Commercial Banking - Comp/Lifestyle
Looking to learn more about commercial banking. I’ve pretty much read every thread on the forum about it but felt a lot of information was limited and didn’t provide perspective to what the career is like outside of your 20s and early 30s.
What is comp like for EVPs/MDs? Lifestyle? Any other ranks I’m forgetting to mention that people are at by the time they are late 30s early 40s?
Anyone?
Bump
I'm in corporate strategy at a large regional bank and can speak fairly well to this.
The career progression is fairly regimented in terms of roles but less so in terms of timing. For example, stand-out bankers can move up the ranks pretty quickly and they often end up becoming sales leaders instead of just pure bankers. It's probably realistic to become a sales manger in your mid to late 30s, and then the size of your team can grow over time.
At our bank, work-life balance is absurd and hardly anyone works over 40 hours a week, though you obviously might have some entertaining to do in the evenings or take client emails here and there, but no heavy work.
Compensation is a little tough for me to gauge, but I'd say your starting banker is around $120k all in (late 20s to early 30s) and then some of the top dogs can be bringing in probably closer $300k - $400k. Middle of the road average banker in their 40s is probably around the $200k mark, though also largely depends on which market they're in and the size of legacy books.
It's certainly not the most glamorous gig and you're pretty much doing the same thing for years, but if you want to make solid money, live in a decent neighborhood and be at all of your kids' games / shows / etc. then you can't really go wrong.
Yeah, I think the lifestyle/decent comp is what attracts me to it. I think my views of money will change as I get older (as others have told me) and I won’t tell myself that I have to make complete bank to get by.
Thanks for the response. Any clue how someone currently working in IB M&A might slot into commercial banking after their analyst stint in IB? I haven’t seen many make this move but I’m very ready to step off of the M&A path in the name of getting my life back.
I’m mainly interested to know if you have any ideas on what flavor of commercial banking and what comp I could get myself into post-IB.
I'd almost guarantee you'd have a pretty solid shot of making the pivot, though you'd probably start off as an associate banker (probably $80k - $95k all in) for a few years before you'd be able to own a book.
There are similar skills though as a banker it's pretty heavy on the client facing sales and less so on the technicals, though knowing technicals will certainly help. I'd say the easiest way is just to start setting up informal chats with bankers from companies you'd like to work for (JPM, BofA, Wells are probably the best places to start) and keep browsing their job postings site / asking your new contacts if they're hiring.
I am currently an Associate at a larger regional commercial bank. Below I have listed job title and comp range, this will differ based on book size, cost of living, and bank but I think they are generally accurate. From a work/life standpoint, there will be no other finance career where you could earn low to mid six figures working 30-40 hours a week. In the 2+ years I have worked at a Commercial Bank, I think I have yet to top 45 hours a week. You will never have fuck you money but you will earn a good living (upper middle class) while being able to start a family and attend to your children as needed. Ideally, if you joined a CB out of college you would be an SVP plus or minus a year or two by the time you are 30-31 which is roughly $180-$220k a year (see below).
Credit Analyst
$50k-65k base, no bonus or small sign on bonus. Standard merritt increase each year.
Working on spreading financials, analyzing credits, testing covenants, underwriting renewals and new deals. This stint can last 1-2 years depending on performance.
Associate
$65k - 80k base, 10-15% bonus.
Same day to day role as a Credit Analyst, but now you will slowly work on business development and building relationships with new and current customers. This stint can last 1.5-3 years.
Assistant Vice President
$75k-95k base, 15-20% bonus
Now you are starting to inherit preexisting clients and building/maintain your own loan portfolio. This stint can last 1.5-3 years.
Vice President
$85k - $110k base, 20-30% bonus
Fully operating your own book and prospecting for new deals/deposits. This role usually lasts 3-5 years.
Senior Vice President
$110k - $140k base, 30-40% bonus
Same as previous, but potentially managing a team which will increase the bonus figure if your team preforms. Some people stay here their entire career or get promoted to EVP. This is the hardest jump in the Commercial Bank.
Executive Vice President
$180 - 300k base, 40-60% bonus
Managing a team or multiple teams.
Sounds like a cushy lifestyle.
Very much so.
Say you wanted to make more at the associate level and were okay ratcheting up to regular 55-65 hour weeks but not more. Where would you go?
Corporate Banking, easily. I’d say hours are closer to that 50-60 hour range as you mentioned, and it’s also probably a happy medium of salary if you were to compare IB and Commercial Banking.
These numbers are pretty accurate in a 3rd tier COL city. Could be higher in bigger markets or just a reason to do CB in a “lesser” city. Bonuses could go above 100% of comp. A general rule is that the bigger the bank, the more money you’ll make. Although it will be harder to get stuff through the process.
This is very accurate for a sales/relationship manager career path. I'm at a large national commercial bank where we are split into sales and credit, which I imagine is similar to most commercial banks.
For credit roles, it's primarily the same except your base might be knocked up a tick and the bonus is knocked down since success in your role is less directly tied to prospecting and client interaction. This also varies from bank to bank - my bank generally pays out so it's flatter over peaks and valleys where other banks may pay more directly correlated to your office's success. Meaning that you'll get paid more during good years but less during down years. Over a 10 year period, we probably get paid the same but it's just something to think about.
The job descriptions also shift for credit roles from collecting and analyzing financials to reviewing and approving deals and managing a team of credit folks. Still a good amount of customer and prospect interaction but it doesn't drive your day-to-day. At the SVP level, you're in charge of a market and at the EVP level, you're in charge of regions (ex: multiple states, east coast, central region, west coast). At each level, your approval authority increases accordingly.
Very accurate, I appreciate you addressing this as I did not cover the PM/RM differences.
This comp is not so good for NYC/SF, no?
do you think working in a retail/consumer bank will help me enter commercial banking? I also wanted to ask if internships are necessary for commercial banks
Anyone know what kind of exit ops are available after a year or two of analyst years? Particularly at the larger BB banks?
Private Credit Funds or potentially a LevFin group in IB
I went from Commercial Banking analyst -> commercial banking PM -> Private Equity Associate. Tough, but possible.
I've been in commercial banking for about a year and can speak to the Canadian side of Commercial Banking if anyone is interested. Feel free to PM me or comment below if you have any questions.
Comp with 1 year of experience: CAD$80K + 15% Bonus Work/Life: 50 Hours / Week and easy to be top-bucket. Work for a Canadian Big 5 (TD/RBC).
Great insights, Im interested in learning about your transition from commercial banking to IB. I can PM you if you prefer.
sure
Bump
55-60 hours a week no weekends as an Analyst. Good culture within all the teams I've worked with. It's just weird seeing people so happy here and spending decades at my firm when they could be working the same amount somewhere else and be making more
do you think working in a retail/consumer bank will help me enter commercial banking? I also wanted to ask if internships are necessary for commercial banks
Yes that will help you and no you do not need internships.
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