Commercial Banking or Corporate Banking?

Have been in both and can say commercial leaves you so much more satisfied. Interactions mean something vs just adding trade lines and products in a system which happens at corp side. Really depends on what is valued but wl balance is so much better you can plan trips and have down time much easier. You see a lot more movement to RM role at commercial shops and on corp side much less fluid

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Will be an intern this summer in CB, at least at the bank im at the starting take home all in for commercial banking is 60k and Corporate banking is 110ish. From what I have heard from people that Ive chatted with at least within my bank is that private credit exits are probably the most likely. I don't believe the transition would be easy coming from commercial banking

Corp. banking for sure. I feel like this is a no-brainer. 

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I did not work in private placements but have worked in both commercial and corporate banking. I think corporate banking is a no-brainer over commercial banking.

I would say: Private Placement > Corporate Banking > Commerical Banking. 

I've worked in commercial banking and would also recommend corporate banking. corporate banking pays more, the clients are more complex and sophisticated and while the exit opportunities aren't great they're certainly better than commercial banking.

Corporate Banking for sure. Pay is better and clients are more complex. Work/life balance isn't as good as Commercial Banking, but still see everyone on my team using all their vacation. I work at a BB btw.

I was in corporate banking before my IB gig. You got the pay scales off. My CB A1 pay was about $115 and my A2 was about $130. Commercial at $80 is pretty high for most places. Would be more like $65-70 at most places (around $5 of that being bonus). My hours were similar to the poster above. Was offline around 7/8 most days with no weekend work most of the time. Pretty great pay for the hours and the timelines / work was less stressful. Timelines for work are more drawn out so no one is breathing down your neck for deliverables. Would take corporate over commercial every day the extra pay is well worth it especially as that pay gap gets bigger as you get promoted

Go for Corporate Banking. As someone whose worked in corporate and commercial banking at a commercial bank, its much easier to go from corporate to commercial if you wish to. On the corp side, you'll see more interesting credit profiles and interesting transactions. Commercial banking gets boring af and products/transactions are very simple. Yes, the work-life balance is definitely better on the commercial side but corp hours aren't anything like IB (with the exception of last year being pretty brutal for a lot of FO roles). Pay is obviously a plus on the corporate side too.

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Associate 1 in CB

Assume you don't want to be an investment banking hardo working 110 hours per week EVER.

If you had to choose between a career in commercial banking or a career in corporate banking, which would you choose and why? 

Commercial Banking: 

• Pay starts at 80K All-In out of Undergrad
• Pay hits ceiling around 150K All-In as a Team/District Manager/AVP by Year 8
• Work-Life Balance means you have time for relationships, startup, 4 weeks paid vacation, benefits you can actually use. 
• No compliance monitoring for trading/investing 
• Immediate and frequent client interaction, leading the dialogue with CEOs/CFOs of MM companies. 
• Can always move into corporate banking after like 6-8 years in commercial

Corporate Banking: 

• Pay starts at 100K All-In out of Undergrad
• Pay hits ceiling around $250K All-In as a VP by Year 7 (Who knows how long it takes to make MD and what the pay is like?)
• Work-Life Balance is less than commercial banking.. but you're out by 7-8 pm most days and rarely ever work full weekend days. 
• Can only trade/invest in mutual funds and real estate.
• No client interaction aside from listening to dial-in pitches until VP+ in Year 7.
• More interesting work and financial analysis (arguably) because of larger companies 
• Better Exit Opps? (Maybe?)

I worked in commercial, corp banking, and IBD and have a lot of buddies in these circles as well 

Starting out I’d highly recommend corporate, you gain a skill set similar to IBD but work less hours and take a bit of a pay cut relative to IB. There are always trade offs, I’ve highlighted a few I have come across below 

Pros for corporate banking 

- Corp banking covers larger clients and gives you a well rounded experience (public clients / capital markets) - you’ll learn to look at companies across the capital stack. Commercial banking clients are smaller and may be less complex 

- Coming up in Corp banking my path was similar those that came up in IBD: coming up the analyst - assoc - VP hierarchy, this helps you navigating  a matrix reporting environment 

- Breadth and depth of analysis in Corp banking is greater - modeling, companies have more complex capital structure, M&A (obviously have this on commercial side too), takeprivates, etc. 

- Salaries,  comp, and promotions are typically programmatic unlike commercial which is all  over the place

- Better pay but longer hours 

Pros for commercial banking 

- Less structured so if you’re good you can potentially get promoted  more quickly 

- Client interaction earlier on: since they’re a lot of layers in Corp banking while CB is a flatter structure, you can get client interaction more quickly 

- Better client access: in Corp banking depending on size of client the point of contact may be a Treasurer, Head of Capital Markets, or CFO. In commercial given smaller clients and flagged org structure it may be CEO/CFO/owner-founder, all depends on client 

- Better work life a balance and faster promotion to senior banker 

If you are not sure what you want to do, Corp banking (especially at a BB) gives you better technical skills, more resume power, and sets you up to lateral. 

Comp can be all over the place. Some BBS have same base for Corp banking as IBD but lower bonus. You should definitely be able to clear 300-400k all-in (base, cash bonus, stock) at the VP or Director level depending on the shop. Other shops base can be a discount to IB. 
 

it’s easier to move from Corp banking to CB than it is to move from up from CB - hours worked and the hard skill you learn are not the same - all shops are different so this is more of a generality than the rule 

wait a second u can only invest in mutual funds and real estate in corp banking u sure? guys does anybody have insights on this?

What would be the target comp for a VP at a BB Commercial Bank on the credit side?

I really want to get into Corporate Banking, but I'm curious as to how much the "prestige of schools" plays into this. For IB you want to go to the top schools, and I know there's less competition in Corp Banking, but is the whole going to a target school concept still as important? For example would I still need to try to get into NYU or Colombia, or would a school like Fordham or Baruch work just fine for corp banking?

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 

I’d start at a corporate bank with a good share of lead mandates early in my career. There, sometimes analysts and associates get to sit in on lenders meetings in person which may or may not happen if you’re a junior at a non-lead bank. Once you get enough experience supporting lead deals say at the sr associate/jr VP level, hop to a non-lead bank. Take phone calls from leads and clients, be friendly, add incremental value by reviewing structures but not having to grind them out with clients. Work 40-50 hrs per week (vs 60-70 hrs at lead banks), and collect decent pay (some discount, but not a huge amount…better on a per hour basis). Then just cruise until your MD retires and take his or her spot. Boom done.

Zero hesitation - corporate banking

Sorry for the hijack but how does one best position for a move from commercial banking to corporate banking? I'm a credit analyst in commercial banking and looking to move to corporate banking. How can I do this?