BofA/ML new IBD class

I don't think my friends who had Merrill offers have heard anything definitive yet.

They said they were supposed to hear something regarding their offers at the end of the month.

here's what i heard from my buddy in IBD today.... by march 23rd junior bankers should be informed of who is staying/going... i would by then the incoming people should know who is/isn't keeping their offers

if your offer is from MER... you're toast (IMO)

i know you people from MER claim that the IB is being run by MER.... but if you're a 2nd year MBA or a senior in college, you aren't part of what built the brand of MER so you aren't safe. you're just an extra.

My friend accepted a full time offer for IBD (4 WFC) in the fall. He was supposed to start in january, then got pushed to june, and now he got pushed further to beg of september. If you accepted a MER/BofA offer id be worried. The kids been networking and looking at possible interviews just in case.

Sorry for all you Merrill fans but the prestige went out the window when you were bought by BofA and when the public found out your limo drivers were making more than vp's and associates........in all seriousness if there are SA's out there that think they are better then other SA's simply because of the firm they are with can suck a fat one you're probably as annoying as DAVID ARCHULETA.

From speaking with a couple of MER guys involved in recruiting, I'd say the MER FT are better off than BofA FT hires. That being said, it doesn't sound like any additional cuts will be made to the incoming class and all FT offers for incoming IBD'ers will be honored.

I'm an incoming MER analyst and have been in contact with my group. 4 of the 10 that were initially supposed to start in my group have defected elsewhere, but this was due to choice; they are entering industries other than banking, with the majority defecting to MBB. MER has been, to some degree, encouraging incomers to look around, but I believe that this is to whittle down the class size, as they are now anticipating a class of around 50-60, versus the 80+ to which they initially extended offers.

Regardless, my group head has mentioned that my offer should be safe, and has encouraged me that it is a good time to start (trying to sell me against bschool). To those who said that MER will be running the IB, but BofA will prefer their own incoming class at the junior levels - on what planet does this logic make any sense? If senior MER guys are running the show, why would they prefer an incoming class of kids with whom they have never worked, versus a class with whom they have worked for 10 weeks and with whom they liked working with enough to invite back full time?

The only thing that would worry me is that Brian Brille is now running the show, since the departure of Fleming and the ousting of Thain. Previously, it would be Fleming who would have the ultimate say, but I am not familiar with what Brille will do.

Obviously no one is guaranteed to be safe, but BofA is a huge organization, and, in the past, have either deferred (with pay) or relocated incomers, as opposed to simply cutting them. This might be a worst-case scenario, but, from what my group has been saying, I wouldn't be too worried.

I wouldn't take anything IBNutz says at face value, since he's just here to alleviate his insecurities and satiate his need to sh*t on others due to a lifetime of short comings... but that's just my interpretation.

Hall of fucking fame post.

It's also because the incoming class in TINY in comparison with years past - the combined BofA/MER class is about half of the incoming class that came into MER alone in each of the past two years. I would be surprised to see any IBD incomers rejected.

The incoming analyst is extremely reduced in size.

No offers will be reneged on the BOA side - this is something saved for bankruptcy.

Think about it - a company that reneges offers from a school will pretty much be banned from recruiting there.

On the ML side things might be a bit sketchier.

The argument that summer interns at ML are "better" than ones at BOA are hilarious - if anything, they'll look through resumes one last time and maybe kick out kids with pending crimes.

say what you want, call me in july when you aren't working

bottom line, MER wouldn't be encouraging people to look else where if, well, when there is smoke there is probably fire...

has BofA encouraged their incoming people to look elsewhere? no

also, as young and inexperienced as you are, you are probably too naive to realize that people BS you man, people in your group from last summer, people at the bank, HR, these people all tell you what they want you to hear... you will learn a lot IF you get to work at a bank and the first thing you will learn is that people have talking points, like politicians, and they say what they need to or are supposed to. you will say i'm full of shit and thats fine, but a few years from now you'll realize this. dumb ass

and i'm talking about associates and above here... analysts don't typically know shit so don't take anything they say seriously regarding how safe your offer is

i asked if any paperwork has to be done prior to starting. response:

"We usually begin communicate exact start dates and begin our onboarding process mid-March. Until then, there is nothing you need to worry about."

assumed that unless bofa's share price dips below 2.50 (completely arbitrary), we should...be ok?

note: have not gotten signing bonus yet.

when were you supposed to get the signing bonus? the ft contract should state an approx date.

I heard it was going to be a battle royal...winners get to start full-time

I was contacted by BofA HR that the signing bonus would be sent, but haven't received the check yet. Last contact was 3 weeks ago.

Listen, to everyone on this board who's just speculating - you're all idiots. Greg Fleming or John Thain or not, the legacy ML bankers are running the show. It's reflected in the layoffs and will soon be reflected in dealing with SA classes. Wait and see gents.

The world has changed. And we must change with it.

http://dealbreaker.com/2009/02/layoffs-watch-09-mer-1.php

Actually, I doubt any ML/BOA offers are unsafe at all. They seriously cut back on hiring.

I would expect at least 50% of first years that start this summer to get laid off within the year though

More random bullshit being pulled from his ass... so you expect BofA to function with an analyst class of ~30-40 kids. Given 16 groups (including Capital Markets), this means that there will be about 2-3 analysts per group? Riiiiight.....

I'm an incoming MER HK analyst in S&T and have received positive feedback regarding their having a business need for me. i've received my incentive bonus already. considering BofA's presence is minimal in Asia Pac-Rim, are HK analysts relatively safe(r) from overlap/cost cutting initiatives ?

Jmoney, if your in sales & trading i doubt there is any sort of "Business need" for you especially in this current climate and being that your going into merrill lynch. Sales and trading has been scaled back significantly.

So what does the impending nationalization mean?