Friday 26 October 2007

Best books for Investment Banks

I've have a load of books that all claim to get people into invesment banks. Have they worked? No idea. So I would like to complete a list of books that people have found useful. So please let me know using the comments below. If there are also books that you would like to read give me the names and i will provide a ebook link for you to download and read as a pdf. That is if these books exist as ebooks!

The best book that i have come across is called: All You Need to Know About the City: Who Does Why and What in London Stock Financial Markets - Amazon Link

I actually got the above book from Golman Sachs during my spring internship.

Investment Banking Interview/CV/Application Tips - Videos

I have compiled some good videos from youtube for you to watch just before your interview. The last one should definitely be watched. It is an excellent funny video - it also gives, surprisingly, a few good tips on interviews. Some of the videos also show you how the investment banks are fighting for talent, which is you!



Thursday 25 October 2007

Too hard to get into a TOP tier bank?

If you are finding hard to get into top tier banks [the bulge bracket]. Then it may be a good idea to get into a lower tier bank first and then work your way up. However, this will take time. Anyway, here is a list of banks that i found for all of you to go through and apply to! I hear you groan. Yes it does take ages to fill in the online apps but it has to be done.

A.G. Edwards
ABN Amro
Alliance Bernstein
Allianz
Ambrian
Babcock & Brown
Bank of America
Bank of Nova Scotia
Barclays
Bear Stearns
BMO
BNP Paribas
Boenning & Scattergood
Brown Brothers Harriman
Brown, Shipley & Co.
C.E. Unterberg
Calyon
Canaccord Adams
Cantor Fitzgerald
Carnegie, Wylie & Co
Cazenove
CIBC
Citigroup
Close Brothers Group
Cowen Group, Inc.
Credit Suisse
D.A. Davidson & Co.
Deka Bank
Deutsche Bank
Dillon, Read & Company
Dresdner Kleinwort
Dresner Partners
Drexel Burnham Lambert
Evercore Partners
Financo Inc.
Fortis Bank
Fox-Pitt, Kelton
Friedman Billings Ramsey
Genuity Capital Markets
Goldman Sachs
Grace Matthews
Greenhill & Company
Greif & Co.
Grupo Santander
Hambrecht & Quist
Hambros Bank
Harris Williams & Company
Hilco Corporate Finance, LLC
Houlihan Lokey & Zukin
HSBC
Imperial Capital, LLC
ING Group
Investec
Investment Technology Group
J. & W. Seligman & Co
Janney Montgomery Scott
Jefferies & Co.
Jordan, Knauff & Co.
JP Morgan
Kaupthing Bank
KBC Bank
Keefe, Bru & Woods
KeyCorp
Kleinwort Benson
Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
Ladenburg Thalmann
Lazard
Lazard Capital Markets
Legg Mason
Lehman Brothers
Macquarie Bank
Merrill Lynch
Miller Buckfire
Mizuho Financial Group
Monte Paschi di Siena
Montgomery & Co.
Montgomery Securities
Morgan Grenfell
Morgan Stanley
Natixis
Needham & Company
Neuberger Berman, LLC
Newbury Piret
Newsouth Capital Inc.
NIBC
Noble Bank
Nomura
Nomura Securities Co, Ltd
Oppenheimer
Park Lane Investment Banking
Perella Weinberg Partners
Pete J. Solomon Company
Petrie Parkman & Co.
Piper Jaffray
Prudential Securities
Putnam Lovell
Rabobank
Raymond James
Robert Fleming & Co.
Robert W.Baird & Co
Robertson, Stephens
Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Scotland
Rutberg & Co.
Ryan Beck & Co.
Salman Partners Inc.
Salomon Brothers
Sandler O'Neill
Saxo Bank
Schroders
Smith Barney
Societe Generale
Stephens Inc.
Stifel Nicolaus
T. Rowe Price
ThinkEquity Partners, LLC
Thomas Weisel Partners
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Transparent Value
TSG Partners, LLC
UBS
Unicredit
Wachovia
Wasserstein Perella
Wells Fargo
William Blair & Company
WR Hambrecht+ Co.

