Careers in Investment Banking

Careers List in Investment Banking: Below mentioned are some of the Investment Banking Roles that a person can reach in his career.

Investment Banking is a financial services company that engages in financial advisory and capital raising services to individuals, corporate, and government institutions to meet their financial needs. Unlike Commercial Banks, they do not accept deposits from the public; instead, they act as a mediator in underwriting and other financial advisory services.

• Investment banks can be further classified as below :
  • Bulge Bracket: Bulge Bracket refers to the large banks that serve the large corporate and government. They also provide a bouquet of services, including banking, market-making, underwriting, and other financial products.
  • Mid-Market: Mid-Market refers to the banks which focus on mid-level companies.
  • Boutique Banks: Boutique investment banks are small banks specializing in one aspect of IB Services. They generally work on smaller deals.
• They are further classified into buy-side and sell-side. Buy-Side refers to mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds, and other large investment companies. Sell-side refers to the trading of securities for cash or underwriting of services.
• The primary purpose of an investment bank is to assist the company in its Initial Public Offering, acting as a book-running lead manager to the issue and helping the company to go public by listing its equity on the stock exchanges.
• However, there are other ancillary services like M&A, Sales and Trading, and Asset Management, which plays a crucial role in an investment bank.

To make a career in investment banking, one needs to spend 3-5 yrs in a boutique investment bank and then move to a bulge bracket one. It is one of the most favored roles in the finance industry since it requires a high level of expertise and knowledge to execute a transaction. Additionally, the Investment Banking career is one of the highest-paid jobs in the financial services industry regarding bonuses and perks.

Let us discuss the Investment Banking Career Path in detail -

Investment Banking Analyst prepares pitch book presentations on the companies for the senior team members required for the discussion. He has just completed his degree from college and is looking out for a Job in the IB Industry to make a career.

The Investment Banking Associate oversees the work done by the junior analyst and guides him properly in the deal process. He leads the execution of the deal and is the single point of contact between the client and the investor.

The Vice President leads the investment banking division in the company with a team of analysts and associates and reports to the managing director about the profit & loss account. He is responsible for sourcing deals from the market both in the equity and debt space and periodically generates a good amount of revenue for the company.

The managing Director spearheads the company's investment banking business and reports to the board of directors about the financial liquidity and whether it is a concern in operation.

Entry into the Investment banking industry is a bit difficult at the early stages of the career but gradually becomes easy. Investment Banking is one of the most favored roles in the industry since it comes with very high compensation and knowledge. With the kind of technological advancement in the world, the IB industry will double from where it is now. From now on, there will be a lot of scope in the IB profile since not many candidates with that caliber are available in the market to perform this role since it requires senior-level expertise.

This has been a guide to careers in investment banking. Here we provide the list of the top 4 investment banking careers: Analyst, Associate, Vice President, and Managing Director. You may also have a look at these finance articles below -

• Management Accounting Careers
• Career Beyond Investment Banking