BB IBD Lateral Hiring / Exit Options / Office Transfers in Asia
Hi all - first of all, I would like to thank the WSO community for being a helpful resource during my recruiting process for investment banking. With WSO's help, I have been fortunate enough to secure a FT offer from a BB in Asia. Recently, I have been thinking a lot about my short-term career plans and would love to get WSO's inputs.
I will be joining a 2nd-tier BB (think Citi, UBS, Barclays, BAML) in their Hong Kong office this August as an IBD analyst. Been spending a lot of time brainstorming on whether I want to stay in banking for the long run, and if not, what I want to do after. So far, I THINK my long term interest lies within buy-side, whether it is public equities (mutual fund / hedge fund) or private equity. In addition, I have also been pondering on the possibilities of lateralling to a top-tier BB within the region at the 6-month or 1-year mark, or transferring to an US office within my bank at the 2-year mark. Despite doing some research online and talking to people within the industry, I still have a few unanswered questions and would love to get WSO's inputs / advice.
Buyside Recruiting
- Is PE recruiting process in Asia as structured as it is in the US?
- Does it go through headhunters? If so, which are the headhunting firms in the region that work with mega funds?
- What are the interviews like for PE recruiting? How can I best prepare?
- Are there many Hedge Fund / Mutual Fund exit opportunities within Hong Kong?
- How is the compensation for PE / HF / Mutual Funds in Hong Kong?
Lateral Hire to other BBs
- How does the process work? Should I be reaching out to peers who work in other banks, so I could be updated when there are openings?
- What are the interviews like for BB lateral hiring interviews?
Office Transfer
- Without a US citizenship, is there a possibility for me to move to a US office within my current bank in 2 years?
MBA placement
- How is MBA placement from BBs or PE firms from HK offices?
- What can I do in the coming 4-5 years to best position myself for MBA application process?
Hoping to get inputs / advice from WSO members who have had relevant experiences / exposure. Thanks in advance!
bump!
bump!
Thanks for posting. Sorry but I'm a bit junior to answer your questions but I'm really interested in knowing more about your background and how you landed an IBD FT position in HK? Also, are you fluent in mandarin/cantonese?
bump!! would really like to know more about this too, in particular exiting to US from Asia (whether it be IBD or PE as the exit)
@"Jadwa"
I was a SA and received a full-time offer. I currently attend a target school in the US. And most BBs would recruit from here. Went through the standard phone interviews / superday, and was fortunate enough to get the SA offer. In terms of my mandarin, I'm somewhat fluent but not native, but enough to get through the interview process. Please let me know if you have any additional questions!
@"noname111231111" Thanks for the support!
That's great, congrats! In fact, I did an exchange program in HK and attended some IB events where I was told Mandarin is mandatory to get a job in M&A. It's another story for S&T..
shameless bump!
Bump + 1! In the exact same boat (2nd-tier HK IBD in August) and curious.
From what I gathered in HK, PE is a lot more unstructured overall (not sure about Mega-funds but definitely with MMs and would be country/sub-region specific). I.E. China-focused shops may prefer ex-consultants due to operations focused PE in the region (since majority ownership is limited with SOEs and debt capital markets aren't very sophisticated).
Being unstructured also makes commenting on everything else much harder I.E. compensation. Heard about IBD compensation being just as competitive as PE in the region as PE firms do not continue the relocation package. But this is obviously variant among shops I'm guessing (BB/megafunds vs MM, whether relocation packages continues in IBD).
Definitely interested in some other perspectives though. Seems to be a relative lack of recent info on HK in general.
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