Investment Banking in Brazil

Hey there, I am studying at an European university and I am quite drawn to the opportunity to work in an emerging economy. As a result I am looking to get an internship in Brazil to explore the industry and gain a sense of what it is like to work there. I would greatly appreciate if anyone could provide any advice about the recruitment process and culture there. Cheers!

 

The bulk of IB in Brazil is based on 3 main categories:

  • LatAm offices of BBs
  • Local big banks (e.g. Itau, Banco Bradesco etc.)
  • Local M&A advisors (e.g. BR Partners, Leme Partners etc.)

BBs and large local players have pretty structured recruitment with positions going live on their websites with a certain degree of cyclicality. Small advisory boutiques hire on a need and rolling basis. 

 

The bulk of IB in Brazil is based on 3 main categories:

  • LatAm offices of BBs
  • Local big banks (e.g. Itau, Banco Bradesco etc.)
  • Local M&A advisors (e.g. BR Partners, Leme Partners etc.)

BBs and large local players have pretty structured recruitment with positions going live on their websites with a certain degree of cyclicality. Small advisory boutiques hire on a need and rolling basis. 

Thanks for the input! I am aware that  banks in Brazil tend to have 1-year internships for local students. Do you know if these players also typically have a structured summer internship? Or are summer interns hired on a need basis (through networking)? 

 

Hey! Brazilian here and an IB analyst at a BB in NYC. From everyone I’ve met from the Brazil office, all were part of this one year internship program. However, I know I few that interned (the regular 9-10 week internship) with the LatAm group out of NYC, worked with the Brazil team on local/international deals, and later either went on to do the same full time or transferred to the Brazil office.

If that’s something you’re interested in, recruiting has the same calendar as that in the US, but you apply for the LatAm group instead, which has a separate application. Knowing Spanish or Portuguese is either a requirement or recommendation, although I’ve not used either for anything else besides some VERY occasional googling. Let me know if you have any other questions - happy to help!

 

Hey! Brazilian here and an IB analyst at a BB in NYC.
From everyone I've met from the Brazil office, all were part of this one year internship program. However, I know I few that interned (the regular 9-10 week internship) with the LatAm group out of NYC, worked with the Brazil team on local/international deals, and later either went on to do the same full time or transferred to the Brazil office.

If that's something you're interested in, recruiting has the same calendar as that in the US, but you apply for the LatAm group instead, which has a separate application. Knowing Spanish or Portuguese is either a requirement or recommendation, although I've not used either for anything else besides some VERY occasional googling. Let me know if you have any other questions - happy to help!

Hey, thank you for the reply! So joining the one year internship seems to be the common route to get the grad position. Do you mind if I ask if you have started in Brazil and then moved to NYC?

That is quite interesting, do you recommend applying to NYC office for the LatAm group then? I hold an European passport and thought it’d be easier to get a visa in Brazil than in the US, do you know if this is the case? The recruitment cycle for this year is closed, isn’t it?

Thank you!

 

For sure, happy to help. I went to college in the US, and did the 10 week internship program in NYC at the LatAm group of a BB. I then returned full time in mid 2020 to this same group. However, because I’m Brazilian and I’ve expressed my interest in focusing on Brazilian deals, I’ve essentially strictly worked with Brazil stuff. I know that this arrangement is uncommon, as Brazil deals are usually handled by the local team at most BBs. I also know someone who managed to do a 10 week internship at a BB and someone else at an MBB in Brazil, although neither officially offered such programs. They also went to school in the US, so they didn’t have the availability to do a 1-year internship due the academic calendar of schools in the US, where you intern during your summers. My recommendation, then, is to follow this route. If you want to work explicitly with Brazil deals, then working with the Brazil team is the solution. Working from NYC at a LatAm group is only really feasible if you are already in the US or go to school in the US, with the drawback of not being Brazil-focused. Knowing the two people I know who talked with their respective BBs and MBBs to make a 10-week summer internship work, I would advise you to do the same! I can talk to them and answer any more specific questions on this as well.

 

Hey, I managed to intern in one of the top banks there for 6 months in 2021.

My take on the processes: Most of the banks and boutiques there won't have short internships (or at least will tell you or advertise in their website they don't have it).

How me and most of my friends did it: Network with people in the banks and boutiques you wan't to work in through Linkedin, this is less common in Brazil and I'd say its easier to get an answer from someone there than when doing the same abroad (specially if they went to the same school as you did; this was my case). When in contact with this person show your interest in the Bank, learn about how it's IB is organised and ask about internship positions (summer or off-cycle). I'd focus on Associate level and beyond, they will likely be the ones capable of moving things inside to find an intern spot for you. The interviews were 'easier' than the ones I had for abroad and more focused on my fit and motivation for the role (people I've talk to are really afraid of interns entering the job and quiting after one month of internship)

Another strategy is: apply for the 1y internships, start interviewing and explain your situation while showing how good you are during the process. Had a friend who managed to get a spot at Lazard like this. Worst case scenario you will end up with future connections at the bank and withouth an internship there (but you already don't have one so no harm in trying)

Of course it will be easier to get a spot in a place where this type of internship has taken place before so here is my advice list based on my research in 2020/2021:

- BTG, has a structured recruiting system for summer internship where you could flag your interest for IB (or you could get in contact directly with the HR in charge of the recruiting process for IB or someone from the team, more effective than applying only directly through their website) (FT offer received by the intern) [Also had a MBA intern back then]

