Regional US boutiques?
Hi, am a Canadian student but a U.S. dual citizen. I found out about investment banking a little late (don't have much finance experience under my belt, moreso accounting experience) and don't know the likelihood of getting a position at the big 5 Canadian banks. I've been looking into potentially doing a SA stint at a US boutique but don't know how to best position myself coming from Canada. Any thoughts? I feel as though getting a boutique gig in the US would be a) easier in the US and b) probably better in terms of experience and pay....any advice is appreciated!
From what I've seen, a lot of Canadians do IB in Houston. Almost every firm I recruited with had a VP or MD who actively recruited their brethren in the north.
That's actually really helpful, the US is so big that I don't want to spread my efforts across the entire country! I will look into targeting Houston in that case
I don’t work in Houston but is that because of the large energy-industry overlap with Calgary?
Yes, Scotia bank and RBC (~queue the laugher~) both have large presences in Houston for that very reason - the Canadian/US teams even work together on live deals
Yes, depending on your year, Houston recruiting is wrapping up for 2021 internships. But you should have plenty of time for 2022 if you are graduating in 2023. Assuming you're graduating in 2022, you should make sure to get your applications out quickly for the remaining BBs and MM banks in Houston, as all of the EBs and most of the BBs in Houston are finished for next summer.
To take a step back and give you an overview, the largest cities for banking in the US are obviously NYC, then followed by Chicago, Menlo Park/LA (both in California), and lastly Houston. Chicago may be another good option for you, as there are a decent amount of boutiques (most notably William Blair) located there as well. The industry is a little more drab, in my opinion, but it's still banking. So, when working 100 hours a week, I honestly don't think it feels any different doing so for Industrials, then it does for any other coverage group.
As a side factor, you would probably be competing against a smaller, and arguably weaker, pool of candidates in both Chicago and Houston, at least relative to the West Coast/NYC. I still think it's gonna be more competitive than Canada, just based on pure statistics.
Hey, damn I extended by a year so I'm graduating in 2022 but it sucks to hear recruitment has wrapped up. Is it really much more competitive in the states than Canada, even at boutique firms? Also, do you know what the corporate banking scene is like in the states? I'm thinking perhaps a corporate banking gig in the US (at a bank that groups together I&CB) might be a better route to go, and then I can try to lateral into IB at some point when I've got some more contacts and experience under my belt. Not sure what recruiting timelines/processes look like for CB there though
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