Investment Banking Rankings 2020
Thought it would be nice to have a refresh of the latest BB rankings based on everyone's perception and exits to the buyside. Note that this is slightly biased based on personal interactions with the banks on different processes, and that each bank has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. But here is what I think as far as reputation.
Tier 1: GS / MS
Tier 1.5: JPM Tier 2: BAML / Citi / CS / Barclays
Tier 3: UBS / DB
Tier 1: GS / MS Tier 1.5: JPM Tier 2: BAC / Citi Tier 2.5: BARC Tier 3: CS / UBS Tier Not a BB: DB
UBS is not BB either
Generally would agree. Some groups at lower tiered shops can directly compete with the top as well. E.g. CS Lev Fin
No one: Random intern: hey guys so here’s my thoughts on bank rankings
There's another recent thread with accurate and up to date 2020 rankings but since there's misinformation or low effort rank trolling here thus far, I'll paste it over:
Tier 1: GS/MS/JPM Tier 2: BAML Tier 3: Citi/CS Tier 4: Barclays/RBC Tier 5: DB/UBS (these hardly count at this point, perhaps top groups at DB, but nothing positive to say for UBS her)
RBC is not a BB
Ridiculous ranking, CS is way too high and Barclays is too low
It's really not and no one who works in the industry outside of RBC believes it is.
Don't get me wrong it's a solid bank with strong upward momentum and a couple bright spots in the US but that alone doesn't make it a BB. You need presence globally (not just US and Canada), a broad capital markets franchise to back it up as well relationships across the largest companies across most sectors. On latter point, RBC is more mid-market.
I know a lot of this is semantics but I would say DB and UBS aren't in the BB camp anymore even though DB still has some very solid groups in Europe and I believe Asia as well.
CS has elite exit opps. They should be in Tier 2. Barclays is way better than RBC. DB is also better from an exits perspective. RBC is not a Bulge Bracket. Analyst 2 in IB either works at RBC or does not work in IB or he / she would know that league tables are misleading when it comes to BBs. Many just get put on a deal for financing. It may say they were on it for M&A but in reality, it's not the case.
Sorry but this ranking is awful. Who would take CS over Citi or RBC over Barclays?
T1. GS/MS/JPM
T2. BAML/Citi
T3. Barclays
T4. CS/RBC
T5. DB
T6. UBS
Firms ranked by 2019 revenue: don't MS since this is literally objective
UBS or jefferies is probably ranked 11
When I was recruiting at my target, the general preference was Morgan Stanley / Goldman Sachs, followed by EBs like Evercore, then JP Morgan
Why is everyone on this forum so obsessed with RBC? Most of these posts talk about them like they're the top bank. Stop spreading misinformation. Most people on Wall Street do not consider them a BB. It's not a bad place to be and certainly growing, but your M&A experience will be limited to financing roles. No one hires RBC for strategic advice...
They don't solely do financing for M&A at all. I'm sorry you didn't get an offer, but a spot no one was talking about 5 years ago has made the top 10 league tables for every single past year, in just the last year was a sole advisor to the largest bank merger since the crisis and then went on to be on the largest $100B+ deal of the year, top groups hold comp in-line with top EBs (170k all-in AN1 top bucket M&A), strong BS, and a very strong culture. Growth and recent recruiting has been aggressive for this very reason.
You definitely work at RBC or wouldn't passionately be defending them. I'm glad you are doing a ton of M&A and making such great comp and getting such great exits that you have to defend them on WSO!
Credit Suisse should be higher T1. GS/MS/JPM T2. BAML/CS T3. Barclays/Citi T4a: DB T4b. RBC/UBS Probably going to get monkey sh** because this forum loves RBC for some reason, but this subjective (and useless) ranking is the most accurate...
You clearly work at UBS lol. I'm sorry. You go around telling people a place is overhyped because professionals are ranking them favorably? Cmon you know better.
Oh sorry, let me put RBC in T1 so you can sleep at night
T1. GS/MS/JPM
T1.5. BAML
T2. Barclays
T2.5. CS
T3. DB/RBC
T4. UBS
Tier 1 - BB: GS/MS - EB: EVR/PJT
Tier 2 - BB: JPM - EB: Moelis/Lazard
Tier 3 - BB: BAML/Citi/Barclays/CS - EB: Centerview/PWP
Honorable Mentions: Guggenheim (future EB?) and RBC (future BB?)
Haha this ranking will get extra monkey sh** because it doesn't say RBC is a surefire BB. However, I would say that these days, Guggenheim is unquestionably an EB, along with Greenhill (legacy name). Also, I'd say Qatalyst is an EB because it's so prolific in tech
Better not tell the multiple GS / Moelis / Lazard bankers that always try to lateral to CVP every class that they are going to a tier 3 shop!
Nothing I love more than a bunch of interns, prospects, and incoming analysts arguing imaginary “rankings”. What a fantastic exercise
I also don't see the point of getting heated about rankings. However, I don't think there's anything wrong with having discussions and posts like these.
WSO is all inclusive, so interns, prospects, and incoming analysts like us can talk about anything and everything, and like you all know, rankings are very popular on WSO.
I find it even more childish when seniors put in the extra effort to bash younger people on here (I'm not saying you are) simply for ranking banks. Yea, we know that in the end rankings don't matter and we don't know anything. That's what the forums are for, to learn and gain insight from others in finance. Don't expect a college kid to be as enlightened and knowledgable about the street as you. They are ignorant because that's how it's supposed to be. Then again, I'm sure one they get to your shoes, they'll repeat the cycle.
You just admitted rankings are meaningless and you guys don’t know what you’re talking about... but then you said these “rankings” debates are valuable because you learn from each other’s insights. That makes no sense. Swapping ignorance about a topic that carries no weight is never a valuable use of time.
Also, you’d be shocked to see stats from headhunters about which banks (and groups) have the best PE placement in on-cycle recruiting each year. All I’ll say is it is almost never in line with these “rankings” lol.
I’m not saying DB carries the same weight as GS. But I am hoping that you guys won’t stress yourselves out about this crap and can find some relief in the fact that top performers, regardless of your bank, get spots at MF.
I think of Lazard as a tier 1, but slightly below PJT / Evercore solely because its culture is more unpleasant. Same applies for Moelis, although exit opps are pretty much negligible between the four.
Link to the EMEA ranking thread here: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/investment-banking-in-london-eme…
Based on that thread, the ranking is as follows: 1. GS / MS 2. Lazard / Rothschild 3. JPM 4. BAML / Citi
Feel free to add your thoughts.