List of banks who laid off workers/had low return offer rates in 2020

Starting this thread to hold banks w low return offer rates or banks that laid off workers accountable and public for future reference

Feel free to include which divisions had layoffs, or what return rates were for interns

Comment banks below

54 Comments
 

Nomura: Anectodally would say it's anywhere from 30-50% depending on the group DB: Slaughter RBC: Some groups were 50% others were higher than in previous years HL: C&R NY apparently had 0% but yeah slaughter as well

 

Yeah he's probably trolling because they're still interning and historically CS is like 90%

 

I believe that 90%+ of analyst and associate interns received offers, that being said.

 

I know WF Houston had significantly lower returns than avg. like ~70% for analysts and 50% for associates. Usually like 90+%

 

we get it, you like to lick boots- also nobody in the actual thread said anything about "keeping them accountable" aside from OP it's moreso just so people can share information about which banks shit the bed

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.
 

Yes, OP said accountable which is why my reply was in direct response to his post and not any specific comment. Kinda curious what you mean by "shit the bed", if there is less work to be done then obviously there will be less need for additional headcount meaning a lower FT offer rate. I will caveat this by saying any firm that was disingenuous with interns and employees making it seem as though everything was fine and offers would be going out as usual but then went back on their word are obviously shit heads. No boot licking here, at the end of the day I understand that it's just business.

 
Most Helpful

I think sharing information on what banks navigated this well vs those who didn’t is good/fine, and also to discuss who seems to be handling things well now. So I don’t want to sidetrack from this too much, but I think it is also helpful to understand why some of these numbers are what they are (put yourself in the shoes of management at these places). And keep in mind that those who are ok today won’t necessarily be the places that are ok tomorrow, this was quite a shock to the financial system.

In most of these situations it wasn’t “let’s screw over the interns”, but rather a shock related to covid that disrupted many parts of the industry and has continued to play out in a way that has been hard to plan for.

What I’m saying is:

1) when covid hit banks were impacted, some more than others. Some knew right away that this would be bad for them, others needed to see how it would play out 2) with that, banks had options: cancel the internship (sucks for the candidate, no experience on resume, potentially no pay) or try to do best efforts to keep the recruiting pipes open, with the chance that offers might be low due to demand and the financial situation - there was (and continues to be) an unknown of the impact to the firms 3) Firms that were hit hard and continued to struggle (due to either poor management or just a bit of bad luck around their specialization and revenue makeup), needed to cut costs 4) imagine being someone inside the firm, management is going to protect their valuable employees and those with experience/training while still trying to bring in top talent (in a reasonable way). They are just making business decisions here.

I’m not saying it doesn’t suck for interns, but just put yourself in the shoes of management at these firms. Reputation risk at top colleges is definitely a concern, but so is employee retention, and reputation risk if you hire people just to fire them before they even start (or right after starting).

I personally think it was better for these places to give the experience (I.e. not cancel the internship) and try to bring back the top performers than anything else. It isn’t an easy decision.

Final thought, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure places handled this poorly (bad communication and expectation setting, poorly managing the crisis and being further in financial trouble), but the internship is a relatively smaller concern for these groups when dealing with such a large issue to the financial markets as we are now.

 

Its good to have these posts. Not for holding management accountable or any of those reasons. These are businesses at the end of the day, and they need to make decisions that can keep them afloat. However, there is a ridiculous amount of speculation on this site regarding which banks are the best to be at, comparisons among them, and a big part of this is how they perform in downturns.

A good example of why this is useful is that Ive seen countless threads over the past 15 months or so that have gotten VERY warm to the idea of Jefferies being a great place to be at with some going as far as saying its better than some mid BB or lower BBs... I knew from the beginning that this was ridiculous but to my surprise very few people were pushing back on this newfound respect for a firm that used to be a complete joke on this forum only a few years back. Well.. here we are now, the firm slaughtered its employees and treats them like shit, just like what I used to read many years back when I was recruiting, and here it is again. Seems like people have short memories..

Everyone take this as a warning that MM banks are extremely risky as they fight for scraps and also this idea of "RX business will buffer the firm" is utterly unfounded as these firms are the first to scrap employees or push start dates (you guys remember when Evercore decided to push delayed offers till next year by bribing guys with like 10k?) and now HL is blowing up its M&A. The RX guys will be fine but its not a buffer of any sort unless you are actually on those teams.

Be very careful where you decide to accept an offer for it can have vast implications.

 

Ad placeat quam repellat et repellat est. Dolor nam similique temporibus nesciunt vitae voluptatem dicta.

Totam delectus ea consequuntur dolorem quis alias blanditiis. Minima dolorum asperiores placeat impedit eius et. Qui qui culpa officiis neque voluptatem occaecati at. Rerum et ipsam quam atque saepe.

 

Ut nesciunt vel non nihil. Assumenda harum et labore cumque. Voluptas rerum aliquam aliquam laboriosam odit omnis.

Fugiat molestiae a eum. Exercitationem dolorem voluptas velit porro consequuntur. Reiciendis quo aspernatur et voluptatem nostrum.

Et ducimus tenetur et accusantium non tempora doloremque cum. Aspernatur et maxime rem eos maiores. Ex ut in quod aut.

Sunt placeat suscipit ut eum et unde odit. Ut cupiditate maiores minima qui sit id. Qui repudiandae rerum quas id voluptatum nesciunt.

 

Distinctio nisi quasi a eligendi. Ea repudiandae qui qui dicta.

Aspernatur et vero doloribus dolorem voluptate quia neque voluptatem. Rerum ratione consequatur voluptas. Nam aut quam ducimus voluptatibus. Illum possimus impedit ut odio doloremque voluptas. Iste quo in dolorem labore. Nam ab et aut suscipit nobis voluptatem nostrum.

Dolore ipsam iure dignissimos voluptates natus voluptatem. Voluptatem dolor totam temporibus. Rerum vel praesentium eius excepturi consequatur. Enim dolorum beatae illo deserunt pariatur quas illum ipsam.

Exercitationem perspiciatis et praesentium eius omnis. Dolorum nam occaecati ab quia. Autem dolor molestiae id voluptate sunt nemo. Ipsa eum occaecati praesentium illum non laudantium ab. Dolor doloribus molestiae incidunt et laudantium odit. Error voluptatem alias sed non temporibus et. Ex ea accusantium quas.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan No 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (45) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”