Vault Guide

TOP 50 BANKING EMPLOYERS, 2010 EDITION 2010 EDITION

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®

VAULT GUIDE TO THE

TOP 50 BANKING EMPLOYERS DEREK LOOSVELT AND THE STAFF AT VAULT

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Copyright © 2009 by Vault.com, Inc. All rights reserved. All information in this book is subject to change without notice. Vault makes no claims as to the accuracy and reliability of the information contained within and disclaims all warranties. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Vault.com Inc. Vault, the Vault logo, and “The Most Trusted Name in Career InformationTM” are trademarks of Vault.com, Inc. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, contact Vault.com, Inc., 75 Varick Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10013, (212) 366-4212. Library of Congress CIP Data is available. ISBN 13 : 978-1-58131-835-7 Printed in the United States of America

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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION

1

A Guide to this Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

OVERVIEW OF THE BANKING INDUSTRY

3

What’s What? Industry Overviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Investment Banking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Commercial Banking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 The State of the Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

THE VAULT PRESTIGE RANKINGS

11

The Ranking Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 The Vault 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

THE VAULT QUALITY OF LIFE RANKINGS

17

Quality of Life Ranking Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Best 15 Firms to Work For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Overall Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Selectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Treatment by Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Business Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Green Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

DIVERSITY RANKINGS

31

Best 15 Firms For Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Diversity with Respect to Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Diversity with Respect to Gays & Lesbians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

THE VAULT 50

37

1. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 2. The Blackstone Group L.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 3. Morgan Stanley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 4. J.P. Morgan Investment Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Table of Contents

5. Lazard Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 6. Greenhill & Co., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 7. Credit Suisse's Investment Banking Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 8. Evercore Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 9. Deutsche Bank AG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 10. Rothschild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 11. Barclays Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 12. Perella Weinberg Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 13. Moelis & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 14. UBS Investment Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106 15. Houlihan Lokey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113 16. Jefferies & Company, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118 17. Citi Institutional Clients Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124 18. HSBC North America Holdings Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130 19. Wells Fargo & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 20. Allen & Company LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142 21. Bank of America Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145 22. Macquarie Group (U.S.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152 23. Piper Jaffray Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156 24. Oppenhiemer & Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160 25. RBC Capital Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163 26. Nomura Holdings, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168 27. Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173 28. Chase Commercial Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178 29. Dresdner Kleinwort* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182 30. BNP Paribas SA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186 31. Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190 32. Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195 33. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (Wholesale Banking Division) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198 34. Centerview Partners LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203 35. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209 36. Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213 37. Broadpoint Gleacher Securities Group, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218 38. William Blair & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222 39. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228 40. Cowen and Company, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233 41. Citi Consumer Banking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238 *Folded into Commerzbank AG's corporates and markets division on September 1, 2009; the Dresdner Kleinwort name was dropped

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42. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244 43. Raymond James Financial, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248 44. Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253 45. Peter J. Solomon Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258 46. KPMG Corporate Finance LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263 47. U.S. Bancorp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266 48. BMO Capital Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .270 49. Morgan Keegan & Co., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275 50. BB&T Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279

THE BEST OF THE REST

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Bank Leumi USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .286 The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289 Calyon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294 Canaccord Adams Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .298 Caris & Company, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .301 Cascadia Capital LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304 Comerica Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .307 Duff & Phelps Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311 FBR Capital Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .316 Fifth Third Bancorp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321 First Horizon National Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325 FOCUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .329 Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller (USA) LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .332 JMP Securities LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335 KeyCorp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .338 Leerink Swann LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .342 Lloyds Banking Group PLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .345 M&T Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349 McGladrey Capital Markets LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .354 PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .360 Stephens Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .366 Stifel Financial Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .370 SunTrust Banks, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .373 Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .380 TD Securities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .384 ThinkEquity LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .389

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Union Bank, N.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .392 Webster Financial Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .395 WR Hambrecht + Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .399

ABOUT THE EDITOR

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A Guide to this Guide All of our profiles follow the same basic format. Here’s a guide to each entry.

FIRM FACTS Departments: The firm’s major divisions. The Stats: Basic information about the firm, usually information that’s available to the general public. This includes the firm’s leadership (generally, the person responsible for day-to-day operations, though it can include the chairman and relevant department heads), employer type (e.g., public, private or subsidiary), ticker symbol and exchange (if public), 2008 revenue and net income (usually only for public companies; we do have some estimates from third-party sources for private companies and, in some cases, the firm has confirmed that information), number of employees and number of offices. Key Competitors: The firm’s main business rivals. Size, business lines, geography and reputation are taken into account when evaluating rivals. Uppers and Downers: The best and worst things, respectively, about working at the firm. Uppers and downers are taken from the opinions of insiders based on our surveys and interviews. Employment Contact: The person (or people) that the firm identifies as its contact(s) for submitting resumes or employment inquiries. We’ve supplied as much information as possible, including names, titles, mailing addresses, phone or fax numbers, email addresses and websites. As companies process resumes differently, the amount of information may vary. For example, some firms ask that all employment-related inquiries be sent to a central processing office, while other firms mandate that all job applications be submitted through the company website. The Buzz: When conducting our prestige survey, we asked respondents to include comments about the firms they were rating. Survey respondents were not able to comment on their own firm. We collected a sampling of these comments in The Buzz. We tried to include quotes that represented the common outside perceptions of a given firm. The quotes may not always reflect what insiders say in our surveys and interviews. We think The Buzz is a way of gauging outside opinion of a company.

THE PROFILES Most profiles are divided into three sections: The Scoop, Getting Hired and Our Survey Says (some profiles have only Scoop and Getting Hired sections). The Scoop: The company’s history, a description of the business, recent clients or deals and other significant developments. Getting Hired: An overview of the company’s hiring process, including a description of campus recruiting procedures, the number of interviews, questions asked and other tips on getting hired. Our Survey Says: Quotes from surveys and interviews done with employees or recent employees at the company. This includes information on culture, pay, hours, training, diversity, offices, dress code and other important company insights.

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OVERVIEW OF THE BANKING

INDUSTRY

The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition What’s What Industry Overviews

What’s What? Industry Overviews INVESTMENT BANKING Investment banking is the business of raising money for companies. Companies need capital to grow their business; they turn to investment banks to sell securities to investors—either public or private—to raise this capital. These securities come in the form of stocks or bonds. Generally, an investment bank comprises the following areas:

Corporate finance The bread and butter of a traditional investment bank, corporate finance generally performs two different functions: 1) mergers and acquisitions advisory, and 2) underwriting. On the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advising side of corporate finance, bankers assist in negotiating and structuring a merger between two companies. If, for example, a company wants to buy another firm, then an investment bank will help finalize the purchase price, structure the deal and generally ensure a smooth transaction. The underwriting function within corporate finance involves raising capital for a client. In the investment banking world, capital can be raised by selling either stocks or bonds to investors.

Sales Sales is another core component of an investment bank. Salespeople take the form of: 1) the classic retail broker, 2) the institutional salesperson, or 3) the private client service representative. Brokers develop relationships with individual investors and sell stocks and stock advice to the average Joe. Institutional salespeople develop business relationships with large institutional investors—those who manage large groups of assets, like pension funds or mutual funds. Private client service (PCS) representatives, often referred to as private wealth managers, lie somewhere between retail brokers and institutional salespeople, providing brokerage and money management services for extremely wealthy individuals. Salespeople make money through commissions on trades made through their firms.

Trading Traders also provide a vital role for the investment bank. Traders facilitate the buying and selling of stock, bonds or other securities, either by carrying an inventory of securities for sale or by executing a given trade for a client. Traders deal with transactions, large and small, and provide liquidity (the ability to buy and sell securities) for the market—often called making a market. Traders make money by purchasing securities and selling them at a slightly higher price. This price differential is called the “bid-ask spread.”

Research Research analysts follow stocks and bonds and make recommendations on whether to buy, sell or hold those securities. Stock analysts (known as equity analysts) typically focus on one industry and will cover up to 20 companies’ stocks at any given time. Some research analysts work on the fixedincome side and will cover a particular segment, such as high-yield bonds or U.S. Treasury bonds. Salespeople within the investment bank utilize research published by analysts to convince their clients to buy or sell securities through their firm. Corporate finance bankers rely on research analysts to be experts in the industry in which they are working. Reputable research analysts can generate substantial corporate finance business and substantial trading activity, and thus are an integral part of any investment bank.

Syndicate The hub of the investment banking wheel, syndicate provides a vital link between salespeople and corporate finance. Syndicate exists to facilitate the placing of securities in a public offering, a knock-down-drag-out affair between and among buyers of offerings and the investment banks managing the process. In a corporate or municipal debt deal, syndicate also determines the allocation of bonds.

COMMERCIAL BANKING Commercial banks, unlike investment banks, generally act as lenders, putting forth their own money to support businesses as opposed to investment advisors who rely on other folks—buyers of stocks and bonds—to pony up cash. This distinction, enshrined by fundamental banking laws in place since the 1930s, has led to noticeable cultural differences (exaggerated by stereotype) between commercial and investment bankers. Commercial bankers (deservedly or not) have a reputation for being less aggressive, more risk-averse and simply not as “mean” as investment bankers. Commercial bankers also don’t command the eye-popping salaries and prestige that investment bankers receive.


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition What’s What Industry Overviews

There is a basis for the stereotype. Commercial banks carefully screen borrowers because the banks are investing huge sums of their own money in companies that must remain healthy enough to make regular loan payments for decades. Investment bankers, on the other hand, can make their fortunes in one day by skimming off some of the money raised in a stock offering or invested into an acquisition. While a borrower’s subsequent business decline can damage a commercial bank’s bottom line, a stock that plummets after an offering has no effect on the investment bank that managed its IPO.

We’ll take your money Commercial bankers make money by their legal charter to take deposits from businesses and consumers. To gain the confidence of these depositors, commercial banks offer government-sponsored guarantees on these deposits on amounts up to $100,000. But to get FDIC guarantees, commercial banks must follow a myriad of regulations (and hire regulators to manage them). Many of these guidelines were set up in the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which was meant to separate the activities of commercial and investment banks. Glass-Steagall included a restriction on the sale of stocks and bonds (investment banks, which could not take deposits, were exempt from banking laws and free to offer more speculative securities offerings). Deregulation—especially the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999—and consolidation in the banking industry over the past decade have weakened these traditional barriers.

The lending train The typical commercial banking process is fairly straightforward. The lending cycle starts with consumers depositing savings or businesses depositing sales proceeds at the bank. The bank, in turn, puts aside a relatively small portion of the money for withdrawals and to pay for possible loan defaults. The bank then loans the rest of the money to companies in need of capital to pay for, say, a new factory or an overseas venture. A commercial bank’s customers can range from the dry cleaner on the corner to a multinational conglomerate. For very large clients, several commercial banks may band together to issue “syndicated loans” of truly staggering sizes. Commercial banks lend money at interest rates that are largely determined by the Federal Reserve Board (currently governed by Ben Bernanke). Along with lending money that they have on deposit from clients, commercial banks lend out money that they have received from the Fed. The Fed loans out money to commercial banks, which in turn lend it to bank customers in a variety of forms—standard loans, mortgages and so on. Besides its ability to set a baseline interest rate for all loans, the Fed also uses its lending power to equalize the economy. To prevent inflation, the Fed raises the interest rate it charges for the money it loans to banks, slowing down the circulation of money and the growth of the economy. When it wants to encourage economic growth, the Fed will lower the interest rate it charges banks.

Making money by moving money Take a moment to consider how a bank makes its money. Commercial banks in the U.S. earn 5 to 14 percent interest on most of their loans. As commercial banks typically only pay depositors 1 percent—if anything—on checking accounts and 2 to 3 percent on savings accounts, they make a tremendous amount of money in the difference between the cost of their funds (1 percent for checking account deposits) and the return on the funds they loan (5 to 14 percent).

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition The State of the Industry

THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY The age of the bailout When the world of finance was rocked by billion-dollar write-downs, mass layoffs, declarations of bankruptcy, rumors of nationalization of the world’s biggest banks and grim-faced government officials unveiling plans to bail out financial institutions, experts from New York to Tokyo turned to each another and asked, “What just happened?” We’ll be parsing the events of 2007, 2008 and 2009 for decades to come; the scope of the crisis fallout—and blame—is still being assessed. For now, we know that the banking landscape has been permanently changed. In a nutshell, here’s what happened. The U.S. housing market, which had risen steadily through 1990s, finally began to slow down. At the same time, mortgage lenders were making increasingly risky loans—approving mortgages for “subprime” customers who were at high risk of defaulting. (Later, the world heard horror stories about unemployed people being approved for expensive home loans, despite having no real proof of income.) Meanwhile, banks had figured out ways to securitize home loans and the risks involved with them, packaging and slicing these new securities into arcane derivatives. These derivatives wound their way through the world’s financial system, piling up in banks’ balance sheets. This created a ticking time bomb: as people began defaulting on their mortgage payments, these assets’ values evaporated, leading to massive write-downs and losses. In fall 2008, the world’s investment banks were in a state of panic, fearing for their own—and others’—safety. Things that looked like assets on paper proved worthless. Because of the way credit risk was spread through the system, banks began freezing lines of credit to other banks and consumers: no one knew for sure who was liquid and who was on the verge of collapse. The credit crunch slammed the brakes on an already-slowing economy, and banks, mortgage lenders, insurers and public companies scrambled to avoid bankruptcy. Some were successful; some were not. It’s unsurprising, then, that banking revenue has been less than stellar lately. Banks’ earnings soared through 2005, 2006 and the first half of 2007. Then came the downswing. According to Dealogic, in the first quarter of 2009, global investment banking revenue was $9.2 billion, down from $15.4 billion in first quarter 2008, and far from the peak of $26 billion in the second quarter of 2007. Because the U.S. and Europe were hardest-hit by the global recession, Asia (and, to an extent, the Middle East and Africa) has risen in relative importance and fee income. Some banks have begun shifting resources to the East, where private equity and a reasonably stable financial system have relatively kept deals flowing.

Giants fall Perhaps the most lasting legacy of the financial crisis will be its impact on banking’s biggest players. Bear Stearns was the first to collapse, and the U.S. government helped engineer a sale of Bear to JPMorgan Chase in March 2008. Lehman Brothers toppled into bankruptcy in September 2008 and was sold in pieces to Nomura Securities, which now owns its European and Asia Pacific businesses, and to Barclays, which owns its North American operations. (The U.S. government’s refusal to step in for Lehman, as it had for Bear, remains a source of anger and bewilderment for its former employees.) Also during September 2008, after 94 years in business as an independent investment bank, Merrill Lynch (part of the so-called bulge bracket) admitted defeat and agreed to be sold to Bank of America. That left Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as the last independent bulge bracket banks on Wall Street. But even they succumbed. In late September 2008, both banks received permission from U.S. regulators to convert themselves into bank holding companies, a restructuring move that allowed them to receive government assistance—but also left them bound by strict regulations and rules regarding leverage and risk-taking. This raised an important point: in the U.S. (and in the U.K.), banks that took government assistance (“bailout funds”) faced the imposition of new operating requirements. In other words, the government poured billions into its banks and thus wanted a say in how they’re run, especially in light of the fact that many industry observers blamed loosely regulated derivatives trading for fueling the crisis. Will banks—or the banks that acquired them—ever go back to their unfettered ways? Perhaps. In some cases, banks will be able to win back some freedom if they can repay their bailout allotments (many of them have already repaid). But the bottom line is the days of high-flying, overleveraged risk-taking are over, at least in the near term. International and local regulators, politicians and taxpayers are watching banks like hawks, keeping an eye on everything from executive compensation to the state of their balance sheets.

Commercial consolidation In the wake of subprime crisis, two huge commercial banking firms were swallowed by even larger firms. In September 2008, not long after the fall and purchase of Bear Stearns, another bank’s failure resulted in a major acquisition for JPMorgan Chase. When Washington Mutual Bank, the country’s biggest savings and loan, collapsed in spectacular fashion—it was shut down by the Office of Thrift Supervision, placed into FDIC receivership and awarded the dubious title of “largest American bank failure”—JPMorgan Chase was there to pick up the debris, acquiring WaMu’s 2,200 branches and its $135 billion in deposits for $1.836 billion. Of course, an acquisition of that size meant there would be significant job cuts due to overlap. In


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total, JPMorgan said it would slash 12,000 positions as part of its integration of Washington Mutual. WaMu branches, which reopened for business upon completion of the acquisition, are undergoing a rebranding process slated to be complete by the end of 2009. Also in the third quarter 2008, Wells Fargo agreed to acquire North Carolina-based Wachovia Corporation for about $15 billion, creating the fourthlargest bank in assets in the U.S. and the largest retail branch banking network in the country. The marriage didn’t exactly take place with everyone holding their peace. Originally, Citigroup had won Wachovia’s hand, striking a deal to acquire Wachovia’s banking operations—but not its brokerage and asset management units. The Wells Fargo deal, however, covered all of Wachovia and thus was considered to be the better one for Wachovia’s shareholders (the pershare price of that deal was much higher). Unsurprisingly, Citi wasn’t pleased and contested the Wells Fargo transaction, filing a lawsuit seeking $20 billion in compensation and $40 billion in punitive damages for interfering in its deal. A session of legal wrangling followed, including a bid by Citigroup to prevent the merger. Though Citigroup soon dropped the legal challenge that would have prohibited Wells Fargo from acquiring Wachovia, it still plans on seeking nearly $60 billion worth in damages. Meanwhile, the Wells Fargo-Wachovia merger became official on December 31, 2008.

The old-fashioned merger In June 2009, Morgan Stanley combined its global wealth management group with three Citigroup businesses: U.K.-based Quilter, Smith Barney Australia and Citi Smith Barney. Operating under the name Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, the joint venture is comprised of 18,500 financial advisors in 1,000 offices worldwide, with more than $1.3 trillion in client assets. In effect, Citi sold a 51 percent majority stake in the joint venture to Morgan Stanley for $2.7 billion. Upon the closing of the deal, it was reported that Morgan Stanley was expected to acquire full control in various phases over the next five years. Currently, Morgan Stanley Co-President James Gorman serves as chairman of the new company.

Enjoy the TARP In October 2008, several of the largest banking firms in the country were given capital to strengthen their balance sheets under the U.S. government’s highly publicized (and highly scrutinized) Troubled Asset Relief Program, commonly referred to as TARP. Recipients of TARP funds included Citigroup ($45 billion), Bank of America ($45 billion), Goldman Sachs ($10 billion), Morgan Stanley ($10 billion), JPMorgan Chase ($25 billion), Wells Fargo ($25 billion), SunTrust ($3.5 billion) and the Bank of New York Mellon ($3 billion), among many others. In all, about 70 firms took TARP funds (in addition to banking firms, insurance giant American International group, automakers Chrysler and GM, and auto finance companies Chrysler Financial and GMAC received significant funds under the program). In April 2009, four banks (Signature Bank, Old National Bancorp, Iberiabank and Bank of Marin Bancorp) became the first wave to begin repaying money borrowed under TARP. In June 2009, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and seven other lucky firms were also given the green light to repay a collective $68.3 billion borrowed under the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. Two months later, Bank of America said it would soon begin paying back some of its TARP money. And in September 2009, Wells Fargo indicated it wouldn’t be long until it repaid its TARP funds, adding that since it was in such solid financial shape, it wouldn’t have to issue additional equity to do so (like a few other banks were forced to do). Failure to repay bailout money could have serious consequences for U.S. banks such as Citi and Bank of America, which both don’t have any plans to fully pay off their Uncle Sam debt any time soon. President Barack Obama has called for a $500,000 cap on salaries and bonuses for bailed-out banks’ executives, and suggested that firm “excesses” (like private jets and corporate sponsorships) should be posted online for taxpayers to see.

Losses, layoffs, clawbacks and pay czars Losses and write-offs led to layoffs, bonus cuts and pay freezes at many top banks in 2008 and 2009. For the full-year 2008, the financial services sector cut over 225,000 jobs worldwide. Banks took severe hits to headcount, with cuts coming from virtually all of the biggest firms, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Credit Suisse and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, among others. Jobs will likely recover before salaries do, and it may be some time before bankers can count on receiving the colossal paychecks and bonuses to which they were accustomed. Most bankers in finished 2008 with a wary “wait and see” approach about their compensation. Uncertainty about base salary raises and bonus payouts made it difficult for many people to predict what they’d be making in a year, let alone in a few years (unlike the old days, when promotions and raises were fairly locked in). And at the uppermost levels of the boardroom, CEOs have come under increased pressure from lawmakers to cut compensation for the highest-paid executives, and to bring bonuses in line with profits. Many CEOs have already responded to the pressure. Citi’s Vikram Pandit famously announced in February 2009 that he would forego a bonus and only make a $1 annual salary until his firm starts making money again (the announcement came after Pandit took home a total of $10.8 million in 2008). Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack also decided not to take home a bonus (for 2008) and implemented a firmwide bonus “clawback” provision— starting in 2009, all Morgan Stanley senior executives became subject to a performance-linked compensation plan tying their payouts to the firm’s return on equity, total shareholder return and the firm’s return on equity relative to other banks. Citi, Morgan Stanley and other firms, including UBS and Credit Suisse, also increased salaries while decreasing bonuses, giving appearances, at least, that they were decreasing incentive compensation, which had come under fire for increasing risk-taking.

8



In June 2009, a few months after President Obama announced his salary cap, he appointed a “pay czar” to oversee executive compensation for firms that took money from the U.S. Obama gave Washington, D.C., lawyer Kenneth Feinberg the power to establish pay for 175 executives working at seven of the country’s biggest companies—AIG, Citi, Chrysler, Chrysler Financial, GM, GMAC and Bank of America—which all received billions of TARP dollars. In his role as pay czar, Feinberg will determine both base pay and bonuses for top executives at the companies. Feinberg, who reports to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner but is said to have nearly complete autonomy, also has the power to activate clawback provisions, meaning he can reclaim compensation that’s already been given to executives (this extends to all TARP firms, even those that have repaid their funds.) Feinberg is expected to rule on executive compensation proposals and guidelines by the end of October 2009. Before becoming pay czar for the Obama administration, Feinberg worked as a lawyer, founding his own firm, The Feinberg Group, in 1993. He has been involved in a number of high-profile cases over the years, including asbestos-damage lawsuits and the Virginia Tech massacre lawsuit in 2007. Perhaps his most well-known case, however, was working pro bono as the head of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, where he decided benefits and assigned financial values to the lives of victims of the attack. He consequently wrote the book What Is Life Worth? as a narration of his work in the case. While Feinberg began to review executives’ paychecks, there were signs that the mass banking firings had turned into hiring, at least at a few firms. In May 2009, Barclays Capital announced that it would hire hundreds of new bankers by the end of the year (as BarCap reshuffled people to accommodate its purchase of Lehman in North America, positions opened up). And in August 2009, Morgan Stanley announced it would hire about 400 traders and bankers, on the heels of its main competitor, Goldman Sachs, having an extraordinary quarter. (Goldman booked $3.44 billion in net income for second quarter 2009, up from $2.09 billion in the same period of the previous year. The rise was largely due to the bank’s fixed income, currency and commodities trading division, which increased net revenue by more than 50 percent to $6.8 billion.)

Big banks, small banks In recent years, several “boutique” investment banks—small, independent firms—have been on the rise, in some cases challenging their larger competitors for deals and, more recently, for talent. Among the preeminent boutiques today are Greenhill & Co., Evercore Partners, Moelis & Company, Perella Weinburg Partners and Centerview Partners; each have between 125 and 300 employees—and none have been around for that long. In 1996, former Morgan Stanley President Bob Greenhill started his eponymous firm; in the same year, two former Blackstone insiders partnered to create a bank called Evercore. Ten years later, in 2006, an ex-Goldman insider and former Morgan Stanley banker got together to hatch Perella Weinberg; Centerview was born the same year when veterans of Morgan, Wasserstein Perella and UBS joined forces. Moelis & Company, the infant in the advisory game at 14 months old, takes its name from another former UBS dealmaker, Ken Moelis, whose resume contains some of the highestprofile firms of investment banking’s yesteryear: Drexel Burnham Lambert and DLJ (Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette). More recently, Moelis transformed a second-rate UBS into a global M&A player. For most boutiques, the selling point is simple: world-class service (their founders and top executives are often refugees from bigger banks) with a personal touch. Clients who worry about getting lost in the shuffle at, say, J.P. Morgan may turn to a boutique for personalized advisory and a guarantee of independence—boutiques that focus solely on advisory services are less likely to run into conflicts of interest with research and sales departments. Since they lack the trading floors and vast securities portfolios of their mega-rivals, boutiques have been largely untouched in the financial crisis. If anything, they’ve been able to pick up business, presenting themselves as a safer alternative to banks that are being kept alive by taxpayer funds. And for experienced bankers, they’ve been desirable places to land to avoid the prospect of increased government regulation—specifically, salary capping. In the first half of 2009, Moelis & Company, which now ranks among the top 15 M&A advisors in the U.S., mined senior bankers from Merrill, Citi, UBS, Morgan Stanley and the firm formerly known as Bear Stearns. Evercore Partners, another top M&A advisor, recently picked up senior-level personnel from Bank of America as well as UBS. And Centerview Partners—which ranked No. 13 worldwide in M&A advisory work in 2008, pummeling Evercore and Moelis in total deal volume—picked up three high-ranking ex-Merrill bankers in one month in early 2009. In 2008, Greenhill hired bankers away from Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and UBS Investment Bank, bringing in a total of 14 bankers, each with more than 20 years of experience. Greenhill’s co-CEO Scott Bok ended a recent press releases announcing the hiring of two ex-UBS executive by bragging that the “flow of talented bankers from the historic bulge bracket investment banks to Greenhill continues.” The flow Bok speaks of also continued to several other firms, including Perella Weinberg Partners, Houlihan Lokey, Jefferies, Piper Jaffray and Sander O’Neill—as well as to brand new firms. In one of the most significant ground breakings of 2009, Robert Morse, the ex-chief executive of Citigroup’s Asia investment banking business, raised $1 billion to start to his own Hong Kong-headquartered bank called Primus Financial Holdings. Morse, who’s partnering with two other ex-Citi bankers, plans to focus on the Asia market but will also do business in Europe and the U.S., likely making acquisitions of divisions of established firms along the way. In an interview with Reuters, Morse cited the trend of executives moving from big firms to smaller ones as a reason for Primus’ founding, saying that “a lot” of bankers have become “unsatisfied with where their institutions are or where their jobs are going … so the availability of talent is very high.” Morse also pointed out that the big Citi and other large banks aren’t exactly afraid of small firms like Primus making too large of a dent in its business.


9


Bankers vs. traders Investment banks have long contained two cultures: traders and corporate finance advisers. It was the latter who traditionally became firms’ chief executives and chairmen. The lines have blurred, however, as former traders have risen in prominence at their respective firms. (Some corporate financiers have responded by heading out on their own to start boutique advisory firms.) Among the traders who worked their way to the top: Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, a former commodities trader; Huw Jenkins, who led UBS until stepping down in 2007 after massive losses at the investment bank; and Oswald Grubel, a former floor trader who served as CEO of Credit Suisse until taking over for Jenkins at UBS. Speaking of losses, traditional trading at investment banks consisted of dealing in equities, bonds and basic financial derivatives for currency and interest rate products. That changed when banks began inventing new kinds of derivatives, an effort to wring more return from, well, just about anything. New types of derivatives allow banks to trade contracts based on future energy prices, complicated bundles of currency prices, even the odds of another company defaulting on its debt. What’s more, investment banks and brokerage firms used to act only as agents: they bought and sold securities on behalf of their clients. Now they’re just as likely to be principals in trades, using firm assets to make their own bets. When they get it right, traders have reaped big rewards for their employers. When they get it wrong, as the world discovered in 2007 and 2008, the losses can be devastating. Compounding these issues is the fact that trading activity has increased as a proportion of investment banking revenue, and brokerage services have expanded at many banks. The growth of hedge funds drove banks to build prime brokerage units, which offer dedicated financing, securities lending, clearing, custody and advisory services to major investors and hedge funds (though the hedge fund industry took a sever hit in 2008, it was back on track by mid-2009 as many of the major hedge funds showed solid earnings for the first six months of the year).

