Honesty in IB?

The lord looks down upon the banking industry

investment banking is profitable based upon a transaction (an IPO, secondary offering, etc.), and most banking operations are like this. employees in the industry rewards activity, not necessarily productivity. so there's clearly a mismatch between client needs and bankers' incentives, it's always been that way.

now, most people who have risen to the top realize that repeat customers generate more business over time, even if it's less transactions, so it is wrong to assume that ALL bankers are unscrupulous. at the same time, just realize that there is a possibility for a conflict of interest (bankers profit while clients lose, see Facebook IPO 2012) with nearly every investment banking activity.

this is not unique to finance, almost all industries are like this. in investment management, a fund may have gotten to a critical mass where it's difficult to add value (PIMCO Total Return pre-Gross departure), yet the incentive is to take in more assets to earn more fees, even to the detriment of performance. in law, attorneys bill by the hour, so while it may be important work, some legal work may be unnecessarily complex to the benefit of the attorney, not the client. there are always conflicts of interest, we're humans and we're self interested.

let me put it this way, if you want to feel like you're doing God's work, don't do anything that qualifies as being capitalistic, but if you just want to be a good Christian, you can be successful in finance and still have scruples.

Not sure why people are being dicks in this thread. There is maybe a small amount of dishonesty, but really not much. It is not nearly as bad as people make it seem. Dog bites man doesnt make for a good news story but the overwhelming majority of good bankers I know are people of high integrity. Make sure you are comfortable with the group. Get a sense of what kind of people they are during your interviews and on sell-day. Do not under any circumstances let your job compromise your values. Once you have a spot, just refuse to do obviously unethical shit and you'll be fine.

I think what makes some of the industry seem unethical is that a lot of decisions are judgement calls that just have to be made in the moment. Nobody has a crystal ball and there is inherent risk in the business. You can be right 9 times out of 10 but every once in a while, if something goes wrong, outsiders might look at the situation and it seems like it was perniciously engineered to fuck people over from day one. The CDO mess is a good example of that. It doesnt really work like that though.

I really want to take a huge dump on the OP for being such a massive pussy. But, for some reason, I'm feeling kind today. If you work in finance, in general, you work with large sums of money and you have some incentive to work for short-term gain. However, if you can maintain the 'long-term greedy' perspective, you will realize that you will make more money by maintaining your principles because you will get a larger and/or more profitable client base.

Ultimately, it's a trust business. Trust implies someone will try to do what they say will do and is capable of doing what they say they will do. If they get the slightest whiff that you are trying to rip them off, you are fucked.

Bartleby McTwiddles:

but I'm also fairly religious

there's still young religious people?

are you in the south?

have you taken science classes?

The number of times I hear the lords name being used at work I could have sworn the whole street is religious

If there is a heaven, the scope of dishonesty in IB won't be what gets you there.

There are dishonest people EVERYWHERE... Just do your thing and live up to your own standards, people will respect that as long as your don't look down on them for sinning differently than you do.