đ Note
This recent grad chatted with Prosple on the condition of staying anonymous â name, position, employer, country and all! But they assure us their experience is pretty much what you'd find in investment banking across the region. We've translated their words into multiple languages, edited for clarity, and formatted for ease-of-reading.
So, an investment bank basically does two big things:
Advisory services: That's when we help companies merge or buy other companies. So, if a client wants to buy another business, we step in and find the best match for them.
Capital markets: This is us helping clients raise money, either through debt or equity. So, we can help a non-listed company attract investors or even help governments issue bonds to raise funds for stuff like national budgets.
Our clients are a mixed bagâfrom non-listed companies to public ones, international financial institutions, governments, you name it. But mostly, we deal with companies.
For individual clients, we've got another division that handles things like private banking, wealth management, and investment services. But my team is all about the corporate side.
To get the roles, you've got to understand the setup. This is pretty standard across international investment banks in the region.
In each country, there's a local team handling ALL clients there. Sounds impossible, right? How can just five bankers serve an entire country? That's where regional hubs come in. For usâand most international banks in the regionâthose would be the offices in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Depending on where you are, there are three main roles:
Coverage bankers: That's me! I'm part of a team that looks after clients in a specific Southeast Asian country. Weâre called âcoverage bankersâ because we âcoverâ a country.
Product bankers: These folks specialize in stuff like "M&A across Southeast Asia or Asia Pacific."
Sector bankers: These are the industry experts. You've got teams focusing on real estate deals, consumer & retail, infrastructure, and so on.
In other words, coverage bankers are like generalist, client-facing representatives of the bank while product and sector bankers are specialist bankers that work across the region.
Like let's say in the Philippines, thereâs an infrastructure M&A deal. The team that will work on that project will be a combination of:
The local (coverage) bankers,
Product bankers from the hub that specialize in M&A, and
Sector bankers from the hub that specialize in infrastructure.
đ Note
M&A is short for âmergers and acquisitions,â which are complex deals where two companies become one single company or one company buys another. Investment bankers play a key role in these processes by figuring out how much a company is worth, negotiating deals, and making sure everything goes according to plan.
People usually start off as analysts. After about three yearsâor depending on the bank's specific programâyou get promoted to associate.
As an analyst, you're generally part of a specialized team. Like I mentioned earlier, there are sector bankers and product bankers, and then there's my roleâI'm a coverage banker.
Top local banks have investment banking divisions too. The main difference is that global banks have a worldwide network that we use to help our clients.
For example, if we're working on an M&A deal and our client wants to reach out to companies across continents, we can tap into our global network. We're not just limited to local markets; we can connect with international investors.
And when we're not collaborating with colleagues from other regions, we're teaming up with our regional colleagues in Singapore or Hong Kong.
But let's be clear: local banks are not second-rate in any way. We often partner with them on deals.
As coverage bankers, we're essentially the face of the bank, so it's a pretty active job. A big chunk of our day is spent in meetings. We meet with:
Clients and investors to discuss the specifics of a deal or pitch new ideas
People from our bank (or other banks) who are working on the same project
Lawyers and accountants
Another major part of the job involves due diligence and creating presentations. That often means visiting client offices and facilities to get a better understanding of their operations.
For those based in regional hubs like Singapore or Hong Kong, some travel is involved. For example, if there's an important deal happening in another country, they'll fly over for brainstorming sessions with the client.
So, it's a mix of time spent at our desks and time out in the field, talking to people. Some teams do spend most of their time at their desks, especially if their work involves a lot of number-crunching and financial modeling. But for us, it's a blend of office time and being out and about, which keeps the job interesting.
I've tried out various roles in the finance sector, but investment banking appealed the most to me because of the impact of the work.
Say we're working with the government to raise funds for the national budget. When we complete a deal, it feels like we've had a hand in making the country better. Or, let's say we help a company build roads or generate electricity. That's not just business; it's improving lives and connecting communities.
Like any job, things can get a bit repetitive. But what keeps it fresh for me is knowing that the work we do actually makes a difference.
One of the perks of this job is the opportunity to interact with top-tier business leaders â even when youâre just a junior banker. It's one thing to read about an industry in the news, but hearing it straight from the horse's mouth from people who are on the ground everyday? Thatâs invaluable.