M&A boom and bust Mergers and acquisitions advisory was, for most of the late 1990s and early 2000s, a leading source of revenue for the global investment banking industry. In 2000, the world’s volume of M&A activity totaled almost $3.5 trillion; business dipped in 2001, and in 2002, deal volume was down to $1.2 trillion worldwide. Things picked up in 2004 as a strong global economy, low interest rates and thriving stock prices raised confidence and spurred dealmaking. Global M&A activity was up to $2.7 trillion by 2005, and deals kept going through 2006, peaking in mid-2007. A notable feature of the mid-2000s M&A boom was the major part played by financial purchasers, including some multibillion-dollar deals. Private equity groups, which were raising ever-larger funds, were buyers on an unprecedented scale. Some of the major investment banks played a significant role in this development. Management buyouts were also a thriving contributor. The global recession that nearly destroyed banks in 2008 took a big toll on mergers and acquisitions. Without access to cheap, plentiful credit, potential buyers were less likely to buy. Embattled companies made less-attractive targets. And in a climate of no confidence, few CEOs wanted to take on any unnecessary risk. As a result, banks’ M&A revenue dwindled. The top of the league tables, though, looked much the same as they did in years past. According to Thomson Reuters, Goldman Sachs was the top worldwide merger and acquisition advisory for 2008, working on announced deals worth $831.5 billion (down nearly 30 percent versus 2007), while J.P. Morgan and Citi took the second and third spots on the table, respectively. Goldman also snagged the No. 1 spot for U.S. announced M&A deals, working on announced deals worth a total of $572.7 billion (down 38 percent versus 2007), while Citi took the No. 2 spot on the table and J.P. Morgan placed third. The New Year didn’t bring much luck when it came to increasing combinations and purchases. For the first six months of 2009, M&A deal volume fell by 35 percent versus the same period a year earlier to $1.14 trillion, the lowest six-month output in five years. Goldman stayed atop Thomson Reuters’ worldwide announced M&A table halfway through the year, but Morgan Stanley ranked No. 1 in announced U.S. M&A for the six months ending June 2009, with Goldman placing second. Mergers and acquisitions groups weren’t the only ones to feel the pinch of the recession in early 2009. Equity capital markets units also had a slow six months as global equity underwriting volume fell 17.4 percent in the first six months of 2009 versus the same period a year earlier. Only 117 IPOs worth a total of $13 billion were underwritten worldwide in the first two quarters of 2009, versus 129 worth $70 billion in the same period in 2008. According to Thomson Reuters, J.P. Morgan worked on more equity deals (by volume) than any other bank, underwriting 175 deals worth a total of $53.5 billion. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were the second and third most active equity underwriters, respectively. Global debt issuance fared a lot better than M&A and equity deals, as worldwide fixed-income underwriting volume increased 11 percent in the first six months of 2009 versus the same period in 2008. J.P. Morgan was the most active debt underwriter, working on 695 deals worth a total of $318 billion. Barclays Capital and Bank of American Merrill Lynch were the second and third most active underwriters, respectively.

10


PRESTIGE

RANKINGS


12


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition The Vault Prestige Rankings

THE RANKING METHODOLOGY The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers rates 79 firms with significant commercial banking or investment banking operations in North America. We chose these 79 firms based on previous Vault surveys that gauged opinions of industry insiders, as well as on various factual data, including annual revenue and number of employees. The firms we identified were all asked to distribute Vault’s 2009 Banking Survey to their banking professionals. The online survey consisted of questions about life at the professionals’ firm or former firm, along with a prestige rating. Survey participants were asked to comment on qualifications the firm looks for in new employees, specific tips on getting hired, questions asked during the interview process, firm culture, hours worked, relations with managers, compensation, diversity, training and more. Participants were also asked to rate companies with which they were familiar on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most prestigious. Participants were not allowed to rate their own employer. Vault averaged the prestige scores for each firm and ranked them in order. Seventeen companies—Centerview Partners, Citi Consumer Banking, Citi Institutional Clients Group, Cowen and Company, Credit Suisse, Duff & Phelps, Goldman Sachs, Houlihan Lokey, J.P. Morgan Investment Bank, Jefferies, Moelis & Company, RBC Capital Markets, Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird), SunTrust Banks, TD Securities, UBS Investment Bank and William Blair—agreed to distribute the survey. All surveys were completely anonymous. For those companies that opted not to distribute the survey, Vault sought contacts at the firm to take the survey through other proprietary sources. Those professionals took the same survey as the employees at firms that participated. A total of 624 banking professionals filled out Vault's 2009 Banking from February 2009 through April 2009. Vault averaged the prestige scores for each firm and ranked them in order, with the highest average score belonging to our No. 1 firm, Goldman Sachs. With a score of 8.519, the New Yorkbased firm retained the top spot, beating out The Blackstone Group, which retained the No. 2 spot, scoring 8.158. Morgan Stanley again ranked No. 3, with a score of 7.696, while J.P. Morgan Investment Bank jumped a spot to No. 4 (7.613) and Lazard moved up two places to No. 5 (7.382). Beyond the top five, many firms took big leaps in the rankings. Moelis & Company soared 29 places from No. 42 last year to No. 13 this year, Nomura went from not cracking the top 50 a year ago to landing at No. 26 and Evercore Partners leaped 17 places to No. 8. In addition, two other firms made double-digit jumps: Perella Weinberg Partners and Oppenheimer & Co. both rose 11 notches; Perella Weinberg took the No. 12 spot, and Oppenheimer ranked No. 24.


13

TOP 50 BANKING EMPLOYERS

RANK

THE VAULT 50 [MOST PRESTIGIOUS BANKING EMPLOYERS] • 2010 FIRM

SCORE

2009 RANK

HQ/LARGEST OFFICE

1

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

8.5190

1

New York, NY

2

The Blackstone Group L.P.

8.1579

2

New York, NY

3

Morgan Stanley

7.6960

3

New York, NY

4

J.P. Morgan Investment Bank

7.6134

5

New York, NY

5

Lazard Ltd.

7.3816

7

New York, NY

6

Greenhill & Co., Inc.

7.1833

13

New York, NY

7

Credit Suisse*

6.8684

8

New York, NY

8

Evercore Partners

6.7515

25

New York, NY

9

Deutsche Bank AG

6.5134

9

New York, NY

10

Rothschild

6.2617

15

New York, NY

11

Barclays Capital

6.1165

14

New York, NY

12

Perella Weinberg Partners

5.9014

23

New York, NY

13

Moelis & Company

5.8947

42

New York, NY

14

UBS Investment Bank

5.8036

10

New York, NY

15

Houlihan Lokey

5.6166

21

New York, NY

16

Jefferies & Company, Inc.

5.5749

24

New York, NY

17

Citi Institutional Clients Group

5.3992

11

New York, NY

18

HSBC North America Holdings Inc.

5.3642

20

New York, NY

19

Wells Fargo & Company

5.2768

28

San Francisco, CA

20

Allen & Company LLC

5.2563

34

New York, NY

21

Bank of America Corporation

5.0395

17

Charlotte, NC

22

Macquarie Group (U.S.)

4.8952

36

New York, NY

23

Piper Jaffray Companies

4.7764

27

Minneapolis, MN

24

Oppenhiemer & Co.

4.7442

35

New York, NY

25

RBC Capital Markets

4.6319

30

New York, NY

*Credit Suisse's Investment Banking Business

14


RANK

FIRM

SCORE

2009 RANK

HQ/LARGEST OFFICE

26

Nomura Holdings, Inc.

4.6311

BofR

New York, NY

27

Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc

4.5986

22

New York, NY

28

Chase Commercial Bank

4.5484

12

New York, NY

29

Dresdner Kleinwort†

4.5403

29

New York, NY

30

BNP Paribas SA

4.4667

33

New York, NY

31

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc.

4.4184

31

San Francisco, CA

32

Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC

4.4138

26

New York, NY

33

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce**

4.4124

38

Toronto, Ontario

34

Centerview Partners LLC

4.4123

NR

New York, NY

35

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.

4.3475

43

New York, NY

36

Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird)

4.3158

40

Milwaukee,

37

Broadpoint Gleacher Securities

4.2936

41

New York, NY

38

William Blair & Company

4.2462

39

Chicago, IL

39

The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

4.1983

32

New York, NY

40

Cowen and Company, LLC

4.1473

48

New York, NY

41

Citi Consumer Banking

4.1188

19

New York, NY

42

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

4.0145

50

New York, NY

43

Raymond James Financial, Inc.

4.0141

46

St. Petersburg, FL

44

Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P.

3.9808

BofR

New York, NY

45

Peter J. Solomon Company

3.9541

BofR

New York, NY

46

KPMG Corporate Finance LLC

3.9500

37

New York, NY

47

U.S. Bancorp

3.9279

45

Minneapolis, MN

48

BMO Capital Markets

3.7811

BofR

Toronto, Ontario

49

Morgan Keegan & Co., Inc.

3.7805

BofR

Memphis, TN

50

BB&T Corporation

3.7159

BofR

Winston-Salem, NC

†Folded

into Commerzbank AG's corporates and markets division on September 1, 2009; the Dresdner Kleinwort name was dropped **Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (Wholesale Banking Division)

15

QUALITY OF LIFE

RANKINGS


18


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition The Vault Quality of Life Rankings

Quality of Life Ranking Methodology In addition to ranking other firms in terms of prestige, survey respondents were asked to rate their own firms in a variety of categories. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest, respondents evaluated their firms in the following “quality of life” and “diversity” categories: overall satisfaction, selectivity, compensation, hours, treatment by managers, training, offices, culture, business outlook, green initiatives, diversity with respect to women, diversity with respect to ethnic minorities, and diversity with respect to gays and lesbians. Only firms that distributed the Vault survey to their employees were ranked. Firms with fewer than 10 survey responses for any given question were excluded from that ranking category.


19


THE BEST 15 FIRMS TO WORK FOR Which are the best firms to work for? For some, this is a far more important consideration than prestige. To determine our Best 15 Firms to Work For, we used a formula that weighed the most relevant categories for an overall quality of life ranking. Each firm's overall score was calculated using the following formula: *50 percent overall satisfaction *10 percent hours *10 percent compensation *10 percent treatment by managers *10 percent diversity (women, minorities and GLBT) *10 percent training Like our Top 50 prestige rankings, our Best 15 Firms to Work For is meant to reflect the subjective opinion of insiders. By its nature, the list is based on the perceptions of insiders, some of whom may be biased in favor (or against) their firm.

RANK

20

FIRM

SCORE

1

Centerview Partners

9.100

2

Goldman Sachs

8.893

3

Houlihan Lokey

8.750

4


8.463

5


7.925

6

Credit Suisse

7.905

7

RBC Capital Markets

7.878

8

Cowen and Company

7.825

9


7.794

10

Jefferies

7.722

11

William Blair

7.544

12

Moelis & Company

7.441

13

SunTrust Banks

7.395

14

TD Securities

7.289

15


7.230



Overall Satisfaction On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is not at all satisfied and 10 is extremely satisfied, my overall satisfaction is:

RANK

FIRM

SCORE

1

Centerview Partners

9.480

2

Goldman Sachs

9.333

3

Houlihan Lokey

9.167

4


8.905

5


8.654

6

William Blair

8.500

7

RBC Capital Markets

8.476

8

Credit Suisse

8.216

9

Cowen and Company

8.207

10

Jefferies

8.200

11

Moelis & Company

7.960

12


7.800

13

TD Securities

7.765

14

SunTrust Banks

7.636

15

Duff & Phelps

7.625


21


Selectivity On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is very easy and 10 is nearly impossible, how easy is it to get hired at your firm?

RANK

22

FIRM

SCORE

1

Houlihan Lokey

9.174

2

Centerview Partners

9.115

3

Goldman Sachs

8.944

4

Moelis & Company

8.840

5


8.700

6

William Blair

8.615

7


8.500

8


8.333

9

Credit Suisse

8.306

10


8.296

11

Cowen and Company

8.138

12

RBC Capital Markets

8.136

13

UBS Investment Bank

8.029

14

Jefferies

7.958

15

Duff & Phelps

7.267



Compensation On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is far below average and 10 is far in excess of industry average, my total compensation is:

RANK

FIRM

SCORE

1

Centerview Partners

8.909

2

Houlihan Lokey

8.238

3

Moelis & Company

7.520

3

Goldman Sachs

7.438

5

Credit Suisse

7.216

6

William Blair

7.167

7


7.100

8

Cowen and Company

7.035

9

RBC Capital Markets

6.810

10


6.619

11

Jefferies

6.583

12


6.167

13

TD Securities

5.813

14


5.667

15

Duff & Phelps

5.385


23


Hours On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is not at all satisfied and 10 is extremely satisfied, please rank your satisfaction with the number of hours you work:

RANK

24

FIRM

SCORE

1


8.500

2

Centerview Partners

7.913

3

Houlihan Lokey

7.792

4


7.571

5

RBC Capital Markets

7.429

6

SunTrust Banks

7.366

7

Goldman Sachs

6.833

8

Duff & Phelps

6.800

9

UBS Investment Bank

6.606

10


6.600

11


6.593

12

TD Securities

6.235

13

Jefferies

6.225

14

Credit Suisse

6.135

15

William Blair

5.714



Treatment by Managers On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means poorly and 10 means with great respect, how would you rank your treatment, on average, by managers?

RANK

FIRM

SCORE

1

Goldman Sachs

9.556

2

Centerview Partners

9.480

3


9.048

4

Houlihan Lokey

8.870

5


8.731

6

UBS Investment Bank

8.576

7

Cowen and Company

8.464

8

RBC Capital Markets

8.381

9

Jefferies

8.280

10

SunTrust Banks

8.227

11

Credit Suisse

8.111

12

William Blair

7.929

13


7.917

14

TD Securities

7.824

15

Moelis & Company

7.654


25


Offices Where 1 is uncomfortable and 10 is ultra-luxurious, in terms of space, comfort and decor, the offices I work in are:

RANK

26

FIRM

SCORE

1

Houlihan Lokey

8.500

2

William Blair

8.357

3

RBC Capital Markets

7.381

4


7.269

5

Duff & Phelps

7.125

6

TD Securities

7.118

7

Moelis & Company

7.039

8


6.905

9

Credit Suisse

6.784

10

Cowen and Company

6.759

11

UBS Investment Bank

6.706

12

Centerview Partners

6.696

13

Jefferies

6.620

14

Goldman Sachs

6.333

15

SunTrust Banks

6.273



Training On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is non-existent and 10 is superior, the training at my firm (both formal and informal) is:

RANK

FIRM

SCORE

1

Goldman Sachs

9.222

2


9.100

3

UBS Investment Bank

8.853

4

Centerview Partners

8.818

5

Credit Suisse

8.657

6

Cowen and Company

8.654

7


8.571

8

Houlihan Lokey

8.174

9

Jefferies

7.956

10

SunTrust Banks

7.955

11

William Blair

7.769

12


7.680

13

Moelis & Company

7.500

14


7.417

15

TD Securities

6.500


27


Business Outlook On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means extremely poor and 10 means excellent, how would you rank your firm's overall business outlook?

RANK

28

FIRM

SCORE

1

Houlihan Lokey

9.625

2

Moelis & Company

8.583

3

Centerview Partners

8.520

4

Goldman Sachs

8.294

5


8.048

6

RBC Capital Markets

7.524

7

Jefferies

7.469

8

Duff & Phelps

7.188

9

Credit Suisse

7.114

10

TD Securities

7.063

11

SunTrust Banks

6.930

12

William Blair

6.923

13

Cowen and Company

6.759

14


6.385

15

UBS Investment Bank

5.971



Culture On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is extremely poor and 10 is excellent, how would you rate your firm's culture?

RANK

FIRM

SCORE

1

Goldman Sachs

9.722

2

Centerview Partners

9.440

3


9.269

4

Houlihan Lokey

9.250

5


9.048

6

Jefferies

8.620

7

Credit Suisse

8.568

8

Cowen and Company

8.429

9


8.400

10

William Blair

8.385

11

RBC Capital Markets

8.227

12

TD Securities

8.059

13

UBS Investment Bank

7.818

14

SunTrust Banks

7.744

15

Moelis & Company

7.480


29


Green Initiatives On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is not at all committed and 10 is extremely committed, how dedicated is your firm to pursuing environmentally sustainable ("green") business practices?

RANK

30

FIRM

SCORE

1

Houlihan Lokey

9.292

2

Goldman Sachs

9.059

3

Centerview Partners

8.044

4

UBS Investment Bank

7.559

5


7.353

6

RBC Capital Markets

7.222

7

TD Securities

7.071

8

Jefferies

6.818

9

Credit Suisse

6.556

10

William Blair

6.286

11

SunTrust Banks

5.559

12


5.095

13


5.000

14

Cowen and Company

4.565

15

Duff & Phelps

4.333


DIVERSITY

RANKINGS


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition The Vault Diversity Rankings

Best 15 For Diversity Insiders were asked to rate their firm’s commitment to diversity with respect to women, with respect to minorities, and with respect to gays and lesbians. To determine our Best 15 Firms For Diversity, we used a formula that weights the average score in all three categories equally. Like our other rankings, the diversity rankings reflect the opinions and perceptions of insiders.

RANK

32

FIRM

SCORE

1

Goldman Sachs

9.215

2

Houlihan Lokey

8.595

3

Centerview Partners

8.480

4


8.294

5


8.133

6

Credit Suisse

7.848

7

TD Securities

7.695

8

UBS Investment Bank

7.589

9

Cowen and Company

7.489

10

RBC Capital Markets

7.347

11


7.314

12

Moelis & Company

7.283

13

Jefferies

7.177

14

SunTrust Banks

7.071

15

Duff & Phelps

5.933



Diversity With Respect To Women On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means needs a lot of improvement and 10 means exemplary, how receptive is your firm to women in terms of hiring, promoting, mentoring and other programs?

RANK

FIRM

SCORE

1

Goldman Sachs

9.333

2

Houlihan Lokey

8.958

3


8.600

4

Centerview Partners

8.409

5

TD Securities

8.267

6

Cowen and Company

8.192

7


8.083

8

SunTrust Banks

8.047

9

UBS Investment Bank

7.677

10


7.560

11

RBC Capital Markets

7.500

12

Credit Suisse

7.485

13

Jefferies

7.477

14

Moelis & Company

6.364

15

Duff & Phelps

6.200


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Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means needs a lot of improvement and 10 means exemplary, how receptive is your firm to minorities in terms of hiring, promoting, mentoring and other programs?

RANK

34

FIRM

SCORE

1

Goldman Sachs

9.000

2

Centerview Partners

8.810

3

Houlihan Lokey

8.727

4

Credit Suisse

8.059

5


7.947

6

UBS Investment Bank

7.939

7


7.917

8

Moelis & Company

7.818

9

RBC Capital Markets

7.722

10

TD Securities

7.533

11

Cowen and Company

7.400

12

Jefferies

7.178

13


7.160

14

SunTrust Banks

6.976

15

Duff & Phelps

6.200



Diversity with Respect to Gays & Lesbians On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means needs a lot of improvement and 10 means exemplary, how receptive is your firm to gays and lesbians in terms of hiring, promoting, mentoring and other programs?

RANK

FIRM

SCORE

1

Goldman Sachs

9.313

2


8.400

3


8.333

4

Centerview Partners

8.222

5

Houlihan Lokey

8.100

6

Credit Suisse

8.000

7

Moelis & Company

7.667

8

TD Securities

7.286

9


7.222

10

UBS Investment Bank

7.150

11(TIE)

Jefferies

6.875

11(TIE)

Cowen and Company

6.875

13

RBC Capital Markets

6.818

14

SunTrust Banks

6.191

15

William Blair

5.143


35

THE VAULT 50

FIRMS


PRESTIGE RANKING

1

GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP, INC.

85 Broad Street New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 902-1000 Fax: (212) 902-3000 www.gs.com

BUSINESSES Asset Management & Securities Services • Investment Banking • Trading & Principal Investments

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: GS (NYSE) Chief Executive: Lloyd C. Blankfein 2008 Revenue: $53.58 billion 2008 Net Income: $2.32 billion No. of Employees: 27,898 No. of Offices: 62

KEY COMPETITORS Barclays Capital J.P. Morgan Morgan Stanley

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #1 – Culture #1 – Training #1 – Treatment by Managers #2 – Best to Work For #2 – Green Initiatives #2 – Overall Satisfaction #3 – Selectivity #4 – Business Outlook #4 – Compensation #7 – Hours #14 – Offices Diversity #1 – Best for Diversity #1 – Diversity with Respect to Gays and Lesbians #1 – Diversity with Respect to Minorities #1 – Diversity with Respect to Women

UPPERS • “Commitment to being No. 1” • “Opportunities to be seen and heard by senior leaders” • “The people”

DOWNERS • “Fast-paced and stressful environment—”pressure to be a top performer” • “Long hours” • “Layoffs, cuts in compensation, attacks from the press and government”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT “Careers” at www.gs.com

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Still the best” • “Snobby; insane hours” • “The gold standard of investment banking, but a dented gold standard” • “Remains the most prestigious, but be careful about being a small fish in a big pond”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

THE SCOOP First among many Goldman Sachs provides investment banking, securities and investment management services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals. Widely considered the most prestigious name in investment banking activities, Goldman is headquartered in New York, and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world. It employs nearly 28,000 people worldwide. Business at Goldman Sachs is divided into three departments: asset management and securities, investment banking, and trading and principal investments (encompassing the equities, principal investments and fixed income, currency and commodities businesses). Founded in 1869, the venerable Goldman Sachs has a slew of “firsts” to its credit. Goldman played a major role in establishing the IPO markets in the early 1900s; five decades later, it was the first firm to focus on the institutional sales market. It was also the first investment bank to create a dedicated mergers and acquisitions group, negotiate a trade on the New York Stock Exchange and use emerging computer technology to distribute its research reports electronically. The firm opened its first international office in London in 1970. In 1986, it became the first American bank to rank in the top-10 in M&A volume in the U.K. In 1994, Goldman opened an office in Beijing, and in 1996, it was the lead underwriter of the Yahoo! initial public offering. Goldman entered a new era when it went public in 1999. A second major change came in 2006 when Lloyd C. Blankfein replaced Henry Paulson at the firm’s top post. Paulson, a longtime Goldman leader, left the bank to become Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. Another big shift occurred in fall 2008. After witnessing the sudden bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch’s acquisition by Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley—the last two large independent investment banks still standing—decided to take matters into their own hands. In the midst of Congress endeavoring to pass a $700 billion rescue package for big Wall Street players, Goldman and Morgan both requested to become bank holding companies. The requests were granted by the Federal Reserve on September 21, 2008, and since, the firms could operate with the backing of bank deposits instead of having to rely on high-risk forms of financing (as of August 31, 2008, Goldman Sachs already had $20 billion in retail deposits). As bank holding companies—like commercial banking behemoths Citi, BofA and JPMorgan Chase—Goldman and Morgan Stanley will now be closely regulated by several federal supervising organizations, and not only overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The holding company status also means Goldman and Morgan will have to lower the amount they borrow versus their capital, resulting in financially safer institutions with limited upside potential with respect to profits.

Goldman sacks Like many of its competitors, Goldman Sachs made headlines throughout 2008—in January, March, June and October—when it announced significant staff cuts from its global workforce, further succumbing to the worst financial crisis in decades. The first round of major cuts occurred in January 2008, when the firm let go the “underperforming” 5 percent of its 31,500-strong workforce (globally). In October, Goldman moved to cut 10 percent of its global workforce, representing about 3,260 jobs. Then in December 2008, a further 250 Europe-based staff cuts were announced. The firm said most (about 220) would occur in London, representing 4 percent of what was then the firm’s European staff of 5,500. In February 2009, Goldman announced it would cut a further 10 percent of its staff, in addition to the 10 percent it cut at the end of 2008.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: A golden sign? Far surpassing analysts’ predictions, Goldman Sachs posted income of $3.44 billion for the second quarter, up from $2.09 billion in the same period of the previous year. The firm’s net revenue also rose significantly, growing 46 percent to $13.76 billion. Goldman’s fixed income, currency and commodities trading division was largely to thank for the boost—the unit’s revenue increased more than 50 percent to $6.8 billion.

July 2009: Ex-insider accused of stealing secrets Goldman Sachs’ ex-programmer Sergey Aleynikov was arrested by the FBI and accused with “theft of trade secrets.” Aleynikov—who worked for Goldman from 2007 until June 2009, helping the firm improve its computer platform—was charged with misuse of Goldman’s proprietary computer codes. During a court appearance held on July 4th, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Facciponti said that Aleynikov’s alleged thievery of secrets creates a threat for U.S. markets. However, Aleynikov’s lawyer Sabrina Shroff said Aleynikov didn’t attempt to sell the secrets or utilize it “contrary to my employment agreement with Goldman Sachs.” Aleynikov was released after posting a $750,000 bail.


39


June 2009: Payback time Goldman Sachs received permission to repurchase 10 million shares the U.S. Treasury bought from the company under its Troubled Asset Relief Program, and repaid the $10 billion it received from the program. Along with Goldman, nine other firms were given the go ahead to return a collective $68.3 billion to the U.S. Treasury, more than the original estimate of $25 billion in funds expected to be returned in 2009.

April 2009: Hitting above the mark Goldman Sachs posted a bit of (pleasantly) shocking news—the firm’s profits for the first quarter of 2009 came in at $1.8 billion, up from $1.5 billion in the same period in 2008. Analysts, predicting the firm to post about $1.60 a share, were surprised with the $3.23-per-share earnings announcement. Revenue for the quarter also increased, rising to $9.43 billion from $8.34 billion in the first quarter 2008. The firm’s results were bolstered by record quarterly net revenue in its fixed income, currency and commodities division, which was helped by strong activity in interest rate products and commodities. Separately, but on the same day it revealed its earnings, Goldman announced it would be offering $5 billion worth of its common stock to the public. The firm says it plans to use the money from the sale to help pay back its borrowed TARP funds.

March 2009: Hedge fund heads step down Goldman Sachs announced the retirement of the firm’s heads of Global Alpha (Goldman’s biggest hedge fund) and its computer-based investment group. Global Alpha’s Mark Carhart and Raymond Iwanowski took leave of Goldman, as did Giorgio De Santis, the research co-head. Filling Carhart and Iwanowski’s shoes was Katinka Domotorffy, who served as strategy head for the firm’s quantitative division, insiders told Reuters. Global Alpha has faced harsh times recently, with its assets dropping to $2.5 billion in 2008 from $12 billion in the previous year.

March 2009: Covering their assets Goldman Sachs offered to loan funds to more than 1,000 of its employees. The loans, which may reach up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, are being given as an option for employees who are finding their personal investments (which include Goldman’s investment funds) deflated by market conditions. Goldman’s investment funds mandate that investors continue to add capital to them, a condition that the firm realized some employees may have trouble meeting after receiving smaller bonuses than usual. An insider told The New York Times that if employees do not make the fund payments, they could lose their jobs. The firm, which accepted a taxpayer-funded bailout package, is not yet certain how many workers will decide to opt in on the loan offer.

March 2009: Personal bailouts While federal bailouts became a fairly common occurrence in the finance industry in 2008, they weren’t the only rescue acts happening. In a proxy statement, Goldman Sachs revealed that it had bailed out two of its own senior executives, repurchasing shares of internal investment funds owned by Jon Winkelried, its co-chief operating officer who recently retired, and Gregory Palm, the firm’s general counsel. Bank directors became worried that if the executives had sold the shares to outside purchasers, investors may have become spooked, insiders told The New York Times. Instead, Goldman chose to buy about $19.7 million in Winkelried’s internal hedge funds (about 10 percent) and paid Palm $38.3 million for about 25 percent of his assets.

February 2009: President steps down Goldman Sachs announced that Jon Winkelried, the firm’s co-president and co-chief operating officer, would be retiring from the firm at the end of March 2009. Winkelried, who won’t accept severance after stepping down, first joined Goldman in 1982 and helped conduct much of the firm’s recent wave of job cuts. Taking over Winkelried’s duties was co-COO Gary Cohn (who will continue to assume his current duties as well). According to a Dow Jones report citing insiders, Winkelried’s retirement was tied to his understanding that he was “not in the pole position” to ultimately become CEO of the company. Insiders said Cohn had the inside track to become CEO, if the post were to become available.

December 2008: M&A is down, but Goldman still on top Goldman Sachs was sitting pretty atop the worldwide announced merger and acquisition tables for 2008, coming in at No. 1 with 342 deals worth $831.5 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. (However, thanks to a very dry deal market, Goldman’s M&A deal volume was down nearly 30 percent versus 2007.) Goldman also snagged the No. 1 spot for U.S. announced M&A deals, advising on 198 deals worth $572.7 billion (down a whopping 38 percent versus 2007). And the firm took the No. 2 spot in European announced deals. As usual, Goldman has worked on some big-name deals recently, advising on Genentech’s $41.3 billion bid for pharmaceutical company Roche in July 2008 as well as Belgian beer brewer InBev’s $60 billion purchase of Anheuser-Busch, the largest M&A transaction of the year.

40



Goldman also worked on the largest IPO of the year, underwriting (along with J.P. Morgan) Visa’s US$17.9 billion initial public offering in March 2008. (Like the M&A market, the IPO market was down in 2008, as U.S. IPO issues fell 85.6 percent versus 2007, hitting a 31-year low.) The Visa deal certainly helped Goldman jump from No. 8 to No. 6 in global debt, equity and equity-related issues (Goldman worked on 584 deals worth $228.1 billion). On the global equity tables, Goldman also moved up to two spots to rank No. 2 in equity and equity-related issues, underwriting US$45.1 billion in deals. The firm leaped four spots to No. 3 in EMEA equity and equity-related deals, and moved up two spots in U.S. IPOs. However, it dropped two spots to No. 7 in global initial public offerings and six spots in EMEA IPOs.

December 2008: Goldman’s first public loss Goldman suffered its first loss ever as a public company in December 2008, when it reported a $2.1 billion loss, or $4.97 a share, for its fiscal fourth quarter, a big dip from the $7.01 per share the firm earned during the same period a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had predicted an average of a $3.73-per-share loss for the firm (although some had forecast a loss of $6 per share). Though the loss was not Goldman’s first quarterly loss (in 1998, a year before going public, the firm sustained its first loss), its first as a public company was nevertheless devastating across almost all of its business lines. Goldman’s fixed income, currency and commodities trading unit posted negative revenue of $3.4 billion, principal investments posted a $3.6 billion loss, investment banking revenue tumbled nearly 50 percent to $1.03 billion and asset management revenue dropped 19 percent to $945 million. Full-year results for Goldman didn’t look much better. Goldman reported fiscal 2008 earnings of $2.32 billion, its lowest annual earnings since 2002 and an 80 percent plunge versus 2007. Revenue, meanwhile, decreased 52 percent to $22.2 billion from $46 billion in 2007. The firm’s largest dip came from its trading and principal investments division, whose revenue fell 71 percent from 2007 to $9 billion.

