Best and Worst Cultures on the Street
Prefacing this with a please do not let this become a prestige ranking thread.
With the GS survey coming out last week I think it would be interesting to see some of the best and worst cultures on the street. Note that worst doesn’t always mean longest hours and best doesn’t always mean more lifestyle friendly.
The sad truth is, the best culture is probably at a total no-name shop. Someone is going to bring that up, and then they will get bullied for getting paid way below street and having terrible exits.
Fair enough
Can confirm 100%, at a newish NY shop with decent production. Giving up maybe $5k~ post tax on base for sensible work hours entirely dependent on deliverables, exposure, minimal pitching, etc. Able to have a GF and a dog. No desire whatsoever to lateral for a name brand, but also not going for PE. Life is good.
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/banks-with-best-cultures
I’ve heard Truist has really good WLB for banking. Might not be sexy but might be a good place to be a career banker.
Can confirm. Truist lacks the career advancement at the analyst level for this reason, but plenty of senior bankers come from more sweaty shops to become career bankers at Truist. They made a ton of moves recently in poaching from WF and other banks, which is kind of surprising.
Any idea on comp?
Truist culture seems to be very dependent upon the group/division and city. I can confirm that their ER division in NY was full of chill people and a few of their analysts are some of the top rated in their industries. Comp is on par with the Street and exit opps were the same as other MM firms, at least for ER NYC office.
truist tech is a sweatshop
Yep, worked at Truist and can confirm. LevFin and TMT have awful cultures. Rude personalities and they’re weirdly arrogant despite being a mediocre investment bank
Sweat of the brow?
Sadly, this isn’t completely true. Some groups have better culture, but LevFin, TMT, and probably healthcare have shit cultures
I've heard similar things about healthcare at Truist at well
Not UBS... read recent shit about analysts dying similar to GS... :( I thought they seemed super friendly too
ubs was pretty nice before covid. srs
lower bonuses but lower hours so was a fair trade off - didnt want to lateral at all (despite offers)
Depends on the group. Culture =/= hours worked. Some groups with older legacy MDs are rough some are great. UBS pays well 160k all in
I got a good bonus from UBS last year as mid bucket... at least 10k~ higher on average than a few other friends at BBs
best culture: Andrew Cuomos office
worst culture: The federal reserve
SGCIB has a good WLB. Networked with the Natural Resources team back in college. Part of the reason is that the program is rotational, and analysts do stuff like trade & commodity finance etc.
Can also echo SGCIB. Good hours, 26 vacation days that are encouraged to be used. Comp not much below the BBs
What firm?
From what I've read on here, FT Partners is definitely in the running for worst
Still valid. Can confirm
Barclays
Would say it's super collegial in the SEC-style.
Source: went to SEC undergrad and work at Barclays
Hahaha fair
do you even work here or are you parroting what other interns/prospects say on this site
French banks have good culture for the most part, very laid back and European (which has its cons). My friend at BNP has 28 vacation days and he's encouraged to use at least half of them.
Also concur about southern banks - Raymond James is another bank that has good culture, even in sweatshop groups like Tech & Services.
Insert mandatory WSO banana bait about Evercore culture.
Wells only has one protected weekend a month and I’ve heard many don’t take it.
wf IB here - deal flow picked up ~apr 2020 and hasn't slowed down. hours are bad. would not recommend. no meals expensed. abusive senior bankers tolerated and awful mba associates given free passes.
What industry group?
Bro just expense the meals anyway. No way would they ever catch that and if they did it’s not like you would be caught and have your reputation tarnished.
Very satisfied with culture at SMBC New York...not the sweaty Japanese bank environment you would expect, my team is close knit and senior bankers are generally pretty respectful of our time.
I interviewed with SMBC and one of their MDs said that they've only had 2 IB analysts leave in the past 3 years. Definitely says a lot about their culture, as many seem to be career bankers, but also gives some insight into the potential lack of exit opportunities
I’d say Blair? From my friends across supposed “top” MM shops, heard the best things from there
Is this still true with WFH?
KeyBanc Capital Markets
Any info about Cain Brothers?
Compared to other coverage groups at Key, definitely on the sweatier side. But good people from what my friend says who currently works there.
Any info on Cain Brothers?
Heard Tobin & Co has such a good culture interns are willing to work there for free
haha sick bruh. Another Tobin & Co joke!! I bet you thought it was going to get you SB's from anonymous sophomores attending UMass Amherst. Well guess what pal, it didn't.
Best comment on the thread
LOL that he gave you a monkey shit after getting torched.
Bit cranky Justine?
Boring
I think it's entirely group dependent at BBs. People at EVR and PJT seem to really like it - believe the turnover has been minimal this year - think PJT just implemented protected saturdays too. Moelis LA, as a non-analyst, actually sounds great too - know guys who surf before work and if you're the right culture-fit, you do really well. They did lose people like everyone else though.