- GS, structured recruiting system through their website

- Seneca Evercore, structured recruiting system. Saw the summer-internshi spot annouced through BRASA (more infos in the bonus tips below)

- Santander, had a summer intern in 2021, no idea how he ended up there

- VGL, had an off-cycle intern in 2021. Networking (FT offer received by the intern)

- CRG Core, had an off-cycle intern in 2021. Networking (FT offer received by the intern)

- Artica had summer and off-cycle interns, they use to advertise the process but my friends who interned there got it through Networking

- Rothschild, been told by one analyst they only hire 1y interns. Never heard of anyone interning there in a different frame

And if you are into PE/VC:

- Canary VC has a structured Summer internship process

- GP Investments has had some part-time and full-time summer interns (MBA, Bachelor and Masters) throughout these years

- Patria and Gavea used to have structured summer internships but didn't have anything in 2021

- Actis has had MBA summer interns

- Advent has had MBA summer interns. Been told by one analyst there they don't hire interns for less than the one year frame for non MBAs

- Temasek didn't hire interns outside the 1y frame

- GA, GIC, Mubadala, Lightrock, Softbank, CVC, CPP IB and Brookfield will likely only hire you (i) if you are a stellar intern for 1y (super rare conversions for the places that accept interns) or (ii) if you have done some years in IB or PE

Bonus tip: Sometimes you will find some people who studied abroad and have transitioned their careers to Brazil, if you get in contact with them they will be more inclined to help you enter their team specially if they know and respect your university

Bonus tip 2: There are some NGOs dedicated to help brazilians abroad (ex. BRASA). They often have newsletters with open spots in the Brazilian Financial Market + you can find people through their network who were summers in Brazil and can even recomend you at the firm they interned in (at least I did while I was there and it was well seen by the seniors)

 

This is all super useful. Thanks for sharing the info. Do you happen to know what's comp like in Brazil? Does it differ a lot from salaries in the US?

 
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Comp info: Comp has been really good over these last years, in the bank I was interning the average Salary + Bonus for an Analyst 1 was ~550k BRL all included was aprox 110k USD at the time. This is a little bit less than what you may earn in some IBs in NY but in Brazil max income tax is 27%, we have fully covered health insurance and meal/supermarket tickets (which were around 1500 BRL per month combined) and the cost of living is nothing compared to other major cities (more info below). Overal I would expect to be paid around 300k BRL and 700k BRL in a good year depending on where you work and your rank inside the firm, some banks as BTG have a huge deviation in their bonusses and can even reward you with a double promotion if your are really top notch.

Cost of living in SP: You can live on around 2k-4k BRL per month depending on your lifestyle [imp to notice that you won't have a lot of time to spend your money during your firs years]. My finance: 1.7k in rent and bills through Airbnb sharing a 70m2 with a friend (15 min walk from work), 500 to 1k in free time related things and I bought some stuff for home officing which brought my monthly spending to around 3k/3.5k. I was paid ~4500 BRL per month as an intern from abroad + bonus if you stayed until the bonus season.

My personal take: At your first years you save more money in USD if you work in Brazil than abroad, but that quickly gets outscaled when you reach Associate level. There was even a Principal at my bank that switched from London to Brazil bcs of this. Additionally, in some banks, particularly the international ones, when you reach associate level you get a part of your pay in USD (I know BofA and HIG PE do this for example). If this is the case, prepare to get rich quicker than you expected, cause worst case scenario if the banks paying in USD start to have a non-competitive salary you can just change to the top national Banks (Itau and BTG) and still get a shit ton of money. Honestly, with my intern salary I already felt like a king there. I could go to any party, nightclub or restaurant in town without having to worry about not having enough money for it and I would only ride Ubers everywhere. I can't even picture what you can do with half a million BRL in your 20s there. Just to give a perspective on your buying power the minimum yearly wage in Brazil is around 15k BRL, so you are earning almost 40x this. Compare it to NY and London so you have an idea where you would be placed in society in each country. I can give you the numbers for France: Min yearly wage around 16k EUR and IB salary + bonus around 120k EUR according to a friend who worked there [~40% income tax], which is around 7.5x the minimun [that being said 120k in Paris is still an insane amount of money for a fresh graduate]. My fina personal take, I don't believe there is a better place to be in your 20s than São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Amazing nightlife, love the people there, beach and bohemian culture in Rio are insane, superrr huge country to visit, love the culture and the food there. Plus when you are making this much money and living in super rich neighborhoods you won't face many of the challenges the average brazilian faces like security issues or bad public health and education services, living close to the Faria Lima was similar to living in Europe.

Extra bonus tip: if you are not from Brazil everything I said its propeled to the max level. People there love foreigners, for example girls/guys will come talk to you in nightclubs/streets to know more about you and you will be in average better treated than a Brazilian. Not to mention your value in client facing roles is higher than a traditional brazilians, there is a feeling of Premium Service for some brazilians in having their problems being taken care of by someone from abroad (Just be careful to not get scamed if you are there as a tourist). Final tip, if you only care about the money in the short run, go to Dubai or a similar location in the region (low to no income tax and pretty high salaries)

Important extra note: My answers here are of course conditioned to the fact that the brazilian economy doesn't implode while you are there and you find yourself with a shit ton of BRL that will be worth nothing in USD. My backup plan in this case would be exiting to do an MBA and try to place myself abroad.

 

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