Commercial Banking

Assume you don't want to be an investment banking hardo working 110 hours per week EVER. If you had to choose between a career in commercial banking or a career in corporate banking, which would you choose and why? Commercial Banking: Pay starts at 80K All-In out of Undergrad Pay hits ceiling around 150K All-In as a Team/District Manager/AVP by Year 8 Work-Life Balance means you have time for relationships, startup, 4 weeks paid vacation, benefits you can actually use. No compliance monitoring for trading/investing Immediate and frequent client interaction, leading the dialogue with CEOs/CFOs

07 Apr 2021

Looking to learn more about commercial banking. I've pretty much read every thread on the forum about it but felt a lot of information was limited and didn't provide perspective to what the career is like outside of your 20s and early 30s. What is comp like for EVPs/MDs? Lifestyle? Any other ranks I'm forgetting to mention that people are at by the time they are late 30s early 40s?

05 Aug 2020

Hey everyone. The ink has just barely dried on my accepted offer to join a boutique private equity firm as an analyst, but I think now is a better time than any to tell you how I made the jump to private equity from a VERY non-target background. My Bio: A little bit about me: I graduated from a Canadian university with a finance degree from a relatively unknown business program (I was in the third class of graduates ever), had ho-hum grades and no relevant internships. I was pretty keen on becoming an analyst at an investment bank, but with almost no alumni network and an extremely rigid

12 Jan 2018

Howdy all, I'm a long-time lurker on this site, finally decided to post and say hi. About Me: - I'm a 10 year commercial banking veteran that got started in 2008-2009 going through a super-regional's FLDP right out of school. - Spent time in various credit functions during and after the Crisis and eventually ended up managing the commercial portfolio ($3B+) for one of the bank's regions that covered an entire state. - Grew mentally and physically sick of the ever increasing bullshit so decided to quit and take a year (2017) off to get lost in the world. - Rode my motorcycle to Key West, FL and

19 Apr 2018

In the spirit of sharing, I figured I would set up one of these to help out those interested in learning more about Commercial Banking. As there is no separate sub forum, it is hard to find up to date/current info. Commercial Baking isn't super sexy like IB, but it's a good W/L balance gig that pays well. A bit about myself: I am a SVP with a top 20 Bank (both deposits and assets). I've been with the bank for 10+ years and manage an underwriting team. I have experience in specialty lending as well as core C&I (i.e. Middle Market). I am also one of our business line approvers with a $30MM+ pen

29 Jul 2017

Question for those in the know on Commercial Banking. Can you please tell me what a career would look like as a Commercial Banking Relationship Manager in a smaller tier city (think ~200k population) with a regional bank? Some specific questions to hopefully help drive a discussion. What is a day in the life like? What types of products are offered? Given the straight forward nature of the products (I am assuming), is it boring work or do you actually provide value to clients? What is the career trajectory of a relationship manager? I understand there are levels of RMs (I, II, III, etc) - can

11 Jun 2020

I have two internship offers, one from JPM for Middle Market Banking/Specialized Industries (MMBSI, Commercial Banking, Charlotte,NC).... The other is from Rio Tinto for Finance (Salt Lake City). I'm from a big ten fairly non-target school, not entirely sure what career field I want to start in, biggest thing I'm looking for is learning as much as possible and adding value to myself, however I don't really see a career in corporate America (dream has always been to be an acquisition entrepreneur) .... Career Services office on campus is shut down for rest of semester, don't really have any

24 Feb 2021

Hello Everyone, I'm a non-target student who has a superday coming up next week with JP Morgan for a 2018 SA position with their MM Banking and Specialized Industries Group. This will be my first superday, and I was wondering if anyone has any knowledge/tips on what technicals to know for JPM's Commercial Banking interview, and how to carry yourself during a superday? Thank you in advance, appreciate any advice.

