S&T: MS vs. DB

I currently have a number of offers, and am attempting to decide between two offers: Deutsche Bank Markets (an S&T position) and Morgan Stanley Fixed Income.

Both are summer positions, for 10 week periods. DB is two rotations, MS is a single desk, though I've talked with several people and they can be flexible on this point.

My goal is to learn about the markets and line up a full time offer.

My general impression is that although Morgan Stanley is the better "name" at least outside the industry, but that their fixed income division has been in a lot of turmoil lately, people leaving, losing money, etc. However, at the same time, entering the firm during such a restructuring period could mean a lot of opportunities in the future. Plus, their commodities group is still extremely strong and is an area of interest for me. Plus, my impression is that the MS name will have better exit opportunities.

DB on the other hand appears to me to be very strong, particularly in FX (though I am not very interested in that), and appears to have a lot of momentum. Without getting specific, DB has a LARGE number of alumni from my school, which could be useful for networking. DB VP's and MD's were all relatively young I noticed, which speaks to the possibility of rapid advancement. Furthermore, the DB people really seem to want me to join.

With all of that said, I am at an impasse, and considering that my response deadline is tomorrow, I was hoping that someone on the forum would be willing to speak about the differences between the two firms in Fixed Income and which is better for starting a career in trading.

7 Comments
 

DB. MS is extremely weak in Fixed Income and I think your thought process is correct. Go with DB, especially since it has a strong representation at your school.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

For the record MS FI is very very weak right now I would only go to MS S&T if it was IE.

I'm with Gekko as well--your schools network at your new job is a vastly underrated aspect that people don't take into consideration often enough.

 

This is as straightforward as it comes - I don't see where the optimism pertaining to MS is coming from.

Taking your American bias and their commodities business aside, MS very clearly doesn't come anywhere close to touching any other BB's in the fixed income space - they're lightyears away...

 

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