Could FT offers be rescinded due to COVID-19?
Given recent market anxieties, is there any reason to believe that FT offers might be rescinded? What’s the outlook for elite boutiques?
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My start date is delayed for now. Hopefully just a delay
Europe or New York ?? and how long is the delay ?
NYC. Idk for how long, they said to check back with them every week.
which bank
An LMM boutique
Good luck man, I think everything will blow over in the next couple months or so
What industry does your bank focus on
It’s very niche/specific. Can’t disclose that for anonymity reasons.
LMAO FT Partners it is
Location?
NYC
Are you graduating class or lateral?
Lateral
Graduating class
In the same situation, but I'm based in Australia. The only thing that helps my anxiety toward this situation is that I'm currently working for them on part-time basis so I have full visibility of whether they will axe me or not. Have been very worrisome last couple of days.
deleted.
Concerned about this as well. Supposed to start FT in September. Bumping to see if anyone has any insights.
This should be done by September.
Concerned about this as well. Starting a new position in a week and have not heard much... Talking to my hiring manager tomorrow and hopefully will understand more.
The answer is obviously yes - there is a risk. Too early to tell in any direction with confidence.
As someone who has been in industry since last crisis (with peers who have also been in industry since last crisis) - this has potential to be more disruptive than financial crisis. People are acting irrationally - which leads to secondary and tertiary impacts. Sponsors telling portcos to draw down on all available lines of credit. Companies across all industries are likely to default. Cash is king and non-profitable companies are going to suffer.
Don’t want to be a doomsday prophet - but risks are clearly there for a massive reset. It’s part of being in industry and markets don’t always go up. Tough for younger people to understand as they’ve only known boom times.
Everyone hoping for a V recovery - but it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
You hit the nail on the head the part about not wanting to be a Doomsday Prophet. I was in High School during the Tech Bubble crash and worked through the GFC. Folks that haven't seen a crisis are easier to spook because they don't understand what's going on. This is going to be tough for everyone, but the folks will have a changed mentality. Hopefully it translates to teaching a younger generation about what happens when panics set in. I mean, I remember when the GFC happened, talking to folks with 20+ years of experience who worked through the littany of Financial Crisises we've seen ranging from Black Monday in '87 and the S&L Crisis of the late 80s to Mexico in '94, Asia in '97, and Russia in '98, and their mentality was often focused on staying flexible and being willing to adapt to a changing and unknown situation. That's all you can really do right now. Be flexible. Keep up with the situation. Adapt and move on.
Appreciate the insight. Is it really fair to say this situation could be MORE disruptive than the GFC, which was a complete and systemic failure of our financial system? Sure people are reacting irrationally now, but won’t things go back to normal in a couple months when this virus fizzles out?
Two words: Debt servicing. That's what's going to make this bad. How bad it gets depends on how long the economy stays at a standstill.
That’s the million dollar question - and there isn’t a single person who knows for sure. Yes - GFC was a systematic failure of the banking system. Fast forward to today, companies (and municipalities / governments / individuals) are more indebted. As thestreet mentioned - debt servicing could be a major issue.
I don’t think corona will itself cause a massive reset. But it’s more the match that lit a tinderbox. Most all professional service firms are now working from home. People aren’t going out and spending money. Airline bookings are plummeting. Major conferences events getting cancelled. Most cities limiting large gatherings. NYC feels about 20% as busy as usual. Not hard to see economy seizing up over the next few weeks.
So yes - there is potential to be worse.
You are being just a bit alarmist, as is the media.
I work at one of the firms listed in the recent “xyz firm tell portcos to draw lines” articles, and the articles are, at worst, totally false. They are, at best, huge exaggerations.
In reality, portcos are being told there MAY BE added liquidity demands coming IN CERTAIN INDUSTRIES/SECTORS as revenues TEMPORARILY slow down, which MAY hinder their ability to pay certain expenses.
Portcos HAVE NOT BEEN DIRECTED TO DRAW THEIR LINES. Instead, they have been told to not worry about drawing their lines to meet cashflow demands over the next couple months. This contrasts with the normal protocol of: “tell us before you draw the lines, and there better be a damn good reason why you need to draw it.”
On the new investment front: we have explicitly been told to wave it in. We view this as very temporary & just a regular-way panic. Buy buy buy.
Agree to disagree. I can say your comment that no sponsors are telling portcos to draw their lines is definitively false.
I'd agree to disagree as well. You may be right on the overreaction of telling portcos to draw on iines. I'm betting this is the beginning, and that many will lose jobs in the wake of this. Hospitality is suffering, and obviously consumer discretionary (eg gambling) is suffering. There are going to be millions of job losses, and I think we saw a pretty good uptick in unemployment claims today. We also saw pretty good weakness in the northeast manufacturing economy through Empire State and Philly Fed manufacturing indices. There will be spillover to other industries. People will become more scared of job prospects and will spend less. The big question is how long this virus is a serious issue and how long these "flatten the curve" movements persist. If it wasn't an issue tomorrow, I think we could get a fairly quick recovery, but the longer it plays out, the more clouds on the horizon.
