Ranking Investment Banks in 2021
Hello, after seeing some of the atrocities in a recent thread, I decided to put my honest and researched efforts into a new and revised comprehensive rankings of investment banks fit for 2021 (Roths RX on the decline, etc).
General composite rankings
BBs and Balance Sheet Banks (in order):
Tier 1: GS, MS, JPM
Tier 2: Bofa, Barclays, Citi, CS
Tier 3: RBC, DB, UBS
Tier 4: Wells Fargo (maybe 3 they have solid outlook), Nomura, BMO, etc lol
(Citi gets on a lot of M&A because they have the largest balance sheet. Barclays has better groups in terms of advisory, however, and they do M&A in-house so they get the edge for me. plus better culture from my conversations)
EBs and MMs (in order):
Tier 1: Evercore, CVP, PJT,
Tier 2: Moelis, Lazard, Perella, M Klein
Tier 3: LionTree, Guggenheim, Greenhill, Raine,
Tier 3.5: Jefferies (really hard to place them tbh)
Tier 4: Blair, PJ Solomon, Houlihan Lokey, Baird, Rothschild
Tier 5: HW, Piper, Lincoln
Tier 6: Cowen, RayJay, Macquarie, Stifel
Tier 7: Stephens, etc
(obviously variations and happy to incorporate feedback but this is generally what I feel is correct, can be extremely group dependent)
Restructuring rankings (in order):
Tier 1: PJT, HL, Laz, Moelis
Tier 1.5: EVR
Tier 2: Centerview, Ducera, Guggenheim, PWP, Greenhill, Jeff (see comment below)
Tier 2.5: Rothschild (lost their top dog and it remains to be seen how they compete)
Tier 3: Miller Buckfire, PJ Solomon (MB is in decline unfortunately)
Technology IB rankings (SF in order):
Tier 1: GS TMT, Q, MS Menlo (gonna get flak for this)
Tier 2: JPM, Lazard, Evercore, Bofa, CVP, Moelis
Tier 2.5: LionTree, Raine, DBO, similar tech boutiques that spun out of BBs
Tier 3: UBS, DB, Barclays, CS, Citi
Tier 3.5: FTP, PWP (best deals for PWP are in NYC)
Tier 4: PJT, Greenhill, Guggenheim (only clean-energy/greentech), Rothschild
(I had a rough ass time placing Tier 3-4 on this, would welcome feedback)
Overall, if I were a prospect considering offers (nothing else matters), below would be my general composite rankings. Of course preferences can change things wildly. Not everyone wants to do coverage work and work on hella balance sheet stuff at JPM while making $50k less than their counterpart at PWP that works on more M&A with a better culture, etc.
But for me, if I am weighing top BB or EB, I would chose the EB every day of the week. So here goes. Hopefully this doesn't attract vitriol but for some it may help them understand where everyone is placed in the market
My personal rankings
(weighting culture, comp, exits, mentorship, dealflow) (force-ranking only NYC IB non RX):
Tier 1 (in order): CVP, EVR, PJT, Moelis, Lazard
Tier 2: GS, PWP, MS, JPM, Guggenheim, M Klein, LionTree, Raine
Tier 3: Bofa, Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, Greenhill, Ducera (they do some M&A)
Tier 4: Jefferies, Blair (<3), UBS, RBC, PJ Solomon, DB
Tier 5: HL, Rothschild, Baird, HW, Piper Lincoln, Wells (NYC)
Tier 6: Greentech (in Nomura), Leerink, Cowen,
Tier 7: Sitfel, RayJay, Macquarie, Stifel
Everything else I cannot split hairs and would still welcome a job at a Mizuho, BMO shop but wouldn't expect to place lights out.
All of this is useless if you have a psychopath MD/Director/VP that makes your life hell. Just go with the bank that you feel the culture fits best for you because no amount of "prestige" will make you happy. Of course you want to go to a good bank, but just know that people and culture is a huge factor in day to day life.
Liontree def tier 2 they’ve been killing it
Technology boutique rankings: not doing tiers but listing names
1. Q (on its own league)
2. LionTree (Telecom, a great place to get traditional M&A experience, strong exit to PE)
3. Raine (Media, like the hybrid model, more of a career move)
4. Allen & Co (TMT, more of a career move)
5. FTP (Fintech, execution only, mix exit)
6. Nomura Greentech (Greentech, heard good things about exit)
7. DBO (big deal value, very hard to place this one as there is a little track records in terms of exit)
8. Union Square Advisors