Unpacking Corporate Banking at Citi/BAML?

Standard caveat that I can only speak to my own experience.

1. Standard week is around 9AM - 8-9PM, so around 60 hours with some variance. During particularly slow seasons we leave around 6PM, while during busy times we'll leave around 11PM-2AM. Long hours are often a result of multiple longer-dated (1-2 week timeline) projects coinciding rather than an unexpected firedrill, so true all nighters are fairly rare since you have some control on scheduling. The real advantage in hours over IB is that we rarely work weekends (I have yet to work a Saturday and only a handful of Sundays)

2. Yes. CB probably works with the widest range of groups out of any division since your job is to service client needs with whatever product/team they need, but we work the most with IB by a fair margin. We all sit together, so if you were to step on the floor you would have no way of knowing who is in CB vs IB.

3. Direct promotes are definitely possible and the most preferred outcome from a senior perspective. Most of the seniors in my group have had experience in other divisions, but most particularly IB. If you perform well and have senior support, lateraling to IB is a definite possibility and probably fairly easy in my opinion since you'll have been cross-staffed with IB on deals and they'll know who you are. Keep in mind CIB analysts are treated as one class and go through the same training (versus CMO or S&T analysts) specifically because they're expected to work together.

   Having said that, I can't imagine why any sane person would want to switch from CB to IB if they plan to stay in banking (versus jumping to buyside). The pay to work ratio is skewed heavily in favor of CB.

4. Pros:

* CB teams are way smaller than IB teams so you have less internal competition, fewer assholes, and better senior exposure.

• Pay is pretty close and the work-life balance is hugely in your favor, especially as you move up. Like I said, a top CB bonus is higher than a mid-bottom IB bonus, and you'll probably work less and deal with less bullshit to get that same number.

• CB work covers a broad range of corporate finance initiatives whereas IB has an episodic, narrow focus. The pro for this from an analyst perspective is that the work you're doing (typically some variation of cash flow/credit/capital return analysis) has usefulness/relevance to the client, even if it gets dull. You'll (hopefully, probably) never get bullshit assignments like compiling a 100 page pitch deck covering 50 different company profiles as potential acquisition targets that will never see the light of day as IB is notorious for.

• A good chunk of CB seniors formerly worked in other groups within the bank but wanted a better work-life balance. In my experience, this dynamic seems to attract seniors who are reasonable human beings who'd prefer if their juniors also have a healthy work-life balance. This is very often not the case in IB, and the people you work with will make or break your experience far more than company prestige.

• You'll go through your long hours and miserable moments together with your (CB and IB) classmates, and they will keep you sane

Cons:

• If you want to jump to PE, being in CB will put you at a notable disadvantage considering how tough and well established the pipeline already is. I never had any interest in PE so I didn't care, but if that's a goal for you further down the line then IB is definitely a better platform to recruit from. Credit focused buyside roles like credit investing, mezz/debt funds, or non-"finance finance" roles like Corp Dev, Strategic Finance, etc are equally open to you.

• IB typically runs the operating model while CB does the credit analysis, so you'll be at a disadvantage in that respect. If you're recruiting for buyside, you'll have to practice modeling on your own (this is true for IB analysts as well). Modeling isn't rocket science, but I do wish my role involved more deep diving into that.

• As mentioned above, CB teams are a lot (as in 5-8x) smaller than IB teams. This makes it harder to find alumni and collect data points on how CB career trajectories typically evolve.

• All your friends will think you work in Investment Banking or Commercial Banking no matter how many times you explain it as no one on this planet has heard of Corporate Banking apparently

1. I'm only a first year so there are others who can provide much better advice, but I have found that a bit of extra thoughtfulness can go a long way. Spending a little extra time to re-check your work, think about how your slides fit into the larger story being told, or come up with a little extra analysis that you think may be helpful without being asked can be surprisingly well received by seniors.