MS vs JPM (both in HK)

Net-net:

1. Prestige: MS easy. But prestige is not useful unless hand-in-hand with other things.

2. Dealflow: Hard to say. I can only speak to M&A. MS M&A traditionally has had better deal flow but to be honest you will not notice a single difference at the analyst level. JPM M&A has slightly fewer deals, but is a leaner team. Also, this year YTD JPM is doing a lot better than MS M&A. Toss-up. But if you want some Korea/SEA exposure, you might get more of it at MS.

3. Exit-opps: You actually see noticeably more JPM analysts go into PE. Recently they land all over the place, a lot at top-tier funds and a lot at MM/Regional funds. Just from observation, MS analysts exit less often these days, but when they do I notice they are not likely to be at regional shops like RRJ/Affinity and also less likely to be at shops in Beijing (where most PE is these days). But you do see a ton of MS guys at the senior levels (Senior Assoc/VP and up) indicating they used to have superb placement. I suspect the reason MS analysts do not land into PE now as much may be due to the fact that MS is a much more ABC/laowai friendly bank (no mandarin test, working language is English a lot of the time) with much more ex-China deal flow (for M&A maybe up to 30% ex-China). Those two things are not conducive to an optimal PE exit for Greater China coverage.

4. Amenities: MS office has much better places for analysts to sleep. This is actually a pretty big deal for a lot of people.

5. Office location: For a lot of analysts, ICC is the bane of their existence. It is such a pain in the ass to get to from HK Island (where analysts usually like to live). Plus all the food sucks there, and it's hella far from LKF. Chater House is probably the best located of all the BB offices, to be honest.

6. Hours: Will be around the same. Maybe slight edge to JP as word is that they are making analysts leave at 7pm every Friday but we all know how this is going to work...still, props for trying

7. Culture: MS is one of the few comfortable banks for Westerners and ABCs, especially the FIG and M&A teams. On the flip side, some of the guys there speak Chinese like Chris Tucker from Rush Hour. All the strong teams at JPM are much more China-oriented and for those teams, the working language is 100% Mandarin. Then again, teams like Consumer and Energy can be pretty foreign. I advise you to choose your bank based on which environment/team you like more.

College kids spend most of their time thinking of the first 3, but all we talk about are the latter 4. Piece of advice: Asia IBD is much more of a place where you make your own opportunities. Not like NY, where there are tons of institutionalized barriers that ensure megafund classes are stacked mostly with people of similar backgrounds. People can make it into top PE shops from every team, every BB, every school. Go where you think you will fit in the most and where it makes you most comfortable. If your team likes you, they will give you everything you need to succeed in your future plans: modeling work, advice, networks, etc.

My 2 c