Emerging Markets Investment Banking

The rising impact of emerging markets has had important implications for the world of business and finance, with emerging market economies providing domestic and international organizations with opportunities for investment and expansion.

What sorts of opportunities exist at US banks for emerging-market banking and getting involved with emerging markets?

Thanks.

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Best Response

US banks have many opportunities to get involved with emerging markets. There is an increasing demand for retail investment products (from affluent and middle/lower-income segments of the population), financing work for various infrastructure/public services projects, financing/advisory services work to assist businesses that are looking to expand overseas (e.g. debt/equity financing, risk management and hedging).

 

Hopefully my input on this issue can be of great help to some of you trying to get involved with banking and rise up in emerging markets. As a banker, myself, I too have asked myself this question for years, even decades. But it wasn't till recently that I truly began to question the increasing influence of these emerging markets and the implications they can have for US banks. I do think the risk in investing in these emerging markets is great- international investing involves risks such as foreign taxation, currency risks, and differences in financial standards. Markets such as China have seen great booms for years only to be slowed down recently. This may not be a big concern for long term investors if the decrease is at similar rates to other such economies. However, I have seen that such foreign investments, despite their volatility, have proven to be very rewarding in some cases. And for all the younglings out there, remember "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly" (Robert Kennedy). So my advice? Take a chance and get more involved in these emerging markets in any capacity.

 

Covered China a decade ago in New York. Used that experience to cover Asia now. A few things to point out:

  1. Need affinity to the market; as you get more senior, you really need to build relationship with the CEOs in that market.
  2. Business level fluency in that market's official language is expected (especially countries like Japan, Korea, China). Understanding local business culture is a must.
  3. Typical exit opportunities are various roles at i) local family offices/conglomerates, ii) county specific funds, and iii) country desk head at foreign banks.
 

Waffle, also consider trading roles in FX, where there are traders who focus solely on emerging markets. Or, take a look at commodities trading in base metals or oil derivatives. Or, look at companies dedicated to emerging and frontier markets, such as Ashmore EMM. Hope this helps. Have a great New Year.

 

If you want to cover Latam, proficiency in either Spanish or Portuguese is almost necessary. Goldman has a great Latin America IB group. A lot of what the team covers revolves around infrastructure and transactions involving sovereigns. Although this may not be the case everywhere, I believe some places like BAML have Latin America coverage groups set up for both Latam and Brazil exclusively. These teams usually don't overlap and are comprised of individuals with some cultural connections to the regions they cover. Also, something interesting about EM, specifically Latin America, is that legally banks and Asset Managers can offer a wider range of products and services than they can in the USA. Although Fiduciary responsibility and accountability to clients are the same as in developed markets, less regulation exists regarding the sale of exotic products. Something interesting to keep in mind in terms of getting exposure as someone covering these regions. Cheers.

Carl Van Loon Van Loon & Associates
 

Citi group has the largest global infrastructure and so they might be the best positioned in terms of taking advangtage of emerging markets. I know their Capital Markets division hits pretty hard in several emerging markets, esp. Latin America.

 

How about Goldman Sachs' emerging market group (focusing on eastern europe, middle east, south Africa and etc)? Are they competitive in the market? Thanks

dealmaven123Citi group has the largest global infrastructure and so they might be the best positioned in terms of taking advangtage of emerging markets. I know their Capital Markets division hits pretty hard in several emerging markets, esp. Latin America.
 

For S&T I don't know for the whole LatAm, but I know in Brazil (one of the biggest markets in latin america for them - apart from Mexico) they are also top in S&T... specially in the FX and derivatives desk... also do some top work in the structured products desk in S&T.

CMO for Citi means "Capital Markets Origination", the very old Equity Capital Markets and Debt Capital Markets.

 

I also heard that BarCap also ranks pretty high in EM trading. Is that correct? I guess MS and GS must be trailing them.

luiFor S&T I don't know for the whole LatAm, but I know in Brazil (one of the biggest markets in latin america for them - apart from Mexico) they are also top in S&T... specially in the FX and derivatives desk... also do some top work in the structured products desk in S&T.

CMO for Citi means "Capital Markets Origination", the very old Equity Capital Markets and Debt Capital Markets.

 

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