December 2008: New rules for riding off into the sunset Goldman changed its retirement rules in order to push some employees to leave the firm by the end of 2008. According to the new rules, which went into effect in 2009, Goldman employees have to wait until their age plus their years of service add up to 60 in order to retire (the former figure was 55).

November 2008: Setting an example Executives from Goldman Sachs requested that they not receive bonuses for 2008. The step, quickly approved by the company’s directors, was expected to influence Goldman’s rivals to decide to make a comparable move (and indeed, other firms followed).

October 2008: Still gold Goldman Sachs asked 94 employees to become partners—down from the 115 asked in 2006 (partners are inducted every other year) but still respectable given the financial crisis. Although partners receive a larger share of the firm’s bonus pool, 2008 was likely to be different; at the time of the announcement, Goldman’s share price had dropped 56 percent in 2008, and bonuses were expected to dwindle further now that Goldman had become a bank holding company.

October 2008: Mining for a merger? It was also reported that soon after Goldman received approval to convert its status to holding company, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein approached Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit regarding the possibility of a merger. According to the Financial Times, Citi roundly rejected the proposal, which was structured as a Citi takeover that would likely have led to thousands of job cuts in both companies’ investment banking departments.

October 2008: A gift from Hank (and Uncle Sam) Goldman Sachs found out that it would receive $10 billion from the U.S. Treasury in an effort to recapitalize the markets. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (the former Goldman head honcho) announced that the Treasury would inject billions of dollars into U.S. banks in order to help restore confidence to the markets. Paulson said, “The needs of our economy require that our financial institutions not take this new capital to hoard it, but to deploy it.” With the injection, the U.S. followed in the footsteps of some European countries, which had already announced similar moves designed to help thaw their credit markets.

September 2008: Buffett wants in on the action On September 23, 2008, Goldman had a bit of a reversal of fortune when investing guru Warren Buffett said his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, would buy $5 billion in preferred shares in Goldman. Analysts applauded the move, as did investors, which immediately pushed Goldman’s stock up 16 percent in after-hours trading. The day after the news broke, Goldman raised another $5 billion in a stock offering—twice what it was hoping to raise via sales of its shares. Meanwhile, analysts said Buffett’s confidence in the struggling Goldman—especially since he had previously abstained from investing in the financial industry—might mean that other investors will follow in his footsteps. Under the terms of his deal with Goldman, Buffet received an interest rate of 10 percent on his $5 billion and the right to buy $5 billion in the bank’s common stock at $115 a share during the next five years.


41


May 2008: Eastward bound As a result of a slow investment banking deal market in the West caused by the credit crisis, Goldman announced that it will send two of its top bankers East. Ravi Sinha will move from New York to Hong Kong to co-manage the firm’s Asian investment banking unit, and Richard Campbell-Breeden will move from London to Hong Kong to co-manage mergers and acquisitions. Goldman is just one of several banks moving talent to Asia. According to the International Herald Tribune, “With several Asian economies growing at more than three times the pace of major Western countries, investment banks are moving managers to Hong Kong and Mumbai to capitalize.”

GETTING HIRED Be the best The prestigious teams at Goldman Sachs are populated by “the best and the brightest from top universities,” and as a result, “the firm runs an extremely competitive recruiting process.” “Goldman spends a great deal of time and resources to hire the right type of person, both in terms of business fit, as well as personality and culture fit with the firm,” an insider explains. Each candidate may expect to “meet with more than a dozen different people in the division to which he or she is applying,” and as one analyst remarks, “Some applicants may view this as tedious or excessive, but I found it to be an opportunity for me to confirm that this was the right place, with the right people who I wanted to share many late nights with.” Ivy League schools, University of Chicago, Georgetown, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Berkeley and NYU are among Goldman’s regular feeders, but sources say that “each division has its own target schools that they recruit from every year,” based largely on those schools’ “success in past years.” Other students may find ways in via “on-target recruiting events that bring in pools of talented candidates from non-traditional schools or backgrounds.”

No cakewalk The “grueling” interview process starts before a single question has been asked: “It required several months of networking to get onto the interview list,” says an associate who landed a summer internship and then a full-time offer. Expect “at least two rounds of interviews” for either summer or permanent positions. The first round “is typically a two-on-one interview geared towards determining whether the applicant is a fit for Goldman Sachs in general.” An important note: while candidates may apply to specific divisions, during the interview process they may be “recommended to an entirely different division than the one they applied for.” “Super Day” second-round (“and third rounds, if necessary”) interviews involve “associates, VPs and even MDs.” According to an insider, “Questions run the gamut from very technical accounting and valuation questions to penetrating, nontechnical questions designed to gain insight into the applicant’s motivation and personality.” Other topics may include “dedication level, work ethic and market knowledge,” with some conversation about each candidate’s “strengths and weaknesses.” That said, one source notes, “The interviewers were fair. If you did study finance, be prepared to talk about it in detail. If you did not, they will focus on evaluating what other skills you do have that could be transferable.”

Nice work if you can get it “Summer positions are the best, but not the only way to get a full-time offer from the firm.” Still, “a vast majority” of new hires come “out of our summer program.” Once on board, interns commence “an amazing 10-week program consisting of two weeks [or less] of training,” and those in the securities division will then go through “eight weeks of desk rotations .” “I assisted a project manager on the commissioning stage of a data center construction project, and worked on a group project and presentation regarding opening an office in an emerging market,” says an ex-intern. Another “shadowed traders, worked on projects for the desks and did mock stock pitches.” Interns are given so much responsibility, says a current associate, that “clients did not realize we were summers, and by the end of the 10 weeks, we didn’t either.” The real trick is in securing the internship, which means undergoing a process that’s just as tough as regular recruiting. “There are typically two rounds of interviews for undergraduate summer analysts,” an insider explains. “The first round will be on campus, and the candidate can expect to interview with two or four employees, though the first round interview may be conducted by phone. The second round is usually in New York, and the candidate may go through four separate interviews.” Interview questions range “from personality and fit questions to specific finance questions,” including some “technical questions that focused on equity valuation as well knowledge of the current market environment.” Sources say, “There were no brain teasers or anything like that,” but one former intern remembers being asked “to pitch a stock or other equity investment idea with quantitative support to back it up.”

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OUR SURVEY SAYS In it to win it “Teamwork, consensus-building, corporate citizenship and meritocracy” are Goldman’s buzzwords, and insiders boast that “it’s a culture of integrity and character, where people genuinely value the perception of the firm.” Others note that “cooperation” is a practice, not just a catchphrase, and say the “flat hierarchy makes the more senior and experienced people very approachable, which further adds to our cohesive culture.” Because there are so many “extremely motivated and intelligent people” around, Goldman presents “the kind of environment that really pushes you to perform your best.” But “clients come first,” so there’s “no backstabbing” and “no superstar mentality.” “While there clearly are superstars at the firm, if they ever acted like stars, they wouldn’t last here,” declares one contact. “Everyone is given a role and a voice, which is nice,” agrees an associate. “And everyone is expected to consistently perform at the highest level and add value, which is challenging.” The drive for excellence doesn’t translate to reckless risktaking, however. “We are not afraid to lose business in the short term if it doesn’t make long-term sense,” an insider explains.

Work to do “I feel that my department, as well as many other departments that I work closely with, are understaffed,” admits a risk management contact. “We need to make sure that the quality of work does not suffer as a result. Whether this means establishing more efficient processes or hiring more people, I’m not sure.” An operations source says his department is working hard to stay abreast of changing conditions. “I think my department has made great strides in being at the forefront of what is going on with the firm and the environment, constantly aligning itself and its goals with that of the firm. I wouldn’t consider doing this job anywhere else.” Over in corporate real estate, one contact cheers, “The people I work with are the best and brightest in the industry, and the nature of the work is new and exciting every day. My department is also very supportive of external events and participation in industry forums to keep up to date with the market.”

Comfortable compensation Goldman Sachs insiders say they’re happy with their compensation—even if current events have meant some cutbacks. “Compensation is usually paid in a combination of cash and restricted stock,” an insider explains. “The firm has a very generous vacation policy that starts at two weeks, and increases with service and seniority. The firm also has a 401(k) contribution program.” Those at the analyst level “get about three weeks of vacation,” and—honeymoon alert—Goldman throws in an extra week of vacation “the year you get married or register as a domestic partner.” Perks include “stipends for dinner and free transportation by car if you work a late night at the office.” Employees also get some flexibility in being “allowed to choose their benefits,” and there’s “a great reimbursement policy for health care.” Don’t forget the “great employee gym that we can join at low rates” and a “relocation package for college graduates.” Overall, says an analyst, “I was happy with my 2008 base salary. I felt that I got a fair raise from 2007; I’m sure analysts at other firms probably have a higher base salary, but I still felt that I was compensated fairly. Bonuses in 2008 heavily reflected the economic environment and the weaker firm performance from prior years. However, I still felt that it was fair given these considerations.”

The better you get ... “It is investment banking,” one source says, “so no one loves the hours.” Goldman employees (in certain divisions) are no strangers to the 12-hour workday, and many report putting in time on weekends as well. “For entry level people, it is not uncommon to spend 70 hours a week in the office,” a contact in the M&A department reveals. “You work hard when you need to, but are encouraged to take the down times to relax,” adds another insider. “When we’re busy we’re extremely busy.” At least “we work on a lot of exciting projects and deals,” and many find their time can be “somewhat flexible.” “Everyone pitches in, senior and junior,” says a contact. “When we all work together on a transaction, the hours become much more bearable.” While the flexibility (and “ability to log in from home”) helps, there’s also a certain amount of unpredictability built in to the workflow, thanks to overseas clients, “morning conference calls and meetings.” “The ironic way that things work here is that good work is always rewarded with more work,” explains an insider. “Once people trust you to get quality work done efficiently, requests will keep pouring in. It’s up to you to manage your own time, which can be difficult because we often work for multiple teams and managers who do not know what else you have on your plate.”

When’s the moving crew coming? Boston offices are “nothing extravagant, but they do have everything we need to do our job,” says a source in New England. Peers in New York like to complain about the “below average” digs, which are infamous for their “low-key and not very fancy” décor. Luckily, “we are moving to new offices


43


by end of 2009 or early 2010” “We cannot wait to move,” one New Yorker says. Another adds, “The firm is moving toward bench-style seating in its new headquarters—no cubicles and very few offices,” even for senior staffers, the better to promote “teamwork.” As for attire worn at the office, absent client meetings, “analysts and associates generally don’t wear a tie.” casual Friday policy,” some say “summer Fridays are usually more casual.”

And though the firm “does not have a

Equal merit, if not experience Managers and subordinates “work together,” says a source. “Each employee contributes to the greatest extent possible.” The only difference between senior bankers and juniors “is experience and ability, with junior employees constantly learning from senior employees.” “My managers treat me and my work with respect,” another contact reports. “They are quick to give credit where credit is due. My relationship with subordinates is friendly— everyone is viewed as part of a team.” The “open office environment” means that “managers are accessible at all times,” and as a bonus, “everyone has exposure to senior management.” Training “has improved immensely since I joined five years ago,” one respondent raves, “both in terms of targeting certain audiences for specific skill sets and concerns as well as overall content.” These days, “there is a wealth of firm-provided training,” including “all-day training sessions” for new hires. These start out with “firmwide training and slowly get funnelled into more specific topics related to your position.” Through Goldman Sachs University, the firm “offers online and classroom training on a variety of topics, ranging from Outlook inbox management to options hedging to negotiation skills.”

Going gold Despite the rollercoaster events of 2008 and early 2009, “Our commitment to our 2005 environmental policy has not changed,” a source says. “We keep sustainability at the forefront of all business objectives. There is no instance where we make a business decision without looking at the environmental impact.” There’s “a group internally that is focused on environmental initiatives,” and “Goldman Sachs has also invested in land in Patagonia called Tierra del Fuego.” Perhaps most important of all, the new HQ is shaping up to be “the largest LEED Gold-certified office building in the United States.”

Supportive system Diversity gets strong marks from sources who applaud “specific minority recruiting events” and “annual diversity events where leaders of the firm talk about their backgrounds and careers.” A plethora of in-house “diversity networks” are said to be “very welcoming” and busy providing a variety of activities each year. Likewise, an active and visible “GLBT affinity network” sponsors yearly events, and employees say it’s “getting much more visible.” “We have fantastic women’s initiatives,” says one woman. “I’m an active member of my division’s network, even though I’m fairly junior. I also had the opportunity to participate in a leadership program designed specifically for women at my level, which has no doubt affected my career and how I think about doing my day to day role.” Other respondents—men and women—say “absolute respect toward women” is standard,” with “fantastic support” instead of “bad jokes.” Notes a senior analyst, “Though I’m often the only woman in a meeting, I have never felt out of place.”

On the same page Yes, there has been belt-tightening at Goldman Sachs, from reduced office budgets to layoffs. But on the whole, Goldman insiders aren’t too worried about their firm. Still, they do fear ongoing pressure from external events. As one contact says, “I believe Goldman’s approach to business opportunities and risk management has been crucial to firm’s success, and will continue to guide the firm in the future. That said, the firm’s success is very linked with the broader political and economic success of the world.” But another insider adds, “We still have a presence in most businesses and products, and we continue to grow and develop the weaker areas. All-inall, I feel very good about the firm’s prospects.” “Now there is less competition in the market for GS, it is our chance to outshine the remaining competitors,” an associate agrees. “I have a lot of faith in the leadership of the firm to do the right thing and make the right decisions about our market position. Our CEO keeps everyone at the firm informed of his actions as well as the firm’s business stance.” Frequent communication at all levels has helped keep employees in the loop “about the economy, the firm and news stories,” says a source, which “makes for a level of transparency that is phenomenal and much appreciated. Plus, it’s cool to get a voicemail from your CEO.”

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THE BLACKSTONE GROUP L.P.

345 Park Avenue New York, NY 10154 Phone: (212) 583-5000 Fax: (212) 583-5712 www.blackstone.com

KEY COMPETITORS

DEPARTMENTS/DIVISIONS

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Credit & Market Alternatives Closed-End Mutual Funds Funds of Hedge Funds GSO Capital Financial Advisory Services Corporate & Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Private Placement Advisory Restructuring & Reorganization Advisory Private Equity Real Estate

www.blackstone.com/careers

Goldman Sachs Lazard Morgan Stanley

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: BX (NYSE) Chief Executive: Stephen A. Schwarzman 2008 Revenue: -$349.4 million 2008 Net Income: -$872.3 million No. of Employees: 1,340 No. of Offices: 12

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • • • •

“Exceptional—always on top” “IPO hurt their prestige” “Stock has been battered, but still among the elite” “Strong M&A practice, top restructuring shop”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition The Blackstone Group L.P.

THE SCOOP Going back to Lehman The Blackstone Group was first founded as an M&A boutique investment banking back in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, two former Lehman Brothers bankers. At Lehman, Schwarzman was the chairman of mergers and acquisitions, and Peterson was chief executive of the firm. Despite their top-level clout, Blackstone’s early days were humble. When the firm first opened in New York City, it had a startup-sized staff of four and a modest balance sheet of $400,000. However, the group of four persevered, and Blackstone earned its place in private equity history, particularly in the United States, when it completed the first major initial public offering of a private equity firm in June 2007, raising a $4 billion dollars from the float. At the time, it was also the largest U.S. IPO since 2002 (unfortunately, due to the worldwide recession, the firm’s market capitalization has slipped down to about $2 billion). Today, two decades after its founding, the firm has offices across the U.S., in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It also has international outposts in London, Paris, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The firm’s global headquarters remains in New York City, in prestigious offices on Manhattan’s Park Avenue. As an investment group, Blackstone says it maintains a small firm in order to give senior-level attention to clients, and invests only in friendly takeovers rather than in hostile bids. The firm mainly operates in alternative asset investing, such as private equity, real estate, corporate debt and hedge funds, but also has a small but strong corporate and restructuring advisory business. In addition, it invests significant amounts of its own money.

How they’re set up The firm’s business segments include private equity, real estate, financial advisory, and credit and marketable alternative asset management. The firm is a renowned market leader in private equity investing, and is big international player in the real estate business. Blackstone’s financial advisory business is structured into three divisions: corporate and M&A advisory services, restructuring and reorganization advisory services, and private placement advisory services. Credit and marketable alternative asset management includes funds of hedge funds, closed-end mutual funds and GSO Capital (a $20 billion alternative asset fund founded by the men who built and ran the leveraged finance businesses at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Credit Suisse). Blackstone’s strength as a top global alternative asset manager is evident in its $93.5 billion in total assets under management as of June 2009.

It’s a private (equity) matter Recognized as one of the world’s largest and most respected private equity firms, Blackstone focuses mainly on leveraged buyouts of “more mature companies” and “friendly investments in large capitalization companies.” In addition, the firm invests through minority investments, corporate partnerships, industry consolidations and sometimes through startup investments. Blackstone’s corporate private equity offices are mainly based in New York, London, Menlo Park, Mumbai and Beijing. Blackstone has traditionally relied on private equity funds from a range of sources, including pension funds, insurance companies, high-net-worth individuals, sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors. At the beginning of 2009, the firm said it was in the process of raising (more money) through Blackstone Capital Partners VI, which has a target size of $15 billion. Blackstone completed its fund-raising at the end of 2008 for six funds, achieving investor commitments of a whopping $36 billion dollars, a major feat considering the grim economic climate.

Stock slump The debut of Blackstone’s IPO in June 2007 made a big splash in the financial and seemed to herald the coming of a new era of private equity firms going public with huge results. However, the timing of Blackstone’s foray into the public sphere proved to be ill fated. Since the stock’s debut at $31 a share (and then a quick rise to $38 a share), things have gone steadily downward. As of August 2009, the stock was hovering around $13 per share, nearly one-third of its original value.

IN THE NEWS August 2009: Growing by 25 percent According to The Hedge Funds Journal, Blackstone’s fund of funds portfolio grew 25 percent to $25 billion from the beginning of 2009 through the end of June 2009. In comparison, hedge funds competitors such as Man Investments, Union Bancaire Privée and HSBC have seen decreases across their hedge funds divisions.

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May 2009: Fewer losses than last year Blackstone booked a first quarter 2009 loss of $231.6 million, slightly less than the $251 million loss it suffered in the same period in 2008. The firm cited higher management and advisory fees as reasons for the poor results. Revenue, meanwhile, plummeted 31 percent to $47.1 million. Several of the firm’s business lines managed to do well, however. Blackstone’s financial advisory division posted a 29 percent increase in revenue to $92 million, while the company’s hedge fund unit brought in $99.5 million in revenue compared with $30 million in the previous year’s first quarter.

March 2009: Exec compensation takes a tumble In an SEC filing, amid an industry-wide crackdown on executive pay, Blackstone acknowledged that founder Stephen A. Schwarzman’s compensation fell 99.8 percent from 2008 to 2007—from $180 million to $350,000. CEO Hamilton E. James, meanwhile, received a $350,000 salary in 2008 but also received a $15.4 million bonus. Still, James’ total compensation dropped 73 percent from the $58.2 million he earned in 2007. The way James and Schwarzman may most be affected in their day-to-day lives is what costs they’re now responsible for—both must reimburse the company for personal use of the chauffeured company car and airplane.

March 2009: Disclosure denied The Blackstone Group chose to deny an appeal from the SEC to release records documenting the results of its buyout and hedge funds. The SEC, Bloomberg reported, asked for “performance information” for the funds from Blackstone and its competitor Fortress Investment Group. While Fortress agreed to release the information, Blackstone said that performance data didn’t need to be published under current regulations. In a letter to the SEC, Blackstone Chief Financial Officer Laurence Tosi said of the funds that “the individual rates of return have no direct impact on our financials and therefore we question the relevance to our investors.”

February 2009: Sinking deeper Blackstone announced that it had sustained a net loss of $827.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with net income of $128.2 million in fourth quarter 2007. The firm also suffered negative fourth quarter revenue of $611.28 million (analysts expected negative revenue of $589.09 million) compared with positive revenue of $344.97 million in the fourth quarter of 2007. A bright spot, or rather a not so dark spot, was that it booked $381.4 million in management advisory fees during the latest quarter, which was not that large of a drop compared with the $447.5 million in similar fees it brought in during the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, revenue for full-year 2008 came to a negative $349.4 million compared with $3.05 billion in 2007. Blackstone also stated a net loss of $872.3 million compared with $1.62 billion in profit the firm pulled in within the previous year. In a conference call with analysts, Blackstone President and COO Tony James called the current economic conditions a “depression” but said it wasn’t as bad as the Great Depression. James also said that, contrary to media speculation as of late, Blackstone would not try to become a private company again by buying up its stock on the open market.

January 2009: Shutdown in the East Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners hedge fund will close its Asia investment desk, Bloomberg reported in January 2009. The hedge fund, which opened its doors in September 2008, has yet to purchase any Asian bonds or loans because it considers prices to be too high, insiders told Bloomberg. In 2008, to increase its distressed asset investment presence, Blackstone acquired GSO for cash and stock worth $620 million as well as up to $310 million more, based on certain earnings targets.

December 2008: A big score Blackstone was contracted by insurance giant AIG to help with its restructuring and sell off its businesses, including the insurance concern’s aircraft leasing business. Blackstone’s relationship with AIG (which infamously nearly crumbled in 2008 and is now largely owned by the U.S. government) goes back many years—AIG’s former chairman and chief executive, Maurice Greenberg, was a member of Blackstone’s first board of directors in 1989.

December 2008: Black December Amid a souring global economic climate and decline profits, Blackstone cut 70 jobs, mostly in its New York-based units.

November 2008: Losses but no cuts A month earlier, the firm had reported a quarterly loss of $502.5 million, its biggest loss since it went public in summer 2007. Despite revealing losses in November 2008, Blackstone CEO Schwarzman didn’t allude to any job cuts, opting instead to optimistically state, “We are in an extremely strong financial position.”


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GETTING HIRED Take your chances Be prepared to gear up to show the firm that you’re a standout, contacts say. “Blackstone is extremely selective, recruiting only the top candidates from the top schools,” says a first-year analyst. “Overall, the caliber of candidates asked to interview is very high.” For associate positions, one source says the firm “primarily recruits at Harvard and Wharton, and occasionally interviews at Stanford or Columbia.” Explains a London-based contact, “Essentially all the MBAs hired are from Harvard.” For analyst positions, Blackstone recruits at Columbia, Harvard, Virginia and Penn (Wharton), but concentrates on finding undergrads at Harvard and Wharton—”any others depend on which alum feels like going to their alma mater to recruit that year,” offers an insider. Another source agrees that “analysts primarily come from Harvard and Wharton,” but admits “there are a few from other schools, including Yale and UT Austin.” The contact adds, “In principal, if someone gets their foot in the door, any good school will be given a chance.” As far as the type of people Blackstone likes to put on salary, the firm says it’s looking for “energetic, self-motivated, team-oriented individuals with fresh ideas and innovative solutions who thrive on challenge in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.” Although sources say analyst and associate classes are small (an M&A banker says his group hires about five analysts each year), according to the firm, Blackstone is planning to double the size of its M&A group over the next two to three years. The firm is currently focusing on adding solely to the New York office, but says it might soon begin to hire for its London outpost. Blackstone lists open positions in the “careers” section of its web site, with extensive descriptions of the qualifications and responsibilities of each position, and allows candidates to apply online.

Brace yourself Candidates should expect an extensive interview process. One insider reports “two rounds of interviews at Blackstone offices in New York, with four to six interviews in each round.” But it’s not uncommon to have to go through more than three interview rounds. A private equity contact went through “many rounds of interviews—three to six,” and “met with between two and four people in every round,” adding, “Each interview lasted between 30 and 45 minutes. Questions were detailed, analytical and thought-provoking--minimal cookie-cutter type questions.” An analyst, who was “tapped” to interview by Blackstone says, “The type of questions you get in interviews all depends on who you interview with. Some people like to bullshit and do a personality interview, and some like to grill you. It’s hard to generalize.” One insider claims the interview process is “fairly normal” and says he “met almost every partner in the group” to which he was applying. He adds, “There were lots of culture fit questions, more than I had at previous employers—Goldman and McKinsey.” A first-year analyst recounts his experience in a later interview round: “I met with three teams, for two to five hours each.” Overall, the contact says, “The interview process can be stressful at times and there is an emphasis initially on technical ability. I met people at every level, including several partners.” Indeed, during final round interviews at Blackstone headquarters, analysts will meet with one or more partners, who “all have their own styles,” says a source. A former banker adds, “It’s really a crapshoot when you interview. So much has to do with who you meet and on which day you meet them, and if your personality jives with whom you meet.” No matter who you get, though, expect “some pretty technical questions in the first round,” says one contact. “If you go to Wharton, or had a summer internship in banking, anything’s fair game. But no one expects you to get everything right.” An insider says one of the favorite Blackstone questions is, “If you increase depreciation by $10 million, how does that flow through all three financial statements?” They also like to throw out the “the clock question”--the one where you’re asked how many degrees there are between the minute and second hand at a certain time. And, says a source, “You better understand accretion and dilution.” The contact adds that overall “the questions are more accounting than finance,” and Blackstone “puts a large emphasis on cultural fit—and it’s obvious they do this well, because everyone here has a pretty good time together.” This insider also has a word to the very wise: “Those who are too smart and try too hard don’t make it.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS The ties that bind The firm cultivates a culture of top-notch workers who enjoy each others’ company. Blackstone is “made up of a group of people who like each other and respect each others’ immense talent,” offers one insider, who adds, “They’re aggressive on the outside, very demanding on the inside and a bit ‘old school’ as compared to the bigger firms.” Another agrees, adding, “While there are times of high stress and people are very demanding, everyone is very friendly and it’s not uncommon for people to spend time outside of work together.” Indeed, numerous respondents admit there’s “a lot of camaraderie,” and say Blackstone is made up of a “tight group of people who, on the whole, like each other.” But don’t expect to invite everyone at the firm to your birthday party. “At the higher levels there are some strong personalities, like there are anywhere,” says a banker, “which can be hard to deal with. So you hope you get staffed on the right deals with the right people.” Another contact expresses a similar sentiment: “You’re generally treated well, but because there are so many big-swinging senior people with rough elbows floating around the office, you need to be careful about how you behave, especially during normal work hours before the senior guys leave.”

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One source has nothing but good things to say about his unit’s junior bankers, and in particular, the unit’s associates: “They’re a phenomenal group of people, incredibly smart and reasonable. To go somewhere where there are seven associates and I like all seven of them is extremely rare.” Of course, this shouldn’t be taken lightly because, according to a former analyst, “your associate determines the majority of your experience.” Says one junior staffer who revels in the great responsibility offered him, “Analysts typically do a fair amount of work that associates at other firms might do.” He adds that, “overall, people respect not only your personal life, but also your opinion on day-to-day work-related matters.”

It isn’t easy Expect the daily grind to be taxing, insiders report. It’s “intense, very challenging, and requires a lot of stamina and motivation,” admits an insider. Another agrees the firm’s culture is “tough,” but says, “If you work hard and have a good attitude, things will be pretty easy for you.” He cautions those with bad attitudes: “Those who don’t work hard or don’t have a good attitude will be miserable.” Choose your department carefully. According to one banker, “M&A is known as one of the better cultures in the firm, real estate is also supposed to be pretty good and private equity is pretty painful.” The source adds that for the most part, though, “the culture isn’t as harsh as people outside the firm think.”

No rest for the workers Hours spanning the range of “90 to 100” per week with “frequent” weekend office visits aren’t uncommon, insiders say. One associate puts his hours at about “70 to 80” on average per week, but admits, “There’s not much [B.S.] work, so I have less of a bad feeling about spending hours in the office as a result.” Another analyst says he’s logging in about “80 to 90” weekly. “The first year was painful,” says a former M&A analyst, who adds, “It could’ve been worse—but it couldn’t have been much worse.” The contact reluctantly recalls his old schedule: “No vacation for the first 52 weeks, with maybe a couple of free weekends in that time. I averaged working from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. from Sunday to Thursday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday; and noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday.” So, on average, that’s 96 hours a week. Although the contact’s “second year was better,” it was “more a result of a slower deal flow than seniority.” He adds, “Last year, second-year analysts here worked just as hard as the first-years. It all depends on how many deals you have and what kind they are.” A private equity contact also admits the “hours are very long, with significant weekend work, and with nights ending anywhere between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.” The contact adds that the hours do “get better as you move up the ladder: first-year analysts have it the worst, associates have it significantly better, unless they’re on a live transaction, and senior analysts are someplace in between.” Expect the firm to rule with a proverbial “formal always” fist when it comes to attire. It’s “formal all the time,” adds a Blackstone source. “And people here dress up—cuff links, white collar shirts, monogrammed shirts, the works.” “Old-school,” is how another describes attire around the office. Blackstone does, though, have “casual Fridays in the summer” and “on the weekends people wear whatever.”

Few compensation complaints In general, compensation receives extremely high marks from insiders. Although one first-year associate won’t offer numbers, he does admit that his compensation “is very high compared to other offers [he] got out of B-school.” According to another insider, the private equity group pays “above the Street but not at the highest tier.” The contact adds, “We have the Goldman attitude of ‘we are the best in the world, so we don’t have to pay top dollar to recruit and retain the best talent.’” Although perks are good, or at least standard for investment banking, it’s a far cry from years past. A source says that free fancy dinners used to be one of Blackstone’s big selling points: “When hiring analysts, the partners used to sell you on this perk.” While nights at Le Cirque are gone, “you still get to fly first class if your flight is over a certain distance,” says a banker, “and you still get to stay at the Four Seasons and the Ritz—but who knows how long all this will last.” Currently, Blackstone bankers get complimentary car service or a free cab ride home if they work past 9 p.m. Employees also get dinner stipends when working late during the week and meal allowances on the weekend. Blackstone’s New York office receives high grades from insiders, and although the London outpost doesn’t (“offices are pretty dark”), one U.K. insider says employees across the Atlantic will be “getting a new office soon that will be top notch.”

