HSBC Commercial Banking???
I have a final round interview coming up in a couple of weeks with HSBC for their Commercial Banking Development program. Long story short, I have somehow gotten to this point without even knowing what the commercial banking business actually is. I guess that says something about the interviews that I have had so far fo this position (strictly behavioral).
What are the day to day activities in this business and what are the exit options like? Any estimates salary?
A quick search has only provided vague information on the subject. Thanks!
Kill your self. Commercial banking is what you do when you walk to your local ATM. You deal with shitty customers and provide customer service to babbling idiots. At the highest level, you will be working with a branch of HSBC delegating tasks to high-school tellers. You will probably never make it to corporate/IBD/S&T whatever that it is you want. At most, you can probably move to corporate due to the fact that HR will mistaken your brand name for something with more respect... For example, I've seen someone get an interview and land a job due to the fact that they were a teller at "JPMorgan & Chase". Who knows what the salaries are.
Day to day activity: Thinking about killing yourself
Exit Ops: None
Estimate Salary: $0 (ballpark)
I also have opportunities with a couple of Fortune 100 companies for their finance development programs. Wanted to make it to banking for entry level in order to break into Corp Development in the long run. I'm guessing you'd say take the corp development programs in order to reach this goal, given my options?
Yes. I believe anything finance related in a fortune 100 company would be way more interesting and helpful to your skill set for anything related to the financial services industry. You will not learn anything relevant in commercial banking because youre essentially learning about mortgages, loans, etc. Worse comes to worst you can go back to bschool in a few years/ build a strong network of connections that can land you a job in the MO if not FO and "begin" your life as you would like.
Good luck!
I believe the above poster has mistaken retail/consumer banking for commercial banking. Commerical banking is about providing credit and treasury product solutions for middle market companies (depending on the bank, the definition of middle market is between $50 million - $2 billion in annual revenue).
So for example, you might be working with a mid-sized manufacturing company with $250MM in annual sales. The company needs a revolving line of credit to fund certain future needs. It is the commercial banker’s job to analyze the company from a financial and macro-economic perspective in order to answer the question of whether or not the client will be able to pay back the loan facility over its tenure. So you will make projections about future earnings, etc and see if the company will be able to service the bank’s debt (and any existing obligations).
As far as exit opps, I have seen plenty of commercial banking analysts transfer to IB and other more “prestigious” lines of business.
HSBC has a number of leadership programs. One is most slated for branch management, while the CMMT program is a credit analyst rotational. They also have a corporate banking program.
The myopic opinions and juvenile behavior on this board never ceases to surprise me. Some people are more into sales and relationship management. I know branch managers in NYC making 150+ a year managing people and building relationships. Not bad when you consider the hours. Your progression path is into management at a higher level and growing within a bank. Not everyone wants to be an excel jockey.
As for HSBC, right now they are weak. If this is a branch type rotational program, be prepared for an uphill battle. They sold off their upstate branches and are pulling back in the states. Tough sell and hard growth prospects.
Ant is very right in that department. Tan86 does answer the question best though. Commercial banking is very different from retail banking. At Jp i know they had about 4-5 different levels of banking depending on how big the business is and that's not including personal retail banking. Commercial banking is very prestigious and you will a tremendous amount about credit. I'm not sure what role you will be playing there but credit is going to be a key skill that you acquire from this position. Good luck!!!
FWIW, I spoke to a contact who had broken into MM IB from a commercial banking program at a similar bank. He said the skills didn't really translate all that well but it was an OK foundation for him when he was applying for an analyst role. Not sure what your end goals are though...
Thanks for the replies guys - I especially appreciate you distinguishing between commercial and retail banking (thank God). I was initially hoping to break into IB for FT but it didn't pan out. OCR opportunities were extremely weak despite my very high GPA, extensive EC leadership positions, and SA experience (trading).
I wasn't looking to stay in banking for a career but rather wanted to do the analyst stint then head to B-school in order to move into Corp Dev at a F500. I was kind of thinking that commercial banking might be a dead end for me but perhaps it is not.
Assuming I get both offers, which would you say would be superior given my end goal? Commercial banking would be in NYC and the F100 Finance Dev program would be in Mass (not Boston)
Fortune 100 companies tend to do a lot of internal hiriing/promotions. So if your end goal is do to Corp Dev at a Fortune 500, then it would make more sense IMO to take the Fortune 100 Finance Dev program gig. Assuming you do a good job, after 12 months or so (depending on the length of the program) I would speak up and make it known that you want to work in Corp Dev. Good luck.
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