Targeting HK Ibank - MBA program at tier 2 US school or tier 1 school in other region

Currently a 3rd year analyst at a HK BB up for Associate, maybe I can shed some light on MBA hiring per my observations. I personally haven't seen anyone at BBs from bucket 1 or 3. While there are a few from bucket 2 at some European banks, those are amongst the lower-tier ones (BNP/Societe Generale).

The fundamental issue here with HK BBs always comes down to limited MBA associate hiring (mainly due to mediocre revenue in APAC). Unlike their US peers that have the luxury or obligation to hire a group of MBA students (given a much larger pool and higher turnover rate at analyst level), HK has been historically a fan of internal A to A promotion or lateral hire. That being said, HK BBs have seen increasing number of analysts fleeting to PE/HF/Tech side, though recent layoffs at many BBs and decreasing revenue in the region kind of offset the outflow of juniors. Given few spots are available, HK BBs tend to play safe by targeting primarily at M7 for US, LBS for UK and INSEAD for rest of EMEA when they have to recruit MBA fresh grads.

Assuming above 3 buckets are exactly the ones that OP is going to apply or has got offers from, I suggest the OP to go for the bucket 2 and start networking early with your alums. Given OP is targeting to work in HK, I already assumed you can speak Mandarin, otherwise the recruiting will be even worse.