Wells Fargo Investment Banking Questions
How has Wells done recently? Are they considered a BB? Is compensation equal to the street average? How is work / life balance?
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not BB
Wells has been gaining market share, but less and less every year. They are definitely a BB, but lower tier. More stable than Barclays/BAML. Pay is on par from what I hear. Work/life balance depends on the group, generally good from what I hear.
They pay the same as other BBs. First year is 85k plus bonus. Work/life balance is better than other firms. More chill in charlotte.
Will be a top BB in 10 years
I've had the chance to talk to a lot of Wells folks, and good impression. Definitely not JPM/GS prestige if that's what you care about, but what's stood out to me is that the Wells people are far more enthusiastic about their company than even the T1 employees I've talked to: they seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs, their teams, and the company.
Growing MM is probably the best way to describe them. I second the commenter above - everyone seems to genuinely enjoy their job and unless you are looking for KKR/Carlyle you've got many of the same opportunities.
Wells analysts have gone to KKR. It's definitely not out of reach but would most likely be harder than coming from JP MS or GS
Wells IBD (Originally Posted: 11/17/2012)
.
bump
Pretty sure its $60k + $5K signing
depends on locations i think
Is the Wells Fargo FAP entry level/recent grads only? If so what if I have an opportunity for it after a couple years experience elsewhere?
fap fap fap
Q: What do you do for work? A: FAP
bluehorshoe is correct 60k Base, 5k signing, and end of year bonus
How is Wells Fargo doing? (Originally Posted: 09/26/2008)
Speculation? Who will it acquire? Who will acquire it?
What is its relative strength compared w/competitors?
Thanks for your input!
Wells Fargo should be OKAY.
But then, you never know these days. 2-3 Weeks ago, the wamu CEO said they had enough funds to last through the end of the year. apparently not :\
=== http://bankertimes.com investment banking news
Wells Fargo and US Bank were the two banks that probably did the best job at avoiding this whole mess. Check out WFS has done over the last year
WFC, sorry
WF has done a great job at staying out of this mortgage debacle. Buffett loves the position they are in right now, as Berkshire has a big stake in them IIRC. They are also being smart not to hitch themselves onto a struggling bank like Wachovia, or one that overlaps their current footprint like WaMu. If some east coast or midwest bank gets into trouble because of speculation, not fundamentals, I could see them stepping in and making a bid. But other than that I think they sit tight and ride things out.
Wells Fargo IBD - How is deal flow? (Originally Posted: 08/30/2013)
How is WF IBD generally perceived in comparison to other large or MM investment banks? They acquired their IBD arm through the Wachovia merger, and it seems to be picking up traction, but I'm having a hard time determining what their deal flow is like, and the composition of their deals (debt vs. equity. vs. M&A)?
I imagine they do quite a few debt deals given their B/S, but how is that experience perceived from a P/E recruiting standpoint?
Not sure about how they are perceived from a PE standpoint, but they basically still act like the old Wach model: a regional bank in the Southeast.
One more thing to note, I think their Oil and Gas group in Houston does pretty well. That's probably the only group at Wells that consistently goes in and competes with BB peers on deals.
Lots of HY energy deals out of their energy group and correspodning DCM groups.
They are growing their IB business wisely. In NY, their TMT and CHG (Consumer Healthcare & Gaming) groups are pretty cool
Wells Farbo IB (Originally Posted: 01/31/2013)
I spent 4 years as a consultant across a lot of different industries. I am now getting my MBA and am making the switch to IB for the summer. I will be spending my summer in Charlotte at Wells Fargo's IB Division and I'm looking for some help on which groups to join. Personally, I think I am better suited in a coverage group but I know that they are starting to take names in the debt world. Thoughts?
Any recommendations on what coverage groups are better than others? I am truly industry agnostic. I have searched ThompsonOne for the right league tables but they don't break banks down by industry, just product.
Any help would be much appreciated.
http://about.bloomberg.com/pdf/gfma.pdf
Has M&A League tables by industry on page 10 - WFC doesn't break the top ten for any of the listed industries, but that's only M&A, not a strong suit of WFC.