Better coaching needed Training programs at the firm are below par, insiders report. Unlike the bulge bracket banks, Blackstone doesn’t have the typical several-weeklong training program for new analysts and associates. “Blackstone is too small to run a big training program,” observes an insider. Historically, analysts went through a two-week training program, but beginning with the 2003 analyst class, the program was extended to three weeks. One analyst who went through the program says it was “very good. You get exposed to a lot of information in a short amount of time and you’re not required to study and take exams like at other places.” He adds that there’s “a lot of emphasis on improving the program—it’s good and getting better.” Another analyst calls the training program “fast and dirty—you’re expected to pick everything up in the short amount of time in which training is provided.” In addition to extending the analyst training program in 2003, Blackstone implemented an associate training program. A current analyst opines that “because higher quality candidates are typically recruited, the training program for analysts is much shorter.” He adds, “Much of the learning is done on the job.”


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Just average For the most part, Blackstone receives middling marks on the diversity front, although one insider says there’s “a lot of diversity” at Blackstone. He does admit, though, there are “a limited number of women in M&A group.” The contact gives a possible explanation why this is so: “We want to hire women, but it’s not easy. Every year we try, but either no one bites or we don’t find someone who is adequate.” An associate in London says his office “has a number of [Asian] Indians, including one partner, which seems to indicate we are doing okay” with respect to diversity. However, in New York, another contact says while “there are several Asians,” there’s “less than a handful of any other minorities.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

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MORGAN STANLEY

1585 Broadway New York, NY 10036 Phone: (212) 761-4000 Fax: (212) 762-0575 www.morganstanley.com

DEPARTMENTS Asset Management Institutional Securities Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: MS (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: John J. Mack 2008 Revenue: $24.74 billion 2008 Net Income: $1.7 billion No. of Employees: 62,215 No. of Offices: 1,200

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America Merrill Lynch Citi Credit Suisse Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs J.P. Morgan UBS Investment Bank

UPPERS • “Respectful” culture • “Good company to work for as it does provide a wide range of benefits”

DOWNERS • Work hours “tend to be long” • Mixed reports on diversity—some insiders say it’s “well diversified” but others say “a more diverse culture is needed”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” at www.morganstanley.com

THE BUZZ


“Still on top” “Has fallen from grace” “Very reputable, intelligent and reliable” “Banged up through the credit crisis; not ‘white shoe’ anymore”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Morgan Stanley

THE SCOOP Over 40 years in Europe New York-headquartered investment banking giant Morgan Stanley is divided into three main businesses: institutional securities, which offers equity and fixed income sales and trading, including prime brokerage; financial advisory services, which included M&A advisory, restructuring, real estate, project finance and capital raising; asset management, which offers institutional investment products and mutual funds across a range of fixed income, equity and alternative investments; and global wealth management, which provides financial planning and wealth management services, annuities and insurance, and brokerage and investment advisory services that cover a wide range of investment alternatives.

J.S. and J.P. In 1854, Junius S. Morgan, an American banker from Massachusetts, began working for a London banker named George Peabody. Morgan took over the business after 10 years, changing the firm’s name to J.S. Morgan & Company. His son J. Pierpont Morgan learned the banking business at his father’s side, but eventually returned to America to found the firm that would become J.P. Morgan & Company. J. Pierpont rose to fame as a hotshot financier, backing the construction of the American rail system and helping establish General Electric and US Steel. In 1935, J. Pierpont’s grandson Henry Morgan and fellow J.P. Morgan partner Harold Stanley left to start their own company: Morgan Stanley.

Responding to tough times The global financial crisis began to take its toll on Morgan Stanley in early 2008, as the firm struggled to recover from $9.4 billion in write-downs. Morgan Stanley sacked about 1,500 people—primarily from mortgage divisions—and the firm’s British home lending business was shuttered. In September 2008, amid the crisis, Morgan Stanley requested and received permission from the United States Federal Reserve to convert itself into a bank holding company, which means it now operates under tougher leverage ratios and capital reserve rules than it did as an independent investment bank. On top of that, it’s subject to oversight from the Fed. (Its main competitor, Goldman Sachs, also became a holding company). Shortly after the structure conversion, Morgan Stanley agreed to accept $9 billion from Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in exchange for a 21 percent stake in itself. The move was intended to calm fears about Morgan Stanley’s capital reserves. At the same time, Mitsubishi and Morgan Stanley agreed to establish a strategic partnership and look for opportunities to work together. (The first such opportunity was revealed in March 2009, as the firms announced the planned combination of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. Ltd. and Morgan Stanley Japan Securities Co. Ltd. The combined business, of which Morgan Stanley owns 40 percent, will offer a full range of institutional services as well as a Japanese retail brokerage network. ) In October 2008, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that the Treasury would inject a total of $250 billion into U.S. banks in order to help restore confidence to the markets. Morgan Stanley was among the first group of banks to receive U.S. Treasury money, with an investment of $10 billion. The injection followed in the footsteps of some European countries, which announced similar moves earlier to help thaw their credit markets. In June 2009, on the heels of the U.S. government’s highly publicized banking “stress tests,” Morgan Stanley, along with several other U.S. firms, were granted permission to repay the government the funds they took under TARP.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: A Mitsubishi partnership Morgan Stanley said it would partner with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in a corporate lending deal that will combine MUFJ’s $70 billion in U.S. loans and Morgan’s $30 billion in loans. The partnership will allow the companies to compete with the likes of other big players in the industry such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. The union will also help increase Morgan Stanley’s odds of drumming up additional investment banking business.

June 2009: Teaming with Citi Morgan Stanley and Citi announced plans for a wealth management joint venture. The deal, which closed in June 2009, combined Morgan Stanley’s global wealth management group with three Citi businesses: U.K.-based Quilter, Smith Barney Australia and Citi Smith Barney. Operating under the name Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, the joint venture will be comprised of 18,500 financial advisors in 1,000 offices worldwide, with more than $1.3 trillion in client assets. Morgan Stanley will hold a 51 percent stake in the venture, and firm Co-President James Gorman will serve as chairman of the new company. Soon after the deal was announced, The New York Post reported that Morgan Stanley and Citigroup may be considering paying its top-drawer brokers between $2 billion and $3 billion in retention bonuses. The firms, who are considering a merger of their respective brokerage units, would parse out the bonuses over a period of nine years. Most of the bonus cash would be given to brokers working at Smith Barney, according to the paper.

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June 2009: Paying back TARP Soon after Morgan Stanley received permission from the U.S. Treasury to repay the $10 billion it borrowed in government Troubled Asset Relief funds, the firm repaid the funds. In a statement, the company said it believed the development “reflects both Morgan Stanley’s strong capital position as well as the important systemic role the TARP program played in helping stabilize the U.S. banking system since the height of the financial crisis.” Along with Morgan Stanley, nine other firms were given the go ahead to return a collective $68.3 billion to the Treasury, more than the original estimate of $25 billion in funds expected to be returned in 2009.

April 2009: A future study What lies ahead for the troubled securities industry? That was the question Morgan Stanley tried to answer when it published the results of research carried out in partnership with international management consultancy Oliver Wyman. According to “The Outlook for Global Wholesale & Investment Banking,” the world’s 15-largest investment and wholesale banks will see their balance sheets contract by another $2 trillion by the end of 2009, though corporate banking and retail businesses are expected to grow. For the investment banks that remain standing, businesses that rely on unsecured funds—like prime brokerage, fixed income and warehousing—will be under heightened scrutiny by executives with a renewed focus on liquidity. Furthermore, the report suggested that, at least in the short run, the investment banking industry will see a heightened focus on the U.S., at the expense of Europe and emerging markets, as U.S.-headquartered banks reign in globalization models and cut down on non-domestic credit.

April 2009: Another loss, but tops in M&A Morgan Stanley posted a larger-than-expected first quarter 2009 loss of $177 million, largely due to real-estate losses and debt-related write-downs. The loss, compared with a profit of $1.4 billion in the first quarter 2008, came in at 57 cents per share—about six times the loss of 9 cents analysts had predicted. Revenue also dropped, falling 62 percent from the previous year’s first quarter to $3 billion. There was good news, though. According to Thomson Reuters, Morgan Stanley ranked No. 1 in worldwide announced M&A deal volume for the first quarter 2009. The firm worked on 70 deals worth a total of $218.7 billion—or about 33 percent of all M&A deals worldwide during the three-month period. (Morgan Stanley had ranked No. 10 in the first quarter of 2008.) The firm also placed No. 1 in U.S. announced M&A, and came in No. 6 in European announced deals.

December 2008: Tough fourth Morgan Stanley posted a $2.36 billion loss for its fourth quarter 2008, a financial thrashing that affected nearly every one of its businesses. Every divisions’ revenue fell, an after effect that CEO John Mack attributed to the financial crisis and its resulting “exceptional market conditions.” For fullyear 2008, the firm reported $1.7 million in net income, down from $3.2 million in 2007. Net revenues in 2008, meanwhile, fell 12 percent from 2007, coming in at $24.7 billion. Asset management was one sector in particular that took a beating, posting a pre-tax loss of $1.8 billion (mostly due to markdowns in investments and reduced assets under management). Investment banking brought in net revenue of $3.6 billion, down from $5.5 billion in the previous year. Equity sales and trading fared comparatively well, bringing in record net revenues of $10 billion, up 10 percent from 2007.

December 2008: Slipping on the tables For many years, Morgan Stanley was a fixture at the top of the banking league tables, often (barely) ceding the No. 1 spot in M&A to Goldman Sachs. But it was a different story in 2008, as the firm fell behind UBS, J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman on the M&A tables by deal volume. According to Thomson Reuters, Morgan Stanley ranked No. 5 in worldwide announced M&A deals in 2008, dropping from its No. 2 spot in 2007; its total deal volume also fell significantly, dropping by 51.2 percent. In Europe announced deals, the firm plummeted to No. 7 from No. 1, and in U.S. announced M&A deals, it dropped to No. 7 from No. 2, as its deal volume in the U.S. plummeted by 58.4 percent. Part of the problem was that two big transactions fell through. Morgan Stanley teams were hired by Swedish telecom TeliaSonera to advise on a $47 billion bid by France Telecom, but the French company backed out of the deal. The firm was also working with Microsoft on its ultimately-failed $44 billion offer for Yahoo! Still, during the year, Morgan Stanley did advise on several high-profile deals, including Verizon Wireless’s $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel. The firm also advised Cadbury plc on its $6.4 billion de-merger of its American beverage business, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc.; Reed Elsevier Group plc on its $4.1 billion acquisition of ChoicePoint Inc.; electricity giant Enel on its €11.1 billion sale of assets in France, Italy and Spain; and Altor Equity Partners and Bure Equity AB on their acquisitions of investment bank Carnegie and insurance adviser Max Matthiessen. On the underwriting side, Morgan Stanley held on to its No. 7 ranking in global debt, equity and equity-related issues. And in total global debt underwriting in 2008, during a year when fixed income deals across the industry dropped by nearly 40 percent, Morgan Stanley fell two spots in the rankings to No. 9, advising on 533 debt issues worth $183 billion. A few of the firm’s higher profile deals included acting as joint bookrunner on International Power’s 700 million convertible bond issue and serving as joint lead manager in a $1 billion two-year bond issue for ICO of Spain.


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December 2008: Say no to bonuses, but yes to clawbacks Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack released a memo telling employees that the bank’s top executives would forgo their yearly bonuses and that a permanent bonus clawback provision was being implemented. Starting in 2009, all Morgan Stanley senior executives will be subject to a performancelinked compensation plan that ties their payouts to the firm’s return on equity, total shareholder return and the firm’s return on equity relative to other banks.

GETTING HIRED Try the back way Getting a job offer with Morgan Stanley may begin with a typical job seeker’s move, such as answering an online job posting—but that’s certainly not the only way to begin your tenure there. The firm recruits at colleges, and one insider “applied to a position through a job board” without knowing the position was with Morgan Stanley. “A head hunter got back to me and said I just applied with Morgan Stanley, and set up the interview,” adds the insider. But you can also go the old-fashioned way (in this technological age, at least) and check out the careers section of its web site and read all about the current openings with the firm. The main page provides links to three key areas: university-level jobs, experienced-level employment and the financial advisor program. The university section provides information about the company, detailed descriptions of available programs, organized by department and education level, an on-campus recruiting calendar, profiles of current Morgan Stanley employees; interview tips and recruiting videos from various groups within the firm. Applicants can search for jobs within functional area, location, key word and line of business. Internships are also a very good way to get your feet wet at the firm—and the pay’s not bad, either. “Interns are paid as first-year analysts, just with no bonus,” explains one insider. Sources say if you’re lucky enough to land a summer internship, you’ve just about got it made. “A large percentage of my summer class got offers to return full time,” reports one banker.

Best behavior Interviews are largely based on “behavioral questions.” Use common sense and “just be truthful” and you should be fine. Expect at least two or three rounds—maybe four—including the possibility of “a Super Day in the offices with six interviews back to back.” “I had three additional rounds [after the on-campus interview], all in New York,” reports one contact. An MBA student interviewing for an internship had a similar experience. He says the “extensive interview process started with on-campus interviewing, then continued with a series of three callbacks in New York.” A contact in Europe says, “Associates have four to five rounds, which are pretty intense.” The source also says even if you do land a job at Morgan, you might still have to do some more interviewing. “Summer interns applying for full-time jobs go through an M&A game where they work with senior people on a simulated M&A case. It lasts all day long.” And during your interviews, anticipate that more or less “all questions” asked to be based off of your resume.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Down to business The culture is “business friendly,” “very motivated,” “professional,” “respectful” and busy” environment at Morgan Stanley, and “everybody seems to want to serve.” But it also “feels like everybody is running a marathon” and to that end, “you have to be very energetic and willing to adapt to changes.” But all in all, Morgan Stanley is a “good company to work for as it does provide a wide range of benefits,” including “401(k) with an employer match,” “tuition reimbursement,” “medical, dental, vision and life insurance,” “vacation and sick time,” “flexible hours” and a “team/family environment.” And Morgan Stanley’s compensation receives high marks from sources. The firm also offers a “gym membership subsidy,” “a $25 dinner allowance,” “cabs after 9 p.m.,” “discounted Morgan Stanley stock” and “a car service home after 10 p.m.”

Settle in Work hours “tend to be long.” While “the hours were typically market hours,” workers have a tendency to go above and beyond the call of duty of a regular basis. “Most employees arrive early and remain long after the market closes.” Sources also report that “six-and-a-half days a week in the office is normal,” and add that it’s standard to “start early—around 7:30—and leave around 6 or 7 p.m.” One insider admits that when it comes to hours spent at the office, “Morgan is tough—even for an I-bank.”

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Melting pot? Diversity, some insiders say, is “very good”—although others say “a more diverse culture is needed for this white shoe firm.” And while Morgan Stanley may get a passing grade on the ethnic diversity front—one insider says the bank is “well diversified and includes international employees”—its treatment of women may leave a little to be desired. One contact reports that “the culture is not friendly toward women,” and another adds somewhat resignedly that “banking is one of the oldest boys’ clubs in the world—and I have no idea how to change it.” That said, four women sit on Morgan Stanley’s management committee and two women have seats on its board of directors. In addition, Morgan Stanley has been named one of the Top 50 Companies to Work For by Working Mother magazine for eight consecutive years, and one of the 50 Best Companies to Work for in the U.S. by LATINA Style magazine. The firm offers several women-specific initiatives such as conferences, workshops, internships and a women’s employee networking group with over 900 members. As for the firm’s immediate outlook, one insider notes, “We just had a massive layoff across regions and divisions due to the subprime crisis,” adding, “The company’s overall strategies are still on right track, but there is inevitable aftereffects of layoffs—and some good people had to leave.” Another contact says that the tough times are not Morgan Stanley-specific: “Right now, the banking industry in general is going through a rough time due to the economy.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

4

J.P. MORGAN’S INVESTMENT BANK

270 Park Avenue New York, NY 10017 www.jpmorgan.com

BUSINESSES Investment Banking Investment Banking Risk Research Sales & Trading

THE STATS Employer Type: Division of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive, JPMorgan Chase & Co.: Jamie Dimon Chief Executive, J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank: Jes Staley 2008 Revenue: $12.2 billion 2008 Net Income: - $1.18 billion No. of Employees: 24,000 (approx.) No. of Offices: 60+

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America Merrill Lynch Barclays Capital Citigroup Credit Suisse Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #3 – Treatment by Managers #4 – Best to Work For #4 – Hours #4 – Overall Satisfaction #5 – Business Outlook #5 – Culture #5 – Green Initiatives #7 – Training #8 – Offices #8 – Selectivity #10 – Compensation Diversity #3 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians #3 – Diversity With Respect To Women #4 – Best for Diversity #5 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities

UPPERS • “Challenging and financially rewarding business” • “Opportunities to move within the firm”

DOWNERS • “Unpredictability of schedule” • “Cost cutting measures”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT jpmorgan.com/careers

THE BUZZ


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“The new No. 1—a powerful brand” “Too arrogant” “Lots of talent, great management—Dimon is fantastic” “Just one of the pack”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank

THE SCOOP It was a Bear market back then J.P. Morgan’s investment bank offers investment banking, sales and trading, research and IB risk services. The investment bank is a part of New Yorkbased JPMorgan Chase & Co., a financial services firm with $2 trillion in assets and nearly 220,000 employees. JPMorgan Chase provides investment banking, asset management, treasury and securities services, private equity, retail financial services and card services to clients across the globe. On the investment banking side, J.P Morgan offers M&A advisory, capital markets, prime brokerage, restructuring, risk and research. J.P. Morgan’s investment bank is headquartered in New York, with major international offices in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sao Paolo and Mumbai. Some of the world’s biggest firms are clients of the international J.P. Morgan, which offers products and services through what it calls “integrated global delivery.” A lot of J.P. Morgan’s prime brokerage capacity was gained from its spring 2008 integration of New York-based Bear Stearns. In early 2008, Bear Stearns—a long-established investment bank and broker—skirted insolvency after reporting a 61 percent plunge in 2007 profits and $1.2 billion in write-downs on mortgage-backed securities. The industry began to panic as fears of a market crash loomed on back of a potential Bear Stearns collapse. On March 14, 2008, JPMorgan Chase arranged emergency funding for its once competitor Bear Stearns, with the aid of the U.S. Federal Reserve as the liquidity crisis deepened. Bear Stearns' shares dropped in value by 50 percent. Two days later, JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy Bear Stearns for $236 million dollars, or $2 a share. Soon after this initial agreement, J.P. Morgan amended the merger terms. Under the new terms, each share of Bear Stearns common stock was exchanged for 0.21753 shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. common stock, or approximately $10 dollars a share. In April 2008, the two firms' investment banking units were brought together.

Changing the course of history J.P. Morgan’s history extends back to 1799 when the New York State Legislature chartered The Manhattan Company to supply “pure and wholesome” water to the citizens of New York City. In the charter, the legislature made some provisions that permitted The Manhattan Company’s involvement in banking. That marked what the firm describes its “earliest predecessor institution.” J.P. Morgan also has some European roots. When J. Pierpont Morgan established J.P. Morgan & Co. in New York in 1861, the bank initially served as a New York sales and distribution office for his father’s firm, J.S. Morgan & Co., which was an underwriter for European securities. However, it wasn’t until 1871 that the ever-enterprising J. Pierpont Morgan and Philadelphia banker Anthony Drexel formed a private merchant banking partnership in New York called Drexel, Morgan, and Co.—recognized as the earliest partnership that evolved into the modern J.P. Morgan firm. The firm proudly quotes one of its founders as saying that J.P. Morgan has always been doing “only first-class business ... in a first-class way.” And the facts of the firm’s history certainly support the claim. In 1895, the firm delivered the U.S. government from its then-economic crisis, and in 1901, J.P. Morgan was the firm behind the creation of United States Steel, the world’s first billion-dollar corporation. In 1907, the firm bailed out both New York City and the NYSE from insolvency. Arguably, J. Pierpont Morgan’s greatest talent was recognizing an opportunity—and taking risks when others wouldn’t. A perfect example of this occurred in 1882 when he believed that Thomas Edison’s remarkable new invention—the light bulb— had been adequately developed for him to take the plunge and have an entire system of “lights” installed at his Madison Avenue home in Manhattan. Morgan’s became the first private premises in the city of New York to be entirely lit with Edison’s practical new invention. On the morning of J. Pierpont Morgan’s funeral in 1913, the NYSE remained closed until noon, which is an honour that was then (generally) reserved for the heads of state. Even after the death of the firm’s leader, J.P. Morgan continued its tradition of “first-class business.” In 1915, the firm arranged the then-largest foreign loan in Wall Street’s history, a $500 million Anglo-French loan, and acted as a purchasing agent for the Allies in the U.S.

IN THE NEWS June 2009: Buyback time JPMorgan Chase received permission to repay its governmental TARP loan, and the bank repaid the government’s $25 billion preferred stock investment. In addition to this principal amount, JPMorgan Chase paid the U.S. Treasury $795.1 million in preferred stock dividends, including dividends that had accrued through the redemption date. The 10-year warrant issued to the Treasury in connection with the preferred investment will be auctioned off to investors.


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May 2009: Passing with flying colors JPMorgan Chase & Co. passed the U.S. government's stress test, meaning the bank would not need to raise supplementary capital. The firm had a strong financial showing in comparison with many of its competitors, some of which were told to shore up additional capital after their stress tests. The results were hardly a surprise to the firm’s executives, who had already argued that the company had enough capital to deal with a crumbling economy.

April 2009: Surpassing expectations JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted first-quarter 2009 earnings of $2.14 billion, a 10 percent drop from the $2.37 billion it brought in a year earlier but higher than analysts had predicted. The bank was buoyed by record revenue of $8.3 billion in its investment banking division (largely due to its fixed income trading business), nearly tripling the $3 billion it brought in for the first quarter of 2007. The positive results didn't come as much of a surprise, since JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon recently said the bank turned a profit in January and February.

February 2009: Drops across the board Although JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted an overall $702 million profit for the fourth quarter of 2008, its investment banking business lost $2.4 billion during the period. J.P. Morgan Investment Bank also booked a negative $302 million in net revenue, a big drop from the US$3.5 billion in 2007. The decline was attributed to investment banking fees and advisory fees taking a tumble as well as an increase in credit loss provisions. For the year, the investment bank suffered a $1.18 billion loss, quite a fall compared with the $3.14 billion in net income it recorded for 2007.

December 2008: Standing strong on the tables On the Thomson Reuters investment banking industry league tables for 2008, J.P. Morgan was again standing tall, maintaining top rankings in several categories. Most notably, the firm did extremely well in the global rankings, taking the No. 1 spot in three of the most important categories: global investment banking fees, European announced M&A volume, and global debt, equity and equity-related underwriting. J.P. Morgan also ranked No. 1 in global high-yield bond underwriting for the fourth year in a row, No. 2 in global announced M&A deal volume, No. 3 in U.S. announced M&A volume, No. 2 for EMEA equity and equity-related underwriting, No. 2 for French announced M&A, No. 9 in Spanish announced M&A, No. 6 in German announced M&A, No. 1 in Nordic M&A and, through J.P. Morgan Cazenove, No. 5 in U.K. announced M&A.

November 2008: Reduced prop trading J.P. Morgan reshuffled the unit's current workers into its five other groups. The firm has also bowed to demands from the U.S. government to limit divisions that take heavy risks. The choice to break up the desk followed the government's recent decision to obtain large stakes in big U.S. banks, a move presumably designed to cap risk-taking by large investment banks.

November 2008: Use those vacation days J.P. Morgan will lay off approximately 3,000 employees or about 10 percent of its investment bank staff, company insiders said. In addition to the cuts, the firm froze base salaries between $60,000 and $70,000.

October 2008: Taking billions from Uncle Sam JPMorgan Chase & Co. was one of the many banks asked to accept $25 billion from the U.S. Treasury in an effort to recapitalize and stabilize the markets. Then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that the Treasury would inject billions of dollars into U.S. banks in order to help restore confidence to the markets. Paulson said, "The needs of our economy require that our financial institutions not take this new capital to hoard it, but to deploy it." With the injection, the U.S. followed in the footsteps of some European countries, which announced similar moves earlier in the week designed to help thaw their credit markets.

GETTING HIRED Tough competition Insiders say J.P. Morgan's recruiting process is “highly selective and rigorous.” The company “looks for the best candidates with a combination of qualitative and quantitative skills.” Summer internships are the best way to get a foot in the door, and one source stresses, “In investment banking, it is very difficult to get a full-time offer without a summer internship.” Recent market circumstances have also affected the firm’s selectivity as “the number of applications for the summer analyst program has increased dramatically and the number of spots has declined or remained constant.” “J.P. Morgan is very selective but not over pretentious in our selection process. We look for talented, bright individuals with a strong work ethic, great personal skills and the ability to work in groups on challenging projects,” says an insider.

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An intelligent conversation The interview process varies based on the position for which you are applying. At some levels, there are preliminary screens, followed by a Super Day of interviews. An associate remembers that his second day of interviews included various “two-on-ones, with a managing director and associate in each room.” He says, “This made the interviews interesting, as the interviewee had to know things from a high business level but also know and understand the details that an associate would need to know on the job.” There are “not many extremely technical questions”; instead, expect “more economic and business questions to ensure that general concepts are understood and that you can have an intelligent conversation with someone about certain business topics.” Interviews are “handled by senior bankers with a focus on not just corporate finance knowledge but also behavior, leadership background, etc.” One source recalls that “questions during the second round tended to be more technical and almost case-oriented. The interviewers presented a situation and then asked how I would proceed.” Recruiters can be found at Ivy League schools and a select group of core schools.

The path to full-time employment Internships are “crucial” if you want a full-time slot. One employee warns, “If you don't have a summer internship, your opportunity to get into the most competitive groups is almost impossible.” Intern pay is “the same as a full-time would get, pro-rated for the summer.” One current associate says that during his internship, “I did some grunt work but also some work with real responsibility to it.” The “goal is not to have interns just make copies and shadow others,” but “to see the interns develop over the course of the 9-week program so that, at the end, they are viewed as filling the role of an actual first-year analyst.” Another current employee explains, “Overall, the summer program is very well structured and gives you a complete experience. Upon concluding the internship, the firm tells you whether or not you will receive an offer for full-time employment.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Team players play to win Sources say J.P. Morgan’s culture is “all about teamwork.” It’s “supportive, interactive, results-oriented, empowering and mentoring.” At J.P. Morgan, “when teams succeed, everyone gets credit, and when teams struggle, they do so together.” A contact explains, “There’s no ‘culture of blame’ here when things go wrong.” That doesn’t mean that when you shine, you won’t receive props. “Though there’s definitely individual recognition for successes, there’s also the acknowledgement that large, complex trades are done well because of the hard work and contributions of a group of talented individuals coming together as a team.” This “team-oriented” culture is “what sets [the firm] apart from other banks.” In addition to its collaborative aspect, “the culture is very collegial and professional, and everyone is willing to help and teach, as well as learn along the way—even the leaders.” In order to succeed, “just doing your job is definitely not enough,” notes one source. “You must go above and beyond.” To do that, you should “demonstrate the ability to run with things and know when to ask for help.” If you do that, you’ll be “given more and more responsibility, regardless of your title.” “What I like best about J.P. Morgan,” according to another experienced insider, “is that I’m surrounded by a ton of incredibly smart people who don't feel the need to remind me that they are smart. Senior bankers are especially approachable, and peers are extremely willing to help each other out in the name of the firm. I feel genuinely excited to come into work each day.”

Ups and downs J.P. Morgan’s compensation packages are “very much in line with the Street.” Incoming analysts “receive a signing bonus, and all analysts and associates receive four weeks of vacation.” Other perks include “401(k) matching, an employee stock purchase plan, comprehensive benefits package, meal allowances, car services, on-going training and discounts on gym memberships.” One analyst says that in his group it’s “mandatory to take one full two-week vacation” out of the four weeks provided. J.P. Morgan employees also receive reduced or free admission at cultural institutions as part of the firm’s arts and culture employee benefits program. This includes admission to major theaters, museums, galleries, gardens and other cultural attractions. In 2008, across the Street, pay packages suffered as a result of the downturn in the markets. One employee notes that, indeed, “2008 was not a particularly great year for compensation. In 2007 and 2006, it was substantively more.” Another source adds, “I always feel that the firm tries to be fair and thoughtful regarding compensation, and that is true in up markets and in down markets.”


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Market driven Hours are “market driven” and “depend on what group you are in.” One employee says that “there are the occasional late nights when working on large complex transactions, but for the most part, hours are decent.” For senior members of the staff, working hours “continue to improve over the years.” An executive director explains, “It's all about learning what you do, how to do it efficiently, who and where to reach out to get things done. I find I can most definitely have both a personal and work life.” A vice president with the company says his “hours at the office have gone down considerably from my days as an associate,” but he notes, “I’m on call for clients and senior professionals at home via my Blackberry and cell phone.” J.P. Morgan “isn't about face time ... it's about getting the work done.” One source says that “seniors bankers are very thoughtful about personal commitments, vacations and working remotely,” and “people are constructive and willing to find creative solutions so long as the work gets done.” Employees are nearly unanimous in the sentiment that they would not give up a portion of their salary for working fewer hours.

