What is the best DCM desk?

I secured a DCM SA position at a big balance sheet European bank (HSBC, BNP, Santander).

I was told I’ll be placed in one out of the three sector teams: DCM IG Corporates, DCM Financial Institutions, and DCM Sovereigns and Public Sector. I have to state a preference in two weeks and I’m struggling.

For now, I’m ruling out DCM FIG as it feels too sector-specific. DCM Corporates seems like the one that does the most interesting, varied and “technical” work where I will learn the most. That said, I find politics / macro topics much more interesting so I may like SSA more, but I also heard the work is very surface level.

How should I go about picking my preferences? Does anyone have any insight on how the work of these teams differ? Thanks!

10 Comments
 

Does it matter that much? I’d rather avoid giving too specific information, and I’m more interested in the type of work these groups do, which at the intern level is probably the same across banks?

 
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Corporates or FIG 100% 

One thing I will tell you about FIG, people here always say they're afraid of getting pigeon-holed in it, but it the largest IB Fee Revenue driver of all IB industries by a massive margin. In other words, there are worse places to be pigeon-holed than the biggest (and among the most resilient) addressable market in IB.  

 

For sure. Source data below, but just to put it into context. Financials IB coverage has brought in $26.2B of fees globally YTD. This is over 3x the closest runner up (Government & Agencies at $8.2B) 

I personally just don't know much about SSA. I'm also US based so I tend to have a heavy biased towards private sector clients, because that is where all the fun is, in the US. Maybe out in Europe it's different.  

https://markets.ft.com/data/league-tables/tables-and-trends

image-20221228110600-1

 

OP isn't asking what bank is the best for DCM, he's saying that he's already got an offer at a specific European bank, and he wants to know which DCM sub-group, within said specific bank, is the best. 

FYI, OP, your post title makes it sound more like you're asking which banks are the best for DCM

 

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