HK IBD SA 2010 Thread

Blade, Do you speak Chinese?

What process are you going through for Asia IBD? Through the website or campus recruiting?

My Chinese is useless and I stated that on my application as well.

Depends on the college, we have a resume drop for most banks but they tell you to apply online in addition to that. Good luck with UBS and GS in HK, I heard the interviews are intense!

cs first round interview coming up tuesday

GS superday is pretty standard UBS HK has "assessment center" consisted of:

1) 1 Individual interview 2) Math test 3) Individual presentation 4) Chinese test 5) group project

a couple questions. 1. Does Asia Pacific SA recruiting start earlier than US? If so, is it just IBD or is it the same for S&T? 2. If I apply to HK, am I still allowed to apply for US? 3. Is it too late to apply to HK (like most of the resume screening would have been over)?

Do you go to a target? If not, you need to look up the timeline on banks' websites. My school has a resume drop for HK positions and the deadlines are different from the website deadlines.

1. Yes, APAC SA recruiting (S&T/IBD) both start and end earlier than US recruiting. Deadline is either today, or a week from now for basically all the BB firms.

2. Depending on bank, yes you can apply for both. But there's an unspoken understanding you're supposed to decide which you would prefer (cause they're gonna ask you "why Asia?"). If you end up getting an offer say from JPM NYC and JPM HK, someone is not going to be too happy.

3. No, it's not too late. The HK process, unlike the NY yone, is stretched over 1.5 months. In New York, first rounds - superdays happen in like a week.

jpm pending ms pending ubs online assessment does DB have an exact deadline? in just said Dec online...

This is for S&T

CS: Didnt apply UBS: First round Nomura: pending DB: pending JPM: pending GS: pending MS: pending RBS: online assessment

Quick status update: So far, I know that UBS and CS are already conducting 1st rounds. Has anyone heard from J.P. Morgan or Citi yet?

anyone hear back from Citi, MS, JPM, CS, Nomura, Deutsche HK IBD??

I just had my interview with CS. So I guess they are still conducting 1st rounds. and they say they will let me know in about a week or two

DId UBS IBD already send out first round invites?

I applied for a position in Global Markets with Citi and received a rejection today. Did other people receive a similar email? I'm thinking it might have something to do with the fact that I'm a sophomore. On the application, there was an option to select student status, and the only choices were “penultimate year” or “ultimate year” of study. I selected penultimate year but then to be completely upfront, I noted in “additional information” that I was only in my second year..

Didn't even bother applying to CS because I talked to a recruiter who said that they wouldn't accept sophomores for any positions this year (besides through their minority program, which is only for the US anyway).

Got an email yesterday from MS that my application was under review and that they would contact people for first rounds in January. Kinda weird that it was from a specific HR person’s email and not just some generic campus recruiting address.

I agree, this is going rather slowly..

there is no reason to go to Lazard APAC.

M&A is very weak in Asia. Most deals are equity/follow-ons. In Asia, especially on China team, industry groups > product groups. in fact, Financial sponsors sees the LEAST deal flow. I was at a BB the past summer in HK discussed here, and our Financial Sponsors team (all 4 of them), left 5pm everyday with 0 live deals.

As far as I know, Lazard does not engage in any kind of capital markets activity (i.e. underwrite securities). It is purely M&A advisory. How it is structured though, is that there is no M&A group. It has a "FIG" team for example--- but that "FIG" team purely does M&A advisory.

If M&A is weak in Asia and most deals are equity/follow-ons then why bother applying to Asia?

re: monkeyinasuit

I was at SA at one of the top BB's in HK IBD last year. Your question, i.e. 95% of deals are IPO/Follow-ons/block-trades, is exactly the reason I think there is a tradeoff by beginning to work in HK versus NY.

What you gain by being in an emerging market and a cool city, you also lose in variety of deal exposure and client sophistication. I was on a DD call last summer, and the CEO of a Chinese company we were DD'ing literally couldn't come up with some of the answers we were asking him because he was quote "I'm too hung over from last night".

