Best LevFin shops?
As the title suggest, just wanted to find out what some of the best LevFin shops were on the street. Thank you!
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jpm, bofa, gs
Just think of your big banks that have balance sheets. GS/JPM/BofA/Jeff. Even more MM banks like SMBC/Truist have half decent LevFin teams due to their balance sheets.
EB/MM that don’t have large surplus of capital typically have more debt advisory roles, rather than LevFin
Do you know if SMBC and Truist LevFin hours are chill?
Depends on coverage I believe, have a friend that works there. If you’re Healthcare or TMT no, but other groups are more relaxed
JEFF doesn't have a real balance sheet. Which actually makes it all the more impressive how successful they are in the MM LevFin sponsor space
Unironically UBS
UBS has an elite LevFin franchise, probably top 5. JPM is clear number 1 in the space, even UBS would probably agree with that assessment.
Single best is JPM. Right after that is BoFA and GS. After them, you get a much larger group of banks in one rough tier : Citi, Barclays, UBS, Jeff, and maybe DB. Those are the for sure top 8, after that are the rest. Best LevFin banks are the ones who get a lot of lead lefts, looking purely at volume data is very misleading. Will note Jeff is unregulated and is perhaps the best seat for experience since you are working on typically hairy deals and/or deals with much higher leverage than what peer banks can offer.
UBS and DB are not Top 8 this year.
Thank you for your attention to this matter
You’d have to look at lead lefts no?
Ah yes, when a senior gives you his view on top banks + how to evaluate them, you counter with your self-chosen data that is not the same as what the senior has told you. 10/10 job, very useful and believable data! Also, even per your ranking, UBS is 9th for 2025 (EVR obviously doesn't do LevFin financing) and 7th for 2024, seems like top 8 to me, or at least arguable for top 8. DB was also 8th last year, so again arguable top 8. Have to prioritize 2024 data over 2025 one, given that 2025 is only half complete and rankings can/do drastically change quarter to quarter in banking.
Besides your JPM and BofAs of the world, UBS has a top franchise funnily enough, Jeff’s is pretty good as well since they’re not regulated
Chillest hours LevFin group would be Nomura. Ignore title but anyone who works there can confirm
WF?
Good group tough-left lead on a couple of EU sponsors deal
What about MS NY?
What are some good MM shops for LevFin? What do lateral opportunities look like?
What about CreditAg? Heard they have a solid reputation with decent WLB
I’ve seen some people from SocGen/Truist/SMBC types all end up at firms like Golub and Monroe Capital. Seems like good WLB relatively with not bad exits for MM/UMM PC.
CreditAg seems to be around that group, don’t know much about who does the modeling/their deal flow though
UBS believe it or not
Tiers below for the big names, don’t know much about the MM.
del
Del
Do JPM/GS/BofA levfin analysts model that often? Curious if it’s worth it to lateral from Citi/UBS/Barclays levfin
I think JPM and GS don't.
At the BB level, it's BofA, UBS, and DB where LevFin does at least some portion of the modeling.
So GS/JPM LevFin exits are worse than UBS/DB?
Does that lead to better exits?
Does that lead to better exits?
No BB model. The last BB to model is out of Business
del
False, at DB LevFin models.
Are exits significantly worse from group that don‘t model?
Are exits significantly worse from group that don‘t model?
Are exits significantly worse from groups that don‘t model?
Anyone have insight on Wells LevFin?
Believe it’s pretty good, I’ve seen both LevFin and then Leveraged Underwriting which I assume is the execution portion of the group.
Ranks well in league tables, but really doesn't get left lead and mostly just participates. The team also has no modeling responsibility, at least at the moment. Networked there a bit, and seemingly there is a push to bring back that responsibility back into the group, particularly for juniors.
Who does modeling at Citi?
Isn't Citi levfin basically cap makets group
Lev fin to PE
No chance. Too many sector guys they can select from. You exit to CM side at PE
If you're asking which are the best as far as league tables, then the answers are above. But with regards to junior experience, then the best ones would be BofA, Jeff, DB, and UBS. All of those teams actually give LevFin a decent amount of modeling responsibility, while places like GS, JPM, MS, Citi, and Barclays have LevFin groups that are purely cap markets, and you'll likely never touch a model as an analyst.
