What are the best Investment Banks in Paris? I know London is the mecca of IB's, but I'm interested in living in Paris.

I'm interested in getting my MBA and moving to Paris. Which Investment Banks have a stronghold in Paris La Defense? I did some research and these were the companies I found that have offices in La Defense, Paris - Nomura, Bryan Garnier & Co., Lazard, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, ING, Rothschild, Sycamore, Societe Generale SA, Clipperton, Bank of America Merill Lynch, Canaccord Genuity, BNP Paribas, Alexander Partners, AEC Partner/AEC Fintech, SGCIB, Banaca IMI, Degroot Petergain, Credit Agricole, Barclays, RBC, Jeffries, Natixis, Citi, etc.

 

Not true, your list is not accurate. Some of them are in LaDefense indeed, others are in the city center (around Opera and Boulevard Haussman for the majority, a few others are disseminated in other parts of the city). No correlation between office location and prestige / size of teams.

I can tell you where some offices are, can't go through the whole list for obvious reasons :)

Why this particular interest in La Defense ?

 

There's no particular interest in La Defense, i just assumed that's where the Investment Banks are in Paris. Do you live in Paris? If I were to get an American MBA and want to move to Paris when I'm done with program... what MBA program would you recommend for me? I'd like somewhere warm.. I was thinking Miami but everyone on here shot that down.

 

Live / work in Paris indeed. Pretty much everything was already said: no need to get an MBA, it's not the culture here My advice would be to get recruited in a French bank in NY / London and try an internal move, which can be very risky because: (i) French banks are shit in NY, and quite bad in London, so you're taking a huge gamble on your career (ii) i think it's difficult to work here if you don't speak french

Examples of French banks: BNPP, Socgen, CACIB, Natixis, Rothschild, Lazard All US:English banks have offices in Paris (rather small teams)

 

do you know anyone there I can talk to? Just make contact with and ask general questions about the industry...

 

FYI almost no IB is in La Défense. In La Défense you get some market floors and MO/BO. La Defense is a shithole where no one wants to go, especially clients so almost all IB activities are in the center of Paris.

 

Well, first, it's ugly compared to the rest of Paris. Second, it's very poorly designed. If you have a car it's a nightmare and if you use public transportation it's also a nightmare. There is no good restaurant, bar, club, nothing. It's just a concrete floor with towers. Also it's full of homeless people and immigrants at night. If you are a women you just don't want to walk alone there after 6pm... Welcome to La Defense !

 

FYI if you don't speak french you wont be able to do IB in France.

Secondly in Europe MBA are by far not as common/valued as in the US. Very few banks are recruiting for IB associates in London and I don't even think bank recruit associates in France. Your best shot would be to recruit for the London/US offices and then try to lateral into the Paris office.

PM me for more infos.

 
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To your original question (in the title, putting aside the location):

1) top tier international banks: Lazard ranks extremely well there, known to be a sweatshop but pays well. MS, Citi, JPM and Rothschild would also fit here. Not sure about GS or BAML but I'd guess they're not far.

2) top tier local banks: not considered BBs or huge by any measure internationally but compete locally with the banks in 1). these are Socgen, CA-CIB, BNP

3) 2nd tier: UBS, CS, BarCap, DB, Natixis, (even Nomura maybe?)

Disclaimer: I don't work in France, this is based on discussions with EU/Fr based colleagues, so others might have more insightful or more recent feedback.

 

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