PWP vs BofA
Curious which would be best in terms of deal flow / experience / exits (mostly focused on time as analyst)
Trending Content - Investment Banking Forum
| +267 | Why UBS Is the Worst Place to Start Your IB Career | 40 | 2d |
| +219 | UBS 2nd Year Analyst Q&A (2026) | 41 | 1d |
| +102 | What's your craziest "hardo" story? | 18 | 1h |
| +72 | UBS IB 26Q2 a Disaster! Advisory Revenue Down 23%, Capital MarketsDown 5% | 11 | 1h |
| +53 | Wolf of Wall Street vs. Reality: Anyone else feel scammed by the movies? | 19 | 15h |
| +50 | Suspended for a Year | 21 | 20h |
| +49 | Elite Boutique interview questions | 17 | 2d |
| +37 | so confused about 28 SA timeline | 30 | 10h |
| +34 | Lincoln International Return Offers | 8 | 29m |
| +33 | Rate my non-target resume | 19 | 4h |
Career Resources
Least obvious engagement bait
This could very well be a real question
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
BofA if…
-you want significantly lower comp $
-you want 15 people on your deal team including insecure VP’s giving irrelevant comments
-you don’t want pure m&a and want to work on dogshit lending deals
-you want to exit to a LMM fund
-you want to sit in a gross bullpen rather than a glamorous boutique office
Taking this into consideration, what are your thoughts on Bofa relative to similar banks (Citi, Barc)?
This is just not true lmao. PWP's dealflow is not nearly as good as you think and avg. analyst will exit to MM PE just as much from BofA as from PWP (probs even more likely)
Congrats
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.
Spot on. The outflow of talent the last few years with almost no meaningful replacements is pretty telling of how little the firm values IB.
If you’re an analyst for 2 years and out, BofA isn’t a terrible place but PWP is still better. Associate and up, BofA is one of the top banks to avoid
Does the comment apply to BofA london as well? Looking to understand the good teams there.
Ok great job
Really solid engagement bait
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
Should incoming bofa sa27 all try to rerecruit FT
I think you should be totally fine with the analyst program. It’s pretty rigorous and you will be competing and learning from a lot of smart people around you. Outcomes for top bucket analysts have been great in the past years with exits to UMM funds, Infra PE, and other IB franchise. I’d complete the Summer, speak to people on the team and then decide if you want to jump ship. Chances are you will like your experience and the people you are working with and you will want to return.
My earlier comment on BofA is largely geared towards people at the associate / VP + level, and I promise you are in great hands at the firm in your junior years. Spend your 2 years at BofA, get a ton of good experience and leave after 2 years
Which are the strong teams in London and which to avoid?
Bump for London!
u gonna regret if you choose bofa trust me
For the love of god pick PWP. I hope this is a troll
Libero error et sed eaque id. Vel officia perferendis fugiat. Et dignissimos sit eos.
Architecto necessitatibus sit non. Consequuntur sunt ab enim ex ipsum. Rerum asperiores ut qui fugit tenetur. Ut quasi ut amet debitis iure.
Quibusdam qui quaerat voluptatem non. Aliquam ducimus nemo expedita reprehenderit consequuntur sit veniam. Dicta reiciendis et officiis velit et. Tempore repellendus qui consequatur atque. Fuga et quis nostrum beatae deleniti provident voluptatem facere.
Recusandae ad nesciunt magnam. Dolorem quis eligendi est qui id officiis ea et. Ad voluptates veritatis provident voluptas.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Fuga molestiae qui non praesentium occaecati. Laboriosam voluptatibus et veniam provident exercitationem omnis. Culpa itaque itaque sunt sed dolore consequuntur fuga. Fuga a officia nesciunt voluptas quas impedit omnis.
Earum ut autem neque non qui. Placeat et et nihil esse perferendis molestias nobis et.