BB Corporate Banking Exit Opps?
I just landed a corporate banking SA offer at a BB. While I was recruiting for IB and kind of fell into this position through a recent alum, I like the culture and what I know of the work, and given the former, feel like it would be beyond dumb to throw away the offer especially in this environment. However, I am genuinely curious about where most people who start in corp. banking at a bulge bracket end up. I know it's much more common to stay on past your two years compared to IB (not that that's saying much), but what do other people end up doing?
Common exits for corporate banking on the buyside typically involve debt investing, especially loans. Private credit funds, CLOs, other credit funds, etc.
Like anything, exit ops are up to you. I've seen exits to PE, IB, corp dev, b school, management consulting, and many other career paths. At the VP and up level, common exits are treasurer roles, sometimes CFO roles, & other banks.
In corporate banking you will learn how to understand and think about a company's capital structure. You'll learn a lot about the syndicated loan market as well as about DCM in general. You'll also work with bankers on pitching other products like FX, TM, Interest Rate Hedging, and other financial services. Ultimately, exits will be whatever you put the energy into obtaining a job in. Or, you can stick around and be a corporate banker. Very relaxed way to make $500k+ without killing your work / life balance.
This is a dumb question, but how do people get interested in debt? I don't know how I could read debt tranches and credit reports all day, let alone for my whole career. Although, I'm still in college, so maybe IB is similar.
Wondering the same about gaining interest in debt...
The career path sounds like one that I may enjoy, do you have any newsletters/blogs/ recommended reading that may help me see if I have a true interest in the space?
Definitely different interests for different people. I love debt because it makes sense to me. Your returns are set and you are evaluating the structure and the events that would have to happen to trigger default. To me, these are things you can get your arms around and have an impact in what your returns will be. Equity, to me, is a random walk. I can’t tell you what Tesla’s stock is going to do no matter what happens to it’s production numbers. But, I can tell you what the bonds return and what would have to happen to the company’s cash flow for them to lose you money.
I still don't understand that if it's such a great combo of WLBalance and solid pay, why don't people go for this? Is it just because IB pays more slightly and has the potential take you to PE or HF where you could potentially make millions instead of just $500K?
It’s not nearly as sexy or thought provoking work. It can be very interesting, but you are also dealing with things like deposits, treasury management, and finding other ways for companies to compensate you for lending them money. But it’s the fact that the main value add is the bank’s capital rather than your ideas that let the job have a great work / life balance,
Interesting to see that CB exits include PE, corp dev, b school, consulting, treasurer roles, and senior finance positions in corporate. Similar to IB but offering a much better work/life balance. Would most of those exits though have a preference towards hiring from IB though?
Yeah, for all of those roles besides treasurer, IB experience is usually more relevant. But at the end of the day it’s about your experience and how you prep for exit ops. If you’re modeling acquisition financing scenarios to show a PE client financing alternatives for their LBO you may have more relevant experience than someone in middle market IB who hasn’t closed a deal or worked with a financial sponsor.
anyone know how common it is to transition from a BB commercial banking group to their corporate banking group?
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