Time to rank the bulge brackets 2019

GS, MS

JPM

BAML, Citi

Barclays, Credit Suisse

UBS

DB

Thoughts? Based solely on PE exits. Group comparisons are fine, but if you do your own rank do it as generalist offers please. NYC only.

47 Comments
 

Barc and DB on same tier is ridiculous, Barc is hovering between top 6 and top 7 and has been on an upward trend

 
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Think JPM is being underrated here - and I hate myself for saying this.

Looking at Coalition's league table for FY18, JPM comes top in FICC, equities, and IBD, placing first overall. Goldman comes third for FICC, third for equities, and second for IBD, for an overall standing of tied second with Citi. MS comes fourth, then BAML, Deutsche, Barclays, CS, HSBC (lol), and UBS.

Likewise, if you look at the FT's IB league table, JPM is ranked top overall, placing first for bonds and loans. Goldman is ranked top for M&A specifically, while MS takes first for equity deals.

Now, I know there's then the vague overlay of "prestige," but my honest take is that - in the UK at least - Goldman isn't as highly regarded as it used to be. That's not to say it's slipped drastically, however MS has certainly narrowed the gap and, personally, I think JPM now tops GS as the most desirable IB to work for.

"Work is the curse of the drinking classes" - Oscar Wilde
 

In black and white terms, yes. But I think the whole "is GS better than JPM better than MS" is overdone: at the end of the day, if you work for any of these firms, you're very much at / near the pinnacle of prestige. I can tell you for free that no one is going to look down on you because you got MS instead of JPM - and if they do, you probably don't want to associate with those people in the first place.

A better way of looking at this shops, rather than a league table format, is by buckets. Something like: Top bucket - BAML, Citi, GS, JPM, MS; Tier two - Barclays, CS, Deutsche, HSBC, UBS, etc.

"Work is the curse of the drinking classes" - Oscar Wilde
 

Yeah, I think that's a very fair point - I was trying to take a generalist point of view, but obviously there will be different push / pull factors firm-to-firm depending on a person's speciality.

"Work is the curse of the drinking classes" - Oscar Wilde
 

If you want to exit to credit buyside, JPM is where you want to be given strength in loans/bonds.

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw
 
"YoungDumbFullOfRum"

Think JPM is being underrated here - and I hate myself for saying this.

Looking at Coalition's league table for FY18, JPM comes top in FICC, equities, and IBD, placing first overall. Goldman comes third for FICC, third for equities, and second for IBD, for an overall standing of tied second with Citi. MS comes fourth, then BAML, Deutsche, Barclays, CS, HSBC (lol), and UBS.

Likewise, if you look at the FT's IB league table, JPM is ranked top overall, placing first for bonds and loans. Goldman is ranked top for M&A specifically, while MS takes first for equity deals.

Now, I know there's then the vague overlay of "prestige," but my honest take is that - in the UK at least - Goldman isn't as highly regarded as it used to be. That's not to say it's slipped drastically, however MS has certainly narrowed the gap and, personally, I think JPM now tops GS as the most desirable IB to work for.

They’re the yankees of finance.

 
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What is this, Greekrank?

GS, MS - best houses on the row, mixes with KKR/BX the most, hazing is rough

JPM - giant house off campus. didn't initiate some of their PC this year

...

DB - doesn't do well in rush, will probably lose their house. low social budget for mixers

Array
 

x2

I'm going to get MS for this considering 90% of this thread are college students, but the amount of conviction you guys have about 'rankings' and better yet specific groups is just absurd.

You don't know what you don't know. I'm not saying this to offend you, it's just odd from a 3rd person perspective. I say this because I think it has led to a culture here of "oh I only got an offer from Jefferies, brb going to cry myself to sleep."

FWIW, I'm a junior at a bank and my opinion doesn't hold much weight. I think that you would have had to be at multiple banks at the senior level to have a worthwhile opinion.

 

Side note: reading some of these threads makes me laugh when I think about how serious BB takes their recruiting.

You know you’ve hired the most committed employees when they’re scouring an online forum for an arbitrary opinion on “rankings” to then leverage the consensus to do...well I don’t know what. I guess try to get an offer at another bank?

If what you said above re leverage actually works that would be hilarious. If some hiring manager gets cucked by you because you tell him/her you have an offer at another bank then you are 100% the winner in that situation. College students who want to work in banking are a dime a dozen, idk why they would care to lose one.

 

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