Does anybody have any information regarding investment banking in Korea, especially at the local firms (Daewoo, KB, etc)? Pay, culture, hours, type of work? Is it easy to move to the buyside in HK/SG after a few years?
Also, is native fluency in Korean required? My Korean is conversational only. It seems that most of the IB jobs are taken by overseas graduates (i.e. US graduates). Any information would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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IB in Korea = Commercial Banking in US/HK/Europe
Those companies you've mentioned are just local commercial-banking-based financial firms who diversified into nearly everything. It's a 9 to 5 job. Cuz there is no M&A or anything going on Not what any serious investment banker wannabe would look for.
Its even shittier in the real investment banks in Korea.
I've had a friend in MS Seoul office who worked as an analyst and earned ridiculous salary (50K+No bonus)
Those who do earn a whole lot over there are ex-pats dispatched from NY or HK offices.
M&A is nearly non-existent and those genuine investment banks in Korea rely heavily on S&T. I don't think you'd really have an exit op working in Korea except other jobs in Korea.
If you're serious about banking, at least go for Dubai. Not some ridiculous countries like Korea, Vietnam, Singapore
What do you know about Vietnam that lead you to that comment?
did you just call singapore ridiculous? LOL
singapore/hk is the place to BE right now, and in the future. london/nyc are past their peak.
also does anyone have more info on S&T in korea?
I've never ever heard of an investment bank doing much activity in Korea. If you want to work in Asia, the only safe places would be Hong Kong and Japan
The pb with Japan (I asked a MD from there) is that they only work in Japanese, and they can be rude in a way that they can increase the level (using polite forms etc only Japanese people know) to exclude you. So being fluent in Japanese may not be enough ! So I gave up ... since I'm far from being fluent so no way I would command the 'keigo' (Japanese polite way of speaking)
interested in this as well... how would one go about searching for a job in korea I know most of the jobs on korean job boards seem to be teaching english...
From what I heard, local firms recruit at local Korean universities and foreign firms in korea just send over ppl from america/europe
How true is this and any insight?
A lot of misinformation on this thread. There is active IB activity in Korea, both from the BBs and Korean securities firms. The BBs mostly do regional coverage, with execution handled out of HK or the US. My group is currently interfacing with some Korean folks in this capacity. Pay is similar to street for the BBs and lower for the domestics. Definitely no 9 to 5.. I hear that even people in general corporates over the work hours more akin to banking.
I am not familiar with the Asia buyside scene so I will not comment on that, except that there does not seem to be much sponsor activity in Korea.
May I ask really pay at Seoul is similar to the street?
Active? Check out Thomson Reuters or dealbook. There was only 1 $100million M&A in Korea last year (KKR) where 7~8 banks co-oped and that deal isn't even done yet. Most deals are in the $1~10M range. Its ridiculous.
Compare that with the market caps of most companies on the KOSPI and the KOSDAQ. So just because the deals are small, M&A is non-existent? IB is akin to commercial banking? I am not implying that Korea is some kind of deal hotspot, rather, I was refuting your outrageous statements.
As far as Vietnam, it is a bit of a backwater right now, but it definitely has potential to become the next tiger country if they can get their shit in order.
Korea Investment Banking - Can You Break In As A Non-Korean American? (Originally Posted: 12/26/2017)
All -
I am a non-korean american working as an investment banking analyst.
Does anybody have knowledge about the ability of non-korean americans working in Korea? I have interest in working there but from the reading I have done, it appears you must be either (i) korean american or (ii) native korean.
It would seem surprising that not a single non-korean american would be hired so I am reaching out for any advice / guidance.
Thanks.
Sorry, I just don’t think that’s possible. I’ve never seen or even heard of any non-Koreans.
Heck, I don’t even know any Korean American IBD analyst/associates ** . It’s usually Koreans with experience living abroad or those who are good at English.
Curious as to why you wanna work in Korea though. The hours are brutal (probably worst globally).
Thanks for the reply. I have become interested in Korea and thought it would be a nice change of pace from my somewhat dull U.S. lifestyle.
.
+1, that was an amusing read. what are your plans post army? how long is the term now? 1.5 years?
Okay, you clearly know very little about the finance scene in Korea or IB in general. And he obviously means working at a BB/international IB in Korea, not at a Korean bank...
Hey hardywood,
Thank you for the detailed response. Certainly I am not trolling - I have studied Korean for ~2 years so learning the language and I like Korean culture. Clearly it sounds like a tremendous, if not impossible, uphill climb to land an IB gig there - and even then, it would appear based on your information that the pay and career progression is unappealing.
I'll look into Hong Kong as well - not my first choice but certainly trying to gauge if any APAC move for a plain ole' american is possible.
Thank you sir.
Why is that surprising? Korea is often cited as one of the most xenophobic cultures in the world.
Unfortunately this is true (mostly because we're just SO homogenous in terms of race/culture/etc.), but I'd say that's drastically different for young people.
There are so many more Koreans with experience living abroad or foreigners in general (even in K-Pop/TV, there are so many more foreigners when compared to just five years ago).
True indeed. Haha. Although, the more important point is that online verbage would indicate it is impossible to move there as a non-korean american. I mentioned that because independent of a xenophobic society, there certainly must be cases, (certainly far and few between, however) where non-korean american's ended up working in finance in Korea.
Knew an ex-CS VP who started his career in Korea - he jumped ship to the U.S. as soon as he could.
Interesting. Thank you for the anecdote.
Just to add the overall topic, one of the most difficult things about working in IBD in Korea is that it's just so competitive due to the extremely limited number of positions available (usually just 3~6 juniors at each BB).
At a BB there will usually be 12-ish people in the entire IBD team, compared to close to around 80-100 consultants at any one of the MBB firms.
Not to mention Barclays has no team here, and DB and UBS are almost non-existent. It's really just the US firms and CS (which is a beast here).
Thus, IBD juniors here are usually older and much more experienced than in NY/HK. Not to say that they are just "better" or anything, but just the sheer amount of responsibility/skills required as well as level of competition overall make it that way.
just out of curiosity - can you elaborate on credit suisse being a "beast" there in Korea? Which group are you referring to
I see. From a quick LinkedIn run, it would appear Goldman Sachs and Citi had analyst roles.
As a Korean myself, I understand the culture there and Hardywood is actually spot on... The hours there are brutal and they won't be paying as nearly much as Bulge Brackets... The reason being is because it's very competitive, which leads to an excess number of candidates who are extremely smart with high scoring grades from leading a university who are willing to work for less pay to land the job (i.e Seoul National University)... Although Koreans tend to favor Western education from Harvard, Yale, UPenn.... practically any Ivy league from the U.S. from their own leading university, so in case you came out of here, you won't be recognized. South Koreans are huge advocates of higher education, more so than any other country in the world... So you better have something to show fourth.
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