PWP vs BofA

Least obvious engagement bait

Money isn’t a factor? Dw it soon will

bump

They are both in the same tier but PWP is going down pretty clearly. I'd still probably go to PWP just to get paid a little more but imo long term BofA is still probably the better place lol

Anyone who is saying baml clearly has not worked at BofA meaningfully anytime recently. In no aspects is baml better than PWP as a junior banker. 

Terrible comp, bloated teams, terrible MDs, no deal flow outside of 4th position on IPOs and bond deals. It has been nonstop outflow of top performers across all ranks in the last 24 months and the division is led by someone who has never done investment banking so you can imagine how it may be going. 

Any departure of top MDs has then been left wide open because nobody wants to come here or replaced by low tier BB and old people who are wanting one more paycheck before retiring. 

All of the IB resources have been flowing to the failure middle market group which actually has like 100 senior bankers in there doing absolutely nothing covering small towns in the middle of nowhere.

Does the comment apply to BofA london as well? Looking to understand the good teams there. 

Ok great job

Yes, comments here are largely accurate for BofA teams globally. London can still be strong in a few groups, but very group dependent. LATAM groups are doing well in their specific regions, but comp doesn’t reflect their value to the franchise.

Comp has sucked in the last few years (globally), and the bank is bleeding market share across M&A, and ECM practice (US). DCM / LF practice are still strong, but clearly hampered by the total lack of balance sheet deployment. The bank’s risk team, which approves the balance sheet lending commitments, has largely handicapped the sales effort from the IB franchise, and puts the IB franchise in a really poor position with their clients. Bank doesn’t deploy balance sheet, except for the cleanest business, while the others like JPM, GS etc. are way more open and aggressive in their lending commitments. Clients obviously pissed with this outcome, tend to hire others as lead banks on subsequent M&A and Capital Raise transactions, while BofA is bought on to the transaction at the last moment.

At the analyst level, the experience is still fine, but groups such as GIG, HC, TMT, M&A, NET and ECM have lost really good senior talent, who have deflected to the competition.

Co-Head of IB is more interested in making sure that Directors and MDs are filling up and tracking their client meetings in the system.

The bank has made it very clear that IB is not a core franchise for BofA. It’s a distribution mechanism for BofA’s balance sheet / retail ambitions.

I’d say the bank is still pretty good for a few years of experience if you have no experience in IB, but that’s about it. BofA’s distribution and balance sheet are genuine strengths of the franchise, but management’s behavior and expectations that the brand will run itself to draw clients is going to hit a wall soon

Which are the strong teams in London and which to avoid? 

Bump for London! 

For the love of god pick PWP. I hope this is a troll