While I'm not a proponent of Citi necessarily, all banks are doing this now at recruiting events. It's just a thing they have to do now so that no one calls them out for not doing it. Sucks and can absolutely come across as disingenuous but that's how it is these days.

 

Several of us recruiting Citi in a regional office. Did the coffee chats, started getting pushed through the process. A few weeks out from super days, get a call from an alum there:

"Hey, do you guys have any minority candidates instead?"

He stated they were being asked to fill from our school a minority specific slot.

Do they really not see how counter productive that is?

 

Wow that's wild, thanks for sharing.  Of course I have my own views and opinions, but at the end of the day I don't really care what people do with their lives, just don't shove it down my throat.  I believe in meritocracy.  I'm still a student not in the industry yet, but I've read that the "eat what you kill" culture has been discouraged or already gone, being replaced by wokeness.  I hope I am proven wrong.

 

I work at citi. can confirm. I have had to sit in on some "diversity trainings" which are comical 

 

+1; 100% agree. As a fellow mid level banker (I am a junior originator who brings in a decent number of deals) I make sure my guys are happy. Almost all of these expeneses get billed back to client anyways.

Even things that aren't officially reimbursable, but deal related, I tell my guys to put it through. Simple example: my team is working on something important until really late at night, have already passed firm expense limit for dinner, but are still hungry and want more food or want to go for drinks when they are done. If the firm gives them trouble, I tell the admins/expense managers (as politely as I can) that "I approve [and f off]". If there is a huge conflict where the firm won't pay, I've paid out of my own pocket (rare, but happens).

Also, as someone who was more execution focused not that long ago, it's so frustrating to be penny pinched on things when I'm busting my ass. I've noticed that when someone is penny pinching they are usually not bringing in revenue (either an admin or a low performing MD).

 

Could you speak to the process of deal origination as a midlevel? 

Where are you sourcing from? 

School alumni?

Family friends?

Alumni from analyst class now doing PE or corpdev?

Just generally formed relationships from all the different transactions you've worked on?

Guessing the last two are the biggest, but idk what I'm talking about.

 
Most Helpful

- Please let us expense dinner

- Please start protected Fridays @ 6:30pm

- Please Increase base salary for analysts by 20% and 10% for associates (why are my friends working 9-5 in tech (not SWEs) making more than me?)

- Please provide an anonymous report portal so we can rat out VPs that are toxic and unprofessional

- Replace Citi IT with people more competent -- shouldn't take 20 minutes to change a footnote because FactSet is lagging everything

- End virtual desktop madness and replace skype with slack

 

- Please Increase base salary for analysts by 20% and 10% for associates (why are my friends working 9-5 in tech (not SWEs) making more than me?)

What roles?

 

^^^This. I've worked in many places where we had 3PM Fridays and honestly I felt everyone was super productive that day because we all wanted to go out and enjoy. However if the culture is about being in the office just so you can prove to your MD that you stay in late, you'll actually be less productive.

Array
 

- Please let us expense dinner

- Please start protected Fridays @ 6:30pm

- Please Increase base salary for analysts by 20% and 10% for associates (why are my friends working 9-5 in tech (not SWEs) making more than me?)

- Please provide an anonymous report portal so we can rat out VPs that are toxic and unprofessional

- Replace Citi IT with people more competent -- shouldn't take 20 minutes to change a footnote because FactSet is lagging everything

- End virtual desktop madness and replace skype with slack

.

 

OP here. Don't really understand why anyone would ms as if I said something wrong besides incompetent mid-level (VP) bankers at Citi who browse this forum. In which case, you should try a least get back the meal stipends for us.

Is there any other EB/BB that doesn't provide dinner after a year of WFH? I have friends as Wells Fargo said they don't but doubt many of their coverage groups are as busy & toxic. Stay this way you'll keep losing talents and become more desperate at hiring new people

 

Its funny but we are seeing a massive brain drain happening in finance. Its shit like this why people in our industry are going to tech jobs, where you are generally more valued. The old world of finance with thick expense accounts is over. Analysts have to fight for a simple meal now. Honestly fuck Citi and fuck that MD. Also his logic is that analysts make more than people their age, this is true, but you're getting double pay for double the hours. Tell Corbat to take a $1M pay cut and use that money to feed analysts. I guarantee you the analysts will be more than enough productive.

