Wells Fargo SA Principal Investing Interview

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!!

24 Comments
 

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.

 

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.

 
Best Response

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.

 

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.

Pennies from JcPenny
 

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.

 

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