Interesting year in Lev Fin where many banks have eaten huge losses. Which bank would you say has done the best this year in a tricky environment?
EMEA only (so MS eating the Twitter $ losses doesn't count).
| +218 | UBS Accused of Favoring H-1B Workers While Cutting U.S.-Born Employees | 51 | 16h |
| +110 | ONLY THESE BANKS OR YOU STRUCK OUT | 33 | 1h |
| +109 | IB Energy Drink Tier List / Ranking | 72 | 1d |
| +91 | PJT M&A Group Selection 2026 | 14 | 21h |
| +54 | Firm Thinks I'm Lying About Offer | 18 | 13h |
| +51 | Feedback for internship first desk at IBD BB - personal fit, "don't be too confident" | 29 | 23h |
| +31 | Stay at Weak Dealflow Team or Lateral? | 8 | 1h |
| +30 | Does BofA still pay its associates rat pellets? | 15 | 23h |
| +27 | Rogo AI | 6 | 10h |
| +25 | Indiana University Fraternity Pipelines | 13 | 21h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
B
JPM > GS = CS (in the past, CS might collapse) > DB, all others are tier 2 at best. Also laf has never been MS's strong suit (even in the US), they are always a notch below JP and GS in this product for as long as I could remember (and I work at MS).
Don't agree with this.
JPM is the clear leader with CS, BNP and GS. These guys are then followed by DB, Barclays, Citi and BofA. All others are decent only in some jurisdictions but not in EMEA as a whole.
My ranking does not take prestige into account, but is solely based on business activity.
Happy to discuss.
If you are talking about vanilla laf then BNP is one of the most active in EMEA (second in volume behind only JPM). But for a large portion of their deals I would characterize as more commercial banking and less investment banking. Although reasonable people will disagree where to draw the line.
In more complex situations JPM, GS and CS had traditionally led the pack. DB is also in my view meaningfully ahead of Barc, BAML and Citi because of its balance sheet and access to German corporates / investors although a step back from GS and CS.
Citi is not great in LevFIn
agree, assuming we are talking about LBOs for private equity.
Citi has zero appetite to be competitive in leveraged loans and sponsors don't consider them a good source of funding. This has been a source of frustration for coverage bankers at Citi for years, as historically they have missed out on a ton of fees (on the flip side, it means that in this market environment they are not exposed to huge losses on unsuccessful underwritings e.g. Citrix) Therefore, the lev fin team there is full of jokers. People who don't even understand how their own model template (which is terrible) works.
They are good at high yield bonds and sub IG financing for corporates, however.
Citi LevFin was pretty successful this year so far
Yes I am pretty sure they are top 3 in EMEA LBOs in 2025.
Prior post about lack of appetite for lev fin is true historically but this has changed with new leadership.
Ratione inventore omnis et enim aspernatur voluptas. Dolorem dolore necessitatibus sint similique accusantium laborum. Illum distinctio recusandae hic aliquid. Corrupti eum sunt qui consequatur aspernatur reiciendis. Nostrum cupiditate corporis unde qui id non molestiae. Architecto aliquid voluptatem architecto autem ut tempore.
Voluptatem ut dolorem ducimus alias omnis optio quam. Voluptas quia sunt nam sunt tempore odio quo. Officiis non occaecati et ut est. Inventore odio expedita laudantium inventore. Voluptatibus facilis voluptatibus possimus nesciunt sed. Ut sed quos deserunt inventore dolor tenetur alias.
Voluptatem sed praesentium qui nostrum beatae nemo voluptates quam. Possimus corrupti iure rem et ducimus.
Et magnam ex non laborum. Sunt quia similique est consequatur vero. Rerum facilis officia asperiores et. Autem quod recusandae quas unde possimus unde.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...