Best European City for IB (besides London)?
Title says it all. When I say best for IB I'm including things like comp, hours, quality of life, etc. London would be the winner so I wanted to see other cities in Europe that can compare.
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My colleagues are mostly in Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Zürich.
what the hell you just commented 2 minutes after I posted lol. I understand in the 4 cities you gave there are pros and cons, but do you care to share which - in your view- is the best?
So I have lived in Zürich, London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt before. I don't speak French and I have never lived in Paris (but have been countless times).
Zürich is tiny, different culture from Germany or Frankfurt. Beautiful scenery and setting. Expensive and high cost of living, standard of life is higher too. Salaries are taxed at a lower rate, but products and services are more expensive.
Frankfurt was smaller than expected, especially in Finance. You have access to a wider variety of cities around it also, taxes are relatively high. However, the German social security system is great and you will get a fairly high quality of life.
Both Frankfurt and Zürich would prefer German speakers, although everyone would understand English.
Amsterdam is a very different city, very touristy and lots of nightlife. One of my ex gfs is Dutch, so I am partial to this place and the open minded culture in the Netherlands. If a resident moves to NL for the first time, they'll get tax breaks on the first 100K they earn. Google it. Netherlands are a cool place, but not the most exciting IMO.
If I HAD to pick one of the cities - I would select Amsterdam. Due to the girls, nightlife, proximity to other countries and Schiphol has good flight connections.
IF you speak French, I would absolutely pick Paris. But not with just English, I wouldn't do that for a professional career. Learning French also enables more points for the Express entry system in Canada and PNP in Quebec.
Various ways you can look at it.
All factors considered: Milan > Paris > Frankfurt > Madrid > Amsterdam
Finance opportunities (lateral IB moves or PE): Frankfurt > Milan = Paris > Amsterdam > Madrid
Hours and WLB: Frankfurt > Amsterdam > Milan >>> Paris = Madrid
Another thing to consider is that there isn't anything to do in frankfurt. It's a very small city and it doesn't have the museums, restaurants, etc that the other cities have. In that category: Paris > Madrid > Amsterdam > Frankfurt. Don't know Milan that well but should be somewhere in the middle
Why would you put Milan 1st?
IB and PE opportunities are just behind Frankfurt, in line with Paris (slightly below for IB but better for PE) and better than Madrid or Amsterdam. CoL and general QoL is significantly higher than in any of the other cities mentioned. Pay relative to CoL is 2nd only to Frankfurt. Milan is also a great place for everyone - whether you want to raise a family or have fun in your 20s. Lots of international people, great restaurants, museums, amazing nightlife and incredible dating scene. Additionally, you can take a break from it whenever you want; skiing in the alps, Lake Como, beautiful seaside towns nearby e.g., Portofino. All things you can do in the weekend. Finally, it is very well connected both internationally and continentally for trips. All these things together make it the most attractive overall option in my opinion.
Would disagree completely with WLB & Hours. Frankfurt tends to be pretty sweaty, and so is Amsterdam. Milan or Madrid have a more lax culture (friends there still put long hours but they get more wiggle room when something personal comes up and cities are so much more enjoyable). I believe Paris gets a lot of days off, but only heard it from one source.
In terms of finance opportunities I would also point out that Amsterdam is really focused around HF. Lateralling to other IBs will not be nearly as easy due to much smaller market size than other cities.
Another point to note is CoL. Out of all those cities, Madrid (maybe Frankfurt- not sure how expensive it is) pays around the same as all other cities whilst being significantly cheaper and lower Taxes than Paris or Milan. Know a couple VPs who transferred to Madrid from NY/ London without having any personal connection to Spain.
Regarding work itself, I would say Frankfurt >> Amsterdam = Madrid > Milan > Paris. France's IB is really politized, and is common for gov officials to stick their noses (through mechanisms such as golden shares). In Italy it still happens but not as often. Amsterdam (as it covers Benelux) & Spain only see this in regional deals (hard to make deals in Flanders or Catalonia if you are not a local- in both cases its becoming less and less common however).
Finally I would also add a tier for "adaptability". Working in Paris, Madrid or Milan without being fluent is impossible at the lower levels. You will get more forgiveness in Frankfurt / Amsterdam.
Unless you are under a special tax regime, normal taxes in Madrid are as high as Milan or Paris or Frankfurt, and they are even increasing them right now. Plus zero allowance for dividends/capital gains etc. Cost of living is not that low either, maybe this was true 10 years ago.
Did a m&a internship in Frankfurt, worked full-time in Capital markets in London (Dach coverage) and now back in Germany working for a smaller firm making a bit less than street while only working 55-60h a week. (almost no weekends!)
London is nicer in terms of experience, but I prefer Frankfurt due to being in my home country. Would not recommend anyone to move here from London unless you're german
Budapest and Belfast
I'd consider Stockholm as the best place to be in Finance after London (in Europe).
1. A lot of top tier PE funds are based in Stockholm (EQT, Nordic, Altor, Investor), providing excellent exits as a banker
2. The entire city speaks perfect English
3. The dating scene is AMAZING!
4. There's a 50% tax break for expats earning above 100k EUR or so
I think a couple downsides are the long winters (but on the plus side, none of that pesky London rain), and poorer airline connectivity to the rest of the world when compared to a Paris/Amsterdam
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