^lol so I guess you're not going back

Nah dude, not necessarily. I like the people I met in Hong Kong, I like the city, I grew up in new York so it's rather monotonous by this point. Long term wise, I don't forsee myself pursuing the path of a MD. I still think there are a lot of opportunities in China provided you cultivate a strong network and learn the language/culture. I think there's only one or two firms I'd stay in NYC for, and if I don't get those, I'll head back to HK.

anyone know when HK SA recruiting usually gives out first rounds? I got one and then just kept getting emails doing random online assessments up till even this week.... if anyone could give more information on timelines that would be great....

Based on last year, CS is usually the earliest. I was contacted by UBS/JPM/MS/GS last year during december last week, and first rounds are usually first week or two of January. Superdays are late january/early february.

when was the CS superday last year... and how many rounds of interviews does CS conduct.. only first and final?

i was supposed to have two interviews, but instead i had a 2 on 1 phone interview... so weird

CS Superday was January 22nd last year, and UBS was I believe January 21st if memory serves me correct. too lazy to dig upthe emails. anywho, if you're on the top of their list, you will receive calls from them before you go to sleep that night.

CS last year 5 interns UBS 15 interns

Nomura is out, got invite today. Any news about other BBs, except for CS, Nomura, UBS?

^ Is IBD and S&T sent out on the same day?

Hey guys, good luck with your interviews. I just have a few questions regarding recruiting @HK.

1. Is mandarin required for IBD & S&T positions in HK? Looks like UBS even has a chinese test. As a native speaker of Korean I am curious if I need to get started on studying mandarin (+ I am interested in chinese culture as well). Just curious if at least being conversational would help since a lot of people seem to say unless it's fluent its useless.

2. This Sounds like a stupid question but when applying for multiple offices how would you do this? Applying online and also through resume drops?

3. How is HK office compared to that of Singapore? (Class size, deal flows, exit opps, etc)

Thanks.

if you are not fluent, you should apply to singapore. lots of deals involve chinese clients, so fluency is expected for some firms...

xxx

Venice, the answer to your question is if you know Korean you don't need to know chinese. In fact, honestly, if they like you they wont even look at the Chinese test. The few people I know who don't speak chinese fluently in the office are the korean people. There's a VP @ JPMorgan who doesn't speak a lick of any Chinese/southeast asia language that started as an analyst. He's ABC. But then again, you have your analysts & Directors who are caucasian who will speak flawless mandarin.

how did you see that information on their website??

ibhopeful532, thanks for sharing the info.

just got a citi invite... any other invites

MS ibd interview coming up competency? technical? anyone?

completely depends on your interviewer. If you get an asshat, yes you will get a ton of technicals. If you get someone chill, he'll understand that as long as you are an intelligent, articulate person, you can learn the "technical" skills of IBD in two weeks.

^^^ will there be a mandarin part in the interview?

Yea, if u speak mandarin, they'll test u...

As a status update: UBS, Nomura, Citi, JPM r out now as well...

I thought MS wasn't yet, but I guess honga just proved me wrong.

are these invites to UK, US students only or across the globe.

I am applying HK from Asia and so far only receive Citi ... guess I am rejected for others?

I think for MS HK IBD, you can check your status by going back to the application website. rejected/under review not 100% sure though.

I am pretty sure Citi, UBS and CS are out. If Blade is correct about Nomura and JPM, then I guess I'm rejected from all five.

...great

They notify rejections at the end of february when all the offers are out. If you're still crossing your fingers then, then you're quite frankly a retard.

are S&Ts out at the same time?

So.. I think we can assume we are rejected if we don't get any interviews by new years?

You can assume when others post updates about getting interviews on this thread and you didn't get one, because they send them out at the same time. Sorry to the bearer of bad news.

Just received BAML invites

can someone else confirm MS HK besides honga? Just feel dumb that I gave up MS Singapore so I can be put into HK pool but now I am not chosen for HK either ;(

.

ML sent out interview invites?

great only DB left on the list for me then ='(

Can anyone confirm if ML and JPM have sent out their invites???

ML has sent out IBD invites.

