thanks, that was really helpful. however, i was wondering more in terms of why bankers think what they are doing is better/more significant than what people in equity research or pwm are doing. in other words, whats bad about equity research and pwm (besides lower pay and prestige)? i hope this question makes some sense...

 
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In a word (and not that all bankers look down on equity research--quite the opposite actually, as it's a symbiotic relationship), one division is a revenue center (IB), whereas one is a cost center (Research).

It used not to be that way entirely, but there were a lot of bad things going on behind the scenes that required cleaning house. So now we can't even talk to the research analysts without the conversation being vetted.

Banking and research should help each other out in my opinion, but only in an ethical manner--that is, it's great for the research team to roll out coverage on a potential banking client if coverage will help us win business. On the other hand, it's not okay to try to influence the Research Analyst's rating on a company if a "Sell" rating means losing business. And CEOs that operate under that framework are scumbags, anyway (and I've seen it happen!). Probably better not to do business with them as it is.

Aside: PWM is a revenue center, and in my opinion seems like a nice way to make a living if you have good clients. So the "lower pay" tag needn't apply 100% of the time here.

But overall, at the analyst/associate level at least, your best learning experience will hands-down come from banking. That should be what you're shooting for if you're serious about knowing this stuff.

 

Yeah, I think eventually they'll find a way to change the business model yet again and make money.

I'm not up to speed on the prop trading / research stuff entirely, but we've all heard the stories how Stevie Cohen (or some other hedge fund MotU) gets the first call from all the desks and yada, yada, yada.

Very thin line they're walking, in my opinion.

But then again, people tried the independent research thing, and those reports suck horribly.

Who knows.

 

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