Indian American Bankers
TO all fellow brown bankers - what is it like???
Have you ever experienced racism, overlook in meetings or discrimination?
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yeah dude all the time in fully white meetings whenever I open my mouth every MD rolls their eyes in unison and mumbles slurs under their breath
I get called currymuncher every morning by our security guards
I hate questions like these coming from a Middle Eastern. If you remotely think like a victim you will become a victim in this line of work. Nobody discriminates if you are excellent at your job and play it well politically
Indian =/= Middle Eastern
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Let us guess you are a white passing middle eastern who thinks racism doesn’t exist just becuase you get treated better.
had an Indian MD in Houston, funny guy.
I’m Indian and I agree. If you’re a normal and sociable person you’ll be totally fine in any industry.
A lot of the Indians who grew up here self segregate themselves and only have Indian-American friends and don’t know how to interact with any other race.
MD changed my zoom name to smellyboi247
that's wild bro
One Indian guy at my bank is one of the biggest chads…
saar we wuz chads
the WASP guys in my bullpen always talk about the British raj and conquering brown women
Finance at top firms might be the 2nd most brown person job outside of tech including at the senior levels. So many South and East Asian MDs both in the UK and US (UK is mostly South not as many East). Junior ranks of these banks also lean heavily Asian. Wouldn't worry about it. Maybe in some edge cases, but going to be unlikely/rare at most top banks solely due to usual makeup of senior leadership at places.
Indian American group head here. Honestly. Zero discrimination in the US over a long time. We are everywhere in this industry.
Internationally, a bit in the UK from old school brits but that was because of the American, not the Indian.
Europe, everyone discriminates, but not just because of the Indian thing, against other Europeans etc
Asia, SE Asia was fine, Mainland China hugely racist, Japan was fine
MENA used to bad but all that has changed
People think I’m smarter than I actually am.
100%
People always assumed I was very good at math / financial analysis when I was a junior when in reality I was a humanities major who could never model.
It has not made any difference for me at all, have had good success my entire career, been treated with respect by seniors peers and juniors, been rewarded handsomely come bonus and promotion times… but there is a major caveat. I hate to say this but my brown brethren may need to hear it.
When you’re Indian, you face stricter standards for how you need to perform, look, act, and sound. You don’t get any less credit than anyone else for your strong points, but you get docked much harder for any weak points. A hard working, sharp, good looking, fit, well dressed, confident, funny, positive Indian guy will get treated the same as a white guy with those qualities. But a Indian guy that doesn’t have those qualities, will get treated much worse than a white guy that doesn’t.
Hold yourself to a higher standard brothers. It is 10x more important that are you in good shape, ideally great shape, well groomed and well dressed, with a confident and competent presence, and a positive attitude. Race doesn’t define the man, but the man defines the race. Be the guy that causes everybody that interacts with him have a more positive opinion of Indians.
This helps not just in professional life but also your personal life. More broadly, always remember that you have immense power and influence over how people view the groups you’re in (whether ethnicity or otherwise). The approach I would use to life is not “how does what group I’m a part of impact how others perceive me”, but rather the more powerful line of thinking: “how do my actions impact how others perceive the group I’m in.” You have agency, never forget that.
So be better to be treated equal. All things equal this is the pecking order I have observed racially and is reenforced when it comes to layoffs (non-performance related),
white men > white women > colored women > black/hispanic/indigenous males > LGBTQ > Arab/Asian/Brown males
It’s a good point you raise. Over the course of my career, I have seen “cultural fit” used as a tool of discrimination when judgments are being made, and this isn’t just about Indian or Asian American, it’s against all sorts of outsiders - I would argue it applies even more so to poor whites than it would for me, growing up with professional parents in the suburbs.
That said, the fact that I got to know, date and study the manor born when I attended an Ivy and the fact that I played varsity sports meant I learned the lingo and manner of the American jock, each made a big difference to me in navigating cultural fit as a junior banker. I knew how to hold my own with MDs and clients and fit in with the associates and VPs. To my seniors credit, they couldn’t have been more welcoming and supportive once I proved myself as a professional.
Nevertheless, a guide for outsiders trying to navigate their way around banking.
In short, be more integrated into the elitist white culture to the point you give up your name, identity and originality. Don’t get me wrong, I agree one needs to be well-groomed, dressed and read. That’s not white culture, that’s being professional but the literary choices can always be more original. Next thing is you got a bunch of South Indians defending Roman Empire and coming across as clowns.
Simply put, for career profession there needs to be a gap / business need, and the brown candidate needs to be a step above the white contender. Only then are they treated as equal. Even then it comes down to relationships which are tough to develop unless you have tenure in the team. I would suggest brown bankers to stay away from teams that don’t have any brown person VP & above who could mentor them. Don’t count on diversity, for that they want women.
I would strongly argue that being successful in the finance industry in the US means being deeply rooted in the traditions of high American culture and if this isn’t natural, it’s something you need to learn. This has nothing wrong with this and it doesn’t mean giving up your own culture. Outside of work, I’m a classicist and I am as interested in classical Rome as I am in classical Sanskrit.
At least the US and UK give you a shot.
Imagine being an outsider trying to make it in the Mumbai or Tokyo finance scene. I worked in Hong Kong, forget about it.
DND man
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