Masters in A&F at LSE and Commercial banking experience
Guys,
How useful do you think commercial banking experience is when it comes to getting an entry level job in IBD/Equity Research?
The reason I am asking this is because I have recently got an offer to study MSc Accounting and Finance at London School Economics and Political Science in London. I am hoping to use the LSE name to get my foot in the door but am slightly worried that my lack of experience in IBD/ER will hinder my chances.
Currently I am in the first year of a 2-year non-IB graduate program at a major British bank in a small city in Asia. Since I have received the MSc offer from LSE, I've been considering dropping out of the program to pursue my MSc and to get into IB after that.
But my lack of direct experience in IBD/ER has made me wonder if I should continue with the second year of my program so I can get more relevant experience before starting my MSc.
If I continue with the second year of the program, I will have the opportunity to work in the commercial banking department, where I will get to work with relationship managers to analyze our corporate clients' financial statements and meet with clients etc.
I also had a one-year internship during my bachelors degree in Market Risk at a BB in London. Also, I am turning 26 years old in August and thus will be 27 when I finish my MSc even if I decide to take it this year.
So here are my questions:
1) Would this 1-year experience in Commercial banking be useful and worth deferring my LSE MSc offer to 2014? Even given that I am 26 now?
2) I have worked in 2 other jobs (1 in consulting) after graduating from my bachelors degree 2 years ago. Would my employment history look too jumpy to IBs if I drop out of my program now? Or do they not care at all?
3) Given that I am 26 now and will turn 27 after my MSc, would I be too old to break into IBD/ER?
Thanks a lot guys.
Andy
Like most things in finance, it depends. How is the commercial bank divided? By loan type (i.e.CFL/Sponsors, ABL, Equipment Finance, RE, etc.)? By industry?
If you can land in the CFL/Sponsors group, it will help more than if you end up in equipment finance or real estate lending.
The good news is, as a credit analyst, you'd be working on understanding the balance sheet, which is a fundamental part of IB.
I think it would be beneficial to defer for at least a year because it would be difficult to land a job in IB with just MSA/MSF at 27 and no work experience to speak to.
By size of our clients. Actually I do have some work experience, just that they are not anything related to analyzing companies. For e.g. in my program so far, I have worked in Treasury (assisting FX traders), retail banking (where I produced reports to forecast the department's financial performance in the coming months) and Change Delivery (where I worked for some projects). Each one of them lasted for three months so tbh, none of them is very solid.
Also like i said in my previous post, I have a one-year internship experience in market risk at a BB.
Do you think my profile would make me a better candidate for a role in trading / risk management? given my experience in Treasury and market risk?
But then doing a MSc in Accounting and Finance wouldn't help me get in that area?
I cannot answer to all of your questions, but things are pretty tough in London now, and LSE will not guarantee you an IB/ER position. Why don't you consider an MBA?
hmmm I don't want to do a MBA because personally I don't think I will learn anything out of it and it's far too expensive. What about you? What's your position?
Can someone with knowledge of masters program in UK shed some light on this?
I think you'd be better off completing your full 2 year program.
Thanks for the advices so far! Any other opinions?
Age should not be a problem. I have been working with a guy who started his analyst stint at 27. The fact is that LSE does not guarantee anything and if you are not able to get into IBD/ER you will probably get back on your current track after having spent 20K for the master and lost 1 yr of experience / seniority. At your place, I will try to postpone the MSc and keep working till you have 2 yrs experiences within that company (hopefully acquiring some more related experiences). This will give you 1 more yr to think if the master is the right choice, provide you some relevant experience, help you not to look too jumpy (you can always tell, during interviews, that after a couple of year your realized you wanted a more client facing/whatever experience etc.).
Anyway, be prepared to look at internships to get in.
Finally, a 1 yr MBA in schools such as INSEAD or IE (maybe even Oxford and Cambridge) will probably work better.
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