11 Oct 2017

Slow day at work today, studying for CFA, but taking some breaks here and there. I don't think there is a lot of information on this board as it relates to commercial banking, at least from the perspective of more junior employees with under 5 years experience. Not sure if there will be a lot of interest in this, but just trying to give back a little. I went to a non-target public school, left a Big 4 role after obtaining CPA license, and joined a regional in their middle market banking group. I am by no means an expert on commercial banking, but I am happy to answer any questions that people

20 May 2018

Hello, I am a recent graduate from a top 25 university, where I studied math and finance and came out with a strong, but not phenomenal 3.70 GPA. I was in the honors program and I would like to hope that many employers recognize the strength of a 3.70 given the math degree. Around graduation, I received a couple of offers from boutique investment banks and a couple offers in risk at top tier Wall Street banks, but ultimately chose to join the commercial bank of a well known, but not top tier, bank: please note that this bank is unique in that their leveraged finance group (the group I sit in)

22 Jan 2021

Hi Monkeys, After a lot of job searching over the past two months, I finally landed an interview at a pretty regional commercial bank for a credit analyst position. This role is in the special assets group which deals mostly with distressed loans, OREO etc. Obviously this is much different than your traditional C&I and CRE loans that many credit analysts work with. If my ultimate goals is to transition to corporate banking or a lateral to a bigger bank in a couple years, would this be a good role? Any help is appreciated.

19 Aug 2020

I graduated 3 years ago with a BS degree in Finance, good GPA at a pretty good school and started working in a Commercial Banking Leadership Program. I then worked as a commercial credit Analyst for about 18 months before getting promoted to a portfolio manager working directly under a CRE lender. The thing is, I am extremely bored. I like Commercial Real Estate, I love underwriting the deals, but commercial lending is boring and I have ZERO desire to become a CRE lender or any role involving sales/production. I'm analytical and detail-oriented, more of a "do my own thing" type of person and

21 Oct 2020

Hi there WSO community. I've been a long time reader of this forum but post very rarely. In my time perusing the forum, I've seen little or no attention payed to Silicon Valley Bank, a high-tech commercial bank whose main clients are startups. I'm also aware that this post may not belong on this forum, but there legitimately wasn't a better option, which is part of the reason for my post -- i'd like to bring some exposure to bank and show some of these younger readers that there are some extraordinary places to work outside of BB IBD, that also prepare you for highly lucrative careers. The

17 May 2018

Currently looking to get into commercial banking and was wondering if the WSO community had any thoughts on which industry sectors / specializations tended to be the most profitable specifically within the commercial banking division (i.e. excluding investment & corporate banking, asset management). Understand this will vary widely based on size of bank / segmentation but thought I would get a conversation started on here by listing a couple of industry sectors / specializations that I have seen on commercial banking websites. If there is an additional high profit specialization / industry

08 Apr 2021

Alright monkeys. I was recently offered an FT grad role in Lloyds Bank's Commercial Bank in London. Having had a look through previous posts on the board, I couldn't find much in the way of discussion about people's experience working in the Bank or the general view of Lloyds from the rest of the industry. Anyone have any experience and/or an opinion of Lloyds? Are they a good bank? Would it be worth joining?

23 Dec 2019

Hello all, I am currently deciding between two offers, both from regional commercial banks (~$10B in Assets). One offer is less money and offers a formal credit training program, while the second is a lot more money, but with no credit training. The goal is to move into a LevFin role down the line, but I am wondering how valuable the credit training is, and what kind of weight it holds. Appreciate the help.

27 Mar 2019

I recently (10/23) saw a job post come up from JP Morgan Chase, looking for MM & Specialized Industries analyst for 2021. Did anyone receive an interview from the group? Will I still have a chance if I apply to the job now? ):

08 Nov 2020

Currently at a BB doing commercial banking and while the pay to hours ratio is great, I don't see myself doing this long term. What are common exit ops you've seen from commercial banking analysts at places like JPM / BAML / Citi etc.?

22 Jan 2021

I am an undergraduate finance major. I am heavily interested in becoming a commercial loan credit analyst. Is it possible to get an entry level job in the commercial credit loan industry? If not, would starting off as a consumer loan credit analyst be a good start or should I go into corporate finance entry level? Do I have to get an MBA in order to get the job? If you have any other career path information let me know.