Just my two cents.
I think nobody knows, not even HR. Banks aren’t even sure what to do with their trading floors in the coming days/weeks, let alone HR knowing what will happen months from now. I doubt offers would be rescinded, if anything, maybe start dates delayed. I do think this will catapult us into.a recession, though. And who knows what whill happen then.
JPM sent to all full time analysts and associates that there is no change to start dates and there is nothing to worry about- they sent a survey similar to that sent to SA's
Second this
JPM to incoming FT Analysts/Associates
"At this time, please rest assured that nothing has changed in terms of our plan to on-board you as a JPMC employee in 2020 and we have substantial safety precautions in place for all new hires, which are identical to those in place for all employees. Analyst / Associate Programs are critically important for our firm. Even if we do need to make adjustments to our programming at a later time, we still intend to honor our commitment to you by designing new ways for you to demonstrate your talent and engage with our firm, whether that means adjusting our schedule or taking advantage of technology to connect in a new way."
Thanks for sharing. Anyone know of other banks that have communicated something similar?
I've heard Citi and MS sent similar emails - can someone confirm?
Jefferies sent a similar email
Of course, we'd end up doing something like that. We're still working in the office as a lot of people are saying
Not sure if its still the same for you but my start date was bumped. They called me first telling me they were trying to see if we can start the position remotely, but that was quickly scrapped. Start date was bumped 3 weeks.
Not sure if its still the same for you but my start date was bumped. They called me first telling me they were trying to see if we can start the position remotely, but that was quickly scrapped. Start date was bumped 3 weeks.
Bumped 3 months. This is horrific
BAML sent email mid March to 2020 Full Time class (Analysts not sure about Asso) saying that "At this time we are evaluating all options to ensure your safety while still providing a robust and quality experience". Super helpful.
Barclays provided similar guidance (not much at all). Mainly about ensuring we still have a good experience and evaluating options
It's too early to answer this question.
(1) We don't know yet how long this social distancing is going to go on.
(2) Provided social distancing is still ongoing, we don't know what the best response from Wall Street is.
Remember, HR and recruiting is trying to stay relevant too, and their job for the next month is to hound MDs for ideas. If a solution exists, someone will come up with something; if it doesn't, the best place for summer interns to be is at home.
Just lost my offer
Shit man sorry about that. You mind providing some color around location/firm? Was it a hard separation or did they just say something along the lines of "everything is up in the air right now; we're not sure when/if we can onboard you"?
It’s a pretty good boutique in NYC. They just withdrew the offer (hard separation I guess). Thing is, it’s quite impossible to find anything else right now.
Damn which firm?
Sorry to hear man. Were you lateraling or incoming FT?
Lateraling as a 1st year analyst
Not sure what will happen over in the US; but in Europe things are getting pretty ugly. I had an offer to move to another firm starting in a couple of months and that has just been revoked. I'm assuming other banks/firms/boutiques will follow suit (especially as things get worse - which they will) until the future is clearer.
BB?
Got an email from my MM firm. They're going to do virtual onboarding for my Apr 13 start date. Not planning on rescinding.
No changes for my firm as of yet. Coming from an industry specific boutique bank in NYC.
My BB / MM (RBC/WF/UBS) just canceled training for incoming analysts :(.
was it scheduled for the summer?
Like mid summer yes.
Did they also pull your offer/push back start dates? Were you starting in July?
I was starting in August on the desk. No changes to worry —yet.
Can you be more specific, you are anonymous so it doesnt matter and thats very extreme considering the size of the bank and nature of the situation
Wow which bank is this specifically? You’re anonymous so you’re safe... also, this would really help others prepare for what may come and start lining up backup plans
Couldn’t have been WF. I work there
Not OP, but are you sure about this? My roommate over the summer just had his canceled at WF. I suspect that the OP is at WF too. I work at one of the others (Jan start date) and wrote an email this morning to those who summered in my group about no changes.
Yeah can you help us out here lol
This link is a current collection of industries and firms that are hiring, laying off, or freezing hiring. Not banking specific but gives you a good benchmark of seeing what's out there. You can also report to it if you want.
Crowd Sourced Hiring Data
My BB still proceeding as normal but I think we'll have a lot more clarity on what will happen come mid June
Personally hope the clarity comes mid may lol.
Supposedly we will hit the peak of the curve around mid may and I’m hopeful that will clear a lot up
Anyone going to BAML FT is safe.
Can confirm
Only for FT
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