Open and honest The relationship between managers and their subordinates is “one of the best features of the firm.” Nearly all employees report that managers are “always willing to help out and do a great job in walking you through their thoughts and why they do things a certain way.” One source says, “My managers are very frank, open and honest with me through informal mid-year reviews, formal year-end review process and informal feedback throughout the year.” Another adds, “The hierarchy at J.P. Morgan is very flat if you show that you are capable of learning and taking on responsibilities.” One complaint is that “in these tough times, management isn't doing enough to keep employees up to date on the business environment. There are frequent management changes and not a lot of clarity at times.”

Moving into Bear's space J.P. Morgan's investment bank “is now housed at 383 Madison, the site of the former Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. headquarters.” Employees say, “It is a functional building, with great architecture from the outside. The interior is a typical cubicle and office environment.” One source says that despite the blandness of the office space he has “no complaints.” “The technology is generally kept very current,” another employee adds. “The firm spends on the things that matter.” The dress code is “business casual” for associates and analysts while “most vice presidents and above wear business formal every day, given their frequent contact with clients.” One employee says that “typical dress is slacks and a dress shirt.”

Green efforts The firm “is in the process of greening our corporate headquarters,” and is “involved in pursuing environmentally friendly business.” A current employee says, “We have made a great commitment to the green concept and will continue to improve in this area.”

Tremendous training Training is “top to bottom a tremendous part of the bank” and “not just an on-boarding piece of a career but rather an ongoing process.” Summer employees and full-time analysts “have specific group training” that “last anywhere from four to nine weeks in addition to firm-wide training.” J.P. Morgan runs a program called IB University, which “trains and cross-trains folks to help continue their development.” The curriculum offers advanced technical skill building, product and business-specific modules, and professional skills training. One source says that “full-time hires come out of training having a background in all activities and products traded within an investment bank.” Another points out that “as cost cuts have taken hold, more follow-up training sessions have become e-learning (web-based), which just aren't as effective.”

Diversity is welcome J.P. Morgan makes a strong effort to hire and support female and minority employees. One female managing director says, “We have a strong focus on mentorship and sponsorship. And internal networking groups focus on improving the skill set of women, making them more aware of the environment and offering seminars and one-on-one coaching to better prepare them for success and retention.” An associate says, “Two of my bosses are female, and the respect for women here is very high.” The firm actively recruits the brightest women by sponsoring events “specifically aimed at introducing women to investment banking.” With regards to racial diversity, insiders give mixed reports. One employee says, “We still do not have much success in attracting and retaining underrepresented minorities.” However, an associate disagrees, saying, “There is an outstanding effort on reaching out to minorities.” He explains that “there is a senior professional who serves as the head of diversity efforts, and J.P. Morgan provides scholarships and summer analyst opportunities to exceptional minority candidates.” Although there may not be much specific outreach to the LGBT community, one employee comments, “Diversity is welcome here. I trained and have made friends with members of the LGBT community here.”

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On the other side Despite the financial crisis, J.P. Morgan employees express a very high level of satisfaction with the firm. One employee raves, “This is a great place to work. We are financially sound, global in footprint and a leader in every business in which we participate.” Another says, “I have worked at J.P. Morgan for nearly 10 years and have had a number of opportunities to leave. Simply said, I wouldn't still be here if I did not respect the firm I work for, the people I work with and love what I do.” Going forward, most sources believe that “J.P. Morgan is well-positioned within the financial services landscape.” Employees give their CEO, Jamie Dimon, credit for the stability in crisis. One says, “Our firm and CEO have been looked to as thought leaders and that perception has extended down to the investment bank.” A current employee predicts, “When we come out of the other side of this economic carnage, we will be one of a few truly dominant firms in the business.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

5

LAZARD LTD

30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10020 Phone: (212) 632-6000 www.lazard.com

DEPARTMENTS/DIVISIONS

KEY COMPETITORS Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Rothschild

UPPERS

Asset Management Financial Advisory

• “Very good” training

THE STATS

DOWNERS

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: LAZ (NYSE) Chief Executive: Bruce Wasserstein 2008 Net Revenue: $1.68 billion 2008 Net Income: $205.9 million No. of Employees: 2,300 (approx.) No. of Offices: 39 offices in 24 countries worldwide

• “You will work your butt off”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.lazard.com/careers

THE BUZZ


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“One of the better M&A advisors” “Just a name” “No one comes close to them in restructuring” “Willing to do anything for a dollar”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Lazard Ltd

THE SCOOP M&A masters Called the “Granddaddy of M&A,” Lazard has advised on some of the most significant mergers and acquisitions in Europe and the Americas since the mid-19th century. The firm’s modern history can be traced to 2002, when dynamic dealmaker Bruce Wasserstein took over the helm of the firm, becoming chief executive. Wasserstein had a plan when he took leadership of the company—to expand the firm’s business so that the Lazard name would be known throughout the world. The firm went public in 2005, and today, Lazard’s influence indeed reaches almost every corner of the globe. It has approximately 2,300 employees and offices in 39 cities across 24 countries on five major continents, and manages more than $100 billion in assets for its clients. A couple of its latest high-profile M&A assignments include advising Barclays PLC on its $13.5 billion sale of Barclays Global Investors to BlackRock, and advising InBev on its $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, the largest cash deal in history. Lazard has also advised the United Auto Workers in VEBA (Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association) restructurings with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. At Lazard, there are two main business units: financial advisory and asset management. Its respected mergers and acquisitions practice is divided into industry groups that include consumer, financial institutions, financial sponsors, health care and life sciences, industrials, power and energy, infrastructure, real estate, and technology, media and telecommunications. Each industry group is managed by regional or global heads. Lazard also offers advice to governments, sovereign funds and major corporations. In a financial environment where companies are crumbling and bankruptcies are occurring on a daily basis, Lazard’s well-known restructuring business appears primed to be the firm’s blue ribbon business in 2009 and 2010). Lazard’s asset management business is mainly comprised of equity products, but it also offers fixed income and alternative investments. Lazard’s principal executive offices are in New York, London and Paris.

Gold rush roots How much does it cost to start a financial services firm? For the Lazard brothers of New Orleans, Louisiana, the initial investment was $9,000, which funded a dry goods business in 1848. One year later, the Lazards relocated to the gold rush town of San Francisco. The brothers, French immigrants, expanded into banking in Paris in 1852. An office in London and a new American headquarters in New York were opened in 1870 and 1880. For decades the three “Houses of Lazard” operated mostly autonomously, developing their own specialties and client lists. Unification took place in 2000 when the three Houses merged. Michel David-Weill, a distant relative of the original Lazards, took over the company in 1977. After the merger, David-Weill became manager of the firm’s executive committee, naming William Loomis as CEO. Loomis resigned in 2001 (reportedly due to wrangling between partners in London and Paris, all of whom were accustomed to having their way). Bruce Wasserstein, founder of Wasserstein Perella, stepped in to lead the firm, and embarked on an ambitious plan to expand the firm’s international business and recruit top investment bankers from around the world.

IN THE NEWS August 2009: Getting Tuft Lazard hired ex-Goldman Sachs banker Tom Tuft to be chairman of its global capital markets advisory unit and vice chairman of U.S. investment banking. Tuft originally joined Goldman in 1976 and was a co-founder of the bank’s equity capital markets group. He most recently served as chairman of Goldman’s equity capital markets group.

July 2009: Restructuring heats up Amid a suffering mergers and acquisition market, Lazard’s second quarter 2009 profit fell 33 percent versus the same period a year earlier to $43.1 million. The firm’s merger and acquisition advisory revenue fell 40 percent to $134.9 million while its financial restructuring revenue nearly tripled to $93.2 million during the quarter. Lazard has advised one nine of the top 10 bankruptcies during 2009. In conjunction with releasing its quarterly results, Lazard also announced it will increase quarterly dividends by 25 percent to $0.125 cents per share.

July 2009: No. 1 in restructuring Euromoney magazine named Lazard the Best Global Corporate Restructuring House for 2009, noting that the firm “boasts the industry’s largest and most experienced team of restructuring professionals [and has] taken leading roles in the most significant restructurings in recent years.” These roles included acting as “debtor-side financial adviser to Bear Stearns in its sale to JPMorgan; debt adviser to Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers; adviser to the United Auto Workers (UAW) in VEBA restructurings with the big three automakers; and adviser to the trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in connection with the sale of the market-making business.”


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July 2009: On the Edgewater Lazard acquired the management vehicles of private equity and growth investor The Edgewater Funds. The Chicago-based firm has two funds, which together manage about $700 million in capital. The funds historically bought majority and minority stakes in North American companies with annual sales of between $20 million and $500 million. The deal created a Chicago-based private equity business for Lazard.

June 2009: Lazard’s newest venture Lazard announced that it would be developing a private wealth management subsidiary. The new venture will be based in New York and headed up by Thaddeus Shelly, who came to Lazard from money manager Bessemer Trust. Prior to his stint at Bessemer, Shelley founded and led Legg Mason’s private client services unit. Under the new unit, Lazard will offer services such as tax planning and investment management advice. However, since Lazard isn’t a broker dealer, it won’t be actively trading client funds.

April 2009: An unforeseen loss Lazard posted a $53.5 million loss for the first quarter of the year, a significant fall versus the $7.8 million in net income it booked for the first quarter 2008. The 26-cent-per-share loss—attributed to layoff costs, and a decrease in merger and acquisition activity—was much lower than analysts had anticipated (analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected Lazard to post a 31-cent-per-share gain). Revenue also decreased for the quarter, dropping 19 percent to $248.4 million.

March 2009: New M&A chief Lazard appointed Antonio Weiss to its newly established post as global head of mergers and acquisitions. Weiss has advised a number of clients in Europe, including InBev on its acquisition of Anheuser-Busch and KKR Private Equity Investors in its sale to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Lazard CEO Bruce Wasserstein said Weiss “has proven to have a keen understanding of international cultures, has built a knowledge base across a wide swath of industry sectors, and has led Lazard teams on many of our most complex, cross-border and multi-dimensional transactions.”

February 2009: Dealing well with the financial crisis Though Lazard’s financial results were down considerably versus 2007, they weren’t too bad when compared to those posted by many of its competitors. For 2008, Lazard booked $1.68 billion in operating revenue versus the $2.05 billion it reported for 2007. It booked $205.9 million in net income in 2008, versus the $322.7 million it made the year before. One week prior to the announcement of its 2008 results, Lazard revealed that it had cut approximately 10 percent of its staff, reducing headcount to 2,200.

February 2009: That’s fine, keep the bonus On the heels of several announcements from industry executives turning down their annual bonuses amid public criticism during the financial crisis, Lazard’s chief executive Bruce Wasserstein also requested that the board of directors not give him a bonus for 2008 on top of his base salary of $900,000. In 2007, Wasserstein’s bonus was $36.2 million (in stock, redeemable in March 2011) and his salary was $4.8 million).

December 2008: Still in the game According to Thomson Reuters, Lazard ranked No. 11 in worldwide announced M&A deals for 2008, moving up one spot from the previous year but losing 19.9 percent in total deal volume (a drop that was better than that of the industry’s overall; worldwide M&A deals decreased 29.6 percent versus 2007). For U.S. announced M&A deals, Lazard dropped one spot to No. 12, and for European announced M&A deals, the firm ranked No. 10, a fourplace jump versus 2007. A few of Lazard’s larger deals during the year included Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s $6.05 billion bid for an interest in Morgan Stanley, Nationwide Financial Services’ $2.41 billion sale to Nationwide Mutual Insurance and InBev’s monstrous $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch (on which Lazard served as InBev’s lead financial advisor).

December 2008: From law to banking Lazard hired Timothy R. Pohl, who co-headed prestigious law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s restructuring unit. At Lazard, Pohl will help advise on large restructuring deals, including the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the largest in history. In his old role at Skadden, Pohl advised on a number of bankruptcies, including VeraSun Energy, National Steel and Diamond Brands.

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GETTING HIRED Only top-shelf, please Walk into what the firm calls an “entrepreneurial, nonhierarchical environment” Lazard limits its recruiting efforts to a select group of top-tier colleges, universities and business schools. For undergrads, this list includes Harvard, Yale, Wharton and other Ivy League schools, as well as the University of Illinois, University of Virginia and University of Michigan. Lazard sends MBA recruiters to a similarly elite pool of universities and colleges—Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, Chicago, Stanford and Berkeley. Sources say that “there’s a very strong representation of Wharton and Princeton at all levels” inside the firm. Another adds, “Most Lazard people are from the Ivy League, the University of Virginia or Duke. It’s mainly a Northeast crowd.” A recruiting schedule for investment banking and contact information for other departments are available at the firm’s web site.

Best foot forward Be sure you have your GPA in top shape before applying to the firm. Lazard isn’t only looking for students from the best schools, it’s also interested in those schools’ crème de la crème. In other words, students who don’t have top marks need not apply. Otherwise, Lazard’s full-time analyst and associate recruiting process is pretty standard. First, says a contact, “We go to campuses and give a presentation. We say this is who we are, and we’re coming back on such-and-such date to do on-campus interviews.” After those initial on-campus interviews, which are usually two-on-ones, Lazard “brings back a select group for a Super Saturday in its offices, where recruits will meet with five to six bankers for 30 minutes each, in mostly one-on-one interviews.” All in, candidates should expect to “meet approximately eight to 10 people.”

Fit in At a prestigious bank like Lazard, you might expect interviews to include some tough technical questions, but this isn’t the case, say insiders. “I found the interview process to be quite informal,” remarks a source. “Interviews are relaxed.” That contact adds that the interview with her future boss was “completely fit-based—no technical questions.” One Lazard source who has conducted several interviews agrees, saying, “Interviews are fair. I don’t believe that undergrads should know all sorts of technical stuff. We’re not going to ask technical questions to a history major at Brown. We might, though, ask where they think they’ve learned analytical skills, or to tell us about a group project.” A recent candidate says, “My interview was very straightforward. I don’t think these guys want to hear B.S. about culture; they want to hear that you are willing to work ridiculously hard and that you have the ability to hit the ground running.” The contact does say that his “interview was a bit more technical” than others, but admits, “maybe that was because I have a finance background.” According to one insider, “Lazard believes you can teach all that technical stuff to bright people. So we give [recruits] a chance to talk, to tell us what they’ve been taught.” Even so, expect a few questions to include some numbers such as, “How many hours are in a week?” and “What would you say if I told you that you’d be working on average almost 120 of them?” (The answers are “168” and “sounds good.”) The firm does offer summer internships, and one Lazard intern-turned-full-time employee says during that program, “I did typical first-year analyst work and was paid the same rate as a first-year [full-time] analyst. After that, it was very easy to talk to and get offers from all the other investment banks.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Smells like team spirit Insiders describe Lazard as a “hardworking” bank with “team spirit.” However, it “doesn’t have as much of a frat guy culture as other firms,” says one insider. “It has a more professional atmosphere—it’s really quiet.” Sources say this low-key vibe results not only from the mentality of the firm’s senior bankers, but also from the physical layout of the place. Lazard “doesn’t have huge bullpens with 200 people sitting in an open space where people are throwing a football back and forth like there are at bulge bracket firms,” explains a contact. “At Lazard, at most four analysts sit together in a pod. You go in there, get your work done and get out of there. People aren’t hanging out and [messing] around as much as they do at other places.” Even after working hours, the firm has a less fraternal atmosphere than other banks. “People don’t go out with co-workers as much as at other places,” explains one former insider. “It’s not because people are mean or snobbish, but I guess they figure they spend enough time with each other at the office.” That said, another source describes the firm as “kind of like Goldman, with a club to go with it.” He adds, “It’s a little too touchy-feely and very politically correct.”

Up from the Street—a little Lazard, long recognized for record remuneration, may not be so far ahead of the pack any longer. Says one insider, “Generally, Lazard is known for paying better than the Street,” but “during the last few years compensation has been all over the place.” Another comments, “Salary used to be way above market but in recent years has been at market or only marginally higher.” One insider says he “received an offer to be a second-year analyst at Lazard midway through my second year in an analyst position at a Wall Street bulge bracket firm.” The contact adds, “Lazard offered a $70,000


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signing bonus for me to jump ship.” But the cash may be a trade-off. For the time Lazard analysts put in, some would argue that “they pay employees relatively poorly.” According to a current analyst, “Because Lazard has less people, people tend to work harder than they do elsewhere,” regularly putting in 100-hour weeks. A former summer intern says that no matter what your paycheck looks like, “you will work your butt off. I did roughly 80- to 120-hour weeks—more than anybody else I knew on the Street—and only had about five days completely off the whole summer.” That said, the contact did get to “work on one of the top-10 biggest deals ever,” and had the “experience of dealing directly with partners.” He adds, “If you can come to terms with [the long hours], there is no better summer opportunity in the world, and there is no experience that will open more doors for you down the road.” Another positive spin on the long hours is that analysts at Lazard, unlike peers at bulge bracket firms, don’t have to worry about face time. Also, says one source, “Partners know you work hard, so it is common for them to say that they don’t want to waste your time coming to pick up a book from their office and that you should send your secretary.” There are trade-offs. “Lazard expects more [than other banks] from an analyst in terms of getting work done accurately, and some analysts function as associates or VPs in their second year,” explains an analyst in M&A. “Partners will give you more responsibility than you can get elsewhere, but they’ll likely care less about you as a person elsewhere.”

The personal touch If you like feeling like a face and not a number, Lazard may be the firm for you. Something you won’t get everywhere else is “personal attention—the admin person knows who you are,” says a Lazard contact. “The firm is good about handling all the little stuff. You don’t get nickel-and-dimed like you might at big firms. And you don’t get lost like you might at Citigroup or Merrill.” One source says other perks include “free transportation home after 8 p.m. and $25 dinner allowances.” Training receives good marks as well. The firm’s formal six-week analyst training program is “very good,” says one former staffer. “They bring in all kinds of professors from different schools to teach business skills, accounting, etc.” The contact adds, “And bankers teach you Lazard-specific stuff such as building merger models and leading a restructuring.” One analyst has a different spin on life at Lazard, describing the environment as “tough” and saying managers “can be arrogant.” In terms of preparing new hires, the source says that while the initial program “is similar to other banks’ classroom training, “on-the-job training” is tougher. “They expect you to come in running and get the numbers right.” On a more positive note, “You will learn how to build models from a blank Excel screen,” unlike” at most firms, where they have an in-house model.”

Playing it safe Lazard is a “much safer place to work as far as cuts go,” says a former banker. “It can absorb more pain because it doesn’t have massive overhead.” That’s because Lazard is an advisory and asset management firm, absent of conflicts that other banks have: it doesn’t underwrite securities, and it doesn’t provide research. As a result, Lazard is “in a good position,” says a source. “Other places are out of favor because of their research, insider trading and underwriting problems.” However, the contact adds, “A few years ago, during the Internet boom, we weren’t as flexible. Other banks were cashing in.” In other words, “While Lazard didn’t soar the way some of its competitors did during the bull market, today its pure advisory model is winning a ton of business.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

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GREENHILL & CO., INC.

300 Park Avenue New York, NY 10022 Phone: (212) 389-1500 www.greenhill.com

DEPARTMENTS Merchant Banking Mergers & Acquisitions Restructuring

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: GHL (NYSE) Chairman: Robert H. Niehaus CEO: Scott L. Bok & Simon A. Borrows 2008 Revenue: $221.87 million 2008 Net Income: $48.98 million No. of Employees: 234 No. of Offices: 8

KEY COMPETITORS Goldman Sachs Houlihan Lokey Morgan Stanley

UPPERS • “No face time” • Greenhill “provides cereal for breakfast, free sodas and beverages, designer coffee and snacks”

DOWNERS • “Earnings potential is very low in this firm” • “There are still not many women working here”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT “Careers” at www.greenhill.com

THE BUZZ


“Rising star” “Too dependent on Bob Greenhill” “Blue-chip boutique; intelligent, talented, growing” “Lost some of its luster”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Greenhill & Co., Inc.

THE SCOOP Open Book In 1996, Robert F. Greenhill, former head of Smith Barney and former president of Morgan Stanley, struck out on his own and founded an eponymous boutique firm. He led the company for 11 years before stepping down from as CEO in October 2007. Greenhill handed the reins to new co-CEOs Scott Bok and Simon Borrows, and has since remained chairman of the firm. Greenhill calls itself “a unique investment firm,” and to be sure, it follows a model quite unlike the structure of its behemoth competitors. At Greenhill, independence is the guiding philosophy—because it is not part of a larger financial institution, the firm seeks to avoid conflicts of interest. Greenhill’s second rule is focus. It has no research, trading or lending divisions to distract from its advisory work. Thanks to the firm’s tiny size, it can also afford more transparency than most on Wall Street. In January 2007, Greenhill President Scott Bok told the press that there’s no heated whispering about year-end bonuses at Greenhill. Instead, the firm writes a detailed memo that explains each managing director’s bonus, and every MD receives a copy of the memo. “It’s a strange policy,” Bok admitted. “But it works.” Greenhill went public in 2004 but remains closely held by its managing directors. Many of these MDs are former Morgan Stanley bankers who knew Greenhill during his 30-year tenure there. The firm is headquartered in New York, with offices in Dallas, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, San Francisco, Tokyo and Chicago.

Expansion in ‘08 Although 2008 was a year in which most financial firms contracted, Greenhill & Co. did the opposite, expanding its global and national mandates. It scooped up talent from ailing rival banks and even launched a new department, its fund placement advisory group, staffed entirely with former Lehman Brothers employees. “We’ve interviewed more managing director candidates in the past eight weeks than at any other time in the firm’s history,” Scott Book told the now-defunct New York Sun in May 2008. So it’s no surprise that, following the demise of Lehman and Merrill Lynch, CNBC’s Guy Adami named Greenhill among the boutique investment banks that are the new “winners” of Wall Street. Greenhill also opened three new offices in 2008, beginning in January with its San Francisco outpost directed by Andrew K. Woeber. Woeber joined the firm from Morgan Stanley, where he was a managing director. In November, Greenhill hired three senior bankers from Lehman to open a Chicago office; the managing directors, who focused on industrial clients at Lehman, were brought in with the intention of bolstering Greenhill’s business in the Midwest. Greenhill opened its Tokyo office in October 2008, in an effort to capture part of the still-bubbling Japanese acquisitions market. Japanese buyouts of overseas firms rose to a record $75 billion in 2007, bolstered by the strengthening yen. All told, in 2008, Greenhill added 14 managing directors to its roster, bringing its total number of MDs to 49. It also named Richard J. Lieb its new CFO; Lieb has been with Greenhill since 2005. Prior to joining the firm, Lieb spent 20 years in the real estate investment banking group at Goldman Sachs. He replaced John D. Liu, who left the join one of the firm’s (unspecified) clients.

IN THE NEWS March 2009: New group and new faces Greenhill & Co. announced that it planned to develop its presence in the restructuring sector by starting up a financing advisory and restructuring group, along with appointing two new senior bankers. The bankers, Ken Goldsborough from GE Capital and Andrew Kramer from UBS’ restructuring unit, will join Greenhill as managing directors.

April 2009: Earnings slide Greenhill & Co. booked $61.8 million in revenue and $13.7 million in net income for the first quarter 2009. The numbers were down versus the same period a year earlier when the firm reported revenue of $75.4 million and net income of $19.2 million.

January 2009: Tough year for everyone Greenhill & Co. booked $221.9 million in revenue and $49 million in net income for 2008, down considerably from the $400.4 million and $178.5 million the firm reported for 2007. The decreases were due to dry deal markets as a result of the worldwide financial crisis.

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December 2008: Decline in M&A, but still strong The decline of M&A made a dent in Greenhill’s rankings for worldwide announced M&A deal volume, as the firm fell to No. 23 from No. 15 in 2007, according to Thomson Reuters. Overall, the firm worked on 23 deals during 2008 worth a total of $70.7 billion (compared to the $194.3 billion worth of deals it advised on in 2007). However, for U.S. announced M&A deal volume, Greenhill held steady at No. 17 in 2008, actually boosting its overall deal volume to $61.5 billion from $45.6 billion. Greenhill didn’t advise on as many deals in 2008 as it did in 2007, and certainly none came close to Fortis, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Santander Central Hispano’s $99.1 billion acquisition of ABN Amro. Highlights from 2008 included working on health care company Roche Holding’s $43.7 billion acquisition of the publicly held interest of biotechnology firm Genentech, the $17.7 billion merger of Northwest and Delta Air Lines Airlines, and the $10.7 billion pre-conditional offer from Swiss-based Xsastra, a global diversified mining company, to purchase the U.K.-based Lonmin plc.

November 2008: To infinity and beyond Greenhill closed out 2008 with a common stock offering. The firm issued 1,250,000 new shares of common stock and 2,250,000 shares owned by its managing directors. In a press release, Greenhill stipulated that it will use the proceeds “to provide financial flexibility to pursue, where appropriate, the further expansion of its advisory business by industry and location, for merchant banking investments and for general corporate purposes.”

May 2008: Ex-Lehman bankers join Greenhill Greenhill launched a fund placement advisory group for raising capital for private equity funds. Christopher D. Kirsten, who had been global head of private fund marketing group at Lehman Brothers, was named head of Greenhill’s new fund-raising department. The other members of the group— Patrick S. Dunleavy, Neil Banta, Dave Brown, Meghan Kelly—also came from Lehman.

February 2008: $400 million blank check The Greenhill-founded GHL Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose company (also called a SPAC or “blank check company”), raised $400 million in an initial public offering. Greenhill, which plans to buy stakes in U.S. and European growth companies through GHL, has a 20 percent interest in the firm. Scott Bok, Greenhill’s co-chief executive, is GHL’s chairman and CEO.

GETTING HIRED Sharp skills Generally, the firm seeks out those with “strong academic backgrounds and analytical abilities” who have “communication skills, leadership ability and teamwork orientation.” Individuals interested in working for Greenhill can enter the firm as an analyst (full time or summer), associate or lateral hire. The full-time analyst program typically lasts two years, with strong performers offered the option to stay on for a third. And standout third-year analysts may be offered an associate position. For analysts and associates, Greenhill offers a unique opportunity to work across the firm’s three groups— mergers and acquisitions, private equity investing and corporate restructuring. Interviews for the full-time analyst and associate positions typically take place during the fall, while candidates for summer positions usually meet with the company in February and March. Lateral hires can apply at any time, and should send their cover letters and resumes to the appropriate office’s e-mail address (for New York: [email protected]).

OUR SURVEY SAYS So-so salaries If you’re not in the higher ranks of the firm, you may be in for some sticker shock when it comes to compensation, which receives average marks from insiders. One source says, “Earnings potential is very low in this firm unless you’re a partner or managing director, and limited stock options were allocated when the firm went public.” The contact adds those options “vest over a five-year period.” As far as perks, the firm seems to provide all the basics, plus a little more. Explains one associate in New York, “There’s a gym at the office that’s stocked with workout clothes—all you need to bring is sneakers.” Additionally, he says, “You get a $25 meal allowance and a free car service or taxi if you work late. And the company provides cereal for breakfast, free sodas and beverages, designer coffee and snacks.” Another contact adds that there’s “equity participation for officers,” and an associate points out that the “modern” New York office has a “new floor” and “nice chairs and desks.” As far as dress code, it’s “banker blues and grays only,” which means formal attire. Though, the firm does go casual on Fridays. One insider is happy to report that there’s “no ‘face time.’ You only stay if you’re busy.” He adds, “Hours fluctuate widely due to the small size of the firm—when you’re working on something important, you work very hard, but when you’re not, hours can be light.” Another contact notes that you


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work “fewer hours than [those at] bulge-bracket firms.” Most employees, from associate on up, report working between 60 and 70 hours per week, which usually includes one weekend office visit a month. Although there’s “not as much formal training [at Greenhill] as at bigger firms, it’s very adequate,” says one young banker. In addition, he notes that “there’s lots of on-the-job training.” Others, though, aren’t as pleased with the firm’s training practices, rating the firm well below average in this area. Diversity hiring practices also receive below-average marks. “There are still not many women working here,” says one source, “but we’re very fair and ready to hire more.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

7

CREDIT SUISSE’S INVESTMENT BANKING BUSINESS

11 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10010-3629 Phone: (212) 325-2000 Fax: (212) 325-6665 www.credit-suisse.com/investment_banking

BUSINESSES* Asset Management Information Technology Investment Banking Investment Banking Operations Private Banking Shared Services

THE STATS Employer Type: Business Unit of Credit Suisse Group AG CEO, Credit Suisse Group: Brady Dougan CEO, Investment Banking: Paul Calello 2008 Net Revenue: CHF 9.2 billion* 2008 Net Income: -CHF 8.2 billion* No. of Employees: 46,700* No. of Offices: 57* *Credit Suisse Group AG

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #5 – Compensation #5 – Training #6 – Best to Work For #7 – Culture #8 – Overall Satisfaction #9 – Business Outlook #9 – Green Initiatives #9 – Offices #9 – Selectivity #11 – Treatment by Managers #14 – Hours Diversity #4 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #6 – Best for Diversity #6 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians #12 – Diversity With Respect To Women

KEY COMPETITORS Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs J.P. Morgan Morgan Stanley UBS Investment Bank

UPPERS • “Great deal flow” • “Treated with respect by superiors”

DOWNERS • “Bureaucracy” • “A little light on the bonuses”

THE BUZZ


“Excellent all around; great name, strong bank” “Past its prime” “Strong performance in a tough market” “Future in North America remains unclear”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.credit-suisse.com/careers

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Credit Suisse’s Investment Banking Business

THE SCOOP International player The three core business divisions of the Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group are investment banking, private banking and asset management. Since the group rebranded to create an “integrated bank” in 2006, all businesses under its umbrella have been collectively known as Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse’s investment banking business—encompassing M&A advisory, equity and debt capital markets, private placements and leveraged finance services—is one of the world’s leading investment banks. The group’s private banking business—investment counselling and asset management to high-net-worth individuals—has a global footprint, and the firm is touted as being one of the world’s largest private banking organizations. Within its global asset management business, the firm offers a wide range of products, including equities, fixed income, multiple-asset class products, and alternative investments such as real estate, private equity and hedge funds. Credit Suisse’s history dates back to the mid-19th century when Alfred Escher founded Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (that’s Swiss-German for Swiss Credit Institution). The bank opened its first branch in Basel, Switzerland in 1905. As World War II raged in Europe, Credit Suisse opened its first international branch outside its home country in New York City in 1942. For the next three decades, the bank grew within Switzerland, across Europe and internationally. In 1978, Credit Suisse began its “cooperation” with The First Boston Corporation in the U.S., acquiring a controlling stake in the firm 10 years later (after which the bank was renamed to Credit Suisse First Boston). A year after that, Credit Suisse Holding was established as the parent company of the group. Various mergers, acquisitions and alliances continued through the 1990s, and merged banks ultimately became assimilated into the Credit Suisse identity. In 2002, the group famously restructured into two streamlined business units: Credit Suisse Financial Services and Credit Suisse First Boston. Two years later, in 2004, the group restructured again, into three business units: Credit Suisse, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) and Winterthur (a Swiss insurance firm that it divested in 2006 to AXA). Also in 2004, CSFB was famously (along with Morgan Stanley) one of the principal underwriters of Google’s $23 billion IPO. In 2006, Credit Suisse rebranded and shifted its structure (again) to an “integrated bank” model, dropping the First Boston affiliation, becoming, once and for all, Credit Suisse. As almost every big investment bank was forced to do in late 2007 and early 2008, Credit Suisse began handing out some pink slips due to the subprime mortgage meltdown. In January 2008, after a rumour surfaced from inside Credit Suisse that approximately 20 percent of the firm’s fixed income group received pink slips, it was revealed that the firm would indeed have to cut about 500 investment banking positions. A spokesman for the firm cited “market conditions and projected staffing levels required to meet client needs” as causes for the cuts. In addition, at the close of 2008, the firm annoucned it would cut another 5,300 investment banking positinos, representing about 11 percent of its workforce. Despite the cuts, Credit Suisse weathered the worldwide financial crisis very well and was relatively unscathed compared to many of its competitors.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Surpassing estimates Credit Suisse posted first quarter 2009 net income of $1.7 billion, an increase of 8.2 percent from first quarter 2008. Revenue, meanwhile, came in at $8.2 billion for the quarter, up from $2.5 billion. The bank was helped by a boom in fixed-income trading.

