GS vs CS in asia vs US

They're both very good firms and will look good on a resume. CS in SE Asia is in fact good and I know they're office in Singapore is really active. It sounds like you're naturally more inclined for the CS SG gig so take that. Can't really understand what the dilemma is.

I interviewed for JPM HK as well. Did you interview in NY or Chicago and have you already received your offer?

What is the pay for a HK IBD analyst gig?

As someone somewhat familiar with this, the choice should be pretty easy - CS Singapore. It's the most prestigious and you don't speak Chinese. It should be an obvious decision.

IBD gig in HK shouldn't be too far off compared to London/NYC. You might get less in terms of salary but with much more favourable tax rates in HK you'll probably end up earning the same if not slightly more.

Singapore on the other hand is a little lower from what I hear at the analyst level.

When did you get your offer from GS?

You're a korean speaker? did you interview at MS? You need to work in a product group (I don't mean capital markets). You can do sponsors or M&A. I would take GS HK over CS Singapore for too many reasons to list.

1st years in Singapore don't make below street FYI - that is a misconception. The most common reason why they make less is usually lack of visibility in Singapore so when roundtables come about - they get no support. If you position yourself well, you'll get paid.

Stop worrying about what you make as a first year. The delta between buckets is meaningless anyway. Worry about where you'll get the best exposure / deal flow. Would you pay 10k to have a better opportunity? I sure as hell would

Generally, mobility at the junior level is still rather high. I have friends from GS HK who received amazing exit opportunities after their analyst stints; despite not having 100% focus on that certain region.

With respect to covering South East Asia, there is a slight undermining of how wide the diversification is in this region. Many of my peers who are/were involved in this area usually had an region where they executed most of their deals e.g. China, Indonesia, Vietnam/Thailand/Cambodia. Each country is usually extremely unique in her native language, culture and economic ecosystem - which makes it almost impossible to be a superstar across the countries.

Also, investment banking in Singapore generally does pay very well (usually above your usual US$70k plus great tax brackets) so my advice would be ignore the pay and focus on the intangibles.

anyone else accept CS sing ibd? just did today

I have a friend who got a top BB NY offer after his GS HK gig. As far as Mandarin is concerned, you will be fine as long as you are not staffed on the China team. As previous thread mentioned, ignore pays and focus on the exit opps. In case you do get an offer from MS HK, steer clear cuz the rate of return offers is ~20%.

You don't have to speak Mandarin to get staffed on great deals in HK. Even if you don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese, the staffing and types of deals you get are generally based on factors like your rapport with the staffer, how seriously your opinions and taken and just general randomness. I'd suggest you take the GS offer. Sure, the deal flow may be better at CS in Singapore (gathering from what's been mentioned as I have no idea) but it's a pretty small difference in pay at the analyst level as mentioned above, and has little bearing on the actual work environment. If you find the culture in each firm and experience in living both cities to be incomparable (or you simply don't care) the next thing you should look at is exit opps. The GS gig gives you way better exit opps all over the world (not to mention going for an MBA, even if you've only considered that for a moment) in various industries. GS aren't exactly dry in terms of deal flow and even if they are in 2/3 years it's way easier to jump ship to CS or another bank or even industries/sectors (PE, consulting, Asset Management etc).

The fact that you'r seriously contemplating this means you'r not a status whore and want to think through this rationally- the above is my assessment and rational advice on what you should do). Hope this helps, cheers.

Lots of people don't know what they are talking about. GS may have the name, but CS Singapore hands down. They have some of the top groups in Asia - extremely strong deal flow. I disagree with the above poster because strong deal flow translates a lot of responsibilities - the experience and exposure are definitely worth it, and PE firms know how strong CS Singapore is, and you can go anywhere after your CS gig. Plus, I am pretty sure you aren't worse off when it comes to MBA admission. GS HK is still decent, but CS has stronger dealflow and seems to fit you better.