Top Groups at Citi?
With the recent changes in group dynamics of the last few years, I was wondering what the top groups are in terms of exits, hours, dealflow, culture, etc.
Trending Content - Investment Banking Forum
| +190 | Just One More Year | 15 | 4h |
| +172 | Piper Sandler in talks to acquire PWP | 74 | 5d |
| +123 | UBS Appears to be Exploring Sale | 19 | 2d |
| +87 | Paradise Is Paradise | 8 | 1h |
| +77 | Drunk VP. How to manage? | 27 | 21h |
| +38 | How do I take my foot off the gas? (AN1) | 4 | 1d |
| +38 | Lazard US Views 2026/2027 | 13 | 1d |
| +32 | M&A is Paradise | 1 | 5d |
| +25 | Why did EVR succeed vs GHL or PWP that ended up getting acquired? | 7 | 2d |
| +24 | HR is starting to worry me, do I throw a hail mary during an upcoming chat with an MD? | 3 | 1h |
Career Resources
Following
M&A v good, hours will depend what you are working on, exits very good you should get looks from most top places. media comms also very good but you will get absolutely worked. culture in M&A is alright, not sure about m&c, citi not exactly a culture bank. source is my friends
Second this. Citi is a good M&A stint. Although it's a bit eurobanker culture in London at times (pretty dull and lacking is good banter and chat). But that's most M&A groups in London sadly.
following
M&A and Industrials have had strong exits recently (considering the environment). Hours range across verticals but are mediocre on average. Culture used to be solidly good but a lot of the cool people left the past 1-2 years (especially Industrials).
*Edit to be clear: only talking about culture in M&A/Industrials in NY - can’t say with certainty on other groups and have anecdotally heard bad things about a few.
Power Group has a great rep on the street. Analysts get worked. Heard that most of the second year analysts have already left.
M&A and Industrials are solid groups. Hours depend on staffing.
People in Sponsors are chill and normal.
M&A / Industrials probably best for exits but hours can be long. Comms hours are probably the worst at the bank, I'd avoid.
Sponsors and Healthcare both have a lot of great people, hours probably are below average to average for Citi.
With exits I'd keep in mind that there is a self-selection bias with groups. The average profile (GPA, undergrad, etc.) is definitely a lot stronger in M&A and industrials, so a lot of those analysts would likely exit well regardless of their group.
How's their FIG team?
Top are Industrials & M&A
Weakest groups are Healthcare and C&R
Citi software IBD (within their tech team) sent guys to silverlake/vista/thoma/tpg/taassociates. They just started splitting subsectors within tech two years ago and has looked really good for those that can get a spot in there
is that for SF or NY?
prolly sf
TMT is location agnostic. You can work from SF or NY which is pretty cool.
Where have M&A and industrials exited?
The top groups in NYC are probably M&A and Industrials.
Ignore title, am an Associate at a PE firm who recently left Citi.
Citi might take the case for worst culture among the BB's or at least is in strong contention for that title. Just terrible WLB, seniors who don't give a shit, and a hodgepodge of beaurcracy. With that being said, still a solid place to get your 2 years of analyst experience in.
M&A remains and will continue to be their strongest group as vast majority of modelling is done through them and they are on every M&A deal Citi is on, which will give you wide variety of industry exposure as well as pretty great transactional experience post your 2 years.
Industrials is a pretty clear 2nd whereas it's clearly below M&A and above the rest. Industrials is a very broad and big group, but good deal of flow and exposure across all products. Should be able to get good relevant transactional experience across all products and might be the group to choose if more interested in coverage. Would say both M&A and industrials are definitely competitive for UMM/MF spots at the very least, less iffy on the rest.
RE is really good for their space, and should also see UMM/MF exits albeit inherently niche. Ditto with PU&I + Energy with Infra firms. HC and Sponsors are probably the best of the rest if you're ranking purely on generalist exits, just going to have weaker analyst experiences than the top 2.
Will note that the average exit from Citi as is the case for basically every BB afaik is going to be MM, this is just due to the numbers game of MF/UMM seats whereas the number of associate seats is multiples smaller than the number of people at the EB/BB's. With that being said, I think Citi and especially the top groups will set you up well to be competitive in the MF/UMM processes if that is what you decide to pursue assuming you have the correct background ofc for it in school, GPA, etc.
Any thoughts on comms or power? Appreciate any insights you could share. Read both lost a few people about 12 months ago.
When you say HC + Sponsors is "best of the rest", how does this compare for exits?
Worse than the top 2 and better than the others. To answer the earlier comms or power question: would guess Power exits strongly into infra but weak into others given the nature of the industry, but honestly haven't worked with them so not fully sure. Sadly same with Comms, but don't think it is known as a top group at least internally amongst those who came into their analyst stint trying to leave to the buy-side like me, so never ended up considering the group tbh. I am sure the group is fine and Citi is a large bank with pretty good activity across all sectors and products, so should get deal reps in everywhere; it's just that M&A and Industrials are places where you will get the most deal flow and exits.
.
Velit illo non commodi quidem sit et. Consectetur placeat omnis molestias aut ducimus voluptatem. Nihil dolorem dolores odio ratione repellendus blanditiis. Numquam eaque sit et culpa. Nam sed fugit ut rerum. In magnam qui cupiditate voluptates ab tenetur.
Rerum pariatur nesciunt reprehenderit possimus nihil voluptatem ut aut. Qui laboriosam cupiditate nemo deserunt in. Dolorum molestias et voluptas repellat vero qui tempora. Quia repellendus blanditiis qui quibusdam porro iste. Et consequuntur adipisci sequi culpa sed molestiae.
Pariatur ea sunt ex. Eos expedita esse magnam eos nobis quia voluptas.
Ipsa eligendi reprehenderit odio excepturi debitis. Mollitia ad ut id ad assumenda quo in. Explicabo et quidem asperiores labore facilis. Rem laboriosam possimus qui impedit. Recusandae et nemo ducimus. Iusto sint qui rem. Quae adipisci quisquam explicabo velit incidunt.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Ex illum veritatis expedita vitae sit nam. Voluptatem et occaecati porro possimus eius commodi accusamus. Iste error rerum adipisci eligendi. Culpa deserunt exercitationem beatae aut nihil itaque fuga.
Et nesciunt rerum qui odio. Rerum aperiam optio ipsa molestiae nisi vero. Necessitatibus ea eum at dolorum impedit.
Est possimus architecto et dolor quasi ut quam. Incidunt facere id nam hic dolorem repudiandae. Velit velit vel repellat eaque doloribus est.
Possimus laboriosam est dolor sunt explicabo distinctio recusandae. Temporibus dolores doloremque tempore quis adipisci ab qui. Magnam hic magni est quibusdam maiores aliquam rerum. Repudiandae aut rem vel delectus ut et.