Investment Banking Rankings 2019

Found this on an old thread. I believe it’s fairly accurate already, especially at the WF / RBC tier. However maybe we can move some names around and arrive at a new 2019 ranking? Share your thoughts

A) The Dream Team: 1: Evercore, PJT (slight favorance to evercore) 1.5: GS, MS, Lazard, Moelis

B) Warriors: 2: JPM, Centerview, Greenhill, Perella Weinberg Partners 2.5: CS, BAML

___________C) Mega fund cut line___________ 3: Barclays 3.5: DB, Citi, Houlihan, Jefferies 4: UBS, Roths of the world like Liontree 5: Wells Fargo, RBC,BMO

___________D) Don't even think about PE line___________

6: HSBC, Baird, Blair, Lazard MM, Stephens, That shit IB in Richmond can’t remember, MTS Health Partners, Stifel, KBW,Other no name boutiques, Regional bank IB like Key bank, Foreign banks with no deal flow like Mizuho/Nomura/SocGen

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Depends on what we're ranking. If the focus is strictly on perceived banker skill/prestige/dealflow I'd shift a number.

GS (probably also MS) up to tier 1

Lazard down to tier 2

Centerview up to Tier 1.5 (debatably tier 1 if just looking at M&A but I think their RX practice is less strong)

JPM up to tier 1.5 (Though towards the bottom of that grouping)

Greenhill down to tier 3 (tbh I haven't heard much about them recently, and I'm not sure if they're still struggling as much as they were a few years ago)

I'd move CS and BAML up to tier 2

Barclays, Citi, and Houlihan probably all in tier 2.5 (certain groups at Barclays and Citi that kill it)

RBC up to tier 3 or 3.5 (debatable but I think they're really growing and I expect them to have a better future than DB)

I'd be less sure of these shifts if we were basing things strictly off of exits, which the Megafund cut-off line in the initial post seems to imply.

 
Controversial

OP's ranking favors boutiques a bit.

1: GS, MS 1.5: Evercore, PJT, Centerview, JPM

2: Lazard, Moelis, PWP, BAML, CS 2.5: Greenhill, Citi, Barclays

3: DB, HL, Jefferies, Rothschild, Guggenheim 4: UBS, RBC, Wells

Group 2 might be slightly controversial, but I think the top BAML/CS groups could warrant them to be placed with Moelis/PWP. I think Lazard is the strongest in that group.

 

Certainly a big bump in rankings for Rothschild if you are talking EMEA. By far their strongest region, and within M&A they are a top performer compared to any of the banks in this ranking.

 

Having regional presence is foundamental in EMEA, because every market is different (and every language), so BBs have an obvious advantage (I.e: JPM is really strong in france and Italy). Despite are gaining ever more market share, places like CVP, PJT, EVR, PWP and MoCo almost don’t have local presence. Having said that, PJT is almost considered on par with tier 1 BBs (GS/MS/JPM) in terms of prestige and I believe slightly above JPM and MS even on an experience point of view (Analysts do both M&A and Rx). Other EBs, apart from LAZ, rank a bit below RTH, BAML, Citi and CS.

 

Where did everyone get such a hard on for PJT and even RSSG specifically? 1) Honestly think the "technical" learning that goes on at the analyst level on restructurings is overhyped, though at a high level the transactions may be fascinating 2) A lot of your clients are obsolete industrial shitcos 3) Exits are pretty niche

So, the group worked on Greece, GM, etc. and that's cool, but I'd love to know what PJT has first year analysts just back from their spring break trips to Mykonos doing for Greece. Probably not thrilling stuff tbh. Might be incredible to be an MD in this group, but I'd be curious to hear about an analyst's experience. Also, in so far as the exits... why's everyone want to do distressed debt? Not being sarcastic, just curious. Seriously though, why not just go to law school?

 

BMO above Blair and Baird is just dumb.

Angel Checks provides background screening services for both Individuals and Corporate. We provide Pre – Employment Background Screening, Post Employment Background Screening, Business Screening.
 

Blair should be above BMO and Baird, as well as Wells Fargo. They are killing it, especially in Chicago where they are headquartered. I would take Blair over all three of those banks without a doubt

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You literally copy-pasted this from that self-proclaimed recruiter (donny-ma?) that used to post around here dishing out his view on banks. If you're gonna do this at least put some original thought into it.

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Baird and especially Blair can most definitely think about PE. No way BMO is above them as others have said, not in this lifetime. I'd bump GS/MS up to 1, Centerview and JPM to 1.5. CS/BAML can be bumped to 2. I'd also group Guggenheim/Barclays/Citi in group 3. Guggs is getting better and Barclays/Citi have good exits depending on the group (from what I've heard). I'd put Allen with Jefferies. Also Qatalyst deserves to be on there, but I don't know enough to say exactly where.

Some other nits--Houlihan is really only strong in restructuring from what I can tell, so that ranking is kinda group dependent. Greenhill might need to come down since I don't know if they do as much as they used to.

Editing to put Centerview up to a firm group 1 ranking with Evercore, would put Centerview above PJT.

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