February 2009: An unenviable record Credit Suisse posted a net loss for the fourth quarter 2008 of $5.2 billion and a record full-year loss of $7.1 billion. The firm cited weak trading and restructuring charges as reasons for its deep loss, and said it would follow through on its promise to cut 5,300 positions—about 11 percent of its total workers. Though its results were mostly dismal for 2008, the firm said all of its divisions had been profitable so far in 2009.

February 2009: Callan takes some time off Lehman Brothers ex-CFO Erin Callan took a personal leave of absence from her new position at Credit Suisse, the firm confirmed. Callan’s time away from her new job heading up a unit that advises hedge funds came approximately five months after she joined the company. Credit Suisse did not confirm how long of a temporary leave Callan will take.

January 2009: Joining the restructuring game On the heels of similar moves by competitors Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse formed a debt advisory and restructuring group to provide advice for corporate clients seeking counsel regarding debt and liability-related issues. The new unit, created in response to the numerous client requests for help with such issues, will be headed up by Marisa Drew and Craig Klaasmeyer. Drew is currently the co-head of Credit Suisse’s European global markets solutions group, and Klaasmeyer serves as the co-head of the firm’s leveraged finance group in Europe.

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January 2009: No trophy case big enough Acquisitions Monthly named Credit Suisse M&A Advisor of the Year for both the U.K. and Nordic Region, and gave the firm the Domestic Deal of the Year award for the recapitalization of U.K. banks. Also in early 2009, Euromoney ranked Credit Suisse as the Best Foreign Bank in the U.K. and having the Best Private Banking Services Overall in Switzerland; the publication ranked the bank first in several other categories, including Range of Investment Products, Structured Products, Real Estate Investment, Equity Portfolio Management and Fixed Income Portfolio Management. In addition, Investment Dealers’ Digest gave Credit Suisse two big awards: the Private Equity Deal of the Year award for its work advising the bidders (Bain and Thomas H. Lee) in the leveraged buyout of Clear Channel Communications, and the Industrial Deal of the Year award for advising Ingersoll Rand on its merger with Trane.

December 2008: A bonus that’s no fruitcake Credit Suisse hit upon a novel idea to lessen its loss risk: using $5 billion from extremely illiquid securities such as leveraged loans and mortgagebacked debt (the type largely attributed for beginning the financial crisis) to pay its managing directors’ and directors’ annual bonuses. The securities will be put into a partner asset facility and workers will be given shares in it. If the securities weaken in value, however, bonuses will be affected first.

December 2008: Decent year on the tables According to Thomson Reuters, in worldwide announced M&A deals for 2008, Credit Suisse held on to its No. 7 ranking for the second consecutive year, even though its total deal volume was down 28.3 percent. In U.S. announced M&A transactions, the firm placed No. 8, down two spots and losing 30.3 percent in deal volume versus 2007. In European announced M&A deals, Credit Suisse jumped four spots to No. 6, working on 162 deals worth a total of $340 billion. In global initial public offerings, the firm dipped to No. 8 from No. 3 in the previous year, working on 20 deals worth $4 billion. In U.S. IPOs, Credit Suisse also took a tumble, falling to No. 9 from No. 7, working on just eight deals worth $758.7 million. In global debt underwriting, Credit Suisse rose three spots to No. 7, up from No. 10 the previous year, advising on 574 deals worth $183.5 billion. The firm also had a good year in global mortgage-backed securities underwriting, rising four spots to No. 2, working on 47 deals worth $25.8 billion while gaining 4.4 percent in market share. Additionally, Credit Suisse placed No. 3 in global high-yield debt underwriting.

December 2008: Asset management sale Credit Suisse agreed to sell a part of its asset management unit to Aberdeen Asset Management for a $360 million stake (about 25 percent) in the British company and a seat on its board. As part of the deal, Credit Suisse transferred about $71 billion in its managed assets to Aberdeen, the largest independent investment management firm in Scotland. The deal included portions of Credit Suisse asset management divisions in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

December 2008: Spinning the deep cuts Credit Suisse announced that it would cut another 5,300 positions—or about 11 percent of its employees—mostly in its investment banking unit.

October 2008: Crunched In the infamous third quarter 2008 (made infamous by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008), Credit Suisse Group was hit with a net loss of CHF 1.26 billion. The group’s core net revenue for the quarter (CHF 3.1 billion) was 48 percent lower versus what the firm reported for the third quarter 2007. The investment banking arm (like those of its peers) was hardest hit, taking a pre-tax loss of CHF 3.2 billion. However, the unit’s global rates, foreign exchange, electronic trading and prime services divisions experienced strong results. Credit Suisse also reported strong results in its other businesses, including wealth managemen, and Swiss corporate and retail banking businesses. The group’s private banking division had net new assets of a whopping CHF 14.5 billion, and Credit Suisse was pleased with the results of its new “integrated bank” structure, through which the group earned CHF 1.5 billion in revenue from cross-divisional business activities.

October 2008: A boost from Qatar and Scotland Credit Suisse raised $8.7 billion in financial backing from a “group of major global investors” that included Qatar Holding LLC, a unit of the Qatar Investment Authority.


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October 2008: Additional reductions Credit Suisse confirmed it would purge 500 jobs from its securities group and from some support roles. The new cuts added to the 1,565 positions the bank had already eliminated in the past year. Analysts pointed to the difficulty banks have had downsizing their costs in light of the shaky market as reason for the layoffs. A week earlier, Credit Suisse announced $1.5 billion in securities-related losses.

June 2008: Chinese connection Credit Suisse partnered with another powerful nation after regulatory agencies approved a joint venture it had proposed with the Chinese brokerage firm Founder Securities. Previously, in January 2008, the Swiss bank announced that it was seeking to partner with Founder Securities in order to get a foothold on securities underwriting and wealth management, among other sectors, in China. The announcement followed on the heels of chief rival UBS’s acquisition of Beijing Securities.

GETTING HIRED Top talent only Credit Suisse is “very selective in its hiring.” An insider says that the company “looks for strong candidates with a balance between academics and participation in organizations on their campus.” There is a list of core schools that the firm recruits from, and one source reports that it is “difficult to get an interview if your MBA program is not on the target list.” Candidates from non-core schools can expect to go through an “exhaustive vetting process.” Potential employees “must display sound quantitative aptitude with a good understanding of valuation techniques” in order to be considered. Though candidates from top schools are screened very thoroughly, one employee feels that the high number of incoming employees each year thins the talent.

Technically inclined The core schools where Credit Suisse recruits are the “top-tier undergraduate and top-seven MBA” institutions. The recruiting process begins on campus with informal conversations to get to know candidates. If selected, candidates go through two rounds of interviews. The first round includes “two-on-one” interviews on campus. One source says the questions during his “45-minute” interview were “70 percent behavioral and 30 percent technical.” This round is followed by a final-round, which includes six to eight, half-hour interviews with one or two bankers in each interview.” During the final round, you “need to show strong technical skills as each interview includes some type of technical question.” Candidates should “be ready to answer any kind of question, and at least know the basics of finance, valuation and accounting.” One contact remembers being “asked [to give] three strengths, three weaknesses” and his “thoughts on the market process.” Another current employees recalls example questions such as “Express 1/8 as a percentage,” and “If a clock reads 3:15, what’s the angle between the hour hand and the minute hand?” More general questions include “How do you compare us to other firms?” and “How are you making your decision?”

Internships a must A summer internship is an almost guarantee for future employment at Credit Suisse as “all summer interns are expected to get an offer.” Furthermore, “it is very difficult to get a full-time offer after school without having done an internship.” Many current employees who completed internships with the company had very positive experiences. One source says that the “internship served as a 10-week interview and really gave me the opportunity to display my full potential.” The internship gave “very realistic exposure to what a full-time associate would face.” Another says that the internship was a “great, well rounded experience,” and that the “sky is the limit if you are competent and able to take on the responsibility of a full-time analyst.” The work and pay of most internships are “equivalent to those of a full-time associate.” There are also side perks. According to one source, the firm “takes very good care of its summers.” “There is a weekend trip to the Hampton’s—golf, beach BBQ, the works—and an evening when they book Shake-Shack,” among many other events. The firm also assigns eight to 10 associates as junior mentors to help the interns throughout the summer,” a current employee says.

OUR SURVEY SAYS “United Nations of banking” The general consensus is that the atmosphere at Credit Suisse is “very collegial, team-oriented, supportive, diverse and global.” A current employee says, “The firm is very supportive in terms of career development for their junior bankers with MBA prep and ambassador programs where Credit Suisse will pay for your MBA.” There is “generally an open-door policy with senior bankers.” One source speaks highly of the firm’s diverse atmosphere, saying, “I like to call our firm the United Nations of banking. We have a truly global workforce in our New York office. We have people from a wide

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variety of countries, and you often hear a wide variety of languages being spoken in your work area.” The cultural diversity leads to the firm being a “little less aggressive and merit-based,” a place where “many senior execs have made their career.”

Bonus packages Salaries at Credit Suisse start at about $60,000 for analysts and $95,000 for associates. According to one employee, “Associates and higher title levels get paid 20 percent of annual bonus in stock, which vests evenly over three years.” However, in 2009, “bonuses for first-year analysts were severely impacted by the economy and the market losses.” One employee says that the “firm did a good job paying the younger people despite the horrible macro” conditions, and adds that Credit Suisse “has not accepted any federal assistance (Swiss or U.S.) and is on track for a relatively stable year.” “Given the current market circumstances those of us that outperformed were paid higher than the previous year,” says one insider. In order to cut costs, Credit Suisse has cut back on office perks and downsized its work force in the last year.

Ebb and flow Hours at the entry level can be brutal at Credit Suisse. However, many report that hours become more tolerable as one accumulates seniority. One employee estimates, “As a first year, I worked an average of 100 hours per week. As a second year, I worked about 90 hours per week. And as a third year, I put in about 80 hours per week.” Another employee backs this up, explaining that “during your first couple of years you should expect to spend over 100 hours per week for many weeks in a row. Every now and then you get a break of a couple of weeks, with more normal hours and weekends off.” An equity research analyst reports that “we work long hours during earnings time, but aside from that, the hours are very manageable.” An analyst in M&A explains that “banking is generally ebb and flow. If you are on a fast-paced live deal, you will find yourself in the office at all hours, all the time. In between these situations, though, life can be more manageable.” Luckily, almost all employees agree that “not a lot of hours are wasted waiting on others or putting in face time.” And the majority of employees say they would not take a pay cut in exchange for fewer hours.

Be proactive The managers at Credit Suisse are described by their subordinates as “phenomenal,” “approachable” and “not your stereotypical bankers.” One analyst says, “I am encouraged to learn as much as possible, work on group projects, contribute to our team’s projects and bring new ideas to the table.” Another adds, “Managers don’t play favorites. They have high expectations but treat people fairly.” The bar is kept high due to a policy in which “there is low tolerance for managers who create work for no reason or who are unappreciative of their juniors’ time.” One source reports that “managers are often walking the trading floor and know many junior people quite well.” However, another contact warns that “you must be proactive about developing relationships with senior team members.”

New York vs. the world Though the outside of Credit Suisse’s headquarters in New York is “impressive” and the lobby inside is “one of the most beautiful in the city,” the building is “otherwise pretty standard.” Current employees also report that “NYC offices are much less luxurious than the regional offices.” “San Francisco and Mexico City are much better, and also offer free drinks and coffee.” An employee in New York reports that there are perks in the Big Apple as well, citing “the cafeteria and other on-site services like dry cleaning, cafes and traders’ pantry on the trading floors.” The New York office is also “in a prime location in Gramercy, which is much more alive than Wall Street and more gentrified than Times Square.” The dress code is “business casual all the time,” and “people typically wear suits for client meetings.” In some offices, employees also “get to wear jeans during August” if they give a charitable contribution. One contact says, “Dress code is a little less strict on the West Coast due to casual attire of clients.” Though many employees are unaware of any specific updates Credit Suisse has made to improve its environmental footprint, one source says that the firm has installed “new faucets that use less water.” Others note that “lights turn off when nobody is around,” and “everything possible gets recycled.”

Training is tops According to current employees, Credit Suisse has the “top training program on Wall Street.” An associate reports that the “training was exceptional,” and he “felt like Credit Suisse invested a lot of time into making sure that we were exposed to as much as possible both before our summer internship and before the full-time program.” After the initial formal training, there are “numerous ongoing training opportunities to further career development.” “Some groups also have continuing education throughout the year to teach more advanced topics to junior and mid-level bankers.” These sessions are “often run by managing directors, external law firms and other education consultants,” an analyst explains.


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Women’s initiative Female employees give the company mixed reviews on its outreach towards them. One associate says that “relative to Wall Street, Credit Suisse has many female bankers,” but she admits that “we’ve got a long way to go here in finance.” Another female associate reports that she “doesn’t see many female faces on the trading floor.” One employee notes that the firm has a “very strong women’s network,” while another adds that “there are lots of programs for women.” As far as racial diversity, one African American employee says that “Credit Suisse is very diverse with regard to minorities relative to other Wall Street firms.” An openly gay employee gives the firm low marks with regards to outreach for the GLBT community, but does says that “there are two openly gay people in the investment banking department.”

Happy campers Credit Suisse has managed to keep its employees relatively satisfied throughout the rocky ride of the past few years. “Our leadership has been extremely thoughtful during these difficult times,” says one employee, “and that is adequately reflected by our continued strong relationships with clients and positive presence in the press.” General complaints include the fact that “work/life balance could be better.” “The only reason I am dissatisfied is due to my bonus,” one employee says, “but that is not uncommon at any financial firm on Wall Street.” Overall, insiders say that Credit Suisse is “a great place to work,” noting that employees “are able to speak freely and present their opinions.” One source sums up the situation, “We are in relatively good financial shape and should be able to take market share from competitors in the next year or two.”

Sunny outlook Going forward, Credit Suisse’s employees have mixed opinions about what will happen to the company and banking in general. One source confesses, “It’s almost impossible to see which direction this business is going.” Another has more specific predictions, believing that “the general business outlook is not very good in 2009.” However, she points out that “Credit Suisse has weathered the storm better than most of its competitors.” Another source says that Credit Suisse “is extremely well positioned relative to its peers,” explaining that “the company has positioned itself to take significant market share from key competitors over the next couple of years.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

8

EVERCORE PARTNERS

55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 Phone: (212) 857-3100 Fax: (212) 857-3101 www.evercore.com

KEY COMPETITORS Blackstone Group Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Greenhill & Co. Lazard

DEPARTMENTS Advisory Services Investment Management

UPPERS • “Laid-back” atmosphere

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: EVR (NYSE) Chairman: Roger C. Altman President & CEO: Ralph Schlosstein 2008 Revenue: $224.93 million 2008 Net Income: -$4.71 million No. of Employees: 335 No. of Offices: 9

DOWNERS • Hours can be “brutal”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Under “contact us,” see “careers” at www.evercore.com

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Top ‘prestigious boutique’—intelligent, high quality advisors” • “Dependent on Roger Altman; ‘eat what you kill’ mentality” • “Winning many notable mandates; restructuring powerhouse” • “Quality firm, but status as a public company may be challenging”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Evercore Partners

THE SCOOP Boutique on the rise Founded in 1996 by Blackstone veterans Roger Altman and Austin Beutner, investment banking boutique Evercore Partners went public in August 2006 with an $82.9 million initial public offering. Its public debut was astonishing: Evercore’s revenue increased 47 percent in 2006 while net income rose 80 percent. Evercore operates from offices in New York; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Houston; London; Mexico City; and Monterrey. It also has alliances in Japan, China, Brazil and France. Its advisory services include corporate advisory and restructuring advisory, serving both public and private companies, with an emphasis on large multinational corporations. Corporate advisory services include mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and sale transactions, and special committee and fairness opinion assignments. The restructuring advisory business works with debtors and creditors both in and out of court; its services include restructuring, raising and structuring DIP (debtor-in-possession) and exit financing, M&A advice, raising debt and equity financing, expert testimony and fairness opinions, and general financial analysis. Evercore’s private equity investing business manages over $1.2 billion funded by U.S. and international investors, including corporate and public pension funds, foundations, trusts, banks, endowments, insurance companies and families. This business is divided among two private equity funds (Evercore Capital Partners I and Evercore Partners II), the Evercore Ventures venture capital fund, Evercore Asset Management and Protego Asesores, a Mexican private equity joint venture with Discovery Capital Partners. Cornerstones of Evercore’s private equity portfolios include American Media, Inc. (publisher of Shape, Fitness, and the National Enquirer), Balkrishna Industries (a Mumbai-based tire manufacturer) and Sedgwick CMS, a Tennessee claims management outsourcer. In addition, Evercore has recently expanded its investing businesses with the launch of Evercore Wealth Management, LLC, which provides customized investment and wealth management services to families, individuals and related institutions. It also recently established Evercore Trust Company, N.A., which specializes in providing independent fiduciary services, including investment management and fiduciary decision-making services, to employee benefit plans; it has approximately $12.8 billion of assets under management. Evercore devoted a fair amount of activity in 2008 to pumping up its investment management business, making strategic deals in Brazil, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. Evercore hopes fees from investment management will compensate for slowing advisory fee revenue given a shaky M&A deal market.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: Evercore taps Lehman veteran Evercore Partners hired former vice chairman of Barclay’s Capital and 28-year Lehman Brothers veteran, Mark Burton. Burton has advised on huge deals such as Royal Bank of Scotland’s acquisition of ABN Amro and Golden West’s sale to Wachovia.

May 2009: Hiring two more from Merrill Evercore Partners hired one of Merrill Lynch’s chief advisors to transportation firms in New York and one of the former bank’s senior energy investment bankers in Houston. Mark K. Friedman, who will work with Evercore as a shipping investment banking executive, and Robert A. Pacha, who will open Evercore’s Houston office and lead its midstream energy practice, were the most recent high-level departures from Merrill after its sale to Bank of America in late 2008. Evercore had previously hired ex-Merrill colleague George R. Ackert in February 2009.

May 2009: Evercore gains a new CEO from BlackRock Evercore scored a major coup, hiring Ralph Schlosstein as its new president and CEO. Schlosstein previously worked for BlackRock, where he spent nearly two decades as president, helping to grow BlackRock from a start-up into one of the world’s leading financial services firms (Schlosstein also co-founded BlackRock). Roger Altman will continue to serve as full-time chairman of Evercore, focusing on client relationships and transactions, while Schlosstein focuses on managing the firm and growing the investment management side of its business. Schlosstein took over the role left vacant by the retirement of Evercore Co-Founder Austin Beutner. Schlosstein had previously begun working in partnership with Evercore in 2008, setting up HighView Investment Group.

April 2009: Picking up a piece of BofA Evercore agreed to acquire Bank of America’s special fiduciary services group, a unit of BofA’s wealth management division that provides services for companies’ employee benefit plans. Evercore is hoping that the acquisition of the unit, which has approximately $12.8 billion in assets under management, will boost Evercore’s revenue, compensating for less advisory revenue given the slow M&A deal market. Evercore plans to house the unit under its newly formed Evercore Trust Company.

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January 2009: UBS’s loss is Evercore’s gain Evercore Partners hired former UBS vice chairman Robert Gillespie as senior managing director of the company’s London division. During his 27-year tenure at UBS, Gillespie advised clients such as Prudential and Vodafone, and assisted in merging banking groups the company had acquired.

December 2008: Big-ticket deals Thomson Reuters ranked Evercore No. 24 in worldwide announced M&A in 2008 (down three spots from 2007) and No. 16 in U.S. announced M&A. In 2008, Evercore worked on several major M&A assignments, including Time Warner Cable’s separation from Time Warner, Rockefeller Financial Services’ sale of a 37 percent stake to Société Générale’s private banking group and Centennial Communications’ $944 million sale to AT&T.

December 2008: Advising General Motors Evercore’s William Repko—a banker previously named to the Turnaround Management Association’s Restructuring Hall of Fame—was enlisted to advise General Motors on its bankruptcy talks. Repko isn’t the first Evercore employee to take on such a role; his boss, Evercore CEO Roger Altman, contributed to the bailout plan of Chrysler when he was assistant Treasury secretary in 1979.

November 2008: Breaking into wealth management Evercore launched Evercore Wealth Management, headed by Jeff Maurer, former chairman and CEO of U.S. Trust Corporation. Fred Taylor, former vice chairman and CIO of U.S. Trust, was named EWM senior advisor. The business will concentrate on high-net-worth clients with more than $5 million in assets.

October 2008: Gaining Les and the admiral Evercore hired 25-year Lehman Brothers veteran Les Fabuss as senior managing director for its advisory business. Fabuss was previously vice chairman of global investment banking at Lehman. Evercore also added Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent to its advisory business; the admiral was made a strategic advisor in the Evercore London office. Sir James was previously commander-in-chief fleet of the Royal Navy.

September 2008: Helping HighView Evercore pledged $150 million to help launch HighView Investment Group, headed by BlackRock co-founder and former president Ralph Schlosstein. Schlosstein and Stone Point Capital, among others, pledged funds totaling another $450 million. Asset manager HighView will seek to acquire minority interests in independent alternative asset managers with more than $2 billion in assets under management. As part of the deal, Evercore CEO Roger Altman was named to the HighView board.

August 2008: Partnering up with G5 Evercore announced an agreement with G5 Advisors, a São Paulo-based investment banking boutique and investment management firm, to jointly advise on cross-border transactions involving Brazilian companies. Together, Evercore and G5 will focus on M&A transactions between Brazilian companies and ones located outside South America. The partnership should increase Evercore’s M&A standing in Brazil (in 2008, Thomson Reuters ranked Evercore No. 22 in Brazilian completed M&A deals).

June 2008: Picking up a former Bear banker Evercore hired former head of Bear Stearns’ restructuring unit Daniel A. Celentano as senior managing director. At Bear, Celentano worked on restructuring projects for General Motors, Time Warner, Zale Corporation and Andersen Worldwide.

May 2008: Co-CEO resigns Austin M. Beutner, Evercore president and co-CEO, resigned as a result of medical procedures related to a bicycle accident. In response, Evercore named Roger Altman its sole CEO, but made no other managerial changes.

April 2008: Investment management expansion aplenty Evercore announced that the Mizuho Corporate Bank in Japan would invest $120 million in debts and warrants, earning Mizuho the right to add a director to the Evercore board.


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GETTING HIRED In search of those who “check the fit box” Evercore is “highly selective and closely scrutinizes for both competence and fit.” There are “a very limited number of spots” per year and “only a few analysts get hired from schools other than Wharton.” Bulge-bracket experience is also looked upon favorably. “It’s pretty difficult to get a full-time offer without summer experience from a bulge-bracket firm.” The firm does have its own “small summer intern class” of seven or eight analysts, but “most worked in other banks before coming to work here.” Participating in Evercore’s program will “give a leg up in the recruiting process,” because “the firm has used the 10 weeks as an extended job interview, allowing it to choose the very best from the preselected pool.” But, an internship with the firm is “not essential.” Regardless of where you intern, Evercore wants people with a “strong background in accounting and analysis,” which makes “finance and accounting coursework a must.” The firm focuses on “pedigreed undergrad and MBA programs,” and likes candidates “with client-interaction experience.” Although the firm recruits “only at a small set of schools,” it will “consider any resumes that are submitted.” Last, but definitely not least, candidates must be a good fit for the firm. A contact says, “Fit is usually where people get cut. It’s imperative to have solid technical skills and a good work ethic, but if you don’t check the ‘fit’ box, you will not be hired.”

Time to get technical Evercore’s interview process is “short and transparent.” Most candidates interview on-campus, followed by a full day of interviews in the firm’s New York City office. The number of on-site interviews can range from four to as many as 10; interviews are held by “associates, VPs and partners.” These “30-minute interviews” tend to be “technically rigorous.” Interviewers also look to gauge fit by asking questions about candidates’ “interest in investment banking and the boutique environment.” Sources say the question ratio breaks down to about “50 percent technical and 50 percent fit.” But one source recalls, “The questions I received were much more technical than ones asked by other investment banks.” Evercore recruits at “top undergraduate business schools only.” Historically, target schools have included Harvard Business School, Wharton, Columbia, Kellogg and University of Chicago at the graduate level, and Penn, NYU, Western Ontario, UVA and University of Michigan at the undergraduate level.

OUR SURVEY SAYS An edge on bulge brackets Insiders at Evercore think their firm has an edge over bulge-bracket competition. At this smaller firm, there is “less distance between junior and senior people,” which creates a “second-to-none” experience for analysts. In addition to “great exposure to some of the most talented and highly regarded senior bankers on the Street,” Evercore offers analysts “significant responsibility” and the chance to work on “different deal types.” The firm also offers a “more manageable social life than most bulge brackets,” and for the times when long hours are required, “you won’t mind pulling all-nighters with the people here.” Evercore’s culture is comprised of “a tight-knit group of extremely bright, talented and motivated individuals who have uncanny goal congruence about how to build and run a business.” In this “fun, laid-back, non-bureaucratic working environment,” bankers do not fit into the arrogant banker stereotype.” “Everyone is nice and willing to explain complex concepts to you,” and “people hang out on weekends and after work.” Evercore is also “results- and responsibility-driven.” A contact says, “There is a David vs. Goliath mentality when we think of our firm compared to its counterparts on Wall Street. This contributes to a more collegial, helpful working environment, but also means substantially longer hours and more responsibility shouldered by the analysts.” Indeed, “a lot is expected out of employees, and everyone is expected to be a quick learner and to push for responsibility beyond what may be expected elsewhere.” “Expectations are set extremely high, and A+ performance is demanded every day, including those days that begin with ‘S.’” Fortunately, people are recognized for all their hard work, because Evercore is “very much a meritocracy.”

Saying thanks with perks Evercore bankers enjoy “higher compensation than peers.” Almost unanimously, insiders give high marks to their pay packages, which, in addition to nice salaries, include a number of perks. Bankers enjoy a “generous meal allowance” of $30 for dinner during the week and $50 on weekends. There’s also “a stocked kitchen with fruit, drinks, bottled water and other snacks.” To top it off, “free breakfast is provided every morning.” Evercore also offers “generous travel and expense policies,” “discounts on gym memberships,” and free “car service to and from work after 9 p.m. as well as on the weekends.”

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The softer side of “brutal” hours New bankers should “expect to work hard,” especially in their “first years.” Although “hours are generally better than at bulge-brackets firms,” they “can be brutal at times” and normally average around 90 per week. Most employees work “pretty much every weekend,” with an average of “one weekend off per month.” Some say “weekend work is sporadic,” while others say, “Saturdays and Sundays are just like Mondays and Tuesdays.” The good news is that the firm is “fairly thoughtful about hours worked.” When you’re at the office, “it is usually for good reasons.” There is “no face time” and “minimal wasteful, unnecessary work.” Hours “can be long and unexpected,” but “the firm does a good job with working around analysts’ schedules when they have plans.” There’s also “a strong emphasis on taking your vacations.” The bottom line is you should expect “very demanding hours, but with consideration for family time and vacation.”

