Seeing as several BB's have been moving jobs to Paris, and more moves seeming inevitable, I am curious if anyone could shed light on disadvantages and advantages of working in Paris versus London as a non-French speaker?
I saw in some older threads that culture and language can be a major issue, but I was also thinking that this might be changing as more bankers move to Paris.
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Disadvantages of working in Paris?
You'd be expected to move offices either to London or other English speaking région once you hit the vp level. I work at a BB and have non french speakers working at other places in junior roles. It's the same for all of us.
Secondly, there are very few roles for non french speakers. I'd say less than 20 a year. And this is all spectrums combined. BB, regional, EB, to 3-person boutiques. So insanely competitive.
Finally, very few buyside exit opportunités, even for french speakers. That means practically zero for non french. (Not gonna lie, I've seen 3-4 people working on the buyside without french), but you get the idea.
Thank you for the response!
Do you not think that that the heavy focus on French speakers will change as more BB's move investment bankers to Paris? And don't you think more VP+ employees will start to work in EU when they cannot communicate directly with EU clients?
It depends on whether the whole IB industry in Europe moves to Paris or not. If European finance becomes more fragmented and Paris covers the French-speaking world, London the UK, and Frankfurt the DACH region, then you'll need to be fluent in French if you want to work in Paris. If however Paris becomes the new London and you'll cover non-French speaking regions from Paris as well, then you won't need to speak French (although it will obviously be an advantage)
I doubt banks would split across 3 cities. There is a need for sector MDs and most of them are currently in London and I would be surprised if half of them magically moved to Paris or Frankfurt. Might be more doable at the junior level
Did your bank actually ask you to move to paris as a non French speaker ? If not I would be EXTREMELY surprised if you pulled it off.
Disadvantage is very competitive market, bad (formal and facetime) culture, long hours (longer than London), need for French even at the office since the French will stick to French.
European IB is still being run out of London btw
Language is the main barrier & disadvantage. Will be very difficult to land a job without it in Paris if this is not an internal move. Also, industry teams will largely stay in London so you will most likely be a coverage banker which - in the long run - is dependent a lot local language skills. Buy side market is much smaller and culture overall is quite formal and different to London.
Does anyone know the base salary and average bonus for 1st year analyst at BofA in Paris? Gross and net :)
I would like to compare it with London numbers.
Generally salaries a bit better in paris, and with a higher % coming from fixed.
I think it's around 65k gross and you'd get 3.6k in hand net. You'd also get a couple hundred bucks for lunch allowance, which is extra to London. From what I've heard the bonuses are around 20-30k euros, with the likes of lazard paying the top bucks.
Regarding the transfers from London to Paris, it is especially true for S&T but not in IB. At my BB in Paris, the trading room is very international, with people coming from everywhere, while the IB team is exclusively composed of French people.
I learned French on my own between ages 16-18 (not rigorous at all), took a year of college classes and am semi-fluent/could work in a French speaking office. Not sure why people don’t consider this option.
Because it doesn't count unless you can speak French like a native, which surely takes more than a few years of college classes.
Yea, plus the French especially in banking (and more so in Boutiques or Roth/Laz style I would say, also BNP) are quite old school and not particularly open to internationals, if you’re not french you wouldn’t be considered. Even if you’re French they would probably prefer if you also grew up in Versailles or the XXVIIe and went to high school to one of the rich posh kids institutions. The network these guys have is quite impressive
I learned French on my own between ages 16-18 (not rigorous at all), took a year of college classes and am semi-fluent/could work in a French speaking office. Not sure why people don’t consider this option.
Speaking as somebody who goes to a continental European school outside of France, and who has had a lot of friends try to recruit into Paris IB, semi-fluent doesn't cut it. Many students at my school are at a similar level of fluency (or higher) to what you just described and they noted that unless you were fully fluent in the language, it would be close to impossible to keep up through the interview. Additionally, at least a portion of the interviews are held by native french speakers, in french, and if they feel like you are lagging even the slightest in terms of comprehension or fluency when discussing business or finance terms, they're going to cut you for it. The only people I know who have successfully done it were either native speakers or held a C2 level fluency in French (assuming the position stated they needed a french speaker).
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Bump
Don't come to Paris, regardless of what the (perceived) additional perks may be, regardless of occupation, may it be IB or bike messenger.
Stay in London, where people move up through merit and talent, for your own sake.
Paris lacks a great deal of integrity in the corporate world. Everyone who has experienced its work culture scene knows that. But they'll never tell you. I'll say this: if you want to advance your career in a location where work, competence, and talent are valued, avoid Paris at all costs; it is fathoms beneath London in every way.
You seriously don't know what you're getting yourself into if you make the move. Huge mistake.c
Only plausible scenario for a non-native to move to France is within the context of a C-suite position. At this hierarchy level, all of your stakeholders have no choice but to comply to Anglo-Saxon rules of ethics and integrity in the workplace, for obvious reasons. Otherwise it's a no-go.
My $0.02.
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