I think they do well in industrials. Also there Consumer, Gaming, and Healthcare (I think) practices are grouped into on group, so that might be an interesting place to be for the summer.
.
That's the big question, trying to figure out what my thing is. Sounds like CHG (weird combination) is a good start. I guess I just need to get into there and figure out where I think would be a good fit. Thanks for the heads up. Any other advice would be much appreciated.
Gaming is based out of SF and HC has other major players. Based on capital intensity and stability (WF's preference) Industrials and Energy can be good places.
What do you mean "HC has other major players"? Crowded marketplace so WF can't compete as well as they would in Industrials and/or Energy? I know some of the former Wachovia HC team left Wells for Lazard MM, are they struggling to rebuild?
I'll also fix that username cause it was an easy giveaway (saw that in SCM).
What do you want to do long term? Stick with IB or move to PE or F500? If you have a preference or a goal, that could influence what group you should target.
Regards
Geographically my wife and I want to end up in Nashville. Whether that is 3 years or 15 years from now, that is the ultimate goal. As far as PE vs. F500 vs. IB forever, that is still up in the air.
I have always thought PE/VC would be an interesting place to land but I would shoot for middle market / smaller shops. I don't think the TPG / Carlyle / KKRs of the world are where I want to end up long term. A couple of guys able to put together a string of funds would be a good spot to land.
If F500, then I think it would make the most sense to do CHG (Healthcare) or something fairly stable (Industrial or Energy). Either way, I don't really think products don't really fit the long term plan unless I focus on M&A but even then, that is pretty myopic.
Super delayed response here, but hopefully it's of some value.
Obviously at WF, you have LevFin. I think experience in LevFin at WF is good enough to get into MM, or lower MM PE, especially in the Southeast. Some on here might argue with that, but I think it's pretty possible. M&A might be the next best choice given that you 'need' a skill set that is transferable to a number of potential industries. As others have pointed out, that isn't necessarily a strong point for WF, especially compared to other banks but, again, it should be enough to get you looks from MM PEs in Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, etc.
Another option, as was mentioned, is some of the boutiques in Charlotte...though that doesn't answer your current question. McColl is one, BlackArch is probably the other known M&A focused bank that has a good reputation.
Anyways, I would think going LevFin or M&A would be the best bet given their more general, less industry specific focus, which could make for an easier transition to your various, potential career options whether it ends up being IB, F500, PE/VC.
Regards
That said, if I am awesome at this whole IB thing, then IB for life!
I agree with cphbravo - Wells is quickly growing and in couple years will be a complete ib shop. Wells LevFin is 3rd in the ranks right now and had 20% yoy growth. I personally know they've been recruiting MDs from BofA and MS recently because they see a lot of room for growth - not to mention the analysts got higher bonuses than other BBs
they will never be bb status. unless serious consolidation happens in the next 2-3 years i dont think Wells will achieve BB status for another 5-7 years. there retail/commercial presence dilutes their ib practice period.
regarding bonuses. i don't believe this at all but i cud be wrong
When I was up there for their Superday process, I met quite a few of the M&A team guys - pretty cool crowd that is mostly former athletes (college wrestling, rugby, etc.). Being a former collegiate athlete myself, I would have fought for that group if I accepted their offer.
It's really a combination of where you feel you would fit best with the people/group culture and where you feel you would enjoy the work the most.
Do a little soul searching, I'm sure you will arrive at the right answer.
Good luck!
Does anyone know anything about their office in Los Angeles? What groups are there? How much do they usually pay? Thanks!
LA is fin sponsors. Pay is at or above street.
LA also has a middle market group
Let's talk about WF (Originally Posted: 01/27/2014)
I know there are tons of topics on WF, and I have read many of them.
Looking at the firm objectively, we all know they do very well in LevFin, with good action in E&P, CHG, Industrials and FIG.
LevFin being in Charlotte, the others split between CLT and NYC.
That said, going into WF as an analyst, how would you decide groups? What can you expect for buyside looks? Even if a coverage group kills it (in terms of historical performance) will you get looked at? I imagine this best possible scenario your group moves to t-15 on the respective league table.
So how do you make that decision, between their coverage groups and a traditionally stronger group like leverage finance?
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