Vault/Firsthand IB Prestige Rankings 2023
Vault just released their prestige rankings for 2023. What do people think?https://firsthand.co/best-companies-to-work-for/b…
Jan 25, 2023Jan 25, 2023
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Career Advancement Opportunities
March 2023 Investment Banking
- Lazard Freres (+ +) 99.5%
- Lincoln International (= =) 99.1%
- Jefferies & Company (▽02) 98.6%
- Financial Technology Partners (▽01) 98.2%
- William Blair (▲10) 97.7%
Overall Employee Satisfaction
March 2023 Investment Banking
- William Blair (▲04) 99.5%
- Lincoln International (▲11) 99.1%
- Canaccord Genuity (▲17) 98.6%
- Stephens Inc (▲10) 98.1%
- Financial Technology Partners (▲04) 97.7%
Professional Growth Opportunities
March 2023 Investment Banking
- Financial Technology Partners (▲05) 99.5%
- Lincoln International (▲01) 99.1%
- Lazard Freres (▲14) 98.6%
- Jefferies & Company (▽03) 98.1%
- William Blair (▲02) 97.7%
Total Avg Compensation
March 2023 Investment Banking
- Director/MD (6) $592
- Vice President (27) $425
- Associates (141) $260
- 3rd+ Year Analyst (9) $194
- 2nd Year Analyst (86) $170
- 1st Year Analyst (264) $171
- Intern/Summer Associate (45) $165
- Intern/Summer Analyst (194) $92
Career Resources
Leaderboard See all
| 1 | | 99.2 |
| 2 | | 99.0 |
| 3 |  | 99.0 |
| 4 |  | 99.0 |
| 5 | | 99.0 |
| 6 | | 98.9 |
| 7 |  | 98.9 |
| 8 | | 98.9 |
| 9 | | 98.9 |
| 10 | | 98.9 |
Comments (47)
Here's the top 25 for people who don't want to take the time to look at it:
1) GS
2) MS
3) JPM
4) Evercore
5) Centerview
6) Lazard
7) Moelis
8) PJT
9) BofA
10) PWP
11) Qatalyst
12) Citi
13) Guggenheim
14) Jefferies
15) Barclays
16) Greenhill
17) Rothschild
18) Allen
19) Houlihan Lokey
20) LionTree
21) UBS
22) William Blair
23) Piper Sandler
24) Credit Suisse
25) RBC
I mean, it's not a terrible list? Obviously you can fight about X should be above Y but I think generally it's directionally correct.
It's interesting I actually got surveyed to fill it out this year, they send a list of like 1000 banks and ask you to score them on a bunch of factors. So this list is actually made by people in the industry
Do they make you score banks beyond 50? Scoring 1000 banks seems like a waste of time
Top 10 looks fine, but outside of that it gets a bit wonky imo. Jefferies above Barclays is a very hot take, and I know that CS is going through some rough times but for a prestige ranking, CS is definitely not below Piper Sandler.
Interest, Would you say Jeff is above ubs/db and maybe arguably cs for now but below all the other BBs? Don't see them above any current EBs for now but could change
Definitely yes imo. And while I don't necessarily think banks shouldn't be ranked as a whole, Jefferies forward growth seems much more promising than ubs, and maybe db too.
BoA before Qatalyst. Lol ok
Exactly. Blows my mind that a bank where senior associates make over $900k per year is ranked below most of these firms, let alone BofA
I dont think anyone in ib/finance really cares about this list lmao
Think this list was made from surveying current finance professionals
All the clueless sophs are going to fade Credit Suisse this year based on the short-term negativity. Sophs like me that know CS' legacy brand, leanness of deal teams, and historic exits will benefit, especially if you can get in M&A/Sponsors.
Lmao, the "clueless" sophomores....as opposed to the enlightened sophomores
You were literally asking questions about internships in 2022. Have you ever worked at a bank that was undergoing a restructuring? Follow up to that, have you ever worked in investment banking at all? You do realize there will be more waves of layoffs right? You realize the coverage groups have had many of their senior bankers (those are the ones who drive business) poached by other banks. People like you are the clueless ones for blaming others for being weary of going into a company that is undergoing a significant restructuring. Enjoy your CS summer internship.
Should also say that I am not downing them, there are still a lot of talented people there but nothing I said in the paragraph above is incorrect.
Some actual IB analysts/associates actually know what happened to banks like Lehman or Greenhill in the past, and understand that there is massive risk involved in joining CS. When a bank starts to sink, three things happen: clients leave (as they see the bank as unreliable and there are dozens of other capable options out there), rainmakers leave (as they too see the bank as unreliable and have options), and morale tanks. You don´t want to be in a position where your Associates/VPs are thinking of ways out, or even whether they´ll get axed next week.
Now, I am not saying that CS is an awful choice, but any sophomore who thinks that they are being smarter than their peers is ether oblivious to risk, or an outright gambler. With the influx of Saudi & co money, as well as the reputational hit, Klein´s shady shenanigans, and the opaque restructuring plan there is a good chance Credit Suisse keeps slowly falling and never quite gets its spot back.
For reference, I spoke to a CS VP around July 2021 (a few months after the Archegos scandal) and he was sure Credit Suisse would prevail and it was just the involved departments who would see any repercussions. Fast forward to today and he unfortunately was laid off and is now working at a small LMM boutique due to the current job market. Whilst I am sure he could eventually join a BB if he wants, I would advise students to try to join a bank where the chances of conversion depend (mostly) on their performance. FT/SA recruitment is going to be a pain for the coming years.
With this being said, best of luck whether you join CS or another bank.
Good post, SB'ed
"Some actual IB analysts/associates" if you're an analyst you're probably 23 years old, so born in 1999. Lehman fell in 2008, so analysts were 8-9 years old... You're a first year associate so I'm assuming you weren't older than 12 when Lehman fell..
Don't know why you're trying to act like you lived through Lehman falling lol
You will probably never step foot in a bank buddy so just calm down a bit
This aged like fine wine
The list lands you on quite a prestige scale from Ks layed off to a solid prestige hole of massive losses. Go prestige!
Top ten probably are also banks with most hours worked and most stressful atmospheres
Damn bro, just ask ChatGP to write a scam message for you next time. You've got spelling mistakes I never thought possible
Total bullshit. FT Partners should be top dog. They pay their analysts $140k!
At least they made the list this year LMAO
Really fucked DB badly huh #32
what's so cool about Gorman Stanley and their low ass pay
The glorified wanna be BB Lazard at 6 ahead of PJT at 8... Yeah okay, lol
Lazard isn't an elite boutique - it's THE elite boutique. I think it has a mythology that'll never escape it: RJR Nabisco, Time Warner, etc. Calling it a BB because it's diversified isn't awfully solid ground. Same could be said of Evercore, Moelis, Rothschild, Guggenheim.
B
I am deeply curious as to the criteria Vault uses for this. Anyone know / have any idea?
At least part of it is that bankers get a survey emailed to them ranking all the other banks
Any idea how many banks they are asked to rank? I can see if it's like 1000 banks that the accuracy goes down
Does Jeff deserve it's place at #14?
Vault rankings are basically useless. Before we got the vault survey after my SA program, the program manager essentially told us 'this survey is not your opportunity to grind an axe about anything you experienced this summer. We see our internship ranking as an asset / marketing tool. You may skip the survey if you don't have a positive perspective.' For this reason, any of the rankings based on surveyed data are highly biased. Not that anyone has been taking them too seriously anyway
Heard when it comes to ranking banks however, you can't rank your own bank so there's no bias there and wont affect you in any way
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