Career progression for Investment banking
 

Hi
Let's say im equipped with a Degree from RMIT Econs & Finance, how would someone progress up the investment banking ladder?

I mean do i start as those credit card sales(or do they call it personal bankers) at our local neighborhood banks or do i look for a job at the operations side?

Thank you!

actually both routes are tough, and credit card sales is like being an insurance agent. operations give you exposure to banking but not the front-office. usually one starts off as a coffee boy for the investment bankers like an analyst or something in the front office.

investment banking is like raising capital for companies, so the first step would be to land a job in the right IB.

Unless you graduated from oxbridge or some other ivy league university it is close to impossible to work in one of the bulge bracket investment banks.

Unless you graduated with 1st class honors from our local unis (NUS/NTU/SMU), it is close to impossible to work in one of the local bank's investment banking dept.

So with a degree from RMIT it is near impossible to get into investment bank where fresh IB analysts draw a starting pay of ~$8000.

If you want to have a slim chance, you should start of under corporate banking or SME Banking and slowly hope to one day internal transfer to the IB side. Credit card/Personal banking or operations (worse in consumer banking) are on the totally opposite side of IB and will make it impossible for you to join even at a later date as its under the consumer banking instead of corporate side.

I second this guy. OP, I'm sorry, you have a 0.5% working in an investment bank FO role. I suggest to give it up.

It's not your fault now. It's just that your background, which I know you can't change, is a major hindrance. RMIT and Credit Sales - not a chance.

Outside top 10 investment bank, middle office or compliance role, possibly.

Speaking from an investment banking wannabe in the past. From top 10 US school but didn't get in. Ended up in a hedge fund and liking it. Just a notch below IB pay but got time for clubbing.

do you think those millionaire clients are going to put money in the hands of a RMIT or Ivy student?

I think you are confusing investment banking with private banking. Investment banking involves raising capital for companies / mergers & acquisitions / leveraged buyouts. It is the bankers putting money into the hands of the clients and not the other way round.

this is even worst. Reminds me of Facebook IPO. Given a choice, are these big clients going to put the fate of their companies and future onto a RMIT or Ivy guy?

Forgive me for being naive. Well would it be hard for someone with this degree to make it into corporate banking or rather hedge funds?

How's the pay like in this departments? Cause like I said, I see so many graduates from RMIT doing credit card/insurance. Is it cause the market is bad or what?

Please don't put corporate banking and hedge funds together. Hedge funds is as difficult to enter as investment banking.

Corporate banking is much easier to enter since you can start out doing commercial loan sales / business loan sales which is the equivalent to doing credit card sales on the consumer banking side.

Pay for corporate banking sales / operations is normal like 2.8k for fresh grads etc or higher depending on what role you are doing.

But is there a demand in corporate banking?

ya there is always strong demand for corporate banking staff.

Those covering smaller corporates like business banking and enterprise banking also employ alot of staff. There are many opportunities for business banking hunters, relationship managers, product specialist / managers, cash management services, treasury sales, money market dealers, corporate credit / risk managers, operations, account services, remittance, trade services, credit administration, corporate compliance etc.

Many opportunities.

Well, since it seems like an RMIT degree is capped. How far can corporate banking bring an average joe?

Thank you so much for the info!

Quite far, once you start work it all depends on your work experience and attitude. My friends and I are UOL SIM/RMIT grads. Two are in corporating banking credit one in a offshore bank another in a Japanese bank, one is a enterprise banking relationship manager in a local bank, one is a corporate banking RM in a jap bank.

Another 2 are not in corporate banking. One is in portfolio control SCB private banking and another is in trust/custodian services Citi private bank.

Everyone is doing quite well drawing $6k - $9k in their early 30s.

Yup. Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Investment Banking are a tier of their own. I see it as moving capital and investment at the institutional level. You see the large businesses and buildings around you, they are owned and serviced by the three.

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but what is the likelihood of me switching to IB?
I have 7 years engineering experience in US (UCLA undergrad) currently doing UCLA MBA part time and will be interning at a corporate banking division of the largest bank in the world (by market cap). Will the switch be possible without an IB internship? Thanks

Close to none.

Depends. Nothing is ever confirmed - you should just try. However, you'll need to know about the finance industry as well as what IB entails.

IB for pre-MBA and IB for post-MBA tend to be slightly different; this is the reason why you may have the chance of getting into IB. Post-MBA, IB has a tendency to have a more coverage-function. That is, you source for customers (somewhat similar to corporate banking). That said, the position really differs from bank to bank, and from region to region.

In short: Just try to network your way through. There's a small chance that you'll be able to make the switch.