Credit Agricole

they do not

Yes both views are correct

Would the opportunity at least open up some doors at other banks/biz school?

Ok to break this down:

DCM is very hot right now in general; at CA-CIB, it's one of the best product groups to be in. However, you will work very hard as their team is very understaffed right now, and will be for the forseeable future.

Don't expect to get anything at the BB level - most exits are to other ibanks at other MM/boutiques. No PE recruitment whatsoever.

Pay structure is as follows: Standard market, maybe slightly above, for base; bonus is capped at ~15%-20% for ALL FIRST YEARS in the U.S. Associate program.

Everyone hates it at CA-CIB; I will clarify further that at some firms, people praise at least one aspect of their programs; at CA-CIB, no one has anything positive to say, ever. Furthermore, the VIEs (French people sent to work here) are treated very well; they receive 3 times as many vacation days, and get paid more as well. This is just the culture of a French bank, and any foreign bank in general.

In conclusion: if you have nothing else, go for it, you'll still learn lots. However, I would caution that your exit opps will largely be based on your own efforts.

One last tidbit; there is NO PROMOTION to associate; you're fed the usual BS that after two years you'll be reviewed and it's at the discretion of management - however, even the star analysts are kicked out and the firm is incredibly top-heavy.

Is this the same at all French banks like BNP Paribas, Natixis, and SocGen?

What about Duetsche Bank and Barclays?

wen i was desperate, i interviewed there not too long ago for a US associate ibanking role. they offered 65k salary plus 10k capped bonus. the bank is a joke. i thanked them wen they turned me down. i now work at a bb.

banker00

wen i was desperate, i interviewed there not too long ago for a US associate ibanking role. they offered 65k salary plus 10k capped bonus. the bank is a joke. i thanked them wen they turned me down. i now work at a bb.

Firm also comes w/ your typical snotty French culture and no advancement unless you're from France. I think it's going to hit them soon that they can't keep doing business like they currently are - the people complain about not winning mandates, yet their bankers don't even shave off their beards/cut their hair.

State of Trance

"The people complain about not winning mandates, yet their bankers don't even shave off their beards/cut their hair. "

Lol. That is pretty bad. Why are they like this ?? I have no clue. Just does not make any sense at all. No wonder the bank is performing so poorly. I am surprised it has not gone under.

Probably because of the massive BS - one of the top banks in the world in terms of T1 assets/sheer size of BS (even larger than JPM).

The French in general are more concerned with semantics/risk management/dicking around as opposed to actually closing deals. You'll see people debate over calculations of EVA as opposed to how to win deals. This, couped with a crappy M&A/non-existent M&A practice, means that they only win parts of deals through BS financing. Yet, they still took a 6.5B Euro hit last year due to write-downs. Typical.

The bankers are also on vaca 15 days out of the month - they act like BSDs when in reality, they've probably never won more than a handful of mandates in their entire career.