FoF to IB
Hi,
Currently working in a well known and respected US FoF in London, Analyst 1, and considering moving to a BB IB in 2024, mainly because of the low pay (less than 70k£ total comp) and the limited skills I am developing currently at my position. Do you think the move from FoF to IB would be possible for me next year ? I am considering to apply for analyst 1 positions. Do you think my 1 year full time experience could be valued for a potential recruitment in BB IB ? Or the opposite?
Should I stay in FoF ? Would it be better than IB on the long run ?
Thanks!
The hard but honest answer (and I'd love to be corrected) is that it will be tough. In this market, lateralling to another bank for an IB Analyst will be tough (and next year I don't think will be hugely different). I'm a VP in a coverage role at one of the larger banks, and I've never seen a CV from a FoF candidate (unless complemented by other experiences).
I don't know if anyone in the PE world would have a view on whether a move that way could make sense (i.e. investment roles).
You might have luck with smaller boutique banks where you can reach out to people directly perhaps, and another option could be the Big 4 route (i.e. audit / TS) or doing a postgraduate degree like an MSc or MBA.
Apologies not to give a more positive answer here - I'd love to see some precedents of where this has happened.
Hi,
Thank you so so much for your comment! I forgot to mention that I have a double master’s degree (one Master’s in management and an MSc) both in finance from a top target business school in Europe, complemented with 4 internships in M&A and PE all in very large banks/funds, internships before my FT in the FoF. I speak 5 languages and worked in 4 countries (internships).
Does any of this improve my chances to lateral to IB ?
Thanks a lot again!
The lateral market is basically closed and that is not changing anytime soon. Banks are firing, not hiring. Your resume looks impressive but that doesn't change the state of the market. Even when it reopens they will prioritize those with IB experience (non-internship) and the masters don't mean much once you get into the FT market and are competing against people with significant M&A reps who will be plug and play.
I would look at other PE jobs. Things like credit, secondaries etc will still be hiring and could fix your issues with your current role
Thanks a lot for your comment!
I went the opposite way (from IB to FoF), so cannot say if your proposed direction would be possible (when I was in banking I did not see it but that doesn’t have to mean anything).
However, you might wanna check out lateraling to another FoF if comp is the sticking point. From my limited perspective it seems that your comp is indeed low compared to what I’ve seen. Especially in this job market I can see lateraling as being much less of an uphill battle than trying to get into banking with a lot of fired bankers gunning for the same seats. But I can of course understand if this is just not your type of work and you need a change.
Feel free to DM if helpful.
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