28 Jan 2018

I've seen the two talked about separately on this site.. Can somebody explain to me the difference? In my group, while we do structure asset-based facilities (revolvers, term loans) to MM companies on a club (us and one other/a few banks involved) and syndicated basis, we also have loans where we are the sole lender to the company (is this not considered 'direct' lending?). From what I've read so far, it seems that the 'senior secured' / top of the capital structure aspect is shared between direct lending & comm. banking as well, in the sense that direct lenders structure/offer senior secured

24 May 2018

Background: ABL at a BB. As the title says, what type of 'Transaction Experience' should I list on my resume to best spin/highlight my experience if I want to lateral into a IB position or a MM credit fund/PE firm, if possible? A majority of my time is spent on the portfolio side (working with existing borrowers) executing extensions to their credit facilities when maturity is coming up (are these worth mentioning at all?), simple revolver/term loan upsizes (either for growth/capex expansion reasons, small bolt-on acquisitions (like a few $MM) and sometimes larger 'transformational' deals. I

25 Apr 2018

Also pointing this here since I want to reach some people who currently work in Commercial Banking. --- I work at an Upper MM PE fund and am in the second year of my Pre-MBA Associate stint. Prior to PE, I worked at an elite strategy consulting boutique (think LEK/Parthenon) doing PE DD work. I'm thinking about leaving the PE industry for a few reasons: * The job is much more about jockeying a process than high-level strategic thinking about investing. I feel like I got a lot more of that in my previous role than I do today. While this might get better by the time you're an MD, it seems like

01 Mar 2018

Background: 1.5 yrs in ABL at a BB covering a variety of industries: manufacturing, distribution, materials, consumer products, etc. mainly with sub-investment grade/distressed companies. Non-target; sub 3.7 GPA. Any advice on how to position this experience to lateral into a 1st year IB analyst role? Is another BB/EB possible or is MM more likely? My current responsibilities include: - Underwriting various transactions (proposed M&A's, restructures, divestitures, etc.) by evaluating different credit metrics (leverage, FCCR, debt capacity). Modeling is not terribly advanced (mainly cash-flow

28 Feb 2018

Hi, so currently currently a Sophomore with a 4.0 at one of the public universities in Arizona, majoring in Political Science, and I had some questions about the Commercial Banking industry if you wouldn't mind answering some of them as I'm curious of whether or not I can get into it. 1. Am I able to get into the commercial banking industry with a good salary with my political science major and business minor? 2. Any good banks in Washington specifically the Seattle area, wanted to work there/live there once I graduate. 3. What is the salary range in the industry or typical salary range? Min

25 Jun 2020

Hello, I have a question about compensation for JPM CB Middle Market Banking. Does anyone know the newest base and bonus for first-year analyst (NYC)? And the promotion afterwards (3 years, VP...)? I read a post from 2017, for which the numbers are not accurate anymore... If I intern in the summer at MMB, is moving to corporate client banking or leveraged finance for full-time possible? Much thanks in advance!

10 Jun 2021

Hey everyone. I have a interview for the JP Morgan Chase Commercial Banking Analyst Program coming up, and I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this interview or the analyst program? Has anybody ever had this this interview? What types of questions are asked? Anyone know the salary they pay someone in this program? JPM Commercial Banking Program Overview JP Morgan describes the division below. [quote JP Morgan Chase] Commercial banking provides a range of financial solutions to help corporations, organizations, real estate investors and owners achieve their business goals. We help

22 May 2018

I am a recent Finance graduate in Canada and am torn between pursuing career in Big 4 on the Deals side or international banks (HSBC, citibank etc.) I currently have an offer from commercial banking but would like to hear the pros and cons of pursuing the banking path vs. Big 4. Planning to pursue CFA as well. Feel that the dynamic on the Big 4 is much more team oriented than the banks. Thoughts?

09 Apr 2015

Hi monkeys, Currently in IB M&A looking to move to a more relaxed job. Can anyone provide any details on work life balance / comp / responsibilities?

25 May 2021

Hi everyone, I was recently offered a position within a bank's commercial banking analyst training program, and I was wondering if anyone may have any say as to how I should expect my earnings to progress in the coming years. The bank is largely regional (Midwestern), with its commercial bank is about the 11th or 12th largest in the country. The starting base salary for a trainee is 60K with a 5K sign-on bonus. I'm very excited about the job. I really like the company (I interned there in the summer), and I really do value the sort of work/life balance commercial banking would provide compared to investment banking.

12 Sep 2011

Commercial Banking Salary Progression hasn't been talked about for a few years here it seems. Does anyone has insight on this ?

