NY > SINGAPORE? Every time?

no doubt

I think it's a lifestyle/future goals decision. It's not like NY is the only place where you can make big money. The SE Asian economy is poised for high growth in the near future and you should see some nice dealflow in a number of areas. If you know you want to work in Asia at some point, why not start now? That said, I think I would think hard about taking an NY SA position and then leveraging that experience to go to Singapore FT--gives you more leverage on placement and a better reputation. Personally, during my visit there, I found Singapore to be quite enjoyable.

Computerblue, that's exactly my problem. From a social-standpoint, I would much rather be in Singapore. The place is beautiful, and it's an environment that I'd enjoy a lot more than NYC. From a professional standpoint, I feel as though I would be doing myself a disservice by going to Singapore. I would love to exit into PE 2-3 years down the line, and the PE scene in Asia is still very tame. I doubt that I'd be able to leverage a Singapore analyst stint into US PE, and opportunities in Asia PE are just too limited.

Trust me, you wont be doing yourself a disservice. Asia is the NEW new york.

I'm going to get flamed for this but working in New York is overrated. The novelty of it wears off VERY fast. Work some place where you want to work. Having that international experience will probably make you stand out from the NYC sheep, making you an even more attractive candidate to some PE firms in the future.

Depends what area of investment banking. If it's ECM or DCM, singapore is better than NY in my opinion. If it's M&A or leveraged finance, i think NY would be better than Singapore. Ofcourse, if you plan on going to B school after two years, then it doesn't matter.

I want to work in M&A, and my offer in Singapore is for M&A group. I feel that Asia banking is too IPO-centric and not really driven by M&A activity, but my interviewer assured me there would be "more than enough deals for me to work on". I want to work in M&A and learn the technical aspects crucial to PE. I do plan on going to bschool, but I want to do a pre-MBA bschool stint beforehand.

b, i'm in the same situation. have an offer from GS singapore for SA, but i'm worried that working there might affect my exit opportunities.

What about S&T - where is it better to go, NY or Asia?

definitely NY, if you want to work on more complicated products.

Just to give you an example:

China has equities, government bonds, some MBS, and warrants (as equity derivatives)

Low volume for OTC interest rate derivatives (started two years ago), no exchange traded interest rate derivatives, no credit derivative product at all, very little corporate bond presence.

the best is to learn the products in NYC for a couple of years and then go to China and run the show.