 

Its not even a money thing.  I don't have time to make food or pick it up.  I'm getting slammed by dick head mds like this guy all evening.  The wellness hour thing doesn't exist inn practice because of shitty mds like him. 

 

Do you mind reposting the image, maybe as a reply? The link is no longer working.

 

Can't believe they aren't paying for overtime dinners. It's not like the bank bears the burden of the cost either, it's all passed on to the client... Really poor move on Citi management not allowing for paid dinners. I don't want to speak for all analysts but if the worry is that analysts will go nuts expensing dinners from home if they aren't even working, it's kind of misguided given that the one thing wfh has provided for analysts is a loss of all boundaries from work/life. At my bank we're trying to make sure analysts don't feel disengaged from the bank and their peers given their work hours have pretty much become a constant and one tiny way (I stress, tiny, this should not even be in question) of showing we know they're working is letting them continue to expense overtime meals. I hope Citi comes to their senses soon.

If banks want to replicate office working environments from home, then they can't deprive the soldiers of the "benefits" which come with it - which in this case is a $25-30 meal stipend.

 

These stupid penny pinching maneuvers are all the fault of those stupid business management people. They have them at every firm, they work 40 hours a week, and they seemingly exist to make the lives of the employees that actually make the firm money miserable. And then everyone wonders why turnover is high. I wish they could step into the shoes of the average investment banking analyst-perhaps they wouldn't shortchange analysts anymore.

Doesn't help this stuff stings because of banks having such strong years. Perhaps this wouldn't taste so bad if banks didn't make a ton of money from investment banking in 2020. If it were an '08 crisis, maybe then it would be more acceptable. Instead it feels remarkably hollow.

 

You know I hear that all the time. But then I see a bunch of those same folks in India fatfingering a $900mm payment to Revlon lenders and I stop worrying.

 

is this Houston? Analyst at the firm just told me the same thing. If so, would you say avoid Citi Houston? I am currently in their process and have another offer at a MM

 

yes, I by chance had a call with the firms Global Co-head of IB, and he was an Alumni, and we just absolutely hit it off. Then this week the other Co-head reached out to me, we had hit it off, and next day they called and made an offer. However, the firm has not kicked off their interview process, but has opened up applications. I have an accelerated final round at Citi Houston, but from what everyone is saying it seems like I should stay away from Citi's Global Energy Group. 

 

Citi (read shitty) is getting dumb day by day. Middle management is everywhere with no sense of direction. Rigid in their thought process and have unrealistic expectations. It becomes so difficult to explain a simple concept to your manager who wavers on his decisions every other meeting.

These fucktards keep on assessing the business value for something that ends up getting scrapped after wasting months of work. Can't even mention risk to be the primary factor as they have clearly blown that and got caught with their pants off.

 

All meals get billed to clients anyways. A very small portion will stay on the banks p&l. There is an allowance, typically $50-100k, for deal related expenses in every engagement letter. This used to be 75% travel-related and now with no travel it’s basically just analyst meals which is nothing in the grand scheme of things

 

It does look funny when you run expenses now and it’s like an analyst who has $5K of food bill and not much else. Before it hid under all the flights, cabs, etc. but we did have a client ask are we paying for all your food now?

also unless you charging to a deal that’s about to get done, it’s mostly going to show up in some BD P&L

 

Firms have been doing stuff like only 3 meals a week expensed. That makes it more likely it's just being used on days where the junior member is working late (unless you're like me and working at a firm where you're getting crushed 5+ days of the week). 

 

Citi has had a reputation as tightwad dickheads literally since the early '80s when I was in college (and maybe before).  It was not only IBD, but seemingly baked into firm culture with the retail banking sub having the highest fees in the industry and being known as "Citiream."  At one point they actually started charging $6 to see a teller in a retail branch, but had to cancel it within days due to a universal razzberry and PR disaster.

 

Got a summer analyst role secured at JP and then interviewed at Citi for a 6 months role. MD was a huge dick (even the recruiting guy told me before I entered the room). ED was a dick too. The Associate was really laid back, worked on a deal in my home country so we really connected.

When I finished the super day I seriously felt I didn’t want to work at the bank. Would take the offer to improve my CV, but would never work there. In the end, MD, ED jumped ship after 1y, so did the recruiting guy.

