IB scene in Singapore?

hi all, got lucky and managed to get somehow land an internship through memorizing technicals and am incoming SA at one of the banks (not jpm/gs). i was wondering if anyone had insight into the ibd scene in singapore in terms of deal flow / culture / sweatiest? not really sure how it is as i do not have many friends in the industry. 

thank you for your insight!  

4 Comments
 

Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's what you need to know about the Investment Banking (IBD) scene in Singapore:

  1. Deal Flow:

    • JPMorgan (JPM) and Morgan Stanley (MS) are considered the top two banks in terms of deal flow in Singapore, with Credit Suisse (CS) closely following as third.
    • Other banks with notable presence include Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), UBS, and Evercore.
    • Goldman Sachs (GS) is not in the top five in Singapore due to the 1MDB incident, which impacted its reputation in the region.
  2. Culture:

    • The culture in Singapore's IBD is generally intense, with long hours being the norm. However, the specifics can vary by bank and team.
    • Offices in Singapore often have corporate finance teams covering M&A and GCM together, with sector teams typically based in Hong Kong. Specialization in a specific field usually happens at the VP level or above, though you can request specific project types earlier.
  3. Sweatiest Banks:

    • Lifestyle and hours can be demanding across the board, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the culture in some BBs and EBs in Singapore can be particularly intense, with consistent late nights and a strong emphasis on facetime.
  4. Preference for Local Talent:

    • There is an excess of candidates at the junior level in Singapore, and banks often prefer Singaporeans who studied in the US or UK and are looking to return to Singapore for work.

For more detailed insights, you can explore the full discussion on WSO here: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/qa-investment-…</a">Q&A: Investment Banking in Singapore.

Sources: Q&amp;A: Investment Banking in Singapore, Non US/Europe IB/PE Overview, Q&amp;A: Investment Banking in Singapore, Investment banking culture in BBs/EBs in Singapore, Q&A: Megafund Asia Private Equity

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 
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Top 3 used to be CS, JPM, MS. After CS went kapoot, their MDs split 3 ways to DB, Jefferies and UBS. So top 3 are now JPM (50 pax?), MS (40 pax?) and UBS (60 pax?). In terms of M&A, DB (30 pax?) and Jefferies (40 pax?) are doing very well too. 

GS only has 1-2 MDs post-1MDB and most of their deals are inbound from other countries - team is about 20 pax? But they do quite high profile deals. BofA runs lean too - they do few deals but pretty large ones (e.g. Fullerton Healthcare) and have around 30 pax. Citi is strong at real estate but very sweaty - recent deals include Panin sellside and an Indo telco deal. Barclays doesn't do much but currently working on Shell sellside. 

Fastest growing are definitely DB and Jefferies. Both had only 10 pax before the CS MDs joined but are now 3-4x the size in 1.5 years. 

Sweatiest shops probably MS, Citi, BofA and UBS? Things change up quite often, so hard to say. A boutique which punches above its weight is Rippledot - they worked on Island Hospital and are now on Goodpack, Healthway, etc.. 

 

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