Hi everybody,
I wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this. I currently am working in lev fin but in the back of my mind am thinking about the future and raising kids near the rest of my family. The population is around ~200k. Plenty of solid companies but I don't think working for a corporation's finance department is first on my list. Does anyone have any insight on banking or other good finance jobs in a town this size? I obviously know my options would be limited, however, it is not in my interest to work in retail banking, etc. Would someone with my background be able to land any other solid opps (i.e. commercial lending, etc.)?
Thanks!
If it's Little Rock you've got Stephens and Crews and Associates. Get a hold of the red book, oftentimes there are small muni offices in tier 2 cities just to be able to cover the state GO market. Regional commercial banks may have some interesting roles like loan syndication or FOREX, in muni land we are also seeing some banks bring stuff in house doing bank qualified bonds (BQs) not to mention middle market lending. Most small cities will have a boutique or two doing lower MM deals. Insurers are also an option as they usually have a big FI book. PWM and also bank trust departments also come to mind.
Larger companies will require more complex products generally speaking, so you might be using products like revolvers, cash management services, perhaps FOREX, trade services and the like, they may even tap the capital markets. Smaller companies usually have more vanilla needs think checking accounts, credit cards and loans, not to say that large ones don't have the same. In smaller cities there is often a chamber of commerce that can give you decent color on banking there.
Some banks have industry groups i.e. Real Estate, Health Care, C&I, which may or may not be a good fit depending on your interests. Bank size plays a role, smaller banks by definition can't have the same level of exposure to any given credit. I think larger is more interesting and larger banks have better platforms and the ability to offer more interesting products I.e. Capital Markets, derivatives and more exposure to syndicated loans.
Assuming you're in the southeast take a look at any of the Big 4 (JP Morgan, Citi, BoA, Wells) or super regionals (SunTrust, Regions, BB&T) or regionals (First Citizens, Capital One, Compass, Comerica, Synovus, First Tennessee, Bank of the Ozarks). Their websites should give a sense as to what products they have and how the bank is split. Depending on the city you're looking at there may or may not be much towards the higher end of that range, but some smaller cities do have interesting finance scenes. Have any particular one in mind?