Public Finance IB Bonuses

I keep reading PubFin IB bonuses are less than corporate IB, but I was wondering what that would look like for analysts and associates. Say, 85k base, Corp IB would expect between 50-80k bonus usually, what would a PubFin IB bonus look like? If anyone has any info beyond first years too that would be great..

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Analyst bonus ranges at my BB are roughly: Stub: 20k First full bonus: 30k-60k Second: 45k-85k

For associates I have seen roughly 180k-240k all in. My bank hasn’t raised associate base comp to match corp IB, so associate first year base is still 125k.

VPs I have heard are anywhere from 260k-400k. As you can see, pay is pretty comparable at the analyst level but starts to really diverge once you hit associate/VP.

 

I am planning to leave, but culture and more learning opportunities are the driving factors for me, not comp. I’m not planning on staying in finance for the long term, but if you are, would recommend moving over to the corporate side ASAP. Better comp, learn a broader and more relevant skill set, and better exit ops.

In my experience, one of the biggest misconceptions I’ve seen is that pubfin has better hours/culture than M&A. Like most things in banking, it is 100% group/team specific.

 

PubFin dealflow is ridiculously top-heavy (BAML #1 by a large margin, then Citi/MS then JP then the rest) so bonuses vary a lot by firm.

 

Most BBs give PubFin analysts almost the say pay as CorpFin analysts I'm pretty sure, probably 20-30% lower bonus with same base. The difference starts to show at around the VP level when your comp is directly tied to your ability to bring in deals, and deals in PubFin just don't make as much money as deals in CorpFin.

 

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