“Fluent in Italian” on CV Opened Doors… Straight to Hell
Looking back, the biggest mistake I made as a grad in London 10 years ago was putting “fluent in Italian” on my CV. It landed me in the wrong places, fast. I’ve worked across a few groups in London at both BBs and an EB and one pattern I’ve seen and heard repeatedly is that fully Italian leadership teams (especially M&A, healthcare and FIG) have some of the most abusive psychos in the industry.
Just to clarify, I love Italy, I’m proud of my Italian heritage and I’ve worked with great Italian colleagues who were collaborative and professional, but once you join a team where all VPs, directors and MDs are Italian, the dynamic shifts into a closed paranoid ecosystem built on intimidation and fear. Verbal abuse screamed in Italian on the floor, so other teams don’t understand, juniors working from hospital beds, expected to be logged on until 3-4am even if there’s a call at 7am as standard, 110+ working weeks even when there’s no live deal, time off denied even for planned surgery or brother’s wedding, retaliation culture, VPs treated like interns are just some examples. I know other national teams have reputations too (e.g., French teams being hierarchical), but the Italian teams in London stand out in abuse and feel like a closed mafia-style structure, where competence matters less than loyalty and fear.
Curious to hear from others who’ve seen this firsthand. What banks or teams should people steer clear of? I’m currently on garden leave and will share my own once my garden is over
Where does this phenomenon come from? I'm still in Milan and I've heard of this happening here at some boutiques/EBs. Would you suggest leaning into being italian for London recruiting anyway or steering clear of UK IB? I was told italians are typically grouped kinda together anyway..
If you only speak English, you’re competing with the entire applicant pool. If you speak English and Italian, you’re also in for Italian coverage teams in IB where monolinguals aren’t even considered. Smaller candidate pool means better odds, but at the same time keep in mind that later it’s difficult to get out of working with Italians. Your network gets bigger, but it’s basically only Italians and you specialise in Italian region. Italians often group together in IB in London because Italians refer other Italians and it’s just how the network works.
As for Milan yes, it’s notoriously toxic. You’ll work the same brutal hours as Italian teams in London (non-Italian teams in IB usually work much less than Italians), but for maybe 20% of the pay while the cost of living is basically the same and Italians in IB in Milan are frustrated for that reason and I guess frustrated people are more likely to express anger etc at work
So the Italians are like any other ethnic group? Just grouping together and referring their people
I see you’re an intern. If you have only undergraduate degree and consider doing master’s, I’d suggest to apply for master’s in finance in London or Paris rather than in Italy to expand your network to non-Italians
I'm a 1st year masters student at Bocconi and will be starting in a couple weeks my first real IB experience at THE italian investment bank, I'm sure you know the place as it was in the news recently. Mi piacerebbe sapere di più della tua esperienza (in anonimato ovviamente) in 10 minuti e apprezzerei il tempo dedicatomi. Grazie mille!
ahh la dolce vita
What ar the cultural sterotypes for other nations?
You better don't miss that comma in the footnote in Frankfurt.
germans - bureaucratic / by the book
french - elitist / firm's "aristocracy" (in a bad sense)
italian - everything is personal
spaniards - laid back (can be good or bad)
nordics - very balanced
brits - most political
out of curiosity - what about the non-european ones, e.g. American/Indian/Chinese/Nigerian?
This seems more a “general country stereotype” than a “Finance stereotype”
French are more political than the brits for instance. Agree with elitism
Nordics tend to be pretty laid back
Spaniards super long hours / direct
Brits elitist (even when it comes to interests)
Italians very political as well (especially in a multi-nationality team, they will usually create their own lobby)
German seniors: super direct. German juniors: party animals
nordics - popping snus mid meeting
Brits - well-spoken & great with clients, weaker in modelling, less hard working because they know they have other options with that Cambridge degree, really good at office politics
Germans - very precise, brutally direct, juniors leave the office at 8pm and don’t work on weekends, seniors leave the office at 6pm, not very political (they just focus on doing a good job instead of office politics)
Chinese - quiet, incredibly hard-working, don’t really socialise with other teams, respond to emails at 5am
French - arrogant, more political and elitist than Brits
Nordics - no ego, rational. Juniors leave the office at 6-7pm, seniors at 5pm. They seem to have very healthy environment at work, treat each other with respect etc. They usually quit IB after 2-3 years and leave UK
which is more tribal, HEC London bankers or Bocconi London bankers - literally only hang out with each other and have their closeted social groups
It is true that our language and cultural skills will open different doors.
In my entire career in finance so far I have never met someone from Italy.
london is full of italians
on how bad is their economy, can't judge
There are just as many Italians as there are French in London IB. Maybe you don’t see them because they don’t have time to leave their desk for lunch or any social interactions due to toxic and inefficient VPs/directors/MDs…
I’d say 75% of Italians are complete nuts and 95% of senior Italians
I think I know the banker to whom you refer and he’s a real liability
I have the same experience. Mind sharing the bank and group (anonymously)? People deserve to know which teams to avoid
The group i am joining has lots of italians. As a non italian am I cooked?
What bank is it and what group? I might know the team. If you end up with psychos, focus on networking with people from non-Italian teams to get out before you burn out. I’d suggest to learn basics of Italian to understand what they’re saying as Italians speak Italian with each other even if there are other nationalities in the team
Vincenzo? To avoid?
Ya I don't fuck with Italians either
My boss is Italian.
"Hai sbagliato" still chills my blood solid. Literally one of the worst things you can tell me. Nightmares.
I have other stories which are less WSO forum appropriate, but it can be very severe.
I think you should anonymously share the names of the banks and groups to warn others not to join these teams
Boutique life. Psych! Doesn't work.
I can relate. I’m in my third week of garden and I still get anxious every time I hear an email notification on my phone. My MD’s favourite phrase “Ne parliamo a voce” has triggered more anxiety attacks than I can count
Please post these stories, they're literally the only thing WSO is good for. Hopefully it's a cathartic experience for u as well
In FIG and this is so true. Italians sit on their own row, only talk between themselves (in Italian ofc) and usually work the longest hours. They say it's like a tight family (or mafia lol).
Had one italian intern change groups early because he would only work on Italian stuff - when assigned to something else the Italians would tell the staffer he was busy and couldn't do it - even if he was free, they just didn't like the intern working on other stuff. Pretty toxic imo
From my experience in healthcare, it doesn’t just happen to interns. Analysts and associates get the same treatment. Italian VPs/Directors/MDs often keep them off cross-team deals because they’re afraid they’ll build relationships elsewhere and jump ship (as they should because how long can you possibly work with psychos)
Hahaha insane, as an outsider one feels excluded at first but later you start to realize it's actually a good thing I guess
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