IB in nordics vs consulting in London
Hi, I have gotten an internship opportunity in in IB in the nordics with one of the bigger banks (think DNB, Danske Bank, SEB etc.). I am currently enrolled in a MSc in Finance at a european target school and can’t stop thinking about if I should pursue an internship in London instead. Given that chances are small to secure an internship in IB in London I am wondering if it would be better for me to do an internship in IB in the nordics or consulting/mid/low tier finance in London. Would it be worth the struggle to push for something in London, or would I be better off by focusing on school considering I already have an offer? For clarification, I am born in the nordics as well.
Think you're getting the data wrong. It's way way easier to get into a top bank in London than to get into MBB in London (1/3 of my cohort had BB/EB banking offers before joining) but either way just do what interests you more long term. If the long term goal is to do X in Y country then it doesn't help you much if Z in A country is more 'prestigious'
I didn’t think of MBB necessarily for consulting, but am mostly wondering if it’s worth the struggle to pursue an internship at a BB/EB in London considering that I don’t have any related internships. Obviously there’s more prestige in London compared to the nordics
Go to the nordics it’s a no brainer
Really? I thought the prstuge in London would be worth it, but I dont have a clue tbh
Out of curiosity what school do u go to? SSE?
Bocconi
How did you get the Nordic offer without speaking Swedish?
I was in a similar spot as you a little decade ago, and I would definitely go for Nordic banking - it's a no brainer. I went into Nordic banking after graduating from a semi-target, whereas some of my classmates went to MBB in London. In absolute terms, and despite the bad conversion rate with the kroner, I have made more money every single year since graduating. Some of my classmates who went on to BBs/EBs made more in absolute terms, in particular one Swiss guy who's based in Zurich, but the CoL is significantly higher. In the Nordics, your quality of life and standard of living are significantly better than almost any place on earth, and unless you are planning to settle down in London long-term I'd pick Stockholm/Oslo/Copenhagen any day of the week.
In terms of prestige, London is the place to be, but you're not going to care about that 2-3 years down the line. As an anecdote, I went out drinking with some of my friends who are working for BBs in NY and London this summer, and the majority of them are contemplating how to move back in the foreseeable future.
Thoughts on breaking into Stockholm banking/pe/growth from SSE's Msc programs with only english skills?
Tough, but not impossible. Your best bet will be with the largest Nordic banks, and all the "internationals" from MM to BB. You need a strong story for "Why Stockholm" though, and I'd encourage you to start learning some basic Swedish as this will be viewed as a commitment to your long-term plan to stay in Sweden. If you just want to stay a couple of years, I'd say it is not worth it, and just recruit directly to where you want to go.
LMM banking/PE is unavailable for internationals as they'll fill all their spots with people named Gustav and Josefine.
Question. Oslo vs Stockholm. I am very concerned about the latest news in Stockholm (violence) and wondering the package difference. Thx
Hi! I know this was posted a while back, but I'm somebody interested in banking in Stockholm. Would you be so kind as to give me a general outline of how total comp looks at a top bank in Sweden for each role (regional or otherwise), as well as a general look at progression and WLB? Thank you so much!
Consulting comp in in London is bad and really bad, if you consider the lifestyle. You work similar hours to banking, but get paid much less. As a consultant (c. 5 years in) at MBB you are likely to make c. 120k per year all in vs c. 200-300k as an senior associate at a bank.
So basicly IB in nordics > consulting in London?
I would say so, but it depends on what are your career goals. Consulting and banking have quite similar exit opps, however if you want a project management, product management or a similar path, then consulting might be a better pick.
Consulting hours are much easier than banking hours
I’m from the Nordics, studied in London. Had FT offer from GS/MS in London and FT offer in the Nordics for MBB. I went with the MBB offer.
You need to figure out yourself what industry you want to be in and where you want to live. I did multiple banking internships and didn’t like it at all. Not intellectually stimulating at all, very repetitive, shitty culture etc. I wasn’t very keen on doing that for 100 hours a week. I decided to go into consulting instead and take a ~50% paycut vs IB in total comp.
Consulting in London was never really an option for me given the quality of life on a £50k salary. You’ll barely be able to live alone in London on that salary. Meanwhile, in the Nordics you can live an amazing life on an MBB salary.
I think IB at Nordic banks is a great combination of WLB and pay. The downside is that exiting is basically impossible given competition from Nordic ppl who did IB at BBs in London, so you’ll probably be stuck in IB.
Doing IB in London is far rougher than the Nordics in terms of WLB. You’ll earn more vs. Nordic banks, but London is far more expensive so quality of life will definitely be worse despite higher pay. The main rationale for accepting worse WLB and lower quality of life is the PE exit options. Going from a Nordic IB to London PE is impossible. If you wanna go into Nordic PE, you also need to be at a London BB because there’s so many Nordic ppl at London BBs looking to go back home after their analyst years. Headcount at Nordic PE is low, so you can’t compete with people from London BBs if you’re at a Nordic bank.
Personally, I realized that doing stuff I find fulfilling and having a life outside of work was far more important than the ”prestige” of being at GS/MS in London, doing stuff I find boring and having no life.
How are the exit opps for people working at GS/MS/JPM in Stockholm?
Not great. Same story here. Difficult to exit because there’s not that many positions up for grabs in Nordic PE every year and you have a ton of Nordic ppl with BB experience from London. If you look at all the larger funds in the Nordics (EQT, Nordic Capital, Triton, Altor, FSN etc.) you will see that they recruit almost exclusively from London BBs and Nordic MBB.
Okay, I’m kind of not sure if I should spend time on applying for positions in London now, considering that I already have an offer in the Nordics. The part that really make me hesitate is exactly the exit ops from being in London. What do you make of the chances of gping to london later? (I’m graduating in 2026)
Unless you already have some form of a recruitment pipeline into a firm in London, how likely is that even?
Nordics are amazing, really nice countries and good WLB.
If you have two competing offers, I would rethink this. But only if the brand in the UK would make up for the low quality of life/stress/crime/rest.
This is not true. I have friends at 3/5 of the funds you mention below, and they all came from Nordic offices of BBs or local BBs. You can even look at the recent hires by sorting out the investment professionals, and you'll see that there's plenty of people who did not do banking in London.
I'd also add that for LMM PE, which there are more seats for in the Nordics, favour mid-market experience and network over London IB experience. Experience from a London BB is great, but in terms of the skillset, it is not useful for LMM or even parts of the MM PE players.
Okay, so basicly if I want to live in the nordics, its better do IB there aswell considering that there are exit opps for people in the nordics as well?
Take the Nordic IB gig, it'll make your resume more attractive for London opportunities later on. Good stepping stone.
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