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RTH=Laz > Bar imo
That's in line with how I'm thinking about this. Roth really impressed me with their culture and just in general how they think about the business long term. Lazard felt more like "just another banking job", even though they offered a moderately higher base. I guess, I should also add that I plan on being in banking for a while.
Rothschild > Lazard > Barclays
Definitely Rothschild in London. They are the most prestigious out of these three in London. You will get to work on more deals than you would at Lazard or Barclays. The only banks to choose over Rothschild in Europe are Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
This is iust false.
No one in their right mind would rank Roths ahead of Laz.
This forum seems to be half and half on this subject, perhaps partially due to the US bias. Thanks for your input nonetheless, it's a big move for me since I'm moving across the pond.
If you plan to be in banking for a while beware the Rothschild has a high churn and you'll get worked hard from what I've heard. You'll get great dealflow at Rothschild but smaller deals than at LAZ. Barclays is no where near these two.
From talking to a lot of people in the city, Laz and Rth are ranked quite a bit higher than Barclays, especially if you are not going to the UK M&A or PUI team at Barclays which are very strong. Barclays overall is a weaker franchise in EMEA than in the US due to Lehman. While it is true that between Laz and Rth you really cannot go wrong regarding prestige (and please don't decide based on minuscule differences in perceived prestige), you should be very careful as to what you expect from your move. Rothschild is always working on deals 5bn and often below 1bn. This might enable a smooth transition from your MM, and you will undoubtedly have one of the best deal flows in the city, but if you are in it for the long run, you have to make a judgement call whether it will bother you to miss out on the Blockbuster Deals. Lazard is much more focused on large-cap and will enable you to work on the transactions you read about in the newspaper (again, a bit cliche, but at this point in your career it might be a factor). However, be aware that this means competing with the US BBs on nearly every transaction, not always fun. I cannot comment on career progression and work-life-balance from VP level onwards, but make sure you take that into consideration as well.
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