Raymond James v.s. Piper Sandler v.s. Scotiabank

Hi Guys I would like to know your thoughts about 3 firms in terms of exit opportunities to top tier PE:

  • Raymond James - Diversified Industrials - Chicago
  • Piper Sandler - Financial Services - NY
  • Scotiabank - Utilities - NY

Thank you!

27 Comments
 

Thank you very much for your reply! These are all full time roles. What do you think of RJ compared to the other two in terms of reputation? Also I noticed several entries into Blackstone/KKR/Warburg from RJ as IB analysts but no for Scotiabank. 

 

I can pretty much guarantee those who went to BX/KKR/WP are not in their PE platform but more likely in business development, investor relations, operation type, or lateraled to other banks before making PE transition. Honestly, I would never choose Scotia over RJ or Piper. RJ's tech team sometimes punches over their weight, and their consumer team must be good given Financo acquisition, but you're gonna be placed in a different platform, in Chicago. Chicago has plenty of good MM PE but if you're set on MF PE, then staying in New York and lateralling would be the best option. I believe FIG is one of the best groups at Piper so I'd personally go to Piper and try to lateral if I were you.

 

Thank you very much for your reploy! Would you think FIG would pigeonhole the exit to top PE?

 

What do you mean by "top-tier PE"? If you're talking about deal size, a PE firm is not necessarily of a higher quality than others solely because it does bigger deals. Some MM and LMM PE shops are of very high quality and just happen to specialize in a different area of the market. In any case, none of those banks are going to guarantee that you get looks by megafunds. However, I know for a fact that you'll at least get placed in the on-cycle pipeline for megafunds if you're at Piper.   

Array
 

Depends on what you're trying to do in PE/not enough information:

I've seen a plethora of people in FIG move on to investor relations type roles at PE firms (in every strategy and sector) - of the options you have, FIG at Piper Sandler will probably give you the most "breadth for your buck", but understand where the individuals who previously had your job end up in role and firm (linkedin)

My best advice would be to look at the firms you want to work at, look at the individuals in the roles you want to be in, and work backwards from there - you need to have an idea of where you want to be to figure this out (ex: 3/5 acquisitions analysts at the firm you want to work at come from XXX Bank, do a bottoms-up analysis of where you want to be)

 

Hi Schmuck55, thank you very much for your advice! I actually did several researches on Linkedin, first I think there is very few, may be only one person ending in really good PE funds for investment roles (not operating/admin/recruiting/valuation roles, etc). It seems the Piper FIG's exit opportunities are quite limited. Maybe I shouled lateral to another BB before getting into PE.

 

Can't comment on if you only want Megafunds, but if you like/want FIG, Piper Sandler is the best of those groups. But, you may get pigeonholed into that industry vertical. 

Second choice would be RayJay. It's been aggressively staffing up and trying to move upmarket in other verticals outside of tech and healthcare, its two best groups.

 

Thank you very much Bullet-Tooth Tony! What do you think about Piper Sandler FIG team compared to all other FIG teams on the street, including BB and EB.

 

Earum ut vel nostrum voluptates earum eum et. Praesentium voluptatem quo nulla sit ut id magnam rem. Itaque ipsum corporis qui nemo. Molestias corrupti tenetur est deserunt.

Numquam quae nobis rerum at accusamus harum explicabo. Alias temporibus voluptas quo.

Qui ea quaerat nulla esse nostrum velit voluptatem. Doloremque sed quam qui blanditiis explicabo. Facilis amet rem exercitationem aut quis quisquam tempora. Tempore eos necessitatibus iusto. Voluptatem minus consequuntur voluptas aliquid praesentium fugiat. Nihil expedita commodi ipsam est. Itaque eos totam est enim est porro at. Dicta dolores quia corrupti perspiciatis cum iste.

Inventore impedit id ea. Sint labore voluptatem odio dicta aut aperiam excepturi aut. Explicabo numquam aspernatur qui tempora enim eligendi omnis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (67) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”