citi/jpm/merrill/lehman

once and for all, go ghet yourself a beer and chill :)

"LIVING THE DREAM 24/7 ON http://THEALLNIGHTER.BLOGSPOT.COM"

they're all good shops

just try to get into a good team and learn as much as you can.

People are too hung up on rank which is very subjective except for maybe GS and MS. Experience in any one of the BB's is good.

Look for "fit" rather than rank.

1. ML

2. LEH

3. JPM

4. Citi

I think there's a gap after Lehman in terms of prestige.

i think your exit options, compensation, B school placement depend a whole lot more on your quality than your employer's once you are taking about companies of this level.

you hear a lot about lehman, jpm, ml and citi, but how do cs and db compare to these in terms of S&T?

i would imagine that cs and db are possibly better than some of those other firms listed without getting as much respect

cs and db are also good shops.

I would put more of an emphasis on performance rather than prestige.

Check the league tables and focus on a specific aspect of finance - Each of the groups listed do relatively the same thing, one may be better than another with regards to different operations.

It's all relative.

GateBreaker

no that's incorrect.

100% positive that 2006 m&a league tables ranked this way: 1. GS 2. MS 3. JPM

and a reversal doesn't reflect this

Pure prestige?

Lehman Merrill JP Morgan Citi

lehman more prestigious than merrill?you must be kidding dude....when the lehman crap blows up ($22bn bridge loans they cannot dispose, when their equity is 33bn) we'll all be laughing...Lehman guys have the tendency to believe they're close to GS but they're far from being there...in trading you don't succeed only by loving to take risks (see BSC, LEH); you must know to manage them as well (and the bank that is so good at it, yes, it's GS).. Also, a comment about league, volume etc tables that you may find around: don't trust them blindly. I was looking at some league tables compiled by RISK magazine (with II they're the most prestigious industry journals) and half of the tables listed Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and RBS on top positions...

prestige is not v useful when you are trying to get a job - some of the more important things are defnly the performance of the company/team, work you get to do, and the people in your team

Sure, they are not perfect, even from a third party source. However, they are objective. Every bank tries to squeeze onto deals they do no work on, so its basically a wash. And RISK? I would think SDC or Dealogic would be a better place to look anyway.

And why does Lehman get to be so prestigious? Ten years ago, they stunk. All three banks have a much longer history as at least close to the top of the game. Additionally, all three have a much stronger global presence than Lehman. Lehman is a strong shop, and certainly good enough for any exit opportunity, but they have less history, do less deals, and are less global. Where does the prestige come from?

oh..I meant for ranking is S&T or research...RISK and II (Institutional Investor) are the bibles ...and are both very expensive subscriptions

oh...and for S&T (although I have criticized them harshly, and although they're struggling at the moment) BSC would be also among the top in the FI sphere.

i can understand the whole lehman prestige thing. pure plays get a better rank in the minds of college kids who want to break into banking. but once you get down to who does the most deals, it looks like lehman's not doing so hot right now. citi's right behind GS and MS and jpm and merrill aren't in terrible shape. lehman had a really good string of years that ended a couple years ago.

Lehman does an excellent job at recruiting. One of my friends at Goldman actually told me that Lehman takes more offers away than any other bank (!!! Not MS?). I don’t know if I buy that, but many of the people that go and work their have great pride in the bank and probably have an inflated view of its prestige. But why knock them? To be happy with where you work is a great thing in my opinion. I just never really caught the Lehman recruiting fever.

I have no idea about S&T and research rankings.

Wait what? Take more offers away?

so pure prestige:

lehman, jpm, merrill, citi

merrill, lehman, jpm, citi

jpm, lehman, merrill, citi

etc.

it's actually imp.

someone needs advice- has offers from each of their top groups (apart from citi though)

None of you remember this but Arthur Andersen thought they were the dog's danglies of the accounting world, and working for Enron was considered not too shabby for a while either.

all those calling bs full time recruiting is usually accelerated for fast summers who jhave been talking to recruiting for a long time

and of course citi is at the bottom of all the ranking s for good reasons.

citi's prestige is very underrated. when you start working on the street, you'll start to see citi's name everywhere. Who led the blackstone and kkr IPOs? lehman does well in s+t, but if we're going to talk banking, don't knock citi.

I think someone above identified Citi's lack of a superficial prestige rep...people can't separate their ATM card and their checking account from their opinion about Citi's ibanking deals

well yea, agreed.

i like to think people actually in the business or people who can rationally think about these things don't fret and worry all day about whether their bank is considered most prestigious by a random internet forum