Wells Fargo Securities ABF

Knew a bunch of people working in the group when I was at Wells Fargo last summer, so I can probably speak to this.

The asset-backed finance group is somewhat unique to Wells Fargo, as it combines a standard structured products investment banking function with an asset-backed lending commercial banking function. I'm not sure there are any other major banks that really do this. Anyways, the group consists of 5 main verticals: commercial operating asset finance (COAF), mortgage finance, corporate debt, subscription finance, and consumer finance. All of these verticals are based in Charlotte, although there's also a commercial real estate capital markets vertical (part of the mortgage finance group) based in New York.

The work seems to be very, very light (at least by investment banking standards); analysts work from 8:30 AM to 8:30 PM Monday through Thursday, and 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM (!) on Friday. Associates probably leave an hour earlier. I don't think anybody really shows up for the weekends. Most people work no more than 60 hours a week.

Culture-wise, there are slight differences between the verticals. I personally found the culture of COAF (the smallest group) and consumer finance to be more laid-back, while some of the people in mortgage finance seemed more straight-laced and less friendly to me. That said, none of the verticals really exhibit more clique-y/fratty culture that you might expect from stereotypical investment banking. The people in the group aren't really what I'd call standard investment bankers, but more just regular people who happened to end up in the group, and get home in time for dinner.

All of the verticals are limited in terms of work and exit opportunities. Unfortunately, there aren't really any great exit opps (in the classic sense of private equity, etc.) within any of these verticals, and the most standard path is to stay on as an associate. ABF is just too narrow of a niche to allow for broader exit opps.