JPM has sent out S&T invites too.

Invites out so far:

CS Citi BAML JPM Nomura UBS

Haven't heard from MS... it's a bit odd cause I have three friends all with sophomore BB internships, and none of us have received invites whereas we all received the other ones. Hm.

Is GS out?

ibhopeful532 you and your friends are on fire.

JPM and BAML came out before Christmas. I can confirm everything except MS, don't know anyone who's gotten that yet. Pretty sure the main wave isn't out.

When will DB send out invites? anyone?

Do you guys have other plans if you don't get any offers? consulting/commercial bank?

why would you ever work for a local commercial bank. there should be enuff space for everyone... if each bank in hk takes 10, multiply that by 10 banks = 100 summer interns

I have a first round JPM IBD HK coming up. Anyone know whether it's purely fit or technical based? Thanks.

Just for future reference: It doesn't matter a whole lot whether someone has had a fit or technical interview. Even if you get the same interviewer, he'll ask you different questions depending on your background, how he feels at that moment, whether or not he likes you, etc...

My classmates and I have interviewed with a lot of the same firms and we couldn't really make out a pattern for any firm, ergo it's probably random. So far, I've had pure fit and 50/50 interviews, so everyone should just be ready for everything.

Also for all the people who haven't heard from MS but from all other firms, don't sweat. If your school has a resume drop, they might look at you later after they've gone through the non-target resume book. Or at least I hope...

If I havent heard from JPM by now, is it game over? BTW..I am at a UK target

Not sure about UK.

Blade thanks for the tips btw how many firms have u interviewed with so far?

Pretty much all except MS and Citi, haven't even heard from MS at all yet.

I think JPM has a different application for UK students, which is why they might take longer for you guys. I wouldn't give up hopes yet.

My friend had his Citi interview already, another friend scheduled for next week I think. Blade, have you or your friends heard from DB yet?

dont think there are additional interviews for CS. if you pass first rounds, u go directly to final rounds in ny... correct me if i am wrong

Sorry, didn't apply to DB so I have no idea. CS are still conducting 1st rounds, so final rounds shouldn't be out yet. And ibddddd is right, there are only 1st and final rounds.

just got barcap hong kong S&T

nvm

anyone who had CITI interivews for IBD SA, can you please share some information?

Is it 2 interviewers at the same time or 2 seperate calls?

it should be 2 seperate calls

Does anyone know the exact SA application deadline for Citi Asia/ US?

I went to its website today just to check its US openings, and found that they haven't closed some of its summer internship positions in HK, Singapore, etc etc... but there are obviously some people out there who got the first round interview invitation from Citi HK. So what's going on? Can someone still apply and get the invitation?

Also, if there is anyone applying for Citi US, did you guys choose "summer analyst" in the "vacancy finder," and not "summer internship"? I'm confused because for US, Citi website doesn't have ANY summer internship program, but only summer analyst one.

Funny no one mentioned this... anyone hear from GS?

Does anyone know the likelihood usually for a sophomore to get a SA position in HK IBD? I applied this year as a sophomore and got rejected from/haven't heard back from almost every bank I applied to (missed deadlines for CS/UBS and still waiting for DB and GS). Is this normal for sophomores, or have you heard of at least some successful HK IBD sophomore summer analysts?

Also, ibhopeful, what positions did you and your friends take at BB in your sophomore years?

Btw for MS I just checked my application status, which was changed to "Your application was rejected." I guess if your status doesn't say that, you might be in good shape if you're still holding out for a response..

Also, if it makes any difference, I'm from a high target with a GPA over 3.5, but I didn't do any resume drops because I don't qualify for student standing as a junior on our OCR website (so it's impossible for me to submit my resume on there).

Anyone hearing from DB, as well?

Anyone actually had a BAML 1st round phone interview?

I received email that I was selected for the 1st round phone interview for BAML global markets - Asia. I got the email on 23rd Dec, and the interviewers haven't contacted me yet. (they were supposed to according the email)

Did anyone actually did a phone inteview for BAML global markets? or are you guys still just waiting?