Tuesday 23 October 2007

Starting Salary from Front Office to Back Office

I found this on a great site. Somebody did research on the salaries for those that work in investment banks and i think they are quite accurate or at the very least a good approximation. Let me know if you know otherwise so i can update this. [Use the comments to do this]

Money is in UK Pounds (£)

Front Office:
IBD............................................... .35K (26.25K taxed)(with bonus of double digit %)
Sales and Trading.............................33K(24.75K taxed) (with bonus of double digit %)
M&A............................................... 34K (25.5K taxed) (with bonus of double digit %)
IBD (M&A) ................................... 37k + 7k signing bonus 12 months bonus : 100%-150% of base. (58.6K taxed assuming 125% bonus and 35% taxed)

Middle Office:
Risk (Credit, Market, Operational)........30K (22.5 taxed) (with bonus of around 20-30 %)

Back Office:
IT................................................ .28K (21K taxed) (with bonus of around 10-20 %)
Operation.......................................25 K (18.75 taxed) (with bonus of around 10-20 %)

Monday 22 October 2007

Summer Internships at IB (the real deal)

As you can see from my other post I am applying for an industrial placement to investment banks but I am also applying for summer internships. I've pretty much sent off all the applications that I want to top tier banks which include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Citi (previously named citigroup).

The Way it Works

The way all the investment banks recruit is so similar that they use the same companies to design and make their applications! You'll get the obvious personal details followed by your academic results during the online application process. Some banks also put in competency based questions like "Tell us about a recent development in the industry that may affect us" - this was an actual question from BarCap.

After you complete your application most banks will invite you to a numerical reasoning or verbal reasoning test. Sometimes both! This is where the huge filtering happens. Some banks also filter at the first stage when you send out your application. They filter according to your grades (A Levels for the
UK). Most banks have minimum criteria of AAB - this will of course go up and some banks my have higher or lower requirements but this is the usual standard. Tough? Well IBs (Investment Banks) don’t want to pay around £35,000 a year starting salaries to complete idiots!!

After successful completion of the application and tests you may be asked for a first round interview which can be over the phone or face to face. After this there may be another round which usually is an assessment centre with the other candidates and you participate in group projects, presentations etc. Plus an interview on the day. This is the general method but some IBs will adopt different methods that suits them.

After all the above they may yet again be a final round interview! You think this is hard work?! Well during my spring internship (1 week) at Goldman Sachs an MD (Managing Director) spoke to us. He told us that he was interviewed 13 times by different people prior to joining Goldman Sachs! He thought this was crazy and he spoke to his new colleagues on the first day and told them about his interviews. They all replied that he was lucky since some of them were interviewed over 20 times!!! So I think it’s fair to say that we have it good!?!


If you have any questions you can use the comments below.

Friday 19 October 2007

Industrial Placement Application to Investment Banks

For a start filing in those online applications take ages and whats worse is when you are offered to take the numerical reasoning test and you fail it you are rejected straight away! Then you think "man that was a waste of time". But you just have to remember to keep going. Churchill said "if it feels like your going through hell then keep going".

I have to undertake a year in industry as part of my course. I want a career in an IB (investment banking) - mostly because of the money! ;)

I've applied to about 10 banks and i am still waiting for their response. I've done all the numerical reasoning tests and i have only failed one of the which is quite good i think. For those interested, i failed the Barclays Capital test - they seemed hard for some reason?!

Will keep you updated on my pursuit of working for an IB!

Tuesday 9 October 2007

How to choose a domain name for my website?

I've been racking my brain for months now to find a domain name! I've come up with a few:

www.ithink.com
www.thedebateroom.com
www.freeyourmind.com ;)

But of course with millions of sites that exist these are already taken. Damn. Anyone have any ideas on how i can come up with a name?

Monday 1 October 2007

Laziness & Procrastination - two things that i don't want to exist

My web project is about 60% complete i did all the hard work - the coding, the design etc. Now that i have reached the last stage. I am getting so lazy, i am doing other things and wasting time! Why?!! I don't know, even as i write this blog entry i am supposed to be working on the project. I think i need a new plan of action? I just don't even know where this laziness has come from!

What is laziness? Laziness is the lack of desire to perform work or expend effort.

At least i have some music on
my blog!