Walk me through the Canadian IB sector
Hey,
Can anyone walk me through IB in Canada?
1) which banks are there? Who are the main players ? 2) which schools get recruited from (target schools)? 3) which cities have the most deal flow? 4) are there any BB/EB banks apart from Canadian ones? 5) what is the general reception to IB in Canada? Is it prestigious? 6) what are the strongest teams and sectors? 7) what are the exit opps in Canada ? Pension funds ? Any mega fund pe shops ? 8) does anyone know bankers from Canada that lateraled to the us or transferred offices ?
1) Best to think of the Canadian market in two tiers: blue-chip and the middle-market.
Blue-chip is primarily public company transactions and some large private deals, and where you see all of the stuff in the headlines. Canada's 'Big 5' dominate this space (RBC, BMO, CIBC, TD, and Scotia), and would be considered the BBs. National Bank (HQ in Montreal) is also a big player, and then you have a bunch of US BBs (JPM, GS, MS, BAML, Citi), and international BBs too (Barclays, DB, etc.)
The middle-market is where the majority of the transactions are, however. Just take a US deal size in dollars and divide it by 10 to get the equivalent in Canada ($1B deal = $100MM deal). Some of the 'Canadian BBs' play here, but Big 4 accounting firms corporate finance/M&A groups have the biggest presence and see the most deal flow. Some of the Big 5 banks have Middle-Market groups (RBC and CIBC for sure). More independent firms (usually ex-Big 4 parners) than you can count in the Canadian middle-market too.
2) Target schools would be: Ivey, Queens, University of Toronto, McGill, UBC, University of Alberta, and University of Calgary.
3) Toronto has the most deal flow by far. Montreal is second up. Vancouver and Calgary trade spots for #3 depending on how the oil patch is doing.
4) See response to #1. Almost every major US BB has an office in Toronto (some in Calgary too), as well as some European BBs. Some EBs in Toronto include: Evercore, Rothschild, Lazard, and Greenhill.
5) IB is generally only prestigious to people that are really focused on that career path. Medicine, law, tech firms, big corps, and accounting would all hold similar prestige to the average person. As a proportion of total finance jobs in the country, Canada likely has more asset management/buyside roles compared to the US. Public buyside, private equity, pension funds, and asset management roles are more common and equally as prestigious as IB.
6) No comment. RBC is usually very strong across all sectors though.
7) Not many large-cap, independent PE shops (Onex for sure, maybe Catalyst, Birch Hill, Brookfield). The big PE players are all pension funds: CPPIB, OTPP, OMERS, BCI, Caisse de depot)
8) No comment. LinkedIn search is your friend.
Yeah I remember the Vancouver RBC office being a bit weird a couple years back. Most of them wore pocket squares...
This is great information. + SB. A few bits of color I'd add:
1) I would say that RBC and BMO are by in far the strongest banks in Canada. Primary reason: strong balance sheet / corporate finance and leading with capital markets advisory. 6) Strongest teams in Canada by far are usually natural resources/mining/O&G and FIG usually. Canada's TMT/Consumer/Indy are so thin that most banks usually put them all under some form of "Diversified Industries" label. Not enough flow alone to feed the heads needed. I'd say our reporting requirements for resource firms (with things like the NI 61-101) are some of the best in the world and very condusive to being commercial, especially for junior miners. UK would be next on the list with AIM. 8) I have some experience here (I'm currently in NYC). Current environment is a bit harder. Let me know if you have specific questions. I will reply here if there are potentially of interest to the broader group or you can PM me if it's unique to you.