How often do people switch divisions within IB? (Ex. Public Finance to M&A, or Capital Market to ESG)

Hi all,

Recently started as a first year analyst at a boutique firm in Manhattan on the muni bond sales desk. Though I enjoy the work so far, and plan on staying in the muni/fixed income area for the foreseeable future, I was curious about mobility down the road.

How often do people switch from division to division within IB? Ex. lateral move from muni sales and trading to equities? Or public finance investment banking to M&A?

Would this be easier post-MBA? How closely related do the different divisions have to be? (I assume moving from, for example, fixed income S&T to equities S&T wouldn't be a huge stretch since they require similar skillsets.)

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Fair bit of mobility out of Investment Banking into DCM, ECM, Wealth Management, Credit Structuring (so FI side) with bigger banks (GS/JPM; not sure about MS but probably would imagine it happens there too).

A former class-mate of mine moved from IB team to Credit Structuring and is now with WM team doing Structuring. He had resigned, and at the exit interview, the HR asked him if he'd consider any other "less intense" open roles at the firm's NY office (where he was); the Credit team interviewed him quickly and extended him an offer. The advantage was he got to keep his deferred stock compensation. Base is the same (as IB), the bonus is substantially lower, the hours are fundamentally better for him. He briefly considered applying for the structuring role with S&T team (but not sure what happened there)- I think the bonus there might be higher.

I think, as with everything, network (more than MBA or any other thing) helps. If you are already at a big BB/bank, try to speak to people outside of IB teams. More often than not, people understand that IB folks are super capable, and also probably looking for exit options.

 

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