Why do IBD (and consulting) folks all want to come to London?

If I had it my way, I'd go home to the Stockholm office. But unfortunately, from a conversation I had with a Director who is in the Stockholm office, the expectation is that people put in a few years in London and then after they have had adequate training etc., can move around geographically. London is so boring now, I don't like it anymore.

A1 peers in Paris are getting €90k, while I’m still at £65k (€75k). So def not because of money, yet it might pay significantly higher in London at a more senior level

For the same reason most American bankers prefer NYC rather than other cities such as Charlotte, Chicago, or Houston. 

Compensation to cost of living may be worse, but it is just the right place to be if your work in finance, and in the long term exit opportunities may be better. 

Largest deals in EMEA will happen in London, the largest network is in London, and the global exposure that London offers in unparalleled. 

Continental IB is very regional focus so bankers only work on deals affecting their region (DACH, Iberia, Benelux, Nordics...)

Quite interesting topic. I'm from the Nordics originally but currently at GS / MS in London. Some points below.

- WLB is often significantly better in the Nordics

- Cost of living is much lower in the Nordics, especially when it comes to housing

- Comp is very similar to London for the BBs (maybe not at the moment though as the BBs have offices in Stockholm and the SEK is very weak currently)

- You won't have sector teams in smaller offices such as the Nordics. You will only find sector teams at larger hubs like Frankfurt / Paris / Milan but even then you will most often not have all of the sector teams. If you want to specialize in a sector, London is the way to go

- Buyside recruiting has a very strong preference for candidates from London. If you look at the larger PE firms in the Nordics, pretty much all people are from GS / MS / JPM London. With that said, you would have a pretty difficult time recruiting for buyside opportunities if you were in a local office as you would always have competition from people with London experience who want to move back home

- When recruiting for buyside, you can go from London to continental Europe but the other way around is very difficult. As such, your exit opportunities would be much more limited if you started locally

- The local offices (at least in the Nordics) are often very small and top-heavy so analyst positions are often very limited. As such, going to London opens up more opportunities

At the end of the day, I think it all comes down to the fact that London has much broader opportunities, both within IB and once you want to exit. 

All of the above - and the fact that London (in my opinion) is one of the best cities in the world in terms of non-professional offerings (restaurants, theatre, wine, fashion, architecture, art, and other parts of a wonderful life). Nevertheless, if you only care about the professional aspect of London, it is the attraction point of global talent. Where local offices mostly attract local talent - London can be viewed as a great opportunity to build an international network. 

British culture is also more accepting of foreigners than French culture is

Pay is lower at the most junior rungs, but is significantly higher at the senior levels. To pull from the efinancialcareers report:

NYC/London/Continental Europe - FO Comp (includes IBD/ER/S&T)

• Analyst: $143k/$96k/$124k
• Associate: $272k/$149k/$155k
• VP: $344k/$218k/$216k
• Director: $481k/$414k/$288k
• MD: $801k/$869k/$456k