Lazard Industrials vs BoFA M&A vs JPM Consumer? All in London
All,
I've been lucky to land on 3 great opportunities in London. Would love some advice on which one I should take?
I am not looking for best exit comps as I will most likely pursue a long term career in banking. I think I will enjoy more working on Industrials than on C&R, but JPM has a much stronger brand and better position on the league tables. During my interviews, I found the guys at Lazard very impressive and smart, but interviewers at JPM were more likeable. On the other side, I think joining a product team could help me a lot to develop my technical skills, and people at BofA were very nice.
Congrats on all 3 offers!
Would rule Lazard out immediately unless you're super passionate about Industrials – been in clear decline in EMEA for the past 5 years, from previously a top 2 EB (alongside Roths) to below all the US EBs, with most of their top dealmakers being poached by the likes of Evercore. The London office basically acts as a satellite office for their Paris-arm. You mentioned being more passionate about this than C&R but given their continued decline, it's more likely that your exposure to the sector on the biggest deals will be limited.
For becoming a career banker, JPM is probably the best bank in the world to be at. As a senior, much easier to win clients given the ability to cross-sell to clients across different products, with JPM being 1/2 across most equity/debt instruments; a lot of EBs simply poach MDs from the largest BBs given this.
BofA M&A is a solid team, however it's worth bearing in mind that they've been slipping in the past few years. Have been haemorrhaging talent at the senior level due to their poor comp and lack of leadership focus on IB, a most recent example being Kevin Brunner to JPM (ex global M&A chair, brought the Google-Wiz $32bn deal among others). Their share price has been the biggest laggard of the US BBs since 2021 with the bank falling behind Citi in M&A deal value since 2023, despite previously starting to challenge big 3 in the late 2010s; clearly not a priority for senior leadership who seem to be focusing on retail/corporate banking. With Citi continuing to aggressively hire and bolster their IB arm under Vis, seems likely that the gap will only enlarge in coming years, placing BofA firmly as the 5th BB.
Given all this, would definitely take JPM for London unless you're seriously passionate about Industrials. Even then, I would take BofA M&A over Lazard as there will be the opportunity to specialise within the M&A team as you become more senior.
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