What is Wall Street?

Got into an argument with a buddy that said he works on “Wall Street”. He works in IB, in a Tier 3 City. I don’t consider that a Wall Street job. I believe working on Wall Street encompasses having a job connected to the financial markets and living in the NYC area. What do you believe is the criteria for having the right to say “I work on Wall Street”?

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I think for ib if you work in front office at a bank that has extensive geographic reach and their comp is line with peers, then calling it wall st. Is not a stretch. For example, Jefferies TES group in charlotte is still considered wall st. The reasons are 1)Jefferies has extensive geographic reach, it serves clients in many geographic areas, 2)it is a front office job 3) the pay is in line with its "wall st" peers. Tbh most financial service firms are not HQed on Wall St. anymore. It’s more of a symbol.

 
excellente

Tbh most financial service firms are not HQed on Wall St. anymore. It's more of a symbol.

I think you'd have to change that statement to reflect small financial service firms. But all the large companies are still very much entrenched in the Financial District. 

 

I think the regional offices of IB/front office are still "Wall Street", especially at a big bank. Someone sitting in SF or Houston is doing the exact same M&A work as someone in NYC

Now if it's a LMM bank with 10 employees maybe not. But I think this is a weird thing to obsess over, honestly. Who cares about gatekeeping that term anyway

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