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Investment Banking Careers
Home  Investment Banking Careers
Investment Banking is one of the fascinating fields in the world of finance. Interestingly, the first thing about
investment banks is that they’re not banks – not even by the most creative reckoning! They neither collect money
in their accounts nor loan money. They’re specially organized, equipped and licensed financial services, and
advisory organizations mandated to primarily help institutional, organizational, corporate or government clients
raise money (for projects, etc.,) through primary and secondary equity and debt, bond, and derivatives markets.
Due to their fast-paced nature, investment banks offer a lot of opportunities for learning and skill-building, in the
areas of business and finance. The trade-off, however, you will need to be able to cope with stress, long hours and
thrive in a competitive work environment to become an investment banker.
What Are the Types of
Investment Banks?
Investment banks are usually categorized by the size of deals
they negotiate, their geographical location, their areas of
expertise, and the type of financial services/products they offer.
The investment banking landscape is fairly complex by a range of
different business models. Nevertheless, investment banks are
generally identified in one of the following categories:
1. Bulge Bracket Investment Banks:
2. Mid-Market Investment Banks:
3. Elite Boutique Investment Banks:
4. Regional Boutique Investment Banks:
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Sales and Trading, which works with
owners of securities
What do Investment Banks
Look Like?
Typically, large investment banks work through
voluminous groups, covering a range of client-facing or
operational areas. However, most firms can be divided
into three key divisions:
G
e
t
S
t
a
r
t
e
d

2. Core Investment Banking, which works
with issuers of securities (firms and
governments)
Capital Markets, which serves as a
conduit between the owners and the
issuers
What Soft Skills and
Talents Do Investment
Banks Demand?
Investment banks employ some of the finest white-collar talents
from business schools, and the bare minimum expectation –
besides the pedigree – is a combination of strong analytical and
interpersonal skills
Indeed, specific skill-set demands vary across jobs and roles – brokers
need to have killer sales skills, whereas, equity analysts would demand
both analytic and interpersonal skills. It is very important to have a deep
understanding of the financial markets.
What Are the Typical Business Groups in
Investment Banking?
Though only the very best of the talents eventually make it into the best investment banks, to be fair,
even rookie-undergrads are let in by them to join the Analyst roles. MBAs join a rung higher – as
associates. Analysts and associates work within specialized groups (domains or horizontals) but they may
not always have control over the group to which they get assigned (analysts especially).
Some of the commonest Investment Banking horizontals/ Business
Groups are:
Industry or Products Coverage Group/ Domain +
Corporate Finance Horizontal/ Business Group +
Capital Markets & Derivatives Business Group +
Mergers and Acquisitions Business Group +
Project Finance Business Group +
Equity & Bond Trading Business Group +
Structured Finance Solutions Group +

3. Advisory Services Business Group +
Equity and Fixed Income Research Business Group +
International Sales/ Emerging Markets Business Group +
Public Finance Business Group +
Retail Brokerage / Private Client Coverage / Stockbroker +
Institutional Sales +
Ratings Analyst +
What is the Typical Job Hierarchy in Investment
Banking?
To help you envision your career path in this field, it is vital to understand the leading roles and their contributions
to the overall hierarchy. The steps of IB hierarchy include these roles:
Intern
Administrative Responsibility: Low
Salary Range: $50,000 - $60,000 Per annum
Time to Next Level: 2+ months
Summer Analyst Interns
Summer analyst responsibilities
include developing client
presentations, gathering
information, building financial
spreadsheet models, working on
various projects to support client
relations, and assisting banking
teams with day-to-day
responsibilities.
Summer Associate Interns
The responsibilities of a summer
associate are similar to that of a
full-time associate in the
Division. Summer associate
mostly works with a product
group or industry group on a
variety of client and deal
assignments throughout the
summer.
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Analyst
Administrative responsibility: Low/Medium
Salary Range: $100,000 - $150,000 Per
annum
Time to Next Level: 3+ years
Analyst
The responsibilities of an Analyst are to help with project work,
develop and prepare marketing presentations, analyze client equity
and fixed income portfolios, research current trends and assist with
trading and offer general client service and team support.
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Associate
Administrative responsibility: Medium
Salary Range:$110,000 - $300,000 Per
annum
Time to Next Level: 3.5+ years
Associate
Over a three-and-a-half-year period, the associate will be exposed to
transactions in many areas, across different industries, regions, and
products, all the while developing banking and managerial
experience that will prepare them for senior deal management. Day-
to-day responsibilities might include planning, structuring, and
executing financing transactions in the public and private markets,
advising corporations on mergers and acquisitions, and devising and
executing strategies that enable companies and institutions to
capitalize on the value of real estate assets.
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VP
Administrative responsibility: High
Salary Range: $150,000 - $450,000 Per
annum
Time to Next Level: 3+ years
Vice President
The primary role of the Vice President is to be the “project manager,”
whether for marketing activities or on a transaction. It is the VP that
typically decides the structure of the presentation (e.g. a pitch book).
On live engagements, the VP is typically the banker “running the
deal.” The VP must manage clients and guide internal resources to
handle transaction implementation across industry groups. It is often
at the VP level that bankers begin to form valuable relationships with
clients.
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Director
Administrative responsibility: High
Salary Range: $250,000 - $1.5 Million Per
annum (include bonuses)
Time to Next Level: 2 years (sometimes
indefinite)
Director / Senior Vice President / Principal:
The Director or SVP may either act more like a Managing Director
(play a high-level client development role) or more like the VP (play a
project manager role). Sometimes, the Director/SVP’s role will depend
also on the specific situation and/or other deal team members.
Ultimately, for Director/SVPs to be promoted to Managing Director,
they will have to demonstrate that they can form client relationships
and have the ability to market and bring in new business.
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MD
Administrative responsibility: Very High
Salary Range: $500,000 - $ 4 Million Per
annum
(Gross Income may hit $10 Million)
Managing Director
The managing director spends time winning deals and clients,
developing relationships, meeting companies, and providing
direction and vision to team members for management
presentations and client pitches. They act as the primary contact and
advisor to targeted client groups. A Managing director is responsible
for winning most capital markets, M&A, restructuring deals, which
means they are responsible for investment banking revenue.
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