Hey guys, I have an interview coming up with Wells Fargo Principal Investing for a summer internship. Anybody else have any information on the interview, etc? It's a 30 minute phone interview: does that mean it will be with HR and thus no technical questions?
Thanks!!
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It'll be a mix of behaviorals and technicals with the technicals catered toward your prior experience. They also ask questions about the current market environment and potential investing decisions you would make given a sample capital structure. Make sure you have a good handle on why one invests in certain tranches of debt and how you can hedge against risk.
I did on campus interviews into a superday, so I don't know about how the phone screen will play out. However, all of my interviews were technical in nature...most of them were standard investment banking technicals, though. There wasn't a whole lot on seniority of debt, bond math, etc except for some very surface level stuff.
Thanks for all the input!
Interested in this as well!
Anybody heard back after the 1st round interviews?
Anybody have any insight on super day?
Wells Fargo Principal Investing (Originally Posted: 02/11/2016)
Does anyone have information on this group? I searched for previous posts, but wasn't able to find much.
I'm pretty sure they're basically buying bonds with the banks money
If it was bond investing, it'd be call 'bond investing' or 'fixed income'.
No, principal investing is when you look to generate a return on an investment by taking an ownership stake. WF Principal sounds closer to a PE arm of the bank.
My bad^^ @deas7 from Bloomberg: "The principal investments group, which buys bonds with the bank’s own money and excess customer deposits.."
It's probably a way to add value to already squeezed savers and to do something with all the cash that's floating out there.
Yeah I know it's relatively new so that would make sense
It operates as an in house long only credit fund that invests the banks money, as stated above.
Wells Fargo Securities Principal Investing is a HF/PE type arm/LLC. They use the billions of dollars of cash or "dry sand" to invest and take equity stakes/ bonds/ or whatever to make returns. Mainly debt though. Didn't know the interview i was walking into 1 1/2 hour phone interview ... frkn brutal
Wells Fargo has more capital than it can loan out to customers (one of the benefits of having a huge deposit base). Principal Investing is responsible for investing that excess capital. It's a good job, but it's a lot more conservative than most hedge funds and almost entirely fixed income. It's probably most analogous to working in the investment arm of a large insurer.
Wells Fargo Principal Investing SA / Good Prep for HF ??? (Originally Posted: 01/07/2015)
Long time reader, first time poster.
I am a junior at a target (Ivy) that is deciding what internship to purse this summer. I eventually want to work at a hedge fund (L/S equity or credit) and am deciding between M&A banking (BBs) vs. a buyside role (PIMCO, BlackRock).
I recently received an offer to join the Wells Fargo Principal Investing team where I would be giving buy/sell recommendations on HY & IG corporate credit in a $3bn proprietary fund. This sounds like a great opportunity for me because of the nature of the work. However, I do question if this is better than a traditional M&A -> HF route, especially because this job has on the job training instead of a week of formalized training.
Also, Wells Fargo lacks the prestige of some of the other banks I may end up at on the sell-side and I was wondering if this could hurt me in the future.
Any thoughts would help! Thanks guys!
Those all sound like good opportunities, so congratulations on having a number of good options.
I would pursue the BB M&A opportunity. That would offer you the best route to a HF and the most comprehensive skill set in financial modeling.
The WF position is a good one but not on par with your other options. I would compare the WF Principal Investing role to that of an SA at a long only mutual fund. The "proprietary fund" invests in the context of the bank's AFS securities portfolio, which does not sound like it aligns with what you really want to do.
BB IBD or elite boutique IBD is by far the best & easiest route, no question.
No HFs I've met or interviewed at would interview someone from Wells' corporate debt fund which is boring and not relevant with respect to other strategies.
Do an elite IBD program and go for an elite HF.
Wells Principal Investing is one of the last bastions of proprietary trading on the street. Prop traders at BB's balled the hardest prior to 2008 and consistently had their choice of top caliber kids. It's a solid shop and I would take it over anything less than a BAML IBD offer.
I would lean towards BB M&A - well trod straightforward path. If you get the ft offer and succeed in that role a shot at big hedge funds is highly probable (never guaranteed).
I don't know much about Wells principal investing, but i'd probably only take it if there is a strong possibility you'd want to stick with it for the long term. If you want a stepping-stone then taking the standard path is always easier.
Anyone familiar with the Principal Investing bonus structure for full times?
WF PI is a sweet gig.
what makes u say that?
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