Hello,
As the title suggests I'm having a tough time deciding between desks. Any thoughts on the areas or anybody with experience of them in terms of work/variety/opps.
Thanks.
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This should really be based more so on your interests, but here it goes:
DCM- a relatively safer desk on the IBD side, highly relationship driven, the people who succeed here are good at maintaining client relationships and moving up the corporate ladder in the bank. Exit opps are a little more limited since you don't build the traditional IBD skill set, but it can be an awesome position. It depends on where you are at, but the DCM experience definitely varies by shop. Banks higher up in the league tables you'll get exposed to more types of products and build out your skill set tremendously. Check out where your bank is on this.
ABS Structured Credit- structured credit has really never been the same since the crisis. While ABS/CLO's have picked up issuance heavily, there still isn't the same type of opportunity that was once available at banks. There's some boutique HF's out there in Structured Credit, but it's arguable there isn't a space that's changed more than Structured Credit. It's also easy to get stuck in this area since it's hard to find a lot of people with this skill set.
FX Sales- This has changed a lot also, but if you into currency trading and like dealing with international markets, this could be an interesting opportunity. Similar to DCM with the sales aspect and having a client facing role. Again, it can hard to find people with FX skill sets so even though banks have cut back on these areas, this skill set will be in demand on areas around the street (prop trading, HF's, specialized boutiques).
If you're the more outgoing type of person who wants a client facing role I'd take DCM or FX Sales. If you more quanty and like crunching numbers, take ABS Structured Credit.
how do you know about the different roles and everything?
ABS Structured Desk is mainly dependent on a strong real estate market and is a very niche market, but you can make a lot if you're good and is popular especially on the buy-side. You're probably better off with DCM as you'll be exposed to a broader product range. FX is weak now, however an International desk can give you exposure to FX. Remember S&T is product driven so be versatile.
This isn't necessarily true, regarding what makes the structured desk busy. Some banks eschew real estate ABS in favour of credit cards, auto loans, or other forms of receivables (I heard talk about some banks branching out into structured lease ABS, for example). While real estate ABS is the most popular overall, a lot depends on the structure and focus of the team at that particular bank and I would encourage OP to figure out what assets his bank's SCM-ABS team focuses on.
To the OP--That being said, I would agree with Wilder -- if you want the technical skills and the progression, start out in structured capital markets and then transition after business school into DCM, where you'll progress much faster with an MBA anyway. The specific technical skills of ABS will needle you into a very specific part of the market, but the broad exposure of DCM will give you a wider set of knowledge and connections (in the long run) throughout the industry. (This is assuming that you prize optionality.)
Agree with the part about finding out what exactly ABS is at your shop. Technically anything on the structured desk could fall under being part of ABS (even CLOs and CMBS products). It falls under that whole umbrella. It won't be a tremendously different experience if its credit cards, auto loans, student loans, etc... but the client base you'll deal with will be much different compared to traditional ABS like CLOs, CMBS & RMBS.
At the moment I'm torn between ABS and DCM, I see DCM as ultra stable with a fantastically clear career progression but I'm worried it's not as technical and also limits you to always being in banking.
ABS is more uncertain but it's a big revenue generator for the group and would give me some fundamentally harder skills to work with, just less defined progression. Really unsure.
You could always start in ABS then get an MBA and move into DCM. The other way around would be very difficult.
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