Currently in a fortunate position to receive an offer from BBs in SG for their SA, think MS/BofA/JP. SA will be in a generalist SEA M&A but you can ask to be staffed on certain deals I believe. Curious what APAC and SG bankers think are the top banks in terms of comp/exits and what groups are most active in the region.Thanks in advance!
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Bump
?dream bro?
MS or bust in SG
Weak exits, mostly to LMM like Navis and the likes. MFs be looking at HK analysts
Most sg exits are shits. Even sg ibd itself is shit vs hk.
Juniors need to LEAD calls, take detailed notes, solo books, do deepthroat modeling (vs hk most banks just take management numbers and tidy up a bit or building mickey mouse models) and go home at 3-4am
Meanwhile getting paid less than hk
I would take whichever with least hours but I guess all 3 options you got have shit hours
Gl bro. If you are lucky you get into bpea and continue brutal hours with an md dream, otherwise its going to navis southern for like commercial banking middle office salary with humiliating hourly wage while feeding your founder or partner their gcb in Singapore
I had a shock when I first started, analysts literally lead processes here
Can confirm. SG Juniors are much more capable than HK analysts. HK is more sweaty though, they produce books and content like no one's business.
#1 is UBS/CS, and JPM/BofA/MS would be the next best banks. From what I've seen, BofA and MS have slightly better exits but it's really more or less the same.
What are the exits opps?
The usual suspects - GIC, Temasek, megafunds / regional PEs.
How has the exodus of senior CS bankers to DB/Jefferies affected this ranking?
Think it's still the same. Jefferies is doing really well recently but we'll have to see if things continue.
Is it possible to break into the IB market directly without knowing Chinese or studying in Singapore?
Yes. Most banks don’t check for your proficiency in Chinese with the exception of MS in their hirevue round (they would ask you to answer a question fully in Chinese). Many students in UK apply for sg IBD roles as well.
Yeah, but most of them are Asian and they won't require sponsorship even for an internship. I don't know if brits even require sponsorship in Singapore for an internship.
Thoughts on Citi SG’s exit opps?
Any BB would give you a chance at the big funds honestly. Rather than the bank, true differentiating factors would be deal experience, fit and SEA language ability -- depending on the firm and the types of deals they are looking to do more, a Barclays IB Analyst with native Bahasa Indonesia ability is probably going to be in much much higher demand than a Singaporean guy/girl from JPM / MS who can barely speak Chinese
For Singapore as the above posters have mentioned, most direct PE exits that you will see would be in either of these two buckets:
1. Join BPEA / Warburg / TPG, and continue working banking hours while you dream of making MD/Partner one day. Carried interest isn't going to be a factor till VP at least, and beware of long and onerous vesting schedules. Oh yeah, there's a pay cut to both base and bonus too even for these big funds.
2. Join a smaller fund like Navis / Southern while taking a large paycut. Hours may be better, and yes they will be impressed by your background but you have to convince the firm why you would be willing to take at least 30-50% paycut on total comp, and why they wouldn't hire a Big 4 associate who can do the same job as you while being happy that they are getting a pay bump.
Also, SEA language ability is a true differentiating factor nowadays. It makes sense for the funds -- you'll find that they are increasingly preferring to hire a Big 4 associate with native Vietnamese/Indo/Malay language ability as compared to a BB IB junior who yes, can speak English well but has no SEA language ability. The regional funds also staff out of Malaysia/Indo/Vietnam where you can hire capable people for a fraction of the cost of a Singapore junior. That's just SEA for you, it's a very unique geography and dynamic for hiring and doing deals compared to the US or HK/China.
If I were you and going into Singapore IB, you'll have to be mentally prepared that being a career banker is a far more likely outcome than in other geographies. Typically exit opportunities in Singapore have very real tradeoffs that you will immediately see, be it a sacrifice of work-life balance / sanity / prestige / pay / industry / exposure, or a combination of all of them.
Other exit options, each with pro and cons as well, would be FOF / secondaries / VC / corporate development. I'll just say that if you're looking to gun for the "top" exits, the likelihood of it happening would be very low no matter which BB you come from. TPG/Warburg etc. MAYBE hire 1 junior a year each and you'll be competing with basically everyone in the region.
Thanks for the helpful insights. Wld also like to ask on the possibility of entering into a vp position at a decent PE if one were to continue at a BB. Or is grinding your way through as a junior in another PE wld one reach the position of a VP in a decent PE?
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