BofA IB revenue falloff

I have a few friends still at bofa and how they are running things just seem bizarre. Get the sense they tried to thin the herd by paying low bonuses so they could avoid saying layoffs but then this just pissed off all the top performers since they are doing 95% of the work because the low performers can't do the work. So you start losing all the top talent and retain the weak talent and keep compounding the problem. And it seems they did this approach across all levels. Apparently bofa's middle market group has almost 100 senior bankers.

Generally speaking, BofA was operationally more efficient with a better performing GCIB franchise leading up to COVID. Despite their recent challenges over the past 2-3 years, objectively, I think most people would say that it’s a better bet for early career professionals than some of the firms listed above.

I’d argue that BofA was close to emerging as a more formidable competitor to JPM and some of the other top BBs due to the strength of the seniors in its HC, FSG, C&R, and Levfin groups (2014ish - 2020). The bank has been known to have a pretty good culture (relatively speaking) coupled with good pay (relative to other BBs). Even archived threads on WSO will confirm that BofA was known, once upon a time, for being more generous with comp. Additionally, it was regarded as a shop that supports professional development and internal mobility, especially for top talent.

The problem is that BofA never quite adjusted their strategy after the COVID era hiring boom. Due to BofA’s huge retail presence and connection to Main Street, they value their image and want to be seen as a pillar of safety. This, amongst other things, is a reason why the bank has avoided culling in my view. Obviously, the health crisis is no longer prevalent; rates are higher, deal activity has declined, headcount is bloated, and top talent has left. So the headlines we are seeing regarding BofA more recently is the culmination of management’s lack of agility when it comes to adjusting to the current environment.

I used to work at BofA but left earlier this year.

My experience at my new shop so far has been better… although other banks have their issues as well.

My stance on BofA is there are very few places where the trade off between pay and hours worked/stress is so high. Sure there are banks that are more stressful, but you get paid more. Similarly, there are shops that pay the same/ a bit less, but they’re much less stressful and you get some WLB. At BofA I was consistently cranking 80-90 hours/week with relatively high stress, and received sub-6 figure bonuses as a senior associate.

I think the IB group at BofA isn’t structured right and they didn’t properly adjust their internal strategy post COVID. There are way too many bodies that don’t bring in business at the senior level, and way too many bodies who can’t do the execution work at the junior level. All of the above frustrates the top performers, who leave.

The real “winners” of BofA’s strategy are people who cannot do the job who would have been fired at another bank. No seniors want to work with them, so they cruise and don’t do much, and the base alone is a slight premium to what they could get if they left and got a “normal” job.

If you like IB and are an above average (hell, even average) performer, you’re better off almost anywhere else where they cull the herd at all levels once in a while.