HELP! Citi IBD vs Barclays IBD vs RBC Capital Markets IBD - all NY offices

Hey everyone! What do you guys think is the best way to go here? Mainly focused on exits opps and MBA - don't really care too much about hours. Also, what would you guys say are the best groups within these banks and how they compare to one another in terms of exit opps/MBA. Thanks for you help!

 
Best Response

Well, Citi and Barclays are the only real options.

Citi is on fire this year in terms of deal flow and winning huge mandates - people I've spoken to are split about whether they can continue to perform like this for the medium-long term. Their culture is pretty fratty which can be good or bad depending on what you're like. They are super, super disorganized though and everything from personnel to balance sheet to pitch book materials - everything is sort of a mess. But they're killing it right now.

Barclays is struggling right now, although they're mostly on the other side of their restructuring, so might be some better times ahead. I know some guys there and they say Jes Staley is a great CEO though and wants to invest in the IB platform. Heard he makes weekend appearances around the IB floors, just talking to analysts and trying to help out wherever necessary to close deals. European banks just have a lot larger regulatory burden, so it can be a pain to deal with that, and it will impact their competitiveness going forward. Betting on Euro IB platforms is a losing bet. Barclays NY culture is still very Lehman heavy so I guess you could also describe it as pretty fratty, very vocal and bro-ey vibes around the office.

In terms of strongest groups - Citi's industrials and energy groups are really killing it, and their TMT group is actually doing better lately. I think Barclays P&U is still a killer group, Healthcare is also pretty decent, and I think TMT is relatively resurgent for them as well. Haven't really kept up on their total deal flow - just saw some of these groups on deals I've followed or seen. All anecdotal here really.

Exit opps are going to be largely the same here. Both mid-tier BBs. Depends on your group, how well you do, who you work for, etc. If I were you, I'd take Barclays but I know that's an uncommon opinion, especially considering how Citi is doing. I just really haven't liked the guys I've met from Citi and I hate disorganized places without a coherent culture and vision.

 

I agree with what TrackBack has mentioned. To add on, I haven't been keeping up with neither Citi nor Barclays as of late, but Citi's top group has always been M&A with Industrials in second. Barclays is known most for P&U. If I were you and didn't care about hours, I would try and leverage these offers and see if you can secure a group specific offer in Citi's M&A or Barclays' P&U.

If you don't have enough leverage to do that, I would go with Citi. However, analysts in most groups at Citi get worked like horses and the culture is more fratty. I'm a senior right now and my classmates who spent their summer at Citi had the worst hours among all BBs and EBs. A lot of them got returns but tried to full-time recruit elsewhere because they saw how hard the current analysts are working.

 

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