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”?

11 Comments
 

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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