18 May 2021

Hello monkeys. I've accepted a job as a commercial banking analyst at a MM firm upon graduation with hopes of eventually breaking into lev. fin down the road, likely post-MBA. Is this is a feasible career path and what would be the best way to approach? Without giving too much away the bank I'm joining is a MM leader that is involved in a lot of PE deals and the role is known for being more modelling heavy than most commercial banking positions. I also have the opportunity to join either a debt capital markets, loan syndication or financial sponsors group following the initial training period

16 Jan 2016

Hey Everyone, I had a first round interview with Wells Fargo back in August for their Summer Financial Analyst Program for Summer 2015. After 2 or 3 weeks I heard back that I moved on to their final step which is a superday in SF next month. I know the superday is going to be mostly technical question, and I feel that I should not struggle with this. I just wanted some input from people who have had experiences with this program, or know someone who was. I wanted to know more about: -Quality of the program (Workload, Challenging work?, Good people to work with?, solid feeback?, etc.) -Starting Salary + Bonus

08 Oct 2014

Hate may be too strong a word, but from what I have gathered, it seems that some investment bankers hold contempt for commercial bankers but not corporate bankers. I've always understood these two types to work the same job but for different-sized companies. Is size of the business that important?

25 Mar 2011

Does anyone know what the typical career path for commercial banking is along with compensation at each level, as well as if I'd need to get an MBA or CFA at some point? If not, could someone tell me about a forum that's more dedicated to "other" finance careers besides i-banking, consulting, etc.? This is a really good site, but it doesn't have too much info on the less prestigious careers like corporate finance, commercial banking and all that, so yeah. If anyone can help me out, that would be great. commercial bank careers In commercial banking you will usually start out as a credit analyst

08 Jul 2009

Im currently working in the "Lev Fin" group at a MM .commercial bank (think US Bank, Capital One, Citizens Bank). To avoid any confusion, we don't have an IB division so our version of Lev Fin refers to the specific lending team that specialize in financing deals backed by PE firms (LBOs, Dividend recaps, growth financings etc.) It's typically higher risk than vanilla commercial lending and its all centered around M&A, so the underwriting process can be pretty interesting. However it feels like banks are being pushed out of the space by regulation and I'm having second thoughts about staying

09 Mar 2017

Hey everyone, I am currently a non-traditional junior at Emory and am doing some career path exploration. My goals are to make ~150k+ 8-10 years after graduation while having good work-life balance. As I am non-traditional and already married I am not interested in heavy hours/travel jobs such as ibanking, consulting, p&e, etc. However, I am wiling to work about 60 hours a week with longer hours on some days during the beginning of my career. I would also like to stay in Atlanta. Based on careers that I explored could you please tell me which of these options are best for starting out and why you think so: -Financial analyst at an Atlanta F500 such as The Home Depot, Coke, UPS

01 Dec 2011

I am thinking of people that exit banking in any capacity at a larger institution that then want to settle down later on in life.

27 Sep 2020

Long story made short; studied Finance and Econ for state non-target, got into selling mortgages after graduation (1 yr experience thus far) and I'm interested in commercial banking. First internship was one year part time in investment advisory, second intern as commercial mortgage analyst for a LifeCo. Did some interesting CFA challenge and equity analysis classes during undergrad. Was interested in pursuing banking after graduation and landed a few interviews but needed a job to get my feet under me. Is commercial banking at the analyst level a stupid jump? Retail mortgage lending is fairly

23 Sep 2019

This is regarding analyst positions. Obviously IB has better pay but CB has much better hours. What are the chances of taking 2 years of CB experience into IB? What are the chances of taking the CB experience to B school? Thanks.

17 Nov 2010

Hey, So I was wondering if other professionals could help me structure an email to a recruiter. The situation is that I just graduated from college in May 2014 and landed a position at a commercial bank as a first year analyst. I also went through the Deloitte leadership program last summer and have the recruiters emails for consulting/ financial advisory. I want to email the recruiter and say something so she knows I am still interested in a position within that group. I am also currently studying for the CPA and past BEC (Don't know if that matters.)