On-the-job learning At Evercore, “analysts and associates work closely with senior partners on a daily basis.” This “can be stressful,” but also provides an opportunity to “learn more and get the proper recognition for your hard work.” Analysts and associates are “treated with a great deal of respect, especially from the partners.” Many subordinates “build real, in-depth relationships” with their managers. At times, this “collegial environment can lead to inefficiencies,” but generally speaking, “managers recognize that banking can be difficult for junior employees and are willing to help.” It’s a good thing Evercore’s managers are so willing to help, because “training is pretty much 100 percent on the job.” New employees are expected “to come to Evercore already knowing accounting and finance.” The firm “requires self-starters” content with “two weeks of DealMaven training.” Fortunately, “people understand there is a learning curve and are extremely helpful when you start.” Still, incomers should be prepared for a “learnas-you-go environment.”

New office in Midtown Evercore analysts work from “pretty big cube areas,” which offer “little privacy.” Associates and above have “nice, windowed offices with nice views.” Everyone works from the firm’s “newly renovated floor of a prime Midtown Manhattan building.” Plus, “the kitchen is stocked with drinks, and there’s free breakfast of fresh fruit and bagels every morning.” There sometimes can be a “lack of basic resources like stationery,” as well as “technology issues,” because the firm lacks “the expensive resources that bigger banks have.” But most sources give high overall marks to Evercore’s facilities, and one says the firm’s office is “a 1,000 percent improvement” compared to the one he worked in while employed at Goldman Sachs.

No Hermès required The dress code at Evercore is “somewhere between business casual and business formal,” unless you’re meeting with a client, in which case it’s “always formal.” On regular days, “some people wear ties every day, some don’t.” Although “some people like coming in suits and ties,” insiders say Evercore is “not like Lazard, where everyone wears identical Hermès ties and silver monogrammed belt buckles.” A contact says, “People here really dress differently and however they want to.” In fact, “one of the partners doesn’t even own a tie.”

Time to get formal about diversity Although “hiring is done on a sex-blind basis,” there is “no formal mentor or hiring initiative for women.” Shedding light on why few women are attracted to the firm, one insider says Evercore has no formal programs because “it’s not necessary.” The “few” women who are in senior roles are “highly respected and treated pretty much the same as everyone else.” And some say “the ratio will improve with the new analyst class.” New analyst and associate classes are currently “running about 30 to 50 percent female.” Evercore is without a formal program for hiring or retaining ethnic minorities as well. Despite that, sources say the firm is “surprisingly diverse” for its size. “For a small firm, Evercore hires a lot of foreigners,” and “several senior execs are minorities.” All “are highly respected and treated well like everyone else.” Similarly, “there are multiple gay people in senior roles,” and they receive “total respect.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

9

DEUTSCHE BANK AG

60 Wall Street New York, NY 10005 Phone: (212) 250-2500 www.db.com

DEPARTMENTS/DIVISIONS Corporate & Investment Bank Global Banking (Corporate Finance & Global Transaction Banking) Global Markets Private Clients & Asset Management Asset Management/DWS Private Wealth Management Private & Business Clients

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: DBK (Frankfurt); DB (NYSE) Chief Executive: Dr. Josef Ackermann 2008 Revenue: €13.5 billion 2008 Net Income: €3.9 billion No. of Employees: 80,456 No. of Offices: Offices in 72 countries

KEY COMPETITORS Credit Suisse Goldman Sachs J.P. Morgan Morgan Stanley UBS Investment Bank

UPPERS • “Good culture” and “interesting work” • “A pretty diverse place, both in terms of race and gender”

DOWNERS • “High-pressure” and “very hectic” • “There are a lot of politics”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.db.com/careers

THE BUZZ


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“Has done well in the downturn” “Kills analysts” “Great research; solid place to be” “Limited US presence”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Deutsche Bank AG

THE SCOOP All around the world Boasting more than 80,000 employees across 72 countries, Deutsche Bank truly has a global footprint, with particular strength in Europe and its homeland of Germany. Deutsche Bank’s international presence encompasses retail banking branches, corporate and investment banking, and asset management. It’s made up of two main divisions: corporate and investment bank (CIB), and private clients and asset management (PCAM). The whole group is directed by a management board, which controls resource allocation, accounting and disclosure, strategy and risk management. Deutsche Bank’s corporate and investment bank group oversees the capital markets (origination, sales and trading), corporate advisory, corporate lending and transaction banking businesses. It also oversees mergers and acquisitions, and gives general corporate finance advice primarily to global corporations, financial institutions and sovereign entities. Deutsche Bank’s private clients and asset management group, or PCAM, comprises two subdivisions: asset and wealth management services, and private and business client services. Its asset management services include traditional asset management and alternative investments, the latter encompassing absolute-return strategies and specialist real estate asset management. Its client base includes retail clients and institutional investors such as pension funds. The asset management group at Deutsche Bank is one of the largest asset managers in the world. The bank’s private wealth management division caters to high-net-worth individuals and families. It offers traditional and alternative investments, risk management strategies, lending, wealth transfer planning and philanthropic advisory, among others services.

A complex history In 1870, a private banker named Adelbert Delbruck and a politician named Ludwig Bamberger opened Deutsche Bank in Berlin as a specialist bank for foreign trade. By 1876, it had become the largest bank in Germany and, by 1880, its investments were scattered across the globe (including in North and South America, Eastern Asia and Turkey). Before the turn of the century, the German giant had invested in projects like the Northern Pacific Railroad in the U.S. and the Baghdad Railway. After World War II, Deutsche Bank closed its offices in Soviet-occupied areas and was scattered into 10 regional offices while western Germany was under occupation. By 1957, the bank had regained its footing as a unified Deutsche Bank AG with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. By 1986, the firm made its first major bank acquisition outside of Germany with the purchase of Banca d’America e d’Italia. Other acquisitions included the Morgan Grenfell Group (1989), the U.S. firm Bankers Trust (1999), the U.S. asset manager Scudder Investments (2002), the Swiss private bank Rued Blass & Cie (2003) and the Russian investment bank United Financial Group (2006). DB’s shares have been listed on the Berlin Stock Exchange since the bank’s birth in 1870. The bank also listed in Frankfurt in 1880, on the Paris Stock Exchange (now Euronext) in 1974, on the Brussels exchange (also now Euronext) in 1979, in Tokyo in 1989 and on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Revisiting profit, keeping Ackermann Deutsche Bank booked $1.6 billion in net income for the first quarter of the year, compared with a $185 million net loss for the first quarter of 2008. The bank was buoyed by improved trading revenue, which increased 56 percent versus the same quarter a year earlier to $9.4 billion. The firm also reported record revenue in interest rate and foreign exchange products, in addition to a good showing in its money market area. Its corporate banking and securities unit increased revenue nearly four times versus what it posted for the same period of 2008. At the same time, the bank also announced that it would be holding on to CEO Josef Ackermann for three more years after his contract runs out in 2010.

March 2009: Merrill Lynch vs. Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank poached several of long-time rival investment bank Merrill Lynch’s senior staff members, including 11 bankers and Merrill treasurer Eric Heaton. Merrill, which had recently been acquired by Bank of America, called it a “hiring raid,” and according to the bank’s lawsuit, Heaton violated a non-competition agreement by joining Deutsche Bank and didn’t provide Merrill with the required notice of six months before leaving the firm. Furthermore, Merrill accused Deutsche of having plotted for many months in advance to poach its staff, which it said had generated “tens of millions” of dollars in revenue for Merrill.


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March 2009: Job hopping DB appointed Tom Cooper, former head of European M&A at UBS, as the co-chairman of global mergers and acquisitions in London. DB also announced the appointment of Marc Pandraud (joining from Bank of America Merrill Lynch) as chief country officer of France in its corporate finance group.

February 2009: Group exodus Deutsche Bank’s quantitative trading unit, Equitech Group, announced its departure from the firm to begin the Roc Capital Management LP hedge fund. Roc Capital is expected to open in the second quarter of 2009 with about 20 employees. It will be based in New York and headed up by Arevind Raghunathan, who ran Deutsche Bank’s global arbitrage unit.

February 2009: Deutsche’s largest loss Following one of the worst financial eras in decades, Deutsche Bank posted a record fourth quarter 2008 loss of $6.3 billion in January 2009. For the full year, Deutsche posted a net loss of $5 billion after snagging an $8.32 billion profit in 2007. Full-year revenue came in at about $17.26 billion, a 56 percent drop from 2007. Its investment banking unit had a particularly bad year, posting a pre-tax loss of $10.87 billion. Its corporate banking and securities division and asset management unit didn’t fare much better, reporting losses of $10.85 billion and $671 million, respectively. While he announced fourth quarter 2008 results, Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann said that the U.S. government’s executive pay cap at U.S. companies receiving bailout money under its TARP plan will encourage American executives to work overseas. “If you are only going to be able to pay a $500,000 bonus, I think talent will be happy to work for us,” he said in a statement.

February 2009: When the German giant gets bigger As one of Germany’s biggest banking and financial institutions, Deutsche Bank took a great leap forward in its hugeness when it announced that it had agreed to acquire a 22.9 percent stake in Deutsche Postbank AG, the financial services business of Deutsche Post, the world’s largest logistics group and successor to Germany’s former state-owned mail monopoly that was privatized in 1995.

January 2009: Bye to Boaz Deutsche Bank announced that the co-head of its global credit trading business will be departing the firm to create his own hedge fund. Boaz Weinstein, who headed up the unit with Colin Fan, will leave the company in the second quarter 2009 after 11 years with the firm—taking about 15 of his co-workers to the hedge fund along with him.

January 2009: Nothing like a pat on the back The year 2009 got off to a good start for Deutsche Bank. On January 19th, DB was named the Best Investment Bank 2008 in the Asia Pacific region (excluding Japan) by The Asset magazine. Also in January 2009, Risk Magazine named DB’s loan exposure management group the Credit Portfolio Manager of the year, for the fourth year in a row. Other recent awards include Global Trade Review naming the firm the Best Global Structured Commodity Finance Bank, and Treasury Management International naming DB the Best Global Cash Management Provider for the second year in a row.

December 2008: Despite rough waters, Deutsche stays afloat Globally, merger and acquisition deals decreased 29.6 percent in 2008 versus 2007—and Deutsche Bank felt the squeeze. On the Thomson Reuters worldwide announced M&A tables for 2008, Deutsche Bank came in at No. 8 for the second straight year, but saw its deal volume decrease by 25.1 percent. In U.S. announced M&A transactions, the firm jumped three places to No. 5, with 89 deals worth $274.5 billion. Deutsche advised on several big U.S.-based M&A deals in 2008 such as biopharmaceutical company Eli Lilly’s $5.75 billion bid for ImClone Systems and health care company Fresenius’ $3.73 billion bid for APP Pharmaceuticals. In European announced M&A, the firm also leaped three spots to No. 5, working on 197 deals worth a total of $351 billion. On the global debt, equity and equity-related tables for 2008, Deutsche Bank held on to its No. 4 ranking, losing just a bit of market share (0.6 percent). And in global IPO underwriting, Deutsche Bank fell two spots to No. 9, losing 1.7 percent of market share in the process. In global debt underwriting, Deutsche Bank moved up a spot to No. 3 versus 2007, with 705 deals worth $287.6 billion. The firm also ranked No. 1 in all bonds in Euros, No. 3 in international bonds, No. 5 in global mortgage-backed securities, No. 6 in asset-backed deals, No. 8 in U.S. investment grade debt and No. 8 in global high-yield debt.

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December 2008: Best Bank Finance Asia magazine named DB the Best Bank in its annual awards.

November 2008: House of the Year awards Structured Products magazine awarded DB with the titles of both Hedge Funds House of the Year and Structured Funds House of the Year. DB was also named Equity Derivatives House of the Year and Derivatives House of the Year (excluding Japan) by AsiaRisk magazine.

November 2008: Hundreds of traders shown the door Deutsche Bank will cut about one in seven of its traders from its global market division, Reuters reported. The unit, which employed about 7,000 traders at the time, was said to layoff approximately 900 employees in total. The wave of layoffs was the largest to hit Deutsche since the beginning of the financial crisis that crippled the industry.

October 2008: No bonus for Joe Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann said that he, along with other top-ranking Deutsche executives, will not be receiving bonuses for 2008. In an interview with German newspaper Bild, Ackermann said, “I’m renouncing my bonus in this difficult year in favour of deserving employees that need the money more than I do.” For 2007, the chief took home about $17 million in cash and stock as a bonus and, for 2008, stood to make a “few million” euros. The move followed other top-ranking banking executives at (the now-defunct) Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley, among other banks, foregoing their bonuses, and coincided with UBS Chairman Peter Kurer saying that he will “most probably not get a bonus for this year because we will have a loss.”

July 2008: Bargain basement Deutsche Bank revealed that it would buy several ABN Amro commercial-lending units from Fortis Bank for $1.13 billion. Specifically, Deutsche will purchase two corporate client groups and 13 commercial banking offices in addition to segments of Hollandsche Bank Unie and IFN Finance BV. The acquisition seems to be well timed for Fortis, which has suffered the loss of approximately 50 percent of its market value since buying ABN Amro’s asset management and banking groups in 2007, then selling off the units at a deep discount. According to Deutsche Bank, the deal will significantly strengthen its corporate banking operations in the Netherlands.

GETTING HIRED Cutting to the chase Deutsche Bank recruits “on campuses” and through its online job postings, and it seems that its interviewing process is similarly clear cut. The method of acquiring a position at Deutsche Bank can be “surprisingly straightforward” and “much more friendly” than insiders say they initially expected. Expect at least two to three rounds of interviews, much of them “behavior-focused.” “Be willing to voice your interest but also be flexible.” And, though it should be obvious, “make sure you have a passion for the job.” One insider opines that “if you are passionate about the position, conduct yourself well and come to the interviews prepared, you will get at least past the first round.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Pleasant work The firm boasts a “good culture” and “interesting work,” though it’s “not always the most team-oriented.” Because of this, “if you’re not hard-nosed now, you soon will be.” It’s a “high-pressure” environmentn and it’s “very hectic, with everyone being responsible for everything.” But working at Deutsche is “very rewarding” and management “definitely appreciates your efforts and contributions, and works hard toward creating a fun, relaxed environment.” When it comes to time spent in the office, though “hours at all banks are awful,” “DB is among the more reasonable,” with “only a few all-nighters.” In terms of hours, it’s also “all about results,” but “the results are viewed myopically—they have to be what the boss wants, and this is not necessarily what’s right for the organization.”


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Navigate the politics “You really need to make some noise to move within the organization,” says one employee, while another complains that “opportunities for advancement are linked to relationships or perceptions of those who matter like senior bankers on the compensation and promotion committees.” However, others believe, “The culture at Deutsche is pretty flat and open to meritocracy,” and say that although “politics matter if you want to succeed” in certain parts of the bank, “there are many recent examples of [the firm] promoting from within” on grounds of merit. Insiders at Deutsche relish the up-and-coming feel of the firm, even though it lacks the brand recognition of some of its peers. “Don’t underestimate this firm’s competitiveness,” declares one insider. Another says that Deutsche is beginning to reap the benefits of some smart moves in the past. “When the competition began laying off talented employees during the bear market, Deutsche was selectively picking up some of the best minds in finance. This investment has started to pay off.”

Relaxing a little While Deutsche Bank is home to “some of the smartest but most demanding senior managers” on Wall Street, sources report a slight recent loosening of the bank’s tie. “Dress is business casual at the moment,” a shift from the formal-only policy of the past. “The code is business casual, although we are in formal business attire for client meetings,” says an analyst. There is “a lot of diversity” within the firm, insiders say. In addition, there are “many women in high positions.” All in all, Deutsche is “a pretty diverse place, both in terms of race and gender,” insiders say. The bank maintains a host of diversity networks, including Women on Wall Street, Rainbow Group/LGBT Networks, Deutsche Bank’s Diversified Network and Multicultural Partnership Network. In addition, it works with the National Black MBA Conference, Reaching Out MBA Conference, Inroads and the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) Program. Sources also believe the bank’s willingness to implement flexible work schedules helps women and parents juggle their lives; Deutsche also offers programs that allow employees lengthy unpaid leaves of absence to care for children or relatives. All in all, Deutsche’s people say they’re satisfied. “Employees seem genuinely happy to be here, but not in a cultish, drink-the-punch sort of way, as at some other banks,” opines one insider.

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ROTHSCHILD

Rothschild North America 1251 Avenue of Americas, 51st Floor New York, NY 10020 Phone: (212) 403-3500 Fax: (212) 403-3501 www.us.rothschild.com

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.us.rothschild.com/careers

BUSINESSES Asset Management Investment Banking Real Estate

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company Chairman, Rothschild: Baron David de Rothschild Co-Heads, Rothschild North America Investment Banking: David Resnick & Christopher Lawrence 2008 Revenue: €1.58 billion 2008 Net Income: €407 million No. of Employees: 2,800+ No. of Offices: 49

THE BUZZ


“Bankruptcy master—top-notch restructuring firm” “Old money-focused” “Picking up market share” “Elite”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Rothschild

THE SCOOP Well connected Rothschild is one of the world’s largest independent merchant and investment banks. Perhaps best known as a high-powered advisor, Rothschild’s investment banking division provides debt advice and restructuring services, mergers and acquisitions advice, equity advice, and advice on divestitures and privatizations. Other divisions cover private banking and trust, merchant banking and corporate banking. It has approximately 2,800 employees in 49 offices worldwide, though its footprint remains largest in Europe. Rothschild’s four North American offices are in New York; Washington, D.C.; Toronto; and Montreal. As part of Rothschild’s global investment banking network, the North American investment banking operation collaborates with offices around the world on cross-border deals, with a special emphasis on the middle market. Its services include mergers and acquisitions advisory, private placements, restructuring and project finance for U.S., Canadian and multinational clients. In the real estate department, Rothschild Realty Inc., a real estate investment advisor established in 1981, has $800 million under management through the Five Arrows Realty Securities family of funds. Asset management services come courtesy of Rothschild Asset Management, an independent business unit headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1970, Rothschild Asset Management specializes in U.S. equities, and manages nearly $6 billion in assets for corporations, endowments, foundations, healthcare organizations, high-net-worth investors, public pension funds and Taft-Hartley plans.

How the story began The investment banking arm of the family-owned Rothschild Group, Rothschild has been serving governments, corporations and wealthy individuals for two centuries. Its London headquarters have never moved from New Court, St Swithin’s Lane, though over the years its offices have been rebuilt and expanded. The latest version, a Rem Koolhaas-designed tower with a rooftop pavilion, is slated for occupancy in mid-2011. The Rothschild story began in 1769 when Mayer Amschel Rothschild began offering banking services in his home town of Frankfurt, Germany. His five sons carried the family business—and the family name—across Europe, winning fame as the financiers who funded the Duke of Wellington’s victory over Napoleon. In later years, the Rothschilds arranged loans for the Prussian government, kept the Bank of England afloat during a financial crisis, financed the British government’s purchase of a controlling stake in the Suez Canal, helped De Beers founder Cecil Rhodes establish his eponymous scholarship at Oxford and played a major role in financing the London Tube. The modern Rothschild family includes vast holdings of art and land, not to mention historic estates and some of the most esteemed vineyards in the French wine country. There are also the financial services businesses, of course. These underwent reorganization in 2003 when a new holding company, Concordia BV, was created to oversee operations in Europe. Rothschilds Continuation Holdings AG is the holding company for U.K. and other international businesses; while it remains under the control of the Rothschild family, Hong Kong-based Jardine Strategic owns a 20 percent stake and Rabobank owns 7.5 percent.

Nice work Major deals Rothschild worked on in late 2008 and early 2009 included advising London’s Telereal Ventures on its £750 million acquisition of Land Securities Trillium, advising CSR plc on its £91 million ($136 million) acquisition of California-based SiRF Technology, assisting Unibanco with its $45 billion acquisition of Banco Itau, and advising the Swedish government on its 19.9 percent-stake purchase in the Nordea financial services group and participating in its 2.5 billion rights issue. Rothschild picked up its share of banking industry recognitions, too. EuroWeek dubbed it the LBO Advisory Bank of the Year for 2009, and Acquisitions Monthly recognized its work on the £7.8 billion ($15.4 billion) acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle plc by Carlsberg A/S and Heineken, naming it the Cross Border Deal of the Year. In the FT and Mergermarket M&A Awards for 2008, Rothschild won U.K. Financial Adviser of the Year, Italy Financial Adviser of the Year and Middle Market Financial Adviser of the Year.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Staying busy through the storm The government of Dubai hired Rothschild to help construct a $10 billion fund aimed at softening the impact of the global recession. Officials at the Dubai Department of Finance began disbursing the funds quickly, saying they would offer most of the support to real estate and property companies. According to Standard & Poor’s, Dubai’s economy—the second-biggest in the United Arab Emirates—is on track to slump between 2 percent and 4 percent by the end of 2009.

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Rothschild picked up another key assignment in April when it was retained by Belgian chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate Solvay to co-run the auction of its lucrative pharmaceutical business. The two-stage auction, which is also being run by Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, is expected to bring in $6.62 billion.

January 2009: Good business from bad business Since late 2008, Rothschild has been advising Borders Group, the struggling bookseller, on options that may include restructuring or bankruptcy. The advising team also includes consulting boutique AlixPartners and restructuring attorneys Jones Day. A significant move came in January when Borders appointed hedge fund executive Richard “Mick” McGuire as its chairman.

December 2008: In the middle Rothschild ended 2008 at No. 12 on Thomson Reuters’ investment banking league table for announced worldwide mergers and acquisition deal volume. In U.S. announced deal volume, Rothschild ranked No. 25, with 57 transactions worth $19.9 million. The middle-market league tables told a different story. Based on fees, Rothschild came in No. 2 for worldwide announced middle-market deals with values up to $50 million, $100 million and $200 million. For middle-market deals with values up to $500 million, Rothschild ranked No. 4.

November 2008: So close ... BHP Billiton dropped its hostile bid for mining company Rio Tinto, thereby earning the dubious distinction of “biggest corporate merger ever canceled.” BHP had valued Rio Tinto at a total of $147 billion, and the news hit BHP’s advisors, including Goldman Sachs, hard: they stood to lose over $300 million in fees. However, analysts suggested that Rio Tinto’s advisors—including Rothschild, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan Cazenove, Macquarie, Societe Generale, ABN Amro and Morgan Stanley—would still earn their fees,.

November 2008: All Circuits go Rothschild picked up a plum assignment from a retailer’s misfortunes. The bank was hired by Circuit City, the country’s second-largest electronics chain, in conjunction with its Chapter 11 filing in November 2008. With the advisory assistance of Rothschild and FTI Consulting, Circuit City shuttered hundreds of stores.

November 2008: Joining forces with the Netherlands Rothschild announced a joint venture with the Netherlands’ Rabobank. Under the terms of the deal, both companies will combine their food and agriculture sector operations, and Rabobank bought a 7.5 percent stake in N.M. Rothschild’s holding company, Rothschild Continuation Holdings. After the deal closed, Rothschild family remained the bank’s largest shareholder, and Rabobank became the third-largest, behind trading group Jardine Matheson (which owns 20 percent of the bank).

November 2008: Bonus bonanza For many bankers, 2008 was the year of no—or smaller—bonuses, but not at Rothschild. The Times of London reported that Rothschild’s staffers worldwide had received “record bonuses,” thanks to booming business in advisory and private banking. Although Rothschild had to write-off many millions of dollars related to bad loans, its business was relatively unscathed by turmoil in the world financial markets. That’s because Rothschild, unlike many of its peers, has avoided prime broking, proprietary trading and other risky activities.

September 2008: Bear refuge Wondering what became of Bear Stearns chief Alan D. Schwartz after his bank was taken over by JPMorgan Chase? After the government-arranged deal sent Bear to JPMorgan (and many of Bear’s former employees packing), Schwartz made himself at home in Rothschild’s New York offices. Richard Metrick, a former senior managing director at Bear and Schwartz’s right-hand man, also set up camp at Rothschild while the two men considered their next moves.

September 2008: Amsterdam advising Rothschild advised GMR Infrastructure Ltd. on its purchase of a 50 percent stake in InterGen NV, an Amsterdam-based utility company. The seller was AIG Highstar Capital II, a unit of troubled insurance giant AIG, and the price tag was just over $1.1 billion. In another cross-continent deal Rothschild client Redpath, a Canadian mining company, acquired Australian mining contractor Eroc in the fall of 2008; Rothschild also advised international tech company e2v Technologies on its September 2008 acquisition of California-based QP Semiconductor for $80 million.


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June 2008: Plenty of work The Rothschild advisory teams stayed busy in the second half of 2008, despite the global slump in deal making. The bank advised French manufacturing company Legris Industries Group on its sale to U.S.-based Parker Hannifin Corp., a good example of the international nature of Rothschild’s investment banking work. Rothschild also dvised a group of funds led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus on its sale of Euromedic International to Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, for an undisclosed sum.

GETTING HIRED A steep learning curve Rothschild promises extensive opportunities for graduates while warning of the steep learning curve involved in becoming a fully-fledged Rothschild banker. The company recruits graduates in investment banking in most of its offices, with the graduate training program being run out of London (for Europe and all overseas offices excluding North America) and New York (North America). The first six weeks in the London office consist of intensive classroom training to teach you the ins and outs of financial analysis, investment banking, financial markets and legal issues. After this, U.K. graduates will carry out short placements in the investment and corporate banking divisions, where they’ll be seconded to a range of teams and see live work. If you have applied for a position in, for example, Madrid or Paris, this stage will see you join an office in your chosen city. Considering that Rothschild is not a conventionally hierarchical firm, you’ll find yourself receiving a lot of responsibility from the start. The majority of your tasks will include research and analysis, as well as financial modeling, such as investigating the likely effect on a company of an acquisition or disposal. The “steep learning” often mentioned on Rothschild’s careers website will require long hours, flexibility and team-working skills. In order to apply for a graduate role at Rothschild, you should have a degree from a recognized university. Additional language skills are a bonus. Applicants should also have a personal interest in investment banking, and understand takeovers, mergers and cash flow statements.

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BARCLAYS CAPITAL

200 Park Avenue New York, NY 10166 Phone: (212) 412-4000 www.barcap.com

DEPARTMENTS/DIVISIONS BARX Distribution Global Markets Investment Banking Private Equity Research

THE STATS Employer Type: Division of Barclays Bank PLC Chief Executive: Robert E. “Bob” Diamond Jr. 2008 Revenue: £5.23 billion 2008 Net Income: £1.3 billion No. of Employees: 20,000 No. of Offices: Locations in over 30 countries

KEY COMPETITORS Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley UBS Investment Bank

UPPERS • “Upper management is strong”

DOWNERS • “Destructive politics”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.barcap.com/campusrecruitment

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Reputation greatly enhanced by Lehman—could be a major force” • “Wants to be a major US player, but isn’t” • “The new blue chip; up and coming in the US” • “Mediocre—not real Lehman”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Barclays Capital

THE SCOOP Debt masters Known as a powerhouse in the fixed income marketplace, Barclays Capital is the investment banking arm of Barclays Bank PLC, a venerable London bank that dates back to 1690. The investment bank, often referred to as BarCap, was created in 1997 to provide financing, risk management and advisory services to corporate, government and institutional clients around the world. It also offers foreign exchange management, capital raising, and equity and interest rate services. Although it’s younger than many of its peers, Barclays Capital’s relationship with Barclays Bank PLC allowed it to grow at an astonishing rate: today it has offices in over 30 countries and 20,000 employees. The main clients of Barclays Capital’s services are corporations, institutions and government entities, which are offered finance, advisory and risk management solutions. The firm has expertise in a wide variety of products and services, including bonds, commodities, convertible bonds, credit products, electronic trading, emerging markets, equity derivatives, equity origination, foreign exchange, fund-linked derivatives, fund solutions, index products, inflation-linked products, interest rate products, leveraged finance, loans, M&A, market making, municipal finance, prime services, private equity, research, restructuring, securitization and structured investments.

Born in the ‘80s Barclays Capital’s parent company Barclays Bank PLC can trace its roots back to London in the 17th century, when city streets were paved with goldsmith bankers who financed colonialism by funding monarchs and merchants. John Freame and Thomas Gould were two such goldsmiths, who set up their own firm in 1690. In 1736, a man named James Barclay married into Freame’s family, laying the foundation for what would eventually become Barclays Bank. By the beginning of the 20th century, Barclays was one of the five-biggest banks in the U.K. In 1925, Barclays merged with the Colonial Bank, the Anglo Egyptian Bank and the National Bank of South Africa, establishing operations in the Middle East, Africa and the West Indies. The investment banking business, Barclays Capital, was born in 1986—the year Argentina beat England in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. It was also the year Barclays Bank became the first British bank to be listed on both the Tokyo and New York Stock Exchanges.

