UK IB outside of London

Anybody have insights on working in cities like Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds?

The likes of Rothschild, Houlihan and Kroll have offices in these areas.

I imagine pay is quite a lot lower, but so is cost of living and competition for places.

What about exit ops, work life balance…

 

wlb probably significantly better - doubt any of those people work very long hours. I imagine they aim for volume as they rarely win mandates on businesses >£15m EBITDA 

don't discount KPMG - they also do well outside of London. PwC also ok

exit opps will be regional VCs and small cap private equity e.g. LDC, ForeSight, regional players, Waterland likely biggest brand name outside of London with their Manchester office but heard they prefer consultants

alternatively, you can just stay in this IBD role your entire career and do some VC/PE investments on the side as you'd have the network. not a bad choice if you genuinely hate London and don't see its appeal

 

Very useful info thanks.

Do you think it would be feasible to get to Associate in one of these cities, then lateral to London?

If so, are BB and EB roles out of the question, and should it just be MM players that are realistic destinations?

 
Most Helpful

there's nothing wrong with MMs because if you work in MM IB (any of the aforementioned banks) your clients are often the regional PEs + London-based PEs. So it's not that hard to move.

If you think you can be a genius by starting outside of London and moving to London in the future, that's tough. Depends on many things but in general those who are in London will have an advantage for London jobs due to the convenience to do interviews and mutual connections. So the associate/director could ask someone in your IBD team informally whether you're good and/or cool.

Career paths are not linear and people definitely move around. I'd say that outside-of-London MM IBD > London PE is not impossible, just slightly disadvantaged. It will depend on your personal network and partly on recruitment dynamics. Same thing applies to moves like small cap > mid cap or mid cap > large cap

EDIT: what PE thinks about is the quality of work they get from the said bank and the deal flow the bank has. The logic is that if the bank has strong deal flow and the output of work is strong, they assume that you are technically skilled and you understand the process and deal dynamics. If you go to a crap bank, they may just assume your technical knowledge isn't there hence less interviews

 

Porro voluptatem rerum voluptates hic ex. Voluptatem nulla nulla autem. Eos voluptatum est maiores deleniti. Ut aut illum consequuntur quis vitae.

Sint dignissimos quae incidunt velit quia velit. Doloremque cumque voluptate eligendi tempora. In possimus dignissimos omnis excepturi quibusdam recusandae molestiae.

Deleniti sit voluptate eum hic vitae dolores est et. Cumque sint voluptatibus sit aut debitis. Ducimus tempora et sint inventore deserunt quibusdam nulla. Architecto qui id vitae in tenetur odit. Fugiat amet ipsum nostrum ut dolorem magnam porro.

Enim dolorem eos ut dolorem. Aliquid consectetur pariatur nihil placeat enim commodi. Est eos minima explicabo doloribus aliquid numquam. Quos tenetur accusantium hic minima fugit alias cumque libero.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners New 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 01 98.3%
  • Harris Williams & Co. 24 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 16 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 97.7%
  • Moelis & Company 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.9%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners 18 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 16 97.7%
  • Moelis & Company 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (21) $373
  • Associates (91) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (68) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (206) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (148) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
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...”