23 Sep 2014

Dear WSO, I'm a long term lurker, first time posting. I'm really desperate for your help. I don't know what direction to take and I know I'm going to get blasted by you guys for making a post like this, but I exhausted all methods and need some genuine advice. I came from a non/semi-target school (Baruch) and I just recently graduated with a BBA in finance with a mediocre GPA (Cumulative 3.1, Finance GPA 3.3) and I live in NYC. I'm not even going to consider IBD because realistically, I have no chance. I'm trying to explore a couple of other fields: corporate finance at F500, PWM, commercial banking, and lastly Asset Management.

19 Feb 2013

Hello all, I figure I'll start off with a quick background so you can provide the most insight: - Recent Non-Target college undergrad, GPA: 3.94 - Didn't realize I wanted to do IB until last 3 months of undergrad - 6 months experience in Corporate Banking division of a Regional Bank - Credit Analyst(~$70 billion in assets) - Been modeling with BIWS excel & foundation courses - Looking to move into a Boutique or MM IB shop (being realistic here, BB is probably a long shot until I have IB experience) - Haven't done much (hardly any) networking yet. My Strategy as follows: - Build LinkedIn

08 Nov 2015

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16 Nov 2011

Hey everyone, thanks to all the help from here and other resources I managed to get myself into a CB analyst role at a big Canadian bank and I have a few months to prepare. I want to really excel at this role and work my way into the corporate baking group ASAP and I was wondering if anyone could weigh in on how I should prepare. My current plan is 1. Get quick with excel (no mouse) by building and rebuilding 3 statement models with revolvers/ term loans built-in 2. Read about credit from Moody's and S&P to get a better grasp of the industry from here I'm unsure 3. Learn how to model LBO's? 4

05 Mar 2021

I work in the transactions division of a Mid-Tier bank, and while my partnership with the RMs remains strong, my boss is expecting us to start generating our own accounts and then loop in the bank to open commercial checking/saving accounts. He said in our group we have been to reliant on our RM relationships to feed us and self business generation has been very low. Our "soft" target accounts are businesses with annual revenue of $5MM - $50MM. We can sell higher, but anything higher than $100MM would require a specialist to step in. How do you guys in Commercial and Treasury source your own

03 Jul 2020

Hey guys, I'm at a bit of a crossroads with my career. Ultimately, I'd like to either keep working my way up at my commercial bank (it's a super cushy lifestyle for how little we actually work), or move into a credit focused/distressed/turnaround PE fund. I'm in our bank's rotational credit training program, and will be able to apply for relationship manager roles pretty soon. I'd like to get some thoughts on which direction I should go. We have numerous speciality loan groups (energy, environmental service, tech, etc.), but I think that middle market is probably the way to go. The issue is

24 May 2018

I have a phone interview for the commerical banking development program at HSBC soon and am wondering what types of questions I might be asked. Given that I'm not exactly sure what someone in this program would actually do, I am unsure of what to expect. I was a SA in S&T this past summer and am wondering how I might be able to spin that experience to make it clear that I'm interested in commercial banking instead. Any thoughts? HSBC Commercial Banking First Round Interview A preliminary interview for commercial banking with HSBC will be very behavioral and focused on why you want to work with

26 Oct 2011

Hi Guys, So I graduated from a non-target and I've been in a credit analyst program at a large commercial bank for two years now. I have an offer to go to the associate credit program at the bank in about six months. I have also been interviewing with a large PE FOF and feel fairly good about my chances of landing a first year analyst offer. (EDIT: I just landed the offer) From what I can tell from the search function and compensation database, total pay at the FOF's top out around $600k all in (at the senior levels), whereas commercial banking compensations top out around $300k all in (at the senior levels). I know this is "peanuts" to all you flashy IBDers, so go easy on me ;) So, my questions are: (1) What are your thoughts about the two career paths and possible exit ops?

22 May 2012

Not sure if there are any commercial lenders on this forum, but any advice is appreciated. I've been considering going the path of a commercial lender, my background is in CRE brokerage. A few banks I've talked to typically start people in a credit analyst position before moving to a commercial lender. I'm curious if anyone has started as a mortgage loan officer and made the move to a commercial lender, or if there was a different path they took. Interested in hearing any insight. Thanks!

29 Jan 2019

Does anyone have any insight on what it is like to work at HSBC in the USA or any other investment bank in the commercial banking division, underwriting CRE? If you are currently in debt underwriting would you chose this over something like CBRE, JLL, Walker & Dunlop etc.

10 Mar 2020