Singapore (Anglo/Euro/Expat) Finance Bros: How is your experience? How hard was it to break into finance in SG?
Hello Greater Apes and those of the Genus "Homo,"
It's always been my dream to live and work in Singapore, Ideally in BB/IB but honestly anything that is finance related that can get me a comfortable living.
From what I've heard, comp is relatively similar to the U.S and it's only a stones-throw away from all of the rest of Asia. As an undergrad from the U.S, what would you advise me to do to break in? Should I even try to break into SG banking as a semi-target? Is it even worth it with the work culture and cost of living eating you alive? Is Mandarin a requirement?
Is it a fool's errand to break in from a semi-target? (UCLA/UNC/UMICH) Or are those reserved only for the HYSM target-school mafia.
Thanks for all who respond!
No chance for a semi, even extremely difficult from top top target. Main problem is sponsorship, which doesn't exist for internships, and very very rarely for anything below Asco.
Comp is similar, COL higher. Mandarin or SEA lang preferred. Work culture very different, as with most of Asia, more hardcore.
How is COL hirer? Also who wants to do banking in sg, no such thing as the next step it’s banking and just banking (alternatives are incomparable to the US/europe)
Pretty much everything in SG is literally half of NYC price just saying. The only things that are more expensive that are cars due to 300% import tax and buying house
SG recruiting is usually more school-agnostic since candidate profiles are already extremely high, much better than US kids (tell me why when applying for SA they all have 4-5 internships lined up and big4 M&A is a bare minimum for IB). However, visa sponsorship can be a serious issue since not many firms are willing to sponsor visa for internship.
Interviews, though depending on banks, will be a mix of behavioural and technical with technical-wise being harder than NYC. Some banks even have modelling and case study test as well which is rare, or unheard of, recruiting for summer internship in the US.
For language requirement, Mandarin is NOT a requirement and you can get by with only English. But SEA languages (Thai, Viet, Bahasa, etc) are highly preferred.
Yes comp will be similar to NYC, and much higher than NYC after tax since SG tax is only like 15% when you join as Analyst 1. Cost of living is dramatically lower than US major cities as well so it's a very great deal, unless you wanna buy a house or buy a car then it's a completely different story but come on y'all dont need a car in SG.
That being said, one thing to note that the work culture will be different from the West and it's pretty much Asian work culture. 100 - 120hr work weeks are extremely common and seniors yelling at juniors is also pretty normal here. Exit opportunities are also extremely limited. Pretty much MFs all have presence there but they only have 1-2 openings each year and pretty much everyone wanna exit into these firms so you know the drill.
How does comp compare at VP levels and up where bonus contributes more to total comp?
Deal flow is pretty lame across the board in SG. What considered as "large" deals here are as big as the typical deals Jefferies or HL do in US.
Most of them are just unattractive opportunities trying very hard to polish and no one believes that. The good ones are asking for 15x when it is worth 10x.
Even BB lifestyle is bad as clients don't pay as well as US clients and too few high quality deals to chase. Many of the large deals on market right now are things they have lasted for a few years on the market.
Since the market is small and low quality, origination and pitching / executing low quality opportunities are a lot more common. Enjoy making an IM for a mediocre asset only to scrap the process 8 months later and another 18 months later the process will resume again either run by your bank or another unlucky bank.
Exit varies wildly. Corp dev pays peanuts here. Local MM fund depends but usually on the crappy side that makes you wonder why you didn't sign up a job to sell Bloomberg terminal right after college instead. MF seats are scarce. Occasionally 1-2 MFs expand and hire 2-4 ppl then freeze for some time.
Hi, can I DM you to ask more about SG please (or pls DM me if you dont mind, since you are anonymous)
Come to Singapore for commods / energy / trading. Not for M&A, deal flow not as good as US, exit opps not nearly as good (you will find it hard to move back to the states if you wanted to).
If most of my experience is M&A from BB EMEA as a junior VP and wanted to make a move to SG, what other high finance opportunities one should consider? Assume internal transfer is not possible.
Can speak Mandarin and Canto
GIC or other buy side
Mate, go buy side here in sg especially if related to power development in the surrounding area (phillipines, Vietnam, etc) anything energy related would be great (even consumer goods considering the rate of population growth)
do you need mandarin for commods / energy / trading in sg?
Need? No.
I don't want to give false hope so think of it this way: Mandarin is a useful skill, not 100% needed but it WILL get you hired over someone who cannot speak it, even if their resume is 'better.'
Also especially for the physical trading side you will either pick enough of it up to be useful, or you will not be a good trader.
So in conclusion; needed to be hired? No, needed to be 'good' in the future? yes probably, should you learn it? Absolutely
Other option is do some analyst years in the US then switch to buyside in SG / HK as quite a few teams have folks that came up in NYC.
Yellow fever?
IBD is a joke in Sing. Fee pool for SE Asia is a quarter of Australia and lower than South Africa
is the feel pool actually higher in aus? would assume much less deal flow there compared to SEA/HK. I’ve always dreamed of moving to Aus but largely deterred by people saying the finance scene is tiny there
Yes, the only two APAC markets that move the needle from a fee perspective are Australia and Japan.
China / India have decent overall fee wallets but very low margins, lower paid domestic talent and overbanked.
SE Asia doesn’t even figure in relevance.
And there is no scope for expats in Australia
Insular market with very high quality local talent
Lmao SEA deal flow is tiny and unsophisticated. These are mostly developing economies. Everything is either controled by SOEs or dynastic families.
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