How to move from PB to AM?

Hi everyone,
I work in London in a US BB bank in private banking as an Investment Advisor. I've joined on a grad scheme in 2011 from a target school. Unfortunately I have entered PB relatively randomly and I definitely crave for an institutional role. I understand that 3/4 years down the road my options are relatively limited and that Asset Management is probably the best shot. Unfortunately my bank doesn't have an AM arm hence I'm looking on how to join a competitor's arm (clearly GS or JP would be my favourites but I'm certainly not that picky:).
I have tried to find AM headhunters but didn't have much luck (all my friends are either in S&T or M&A hence their contacts weren't of much help).
What would you recommend me on how to approach this job search? Also, which role would be most realistic for me in AM based on my experience? (I'm advising UHNW clients on full range of asset classes and products currently)
Many many thanks!

 
Best Response

I have seen a number of colleagues make the move and explored myself for a while. One or two levels of the CFA help a TON (don't bother touting Level I candidate though, pass at least one test). Don't be afraid to seek out a product team position as a good middle ground, junior analyst roles are hard to come by. I interviewed for a few of these roles and they seemed to segway pretty well with my pwm experience, the hiring managers liked that I had a good understanding of capital markets and understood the client facing side (since the product teams are typically supporting their client facing senior professionals).

I also found that headhunters are usually clueless about this role but there may be one or two that specialize in your market. Get that LinkedIn updated. I found Indeed.com to be pretty helpful; the other resume sites were a waste of time. Once you see a position you need to backdoor and try to network before applying.

 
How doable is it to exit into institutional Asset Management (BlackRock, PIMCO, Wellington, etc) from the PB arm of a BB?

Depends upon what you want to do. Private banking is primarily a relationship business. If you want to move into some type of relationship management role at an asset manager it could be a fairly straightforward move. If you want to move into research then you need a clear plan re: how to transition, which may involve a MBA.

Concerned about pigeonholing myself in PB when that's not what I want to do long-term.

Almost nobody is pigeonholed in the first few years of their career. Now if you're 5+ years into private banking then it starts to become a concern.

 

Give us some more information about your school, when you graduated, where you are.

There are three things you have to do: 1) NETWORK from now till eternity (will help with the last part of 3, because it will be hard to make the job from private banking to AM even if you have a CFA. Even with a MBA it will be hard (assuming it's not a top one)) 2) Get your CFA L2 (depending on how long you have been working) 3) Get into a top MBA program (rebrand yourself, get an AM associate internship->get a full time offer)

 

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