Congrats on UBS!
I’d place Santander just below BofA, UBS, DB, and Jeff as another solid LevFin group that does modeling (not sure if RBC models). They've led 10 loan deals so far this year. I’ve heard they don’t lead HY bond deals yet, as their syndication platform is still being built. Overall, I’d rank them on par with WF and BMO, though I’m not sure if WF and BMO hold pen on models.
WF LevFin doesn't hold the pen model, and juniors don't do any modeling. RBC is a bit more nuanced–it's the same analysts across LevFin and their FSG, so juniors on these teams will end up getting modeling regardless.
Is the potential to be a strong group there for Santander?
Ik im about to get roasted but how’s Scotia LevFin in the US? Obviously doesn’t come close to any bank on this list but it seems like they got some crazy good talent at the senior level (JPM, GS, etc) leading the team now and have heard they’re growing their platform. Anyone have insights?
Honestly didn’t know they had a LevFin group in the US. Places like BNP, SocGen, Truist, SMBC all place better from what I’ve seen (anecdotally)
JPM Levfin exist? Possible for MF PE and HF?
del
BofA Lev Fin people I've met are all pretty sharp, but the culture sounded brutal in both New York and Charlotte.
Concur with JPM and BofA being the top two, driven by a combination of (1) Balance sheet size), (2) Spectrum of clients they bank (good at middle market and large cap), (3) Strength of IB / Sponsor Relationship, and (4) Strong LevFin Risk Management franchise which is underappreciated, but is one of the reasons you don't see WF/C as #3 and #4 despite balance sheet size.
After that, GS/MS have strong franchises given their IB/Sponsor relationships and the respect of their financing businesses. Jefferies also very good in the sponsor space given they have strong sponsor relationships and a large enough balance sheet to support LevFin clients, while not being nearly as risk constrained as the traditional banks.
After that group, I would put Citi up their because they do have strong relationships with the largest sponsors (Blacksone, Apollo, KKR, etc.) but are weaker as you go into the middle market. Then, would put the other international / regional balance sheet banks (UBS, DB, RBC, Truist, etc).
I wouldn't consider the non-balance sheet IB boutiques as strong LevFin franchises in a traditional sense given they can't lend or underwrite bridge loans, but some have strong Sponsors/Secondaries/Private Debt/Restructuring businesses where your get to work with non-Investment Grade businesses and financial sponsors.
Not broadly wrong, but a few inaccuracies.
GS is arguably ahead of BofA in recent years; they tend to win more large-cap lead roles, especially in sponsor-driven deals, and have made LevFin a key strategic focus. BofA was the clear #2 until recently, but that’s shifted a bit over the past 2–3 years. Depending on how you evaluate, GS is at worst only marginally behind, and more realistically belongs in the same tier. They win a lot of the large leads with sponsors and win a larger % of deals as leads.
MS doesn’t commit balance sheet the same way others do. They occasionally win lead roles, but that’s usually due to their advisory franchise, not their financing/cap markets capabilities. Citi, meanwhile, is stronger with corporates than sponsors; they win a lot of mandates just by virtue of balance sheet, but that doesn’t always translate to being lead-left or driving the deal. This is not to say they don't win a lot of leads, but more so that as a % of overall deals, they win fewer leads than others. As a broad note, this is also why you will see WF/RBC so high in league tables: those two banks are often on the right but rarely win lefts.
On UBS and DB (and to a lesser extent, Barclays, which has a much stronger broader corporate platform), I wouldn’t put them below MS from a LevFin standpoint. Their whole strategy is centered around being the go-to underwriter for select sponsors and corporates, and they’ve done a solid job maintaining those relationships and being creative with deals. Would think they are more relevant in LevFin than MS is.
Do you know anything about exits from LevFin at regional/MM banks like Truist. Is it mostly lateraling to an EB/BB or is there a route to MM PE/PC?
This year, for loans (excluding HY bonds), Wells has led 16, RBC 25, and MS over 50 deals. At this point, it's hard to argue that MS only occasionally takes lead roles, or that Wells and RBC rarely win lead-left mandates, especially given that Citi has led fewer deals than RBC.
incoming analyst at one of these top but non-modeling levfin groups - how should I think about exits? I'm interested in private or growth equity...is MF/UMM doable?
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