 

Let's also not forget that Citi provided no WFH setup stipend until the end of July. They had analysts working on kitchen tables in cramped apartments on their personal laptops for months during a pandemic, and didn't even provide them the money to buy a monitor or a mouse.

The firm probably thinks that it can get away with its cheapness because few people are going to leave over this during covid, and covid will be mostly over by the time the people currently recruiting start. That misses the point though that your current juniors resent you as a firm, and every recruit knows you as the cheapest bank on Wall Street and the firm that didn't give a WFH dinner stipend. Why pick Citi over BofA when they're comparable firms (really, BofA has the better name), but BofA is giving people $50 per night? Goldman also doesn't provide a WFH dinner stipend, but why would anyone pick Citi when both are cheap, but Goldman's name is drastically better?

Then we hear things like "Citi has risen to the challenge and delivered for our clients and each other during the pandemic. We are in a great position as a firm." It's disgraceful.

 

Out of curiosity, do any of the groups at citi have good culture (at least within the group) and / or decent exit ops? Understand their telecom group is a sweatshop, but how about m&a (maybe good exits?) and sponsors (normally good culture in most banks)?

 

Sed aut ullam aut similique eos cum vitae. Beatae aut soluta facere debitis qui inventore vel ipsa. Molestias aut aperiam nostrum.

Consequatur et voluptatum iste aut qui. Pariatur omnis et veritatis iusto numquam facilis consequatur laborum. Voluptatem aut voluptas rerum recusandae eveniet sint labore veniam. Assumenda aspernatur autem ut provident. Facere voluptatem voluptatum delectus id beatae.

At ab enim laborum nobis est impedit. Hic quia velit autem perspiciatis.

Vel aliquid possimus est ut. Qui reprehenderit sit ratione commodi sequi. Animi maiores eum consequatur ipsam sit eos totam.

 

Iure deleniti ratione sed ipsam ab. Voluptatem sunt dolores possimus quia. Expedita qui commodi doloremque minima dicta. Qui maiores quia commodi nihil. Porro aut voluptatibus sed repellendus cupiditate quisquam odio.

Saepe quibusdam molestiae itaque in. Mollitia harum fuga ullam facere est voluptatem.

Accusamus distinctio iusto suscipit adipisci fuga animi. Eius magnam non voluptatem expedita libero. Deleniti animi saepe aliquam et voluptatibus similique sit quibusdam. Ex tenetur aut molestiae repellat est.

Persistency is Key
 

Dolor sed quas quia veniam et. Excepturi quam aspernatur occaecati perspiciatis quam qui fugit laborum. Eaque aut corporis ex laboriosam. Sit tempora ut fuga sapiente at libero nostrum. Cumque quidem assumenda quod consequatur quia ut.

Voluptatem autem sed aliquam est. Ipsa delectus officiis ut explicabo expedita ut velit. Quidem ratione at non eaque tempora tempora occaecati. Sunt eaque id eaque dolor ad natus excepturi aut. Sint voluptatum iusto impedit aut accusamus.

Occaecati reprehenderit eius aut nisi ab dolor. Ut ut non omnis sunt vel. Dicta explicabo et voluptates reiciendis iste voluptatum pariatur. Quisquam explicabo cumque consequatur nesciunt.

Illum ipsa voluptatem facere deleniti in. Nobis voluptates harum neque incidunt facere voluptatem est in. Et commodi adipisci aut molestiae corrupti autem ea. Molestiae culpa ut voluptas aut.

 

Aut tempore eos quia deserunt quisquam. Id qui autem quia nihil iusto expedita. Incidunt minima rem earum labore quia qui. Vel eum dolores ipsa aut et illo. Sed veritatis ratione illo quisquam quo.

Sed ipsum necessitatibus eum libero. Nostrum velit voluptatum velit necessitatibus nesciunt quia quia. Nihil similique eaque minus. Molestias ullam ullam at sed ea.

Facere in occaecati iste quas optio occaecati et velit. Dignissimos est enim tenetur perferendis deleniti magni sed. Quia assumenda tempora ut adipisci voluptas eius autem. Perferendis ratione soluta qui voluptatem dolor. Incidunt facilis qui omnis aut consectetur saepe.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (85) $262
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (65) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (198) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (143) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
9
pudding's picture
pudding
98.8
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”