Iâm not breaking any new ground here, but the hours are long. With just a handful of us bankers in each country, you can imagine how swamped we get. We're talking about a small team juggling a ton of transactions and client relationships. So yeah, the work-life balance is a bit skewed.
But itâs not the long hours that make it sad or frustrating. It's what those hours take away fromâtime with family, friends, and personal pursuits. And if you're thinking that moving up the ranks will ease the schedule, that's not usually the case. The long hours are fairly consistent across levels.
At the end of the day, every job has its pros and cons. If work-life balance is a top priority for you, then investment banking might not be the best fit. However, if it's something that gives you a sense of achievement, or maybe if the financial benefits make it worthwhile, or maybe it's something you're genuinely interested in, then itâs definitely worth considering.
I clock in around 80 hours a week, and I start each day at 8:30 am. The workload can fluctuate depending on the deals we're juggling. For instance, if we're closing in on several deals, things can get pretty intense. On the flip side, during end-of-year holidays or mid-year breaks when investors are less active, the pace slows down a bit. So, it's really varies.
The pandemic definitely shook up our work arrangements, with some teams adopting a more flexible work-from-home policy. Though I'm mostly in the office every day.
Iâd say this also depends a lot on your location, firm, and team. For example, work setups in the U.S. might not offer as much flexibility as we have here in Southeast Asia.
Having a basic understanding of finance should be a given. There are lots of resources online to help you get started, both free and paid. For example, I took classes on this website called âBreaking Into Wall Street.â
But donât stress over mastering complicated concepts, at least not for interviews. What's more important is having a grasp of the fundamentals.
At the end of the day, there are more candidates than there are openings each year. So, relying solely on your technical knowledge won't cut it. In fact, Iâd say thatâs just a basic expectation for anyone looking to enter the field.
What can give you an edge is networking. Don't underestimate the power of making connections in the industry.
I did this by cold emailing investment bankers. Sure, the success rate might not be high, but what do you have to lose? Fire off those emails and also try to connect with people on LinkedIn. Ask for introductions if you can.
I can't give you a magic script that guarantees a response, but I can tell you this: persistence is your friend. Reach out to as many people as you can. Every interaction, no matter how small, brings you one step closer to your goal.
Many international banks prefer to bring people on board as interns before offering full-time positions. To give you an idea, I started as an intern in a six-month program, and that led to a full-time offer.
So, if you're contemplating a career in investment banking, an internship could be a smart move.
At least from what I've seen, they do consider the quality of the school, the quality of the school you attend does matter to some extent, but it's not as stringent as what you might find in Western countries.
For context, I applied to be an intern, so I can share the process for internship applications. The process is fairly standard across most international banks and usually involves two main steps: assessments and interviews.
First up, you'll go through an assessment designed to gauge your technical skills. In my case, it was an online test.
Next, you'll have a series of interviews. I had three one-on-one interviews with bankers from different teams and seniority levels. Typically, you'll start off with someone more junior, and as you progress, you'll meet with more senior bankers, culminating in a final interview with someone like a managing director.
The interviews can be a bit nerve-wracking, to be honest. You've got this one opportunity to make an impression, and since the interviewer is meeting a lot of candidates. So, you really want to stand out.
On the flip side, the interviews also give you a fantastic opportunity to get to know different areas of the bank.
I think it depends on the interviewer. There's no set script that interviewers have to stick to. So, it's wise to be ready for anything.
Here are the two main things that seem to matter the most:
Culture fit: Some interviewers might assess how well you'd fit into the team, including things like your personality traits, your character, and things like how you handle stress and whether youâre able to think creatively.
Technical knowledge: Other interviewers might test your knowledge of finance.
Itâs helpful to keep in mind that with the long hours, people just want to make sure that they work with people who have the same values or at least a good work ethic.
The biggest reason would be the long hours. Some people just don't want to spend so much of their life working. Some get tired, physically.
Others just want to try something new â because the work can get a bit repetitive, after all. At the end of the day, it really boils down to a person's priority at every stage of their life.
Some people leave the finance sector altogether. But based on my observations, these are the most common exit options:
Private equity is a popular next stepâmany in investment banking have their sights set on that.
Moving in-house and working for corporations is another path. In banking, you're constantly interacting with clients, and those relationships can lead to opportunities within those companies or industries. I've seen colleagues transition to roles like business development within a client's company.
Venture capital and startups are another thing I sometimes see people transitioning to.
Search Prosple â we've curated a selection of quality internships for students like you đ