree w this. Did RX this summer and the RX interns / group was much more interested in details and discussing technical situations. The MA group definitely was more fratty
Yes this applies across rx/turnaround/distressed etc. You'll even notice it with the lawyers you work with. Generally a lot sharper and better to work with than the clown working on vanilla LBOs.
The buyside is what you are looking for
FTP is very intellectual and not sweaty
($140k base as an1 btw)
I admire the level of consistency you have
On the sell-side, I’d say Centerview fits the bill the most. Generalist program lets you learn a new industry / company / business model for every project, the strategic advisory element of business gives you broader exposure to the operations and high level strategy of companies, messaging, portfolio composition, etc. (more than just transaction execution) and overall culture there encourages well-rounded learning (they bring in guest speakers for town halls regularly ranging from world leaders, CEOs, politicians, philanthropists, etc.).
All of the above said, buyside is broadly much deeper on the intellectual stimulation side of things.
Echo this 100% - did some interviews with them and even the questions asked are targeted at finding well-read, intellectually curious people (moreso than other shops). People were nice, definitely still some frat bros but felt more diverse in personality imo
What about Moelis? I've heard people there are "nerdy" but maybe in a more off-putting way?
Sounds like massive circle jerk srs
I prefer cultures where everyone admits we are here to make money, not pretend we are here to be intellectually uplifted by building accretion dilution models that are predicated on synergies that involve laying people off.
Why are you interested in banking? Banking is by nature a repetitive job that is not too intellectually stimulating. Even at the most “intellectual” shops, the work is largely repetitive.
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Liontree from what I’ve heard.
most based bank on the street tbh
The Bay Area in general seems to be full of the cerebral/philosophical types
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I have seen that energy banks that are very technical in nature have been more nerdy than not. Also could probably extend that to the FIG (insurance) group in my opinion.
Saying that as a nerd.
Buddy told me Lazard is very intellectual. Everyone purportedly has intellectual pursuits
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any specialized group e.g., securitization
Evercore and Centerview
HF is what you’re looking for. Maybe credit/rx as well, but ib/pe is probably not gonna get you the intellectual challenge that you are looking for
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Antisocial weirdos on the autism scale (Greta level) are now prevalent across banks. They aren’t more intellectual, however.
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