IB in LatAm
Could someone share their experience in IB in LatAm? I'm considering a move to LatAm (thinking about Chile, Brazil or Argentina) and would love to learn more about the investment banking scene there. I've tried searching on Google, but I haven't come across many answers regarding which major banks have offices in the region and who the top players are. I'm curious about the work-life balance in the industry over there. Any personal experiences and info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
PS: I said im thinking about Chile, Brazil or Argentina but really information about any latin american country is welcome
BBs typically recruit 1-3 ppl per year as off cycle interns ("junior analysts"). These jr. Analysts are converted to full time analysts after 1 year. Some banks that operate are BofA, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Citi
They only hire from 1-2 target universities in each country(Adolfo Ibañez/Catolica in Chile, Di Tella in Argentina, Pacifico in Peru, U Andes in Colombia). Even within these universities, not all the students are aware of the recruiting process. Networking is key
Base salary is typically paid in USD (with exceptions, like JPMorgan or Citi) and used to be the same as NYC before the latest raises ($85k). Not sure if it has been raised. Bonus is low (30-40%). However this salary is insanely high for the COL in these countries. You'd live like a King.
Exit opps are terrible because they have adjusted salaries, so it's a huge downgrade going to the buyside
Alternatively, you could break into local boutiques, however they have adjusted salaries as well
WLB is slightly better on average. However teams are much smaller (sometimes less than 15 ppl covering the whole country), so it becomes very sweaty during live deals, but bear in mind that dealflow is also bad in the region, so most of the time you'll be doing pitching and hence fewer hours
Thanks for the answer!
Do you know about hours? Do they work 85+ hrs week?
Thanks again
My buddy used to work at Lazard, which closed all LatAm offices but Brazil this May, and worked around 60 hours a week. Hours are materially better due to lack of deal flow. Of course this can change during live deals, but hours are chiller than NY, London and HK for sure
Highly dependent on the firm and dealflow. Currently an intern at a small boutique in Mexico City and the FT analysts/associates probably average around 60h per week. On the other hand, I know people in other boutiques that do >80h. Also know a guy at a BB and he does 70-80 h
Bump
I haven't broken into sell side FT myself but I'm Mexican and have been networking with senior bankers here and literally everyone I've talked too says not to work in latam if you have the option to work elsewhere. For the hours you work you could make way more in other regions + the small team size makes it difficult to move up a lot of the time.
I saw someone in this thread say COL is cheap which is obviously true but living in a decent area in a major city in latam will still run you some decent money in some instances, it all depends on what your comfortable with. Also, atleast for Mexico tax is ridiculously high.
I think with the pace at which latam is growing como will rise but that would only matter if you're thinking of building a career there.
Thinking about a move to Buenos Aires (with current employer) - would appreciate any input on living there if possible?
The peso has been fucked for the longest time, but even more so recently, The blue rate is like 2.5x or even more of the real rate, If you get paid in dollars they might reinstate the monarchy for you.
Ok but seriously dollar is king.
Lived there for 3 years during middle school.
Economy is f*cked, don't see it get it better any time soon. But if you earn in dollars it's extremely cheap i.e. I went during new years and spent in 4 days $150 usd in the whole trip (excl. plane tickets)
People: A bit show off and they feel like kings of the world because they are good at sports, but apart from that douchebag feeling they are nice, fun and great to party. The best thing of Argentina, "Las Argentinas" (women) beautiful
Landscape: Beautiful places to go such as Patagonia Ushuaia,Bariloche and much more.
Buenos Aires: Huge city, really fun with some incredible sectors like Palermo. My friends have told me it is getting a bit more dangerous with an increasing crime rate all over the city.
Food: Amazing, meat is incredible and really cheap. Wine is also decent
All in all: It could be an amazing country if economy recovers (which is bordering the impossible in the short-mid term). Also people can be a bit cocky but still great people to hangout with and have fun.
The economy will recover since elections are this year and the opposition will win. In fact the bull market has already started
(I am from Argentina)
Bump
I confirm BofA pays same NY base in all the region
Really? Looks like a great opportunity
That would make you so rich in countries like Chile as COL is much lower than in the US and in Argentina, what can I say haha the USD is gold.
latam bankers are huge homos (not in a gay way more of just a jerkoff way)
Hahaha why so?
very clique-y + hugely obnoxious and cocky personalities when they speak spanish but completely reserved pushovers when they have to speak english
edit: oye you latam comepingas, you know it's true. stop being salty that no one likes you which is why you have to hang out exclusively with other latam bankers
edit 2: all monkey shits but no replies, latam bankers seething and probably bitching to all of their compadres on whatsapp and telegram
Anyone has more specific information on IB in Chile? My brother went to live there for a job (not in finance) and says he loves it, but i don't know how is IB over there.
CDMX and Sao Paulo are by far the largest markets. There is a huge drop after that. I would imagine Chile and Colombia have more developed IB markets than Peru and Argentina. If you're fluent in Spanish it really comes down to CDMX (huge megacity, tons to do, but more polluted) and Santiago (smaller but wealthier city, much better scenery, weather varies more than CDMX).
Bear in mind the pretty much all local IB teams are cross staffed in other LatAm deals depending on dealflow, so as an example its fairly frequent for a guy in Santiago to work in a Mexican deal
I am mexican and worked at a boutique in CDMX. Comp was just okay. When I moved to a US-based EB I realized what I did in Mexico was not real banking.
Any specific information?
Yeah, so I worked at a "recognized" middle-market boutique in Mexico. Overall we did all the same things as an IB in a developed market:
-Pitch
-Teaser
-CIM
-Management Presentation
-Diligence
However, there was a huge focus on cold calling/origination, even at the analyst level there was a strong push to try to get clients or to just blast a Teaser to as many counterparties as possible. Also, we didn't have any industry knowledge (vs an industry group) because the Latam market is small so one day you could do mining and the other telecom. Our modeling was not dynamic with drivers - we just took the growth percentages from the Company or created one ourselves. I don't think we were very sophisticated - we just were more like brokers than bankers if that makes sense?
Definitely an adjustment working at a US EB - but the skills of dealing with people, timelines, and processes were transferable.
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