Post-Graduation: Living in Montréal

Non-Canada (Oregon born & raised) native looking to live in Montreal after graduation this fall. I’m a finance major at U.S. school and looking to work in corporate finance (maybe global F1000 company?), investment banking, real estate, or any opportunity in finance that there is. Being that I’m not native to Montreal, does anyone know any good investment banking shops or any resources for American FLDP-esque programs housed in Canada. Extra perk for anyone who can shed light on fun things to do there as well

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Currently based in Montreal. If you don't speak French you are pretty much out of luck. If you do:

  • Big 5 Canadian banks (TD, RBC, BMO, CIBC, Scotia) as well as National Bank and Laurentin
  • Boutiques (Canaccord, GMP, Desjardins, Lazard)
  • Citi - my friend and his MD are the only people in this office
  • Big 4 corpfin
  • Crown corprations (CDPQ, PSP, BDC) but those recruit only from target schools and there are usually 1-2 out of 80 accepted per year.

Keep in mind that cost of education here is incredibly low and getting a masters is very common here and you'll be competing with them as well.

As for the fun things, there's tons to do during the winter, fingers crossed that they return.

 

Not OP but thanks for the insight. I remember networking with a handful of McGill grads at BB/EBs and it was a pattern that they interned at CDPQ. Is this a pipeline Canadian students follow for junior year internships?

 

Usually they are aiming for a return offer at CDPQ since comp is comparable to Big 5 and provide much better lifestyles. Since it's a pension fund, the churn is really low so its less of a pipeline and more of a trampoline that bounces them into IB. They're usually the kids who would already be getting BB/EB interviews anyways though from what I've seen.

 

Crown corporations are corporations owned by the government. It would be very tough to enter these if you are not Canadian when you didn't attend a Canadian university. CDPQ and PSP are pension funds, while BDC is the development banking arm of the central bank and they do a lot of debt and venture financing.

 

Are they really that hard to get into?

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