Goldman sounds terrible, even now that they have wfh meals, it's still made so now you don't even want to do it.
lol GS does not have WFH meals and very unlikely for that to change given Solomon wants our asses back at 200 West. Solomon did tell us the below in a voice recording on Sunday:
"Just remember: if we all go an extra mile for our client, even when we feel that we're reaching our limit, it can really make a difference in our performance."
Honestly I needed that pep talk. Totally feel motivated to work harder for our clients after hearing that!
I thought you can now get wfh meals once a week if you go on a zoom to socialize
Moelis LA guys below MD do NOT have peace of mind to be able to surf before work even if time permits. Ask your alleged surfer friends why they are losing significantly more people than everyone else.
When things are quiet, some people do surf.
If you are actually staffed up with the revenue generators in that office, you will certainly not be surfing. Their VPs and even EDs work analyst/associate hours. Associates work as much or more than analysts.
Baird for worst surprisingly enough... industrials and T&S in particular
Heard conflicting things about them. Chicago or Mil office? Saw in a thread that they had enforced protected friday nights/saturdays.
They protect sure, but can be overridden. Both MKE and Chi are absolute sweatshops. It’s insane that people think they have a good culture. It’s like propaganda or something lol. Talk to nearly any analyst / associate and you’ll see.
--
PM me? want to ask a few questions
Heard TD has a very strong culture... apparently one of the best ones on the street
Lol. The grand facade of Canadian banks. From what I hear culture might be great in Canada itself but as far as US is concerned it’s typical as any other US banks because the senior bankers are usually laterals from other banks and bring their own culture with them
wells?
Do not recommend. sweatshop across most groups right now that are seeing active dealflow. no meals either
Are many analysts and associates quitting?
Surprised Centerview hasn’t been mentioned here yet. Seems like the best combination of compensation, competent senior people who don’t make you want to blow your brains out with their requests, and chill junior people.
Also Houlihan RX NYC office is pretty solid actually. Work hard but people are chill.
Is the LA office similar to NY office culture-wise?
HL LA RX sleeping bag and pillow vibe
Raymond James has been doing very well in terms of culture. Pay is street avg as well.
Group specific or all groups?
MM banks are night and day with deal flow for top groups vs. the average or others. Typically one or 2 groups carry the torch for the firm.
baird = industrials has always been bread and butter
blair = tech
etc.
I really doubt exit options and the experience are as strong in the weaker deal flow groups (sure maybe WLB is a bit better but pick and choose)
.
lmao, there's a bracket going around one of the insta finmeme pages about the worst groups for WLB:
These views are not mine just thought it would be interesting to share it here.
HL has bad culture? IS hat LA or NY?
Just look at the number of deals HL pumps out year over year. Incredibly sweaty
Good culture
..
Funny
I’ve heard good things about Credit Suisse compared to other BBs but I’d be curious what impressions are given I don’t work there.
Evercore has one of the best cultures - comradery is so big there as most of the coverage & capital markets teams are so close because it's lean there. and everybody gets paid a shit ton so that helps
Is this true for New York only or would recon tbis is also true for Houston?
Among the longest hours in Houston but generally good people.
only heard from people in NYC, but I imagine this is somewhat similar across all locations
wait why are people shitting on the post...is it not somewhat true??
I interview with them and that's what all my alumni and analysts told me about the place
Now there’s a thread on Evercore culture being rough, which one is it lol?
Now there’s a thread on Evercore culture being rough, which one is it lol?
EVR/Centerview and it is not even close....
Are you referring to best groups or brutal groups for those names?
Any thoughts on Citi / Baml / UBS FIG groups?
? Just tell us which bank are you interested in
Heard not so great things bout citi FIG and I know an assoc in UBS FIG getting slammed... on top of that he mentioned pretty hardo culture in that group which is surprising for UBS
Thoughts on CS FIG?
why the fuck would you want to do fig
appreciate any insights
Lazard healthcare?
PJT?
I’ve heard PJT has a pretty good culture in the M&A group at least.
Best - coke and hookers
Any insight on Guggenheim?
curious as well
Following
At Goldman Sachs we promote our multi cultural diversity. And everyone is assigned a PRONOUN. I self-identify myself as an IT
hahaha i make fun of people's gender identity because I'm insecure and not empathetic
Worst culture is working with a French MD
Extremely solid culture as a whole at SVBL. On average, groups are much better than other places around the street, above street comp as well so not many compromises, unless you're not into healthcare/biopharma.
What’s comp like at the associate and VP level? Is it mostly capital markets work or m&a as well?
To be honest, I am in research in a hot sub-sector, and my pay is roughly comparable to banking analysts amazingly. I would expect the bankers to be paid above the street though. Some M&A, mostly cap markets, but I expect M&A to grow in the coming years. Firm crushed it in 2020 like many others and obviously the healthcare space, especially biotech, is still hot.
Any thoughts on Citi? ( FIG / Industrials) specifically
Citi FIG has a bad culture and is very sweaty. Citi Industrials on the other hand is probably one of the best groups at Citi in terms of culture. I actually know someone who did his SA stint in FIG and then switched over to Industrials.
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