Barclays buys the Brothers More recently, Barclays became famous for buying big in New York, agreeing to acquire Lehman Brothers’ North American investment banking business for $2 billion in September 2008. The deal, struck just one day after a struggling Lehman had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, included Lehman’s equity, fixed income and M&A advisory units, as well as approximately 10,000 Lehman employees. The deal also included Lehman’s trading assets, which had an estimated value of $72 billion; liabilities worth $68 billion dollars; Lehman’s New York City headquarters; and two offices in neighbouring New Jersey, with a combined market value of $1.5 billion. Barclays expressed delight at the acquisition, making clear an ambition to increase its presence in the U.S. Barclays Capital’s chief executive, Bob Diamond, confirmed the joy when announcing the Lehman deal, stating, “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Barclays.” A few months after the Lehman buy, in January 2009, Investment Dealers’ Digest named Diamond its Best Banker of the Year for 2008.

IN THE NEWS August 2009: Hiring another 1,000 Barclays Capital CEO President Bob Diamond told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview that Barclays Capital will hire up to 1,000 new investment bankers by the end of 2009. The company’s hires will be “tilted towards Asia,” according to Diamond. Upon hiring its new crop of workers, Barclays Capital will end up employing approximately the same amount of people it did at the end of 2008. After cutting about 3,000 positions, Barclays hired about 2,000 in the first half of 2009, Diamond confirmed.

May 2009: A hiring wave overseas? Barclays Capital said it hopes to hire about 65 bankers for its Europe-based M&A advisory division in 2009. Paul G. Parker, the global head of mergers and acquisitions, said in an interview with Bloomberg that Barclays Capital plans to hire 30 to 40 bankers in Italy, Germany and France, and 15 to 25 workers in the U.K. Barclays Capital, which Bloomberg ranked fifth in U.S. takeovers after it acquired the U.S. arm of Lehman Brothers, hopes “to be top three across all products and regions” in the investment banking sector, according to Parker.

May 2009: Trading heats up Barclays Capital released extremely positive first quarter 2009 results, booking £907 million in net profit, a 361 percent increase versus the first quarter 2008. Thanks to the Lehman Brothers acquisitions and to BarCap’s trading business, parent Barclays PLC increased its first quarter 2009 profit by 15 percent to $2.1 billion, despite impairment charges and other credit provisions that rose to $3.5 billion from $1.95 billion.

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May 2009: New M&A heads Barclays Capital appointed Matthew Ponsonby and Mark Warham as co-heads of its European mergers and acquisitions division. Previously, Ponsonby served as global co-head of infrastructure investment banking at Citigroup, and Warham worked as chairman of Morgan Stanley’s British investment banking division.

January 2009: Barclays cooks with Kitchen Barclays Capital hired Tim Kitchen to lead its investment banking business in Canada. Kitchen, who will be based in Calgary in his new position, previously headed up Lehman Brothers’ Calgary investment banking unit. Prior to that, Kitchen worked for CIBC World Markets for 16 years, focusing on natural resources deals.

January 2009: A write-down, but no bailout Barclays PLC announced that it would be taking an additional $11 billion in write-downs for 2008. In an open letter from CEO John Varley, Barclays confirmed that the bank didn’t need additional capital—it expects strong results in its investment banking, commercial banking and wealth management sectors, and won’t be seeking funding “either from the private sector or the U.K. government.”

January 2009: Not bad overall despite investment banking decline Barclays PLC reported $9 billion in pre-tax profit for 2008, beating analysts’ expectations of $8 billion while boosting profit 1 percent versus 2007. The results were buoyed by the purchase of some of Lehman Brothers’ assets and the sale of an insurance venture. Barclays’ retail banking sector also helped the year-end results; the unit increased profit by 7 percent to $2.04 billion for the year. But the news wasn’t all positive. Barclays Capital posted a pre-tax profit of just $1.94 billion, a 44 percent decline versus 2007.

December 2008: Letting the good times roll International Financing Review and IFR Asia named BarCap the Interest Rate Derivatives House of the Year, Supra/Sovereign/Agency/Regional Bond House of the Year, and Australia and New Zealand Bond House of the Year. Barclays Capital was also named Most Innovative in Inflation Products and Most Innovative in Commodities at The Banker magazine’s prestigious 2008 Investment Banking awards.

December 2008: Etching out its spot In a year where the entire market suffered from the fallout from the mortgage industry, Barclays Capital came in at No. 1 in U.S. mortgage-backed securities underwriting, up from the No. 2 spot in the previous year, according to Thomson Reuters. It also took the top spot in global mortgage-backed securities. The firm held steady at No. 2 on the global debt, equity and equity-related table, working on 1,041 deals worth $401.3 billion, and came in at No. 1 in global debt underwriting as well as all international bonds. In global equity and equity-related deals, the firm placed No. 8 in 2008. In global common stock, it ranked No. 9. On the mergers and acquisitions front, Barclays captured the No. 9 spot on Thomson Reuters’ worldwide announced M&A table for the second year in a row, though its deal volume dipped 26.6 percent versus 2007. In U.S. announced M&A deals, the firm ranked No. 4, up from the No. 5 spot, but it suffered a 31.2 percent drop in volume.

November 2008: FX awards FX Week gave Barclays Capital a slew of awards, including Best Bank for E-Trading, Best Bank for FX in London, Best Bank for Euro/Sterling and Best Bank for Dollar/Sterling.

October 2008: Looking to the Middle East Barclays Capital parent Barclays PLC decided to raise approximately $11.8 billion from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East—including investors in Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Through this plan, Barclays will sell convertible notes and preferred shares through 2019 to the investors in the Middle East. The move was made to avoid involvement in the U.K. government bailout plan. In addition, Barclays will sell securities to new and current shareholders to raise capital.

October 2008: From Russia, with capital Barclays PLC approached the Russian banks OAO VTB and OAO Sberbank regarding potentially investing more than $10 billion in the U.K.-based bank. Barclays said that in order to meet capital goals set by the U.K. government, it would raise $10.34 billion from private sources instead of


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attempting to sell shares to the government. In light of the credit market collapse, many of its banking counterparts have turned to state sources in the form of bailout packages.

October 2008: Three “best of the year” honors Barclays Capital was named Structured Retail House of the Year by Derivatives Week, No. 1 in equity research (for the sixth year in a row) by Institutional Investor, and Best Syndicate and Best Structuring Bank by Euroweek.

September 2008: Acquiring Lehman One day after New York-based Lehman Brothers filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Barclays PLC agreed to acquire the ailing firm’s U.S. investment banking business for $2 billion.

GETTING HIRED Friendly folks True, Barclays’ interview process is a “very selective,” “very difficult” one, but you can also expect “very friendly interviewers,” insiders say. Candidates need to “meet the personality the firm is looking for,” proving that they “have the right skills and talents.” “The firm puts candidates through a relatively long and challenging selection process. Only once a candidate has passed through several rounds of scrutiny can he or she expect to receive a job offer.” And the candidates who do get asked in for interviews must be a “fit with Barclays’ corporate culture” in addition to having the technical skills required. You may be asked “behavioral/fit-type questions,” too, so be prepared. Insiders have also reported being asked “about experience in previous positions” and “general questions like ‘Why are you leaving your current job?’” Make sure you’re able to put a positive spin on your departure—the firm likes to ask questions about “the most and least enjoyable parts of your previous work.” During the interview process, you “should be fine as long as your answers show some level of analysis and knowledge about the company.” “We had some interesting discussions,” enthuses one contact. And “at the end of the interview, you can ask any questions to the interviewer.” Barclays targets more than 30 “top-tier graduate and undergraduate schools,” including NYU, Cornell, Penn, Princeton, Duke, Columbia, Dartmouth, Carnegie Mellon, Chicago, Boston College, Colby, Georgetown, Rutgers, UVA and MIT. “If you are not from a target school,” says an insider, “it’s extremely difficult to get in the door, especially if you don’t know anyone within the bank to refer you.” Still, sources note it’s not impossible to get hired from a mid-range school.

On the same level One intern recalls that workers “treated me more like an employee than an intern” and found his internship to be worthwhile, saying, “I was never asked to do any of the typical intern activities like getting coffee or ordering lunch.” He also reports “going beyond my assigned tasks” and getting to “learn quite a lot,” including “how exactly securities are acquired and structured.” Still, the firm’s summer internship program is “what you make of it.” One insider recommends “taking advantage of the time you meet with senior management. Talk to them about the possibilities to move around once you’re hired full time and prove that the firm should hire you.” The compensation for interns is “competitive with other firms on the Street.”

Jerks, kindly stay away For all of its business-minded ambition, Barclays doesn’t seem to be tolerant of ruthless boors with large egos. Barclays Capital President Jerry del Missier invokes the “no jerk” decree for those wanting to work at Barclays, meaning that potential employees should be team players without bad attitudes. In addition to understanding the firm’s culture, it’s important that candidates have the proper background. To become a managing director at Barclays Capital, for example, you have to have held that role previously at another company.

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OUR SURVEY SAYS Great expectations Mostly, Barclays Capital is “a great place to work.” Insiders report that Barclays is “a good company to work for” and “a very pleasant experience.” Just be prepared to work. “Since it is a growing company, the work culture is hectic, and employees are generally involved in enhancements and process improvements rather than just business as usual,” admits one insider. Even so, “innovation is encouraged.” Hours spent at the firm tend not to be hectic. “Working hours are what you would expect at any investment bank,” but there are “not too many long days.” Another insider agrees that “hours are not too bad,” adding, “You still have a life.”

Running the gamut Management gets mixed reviews from insiders. Some call higher-ups “extremely nice,” “supportive” and “always ready to help.” But others cite “destructive politics” and “poor leadership on the team and desk levels.” Still, “upper management is strong.” “Basically, you can meet anyone you want to meet, and they are all helpful.” Offices receive high marks from insiders as well, as does the company dress code, which contacts describe as “smart casual,” meaning you can leave the top hat and tails at home. When it comes to moving up the corporate ladder, “advancement opportunities are somewhat limited, as there is a strict hierarchy that needs to be followed.” Because “a traditional British culture prevails,” one insider explains, “it is not common to approach your boss’ boss.”

Equality in action Diversity within Barclays is “huge” and “encouraged,” which might be why “people from all over the world work together” within the company. The firm is an “equal opportunity employer,” say insiders, proven by “the new hires and promotions.” Insiders also describe the company as a true melting pot, saying there are “people from virtually everywhere” at Barclays. Women, too, “share an equal standing, and quite a few are in very important positions throughout the firm.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

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PERELLA WEINBERG PARTNERS

767 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10153 Phone: (212) 287-3200 Fax: (212) 287-3201 www.pwpartners.com

DEPARTMENTS Asset Management Financial Advisory

KEY COMPETITORS Evercore Partners Greenhill & Co. Lazard Moelis & Company

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” section of www.pwpartners.com

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company Chairman and CEO: Joseph Perella No. of Employees: 250+ No. of Offices: 5

THE BUZZ


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“Top-notch boutique with high compensation” “Living off an old image” “Getting high-profile deals—making a name for themselves” “Sweatshop”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Perella Weinberg Partners

THE SCOOP Morgan and Goldman alum team up Founded in June 2006, Perella Weinberg Partners offers two services: advisory and asset management. Its advisory business includes mergers, acquisitions and restructuring, while its asset management unit focuses on alternative investment products. Currently, the firm consists of more than 250 employees, who work out of offices in New York, San Francisco, Austin, Denver and London (U.K.). Perella Weinberg Partners’ launch in 2006 was one of the most closely watched debuts in banking history. Founder Joseph Perella made his name as a pioneer dealmaker at First Boston in the 1980s, then left to create Wasserstein, Perella & Co. with Bruce Wasserstein (now chairman and CEO of Lazard). Perella’s last gig was as vice chairman and managing director of Morgan Stanley, where he became close with some of America’s top M&A talent. A shareholder revolt at Morgan Stanley—the ruckus that led to the 2005 resignation of chairman Philip Purcell—prompted Perella to leave the firm, sparking rumors that he would open his own boutique. Indeed he did, and several Morgan Stanley advisors jumped ship to join him, becoming Perella Weinberg’s first hires. As for Weinberg, that would be Peter Weinberg, former CEO of Goldman Sachs International and an accomplished banker as well. He and Perella teamed up with quite a lineup of senior bankers and talented professionals recruited from a wide variety of leading global financial institutions. The firm raised $1.1 billion in capital from a group of noteworthy investors (including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Dubai’s Istithmar PJSC) to establish operations and fund investments in its asset management business. It was Perella’s name and the team assembled that made that kind of fundraising possible—after all, he worked on deals like America Online’s 2001 purchase of Time Warner (the biggest merger in history), and the $36 billion merger between Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz that created Novartis in 1996. He also advised MBNA on its $35 billion sale to Bank of America. In its short existence, Perella Weinberg has already worked on some monumental deals. Some of its highest profile assignments include advising Thomson Corporation on its $18.3 acquisition of Reuters Group, Wachovia on its $15.1 billion merger with Wells Fargo, Continental on its $35 billion sale to Schaeffler and UST on its $11.7 billion sale to Altria Group. The firm was recently enlisted by BlackRock on its pending $13.5 billion acquisition of Barclays Global Investors and by the FDIC for strategic advice on the ongoing developments in the financial services industry.

Restructuring experts welcomed aboard In November 2006, Perella Weinberg Partners acquired restructuring experts at Kramer Capital Partners (KCP). Under the terms of the deal, KCP founders Michael Kramer and Derron Slonecker joined Perella Weinberg as partners; KCP’s team of professionals also joined the firm. KCP moved its office, small staff and active engagements from Stamford, Conn., to Perella’s New York office. Since the acquisition, Perella Weinberg’s restructuring deals have included advising debtors, creditors and third parties. Debtor-side transactions have included Masonite International and Spectrum Brands (both had more than $2 billion of debt). Recent creditor assignments have included advising Herbst Gaming’s noteholders. Also in the casino industry, Perella Weinberg Partners advised Columbia Sussex Corporation in connection with Tropicana’s restructuring of $3 billion of liabilities and Dubai World in connection with its MGM Mirage joint venture for the $8.5 billion CityCenter project. Government-related restructuring assignments have included advising the New York State Insurance Department and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

He knows how to pick ‘em Besides being known as a king of deals, Joseph Perella is famous for finding and training Wall Street talent. He is credited with discovering Bruce Wasserstein (back in his First Boston days), and when he and his protégé formed Wasserstein Perella, they built a team that has gone on to take the business world by storm. The illustrious group still meets for an annual reunion called the “Associates’ Lunch.” It also maintains a scholarship in the name of Gordon Rich, a Perella find who was co-head of M&A at Credit Suisse until his death in 2000. Some of Perella’s other winning picks include Robert Wiesenthal, who got his start as a Wasserstein Perella summer intern and is now CFO of Sony; Raymond McGuire, co-head of global investment banking at Citigroup; Douglas Braunstein, head of investment banking at J.P. Morgan; Gail Zauder, who became the first woman managing director in Credit Suisse’s M&A group and then founded her own boutique, Elixir Advisors; and Walid Chammah, head of investment banking at Morgan Stanley.

IN THE NEWS June 2009: Top 25 worldwide According to Thomson Reuters, Perella Weinberg ranked No. 24 in worldwide M&A deal volume for the first half of 2009. Perella Weinberg advised on three deals worth a total of $14.1 billion during the six month period ending June 30, 2009. For the same period, the firm ranked No. 16 in U.S. announced M&A deal volume. Perella Weinberg worked on one deal (BlackRock’s purchase of Barclays Global Investors) worth more than $13 billion.


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May 2009: A new face in energy banking Perella Weinberg Partners hired Robert Maguire as a partner in its corporate advisory division in London. Maguire, who served more than 20 years as an energy investment banker for Morgan Stanley, will help the firm “expand our coverage in the global energy sector,” the firm’s co-founder Joseph Perella said in a statement.

May 2009: Barack, Pete and Joe U.S. President Barack Obama referred to company founders Peter A. Weinberg and Joseph R. Perella as part of “a small group of spectators” that assisted in bankrupting Chrysler. While the admonishment may have been slightly misplaced—many factors led to the downfall of the automaker, including other financiers—Perella Weinberg Partners stood firm in representing its clients’ best interests and ultimately accepted the government’s terms as the best available outcome. Perella and 17 other financial companies held around $1 billion in Chrysler’s secured debt, and the companies demanded more than the $2.25 billion the U.S. Treasury collectively offered the firms. Ultimately, Chrysler collapsed—and Perella was left waiting to see what the bankruptcy court will award it and other creditors.

January 2009: Landing the FDIC At the height of the current economic crisis, Perella Weinberg was retained to provide advisory services to the FDIC, becoming the FDIC’s strategic advisor regarding ongoing developments in the financial services industry.

December 2008: Top 25 in M&A According to Thomson Reuters, Perella Weinberg ranked No. 22 in announced U.S. M&A deal volume for 2008, moving up six spots in the rankings compared to its finish in 2007. Perella Weinberg advised on four deals worth a total of $26.96 billion during the year.

November 2008: U.S.-driven technological growth Perella hired two ex-Lehman Brothers technology bankers, Paul Inouye and John Varughes, to launch an office in San Francisco, Perella’s fourth. The two were hired to provide advisory services to technology-sector clients. At Lehman, Inouye was a managing director in Menlo Park focused on the firm’s Internet practice; Varughese was a managing director in the technology M&A group.

November 2008: One man’s loss is another man’s gain There is speculation that the fees paid to advising banks may drop, which would affect Perella’s bottom line. But at the Reuters Global Finance Summit, Joseph Perella remained confident about the field of restructuring. “The level of activity is intensifying as we speak,” he said. “It has intensified, I’d say, rather dramatically in the past month … The recession is biting,” and more companies are feeling it.

September 2008: Weinberg in the Times With some of the biggest names in the financial sector brought to its knees, Peter A. Weinberg, a partner at Perella Weinberg Partners, had this to say about small investment banks such as his own in an interview with The New York Times: “This environment is a perfect pitch for the business model. In times of stress, independence is really prized.” He also predicted that “boutiques will suffer little or no decline in revenue because their business model wasn’t built on, and their headcount wasn’t expanded to serve, the needs of the private equity industry.”

July 2008: Expansion into European real estate The company held the final closing of Perella Weinberg Real Estate Fund I LP, which invests in real estate, real estate-related assets and businesses in Europe. Headed by Leon Bressler, the fund will focus on physical property, property firms and debt, with an annual targeted return of 20 percent. Bressler told Reuters he was, for the time being, refraining from investing in the U.K., where he expects a “third wave of declines in property values.”

January 2008: Starting off with two bangs Perella Weinberg kicked off 2008 with a whopper of a deal, acting as exclusive advisor to the Kuwait Investment Authority, one of the world’s leading sovereign wealth funds, on its $2 billion investment in Merrill Lynch. The firm was also tapped by Maurice R. Greenberg, former CEO of the American International Group, to advise him on determining how much his 12 percent stake in the insurance conglomerate is worth. Greenberg had been forced out of AIG after 40 years with the firm (which, one year after Greenberg left, paid $1.64 billion to settle charges brought by federal and New York State authorities).

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GETTING HIRED Take the best, leave the rest Perella Weinberg Partners interviews at an admittedly very limited number of U.S. and European universities and graduate business schools. This selective campus recruiting is how the firm fills the majority of its full-time and summer internship positions in its advisory practice. However, interested candidates may mail a resume and cover letter, addressed to human resources, to either the London or New York office. According to the firm, “Analysts and associates are an integral part of all deal teams and get the opportunity to interact with senior professionals daily—a differentiator for those looking to join the business.” Perella is still open to top-notch lateral hires, though it doesn’t make its job openings public and says it hires on a “very opportunistic basis.” Candidates presently employed at another firm can mail their materials to human resources in New York or London, specifying their interest in advisory, asset management or firm administration. If there’s a match, Perella will be in touch. Either way, the firm says it’s looking for exceptional talent—and people who are excited about the idea of working in a small, private partnership. Since its advisory partners currently have an average of 20 years’ experience, only the “best of breed” will do.


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PRESTIGE RANKING

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MOELIS & COMPANY

399 Park Avenue, 5th Floor New York, NY 10022 Phone: (212) 880-7300 Fax: (212) 880-4260 www.moelis.com

BUSINESSES Advisory Capital Raising M&A Recapitalization & Restructuring Risk Advisory Merchant Banking

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #3 – Compensation #4 – Selectivity #7 – Offices #11 – Overall Satisfaction #12 – Best to Work For #13 – Training #15 – Culture #15 – Treatment by Managers Diversity #7 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians #8 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #12 – Best for Diversity #14 – Diversity With Respect To Women

THE STATS CEO: Ken Moelis Employer Type: Private Company No. of Employees: 230 No. of Offices: 6 (Worldwide )

KEY COMPETITORS Centerview Partners Evercore Partners Goldman Sachs Lazard Perella Weinberg Partners

UPPERS • “We are building, not reducing headcount” • “Prestige of the firm on Wall Street” • “Probably one of the best restructuring experiences on the Street”

DOWNERS • “Senior people get many more perks than junior people” • “Unpredictability of hours” • “Lack of a good bonus compared to the Street”

THE BUZZ


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“The new Goldman Sachs” “Growing too fast” “The best investment banking boutique” “Works you to the bone”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT moelis.com/careers


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Moelis & Company

THE SCOOP The newcomer New York-based Moelis and Company provides corporate finance advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, exclusive sales, restructuring, capital raising and risk advisory. The firm’s merchant banking arm, Moelis Capital Partners LLC, invests across several industries and asset classes, and sources portfolio investments through both its managing directors’ industry contacts as well as through those of its investment team. Current portfolio companies include MidCap Financial, a commercial finance company focused on middle market lending to the health care industry; Wyle Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of specialized engineering, scientific and technical services to the Department of Defense, NASA and a variety of commercial customers; and Woundco Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of wound care rental equipment and related services to post-acute and acute care facilities. Founded in 2007, Moelis has offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Sydney and Los Angeles. It’s headed by founder and namesake Ken Moelis, and employs approximately 230 people worldwide.

Ken’s enterprise Ken Moelis rose to fame in the early 1980s, working at Drexel Burnam Lambert, and pioneering the use of high-yield debt to finance M&A deals and high-growth startups. After a successful career at Donald Lufkin & Jenrette Securities (DLJ), Moelis was lured to the UBS investment banking division in 2000. He recruited several former DLJ bankers to join him, and promptly turned UBS’ investment bank into a global powerhouse. But Moelis’s high-flying ways didn’t sit well with the conservative Swiss culture at UBS, so in 2007, he resigned his post as president of the investment bank and announced the formation of his eponymous firm. To fill the ranks at Moelis & Company, Moelis turned to his old DLJ and Drexel Lambert friends. He also persuaded several top UBS executives (including Jeff Raich, former joint global head of M&A, and former global media group head Navid Mahmoodzadegan) to join him. Right off the bat, Moelis & Company landed big-league assignments that belied its boutique size: in 2008, it helped defend Yahoo! from Microsoft’s $44 billion hostile takeover bid and advised Anheuser-Busch on its $61.2 billion sale to InBev.

IN THE NEWS June 2009: Beefing up technology Moelis & Company hired Kevin Scheetz, the former head of the semiconductors and electronics investment banking franchise at Merrill Lynch, into its newly-formed technology group. Scheetz was Moelis & Company’s second technology hire in under a month. Stuart Goldstein, formerly the head of West Coast technology investment banking at Citigroup, was hired at the end of May 2009.

May 2009: Two big hires Moelis & Company hired Kasim Kutay, former chairman of Morgan Stanley’s European health care group, and Alex Rubin, a former managing director in Citigroup’s global real estate investment banking group. Kutay joined the firm’s London office, where he’ll oversee Moelis & Company’s European health care practice. Rubin joined the firm’s New York headquarters, where he’ll advise real estate clients.

May 2009: Offering No. 2 Moelis & Company advised on its second public offering, acting as financial advisor as well as co-manager and underwriter in connection with Energizer’s $535.3 million follow-on offering.

April 2009: Former Merrill banker to head up EMEA Moelis & Company announced that it hired Mark Aedy as head of the company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) investment banking division. Aedy is based in London and serves on Moelis’ management committee. Previously, Aedy was head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s EMEA unit. Prior to that, Aedy worked for Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust . In addition, Moelis hired 15-year restructuring veteran Matthew Prest to its EMEA team. Prest was previously head of the European restructuring group at Close Brothers in London. He brought with him to Moelis Charles Noel-Johnson, an executive director, who will help Prest build the firm’s restructuring business abroad. In the U.S., Moelis hired Jared Dermont, a managing director from Rothschild, to expand its restructuring business domestically.


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April 2009: Advising on Vegas’ CityCenter Moelis & Company was tapped to advise Dubai World in connection with the restructuring of its $8.5 billion of agreements to complete CityCenter, a high profile construction project under development in Las Vegas.

March 2009: Adding talent Moelis & Company expanded its restructuring capabilities with two key hires: ex-Broadpoint Securities banker Mark Hootnick, who joined as a managing director; and Steve Panagos, previously the national practice Leader of Kroll Zolfo Cooper’s corporate advisory and restructuring practice, who joined as a managing director and vice chairman. In addition to beefing up its restructuring practice, Moelis & Company continued to add talent to cover new sectors, including health care and technology. The firm hired Rick Landgarten, former co-head of global health care investment banking at Citigroup, and Stan Holtz, former head of U.S. telecom investment banking at Bank of America.

March 2009: Its first offering Moelis & Company served as financial advisor, co-manager and underwriter to Wynn in connection with its $210 million public follow-on offering. The deal marked the first time Moelis & Company managed and underwrote a public offering of securities.

February 2009: Poached from UBS and Morgan Stanley Christopher Ryan, the ex-head of credit fixed income at UBS AG, will soon join Moelis & Company, insiders told Bloomberg. In his new role, Ryan will advise clients on risk and balance sheet-related matters, and continue the expansion of the firm’s capital markets capabilities, the insiders said. In addition, Moelis announced that it would hire Roger Hoit, previously a managing director in the global financial sponsors group at Morgan Stanley, to increase its coverage of financial sponsors clients.

January 2009: Starting the year off on a strong foot Insurance giant AIG hired Moelis & Company to advise it on the sale of International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), one of the world’s biggest aircraft leasing businesses. Estimates peg the sale at around $8 billion, and Alasdair Whyte, publisher of Airfinance Journal, reported that “a number of banks with more aviation experience were hoping for the advisory mandate.” Moelis & Company was also hired by Hartmarx Corporation, the Chicago-based parent company of several apparel brands, to advise on strategic options and a Chapter 11 reorganization. Hartmarx, which dates back to 1872, was also in the news for making U.S. President Barack Obama’s inaugural tuxedo, topcoat and suit. In addition, Moelis & Company client Muzak Holdings reached an agreement with its lenders to extend the maturity date of a $105 million credit facility by 22 days. Moelis & Company has been working with Muzak, which has $465 million in debt and $25 million of cash on hand, since late 2008. At the same time, Muzak is investigating a possible merger with its rival DMX Music .

January 2009: Bear veteran joins the fold Capital markets veteran Dominick Petrosino, who’d headed up Bear Stearns’ leveraged finance capital markets division, became a managing director in Moelis & Company’s New York office. Ken Moelis noted that Petrosino was “the ideal partner” as Moelis & Company makes plans to expand its recapitalization and restructuring capabilities.

December 2008: London calling With its U.S. business going strong, Moelis & Company reportedly began turning its eyes overseas to its fledgling London office, as word spread that Moelis & Company was considering a U.K. hiring binge. In September 2008, it had tapped former Deutsche Bank vice chairman Kristian Bagger for the London office to ramp up business in Europe. Bagger began recruiting junior staffers right away, but explained that most of the big London hires will come later in 2009. The team got to work right away, advising TNS on its £1.1 billion sale to WPP. Proving his commitment to the Continent, Ken Moelis has been making frequent trips to Europe, meeting with Bagger and introducing himself to potential clients. As Moelis & Co.’s international work expands, Bagger’s pedigree will become an asset: he has over 20 years experience in the Benelux and Nordic markets, and has worked with major companies like Swedish buyout firm EQT, Danish brewing company Carlsberg and the Dutch paint firm AkzoNobel.

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December 2008: In the game According to Thomson Reuters, Moelis & Company leaped up the banking league tables in 2008, finishing the year at No. 20 in worldwide announced mergers and acquisitions—up from No. 47 in 2007. In U.S. announced M&A deal making, it ranked No. 15, up from No. 30 in 2007.

September 2008: Shore joins up Moelis hired ex-J.P. Morgan managing director Andrew Shore as a managing director in New York to lead its coverage of household and personal care companies. Shore has more than 20 years of banking experience under his belt. Prior to working at J.P. Morgan, he was a managing director at Deutsche Bank.

August 2008: An old-fashioned ideal Banking jobs vanished overnight in the second half of 2008, but at Moelis, they just kept appearing. CEO Ken Moelis told the Los Angeles Times that he’d increased headcount up to 130, and was aiming for 160 by the end of 2008 (the firm’s headcount as of June 2009 was 190). This isn’t to say that Moelis plans to outgrow its niche size. Moelis has no interest in building a massive conglomerate, the kind of place where the art of investment banking gets lost in the quest for big fees. “Investment banking, at its core, is a relationship-based advisory business,” he explained to the Times. “This is what the great leaders of investment banks used to do. They knew the client by name.”.

August 2008: Gaining Share Greg Share left Fortress Investment Group to become a partner in the Moelis Capital Partners private equity business in New York. Share previously worked at Madison Dearborn Partners and Lazard Frères.

June 2008: New leader arrives Ken Viellieu, a former Bear Stearns senior managing director, signed on as a Moelis & Company MD and head of its Chicago office. According to the firm, Viellieu will lead expansion plans in Chicago and build out the client list in the Midwest. Greg Shaia, another ex-Bear, joined Moelis & Company’s New York office as a managing director, and head of the consumer and retail industry sector.

GETTING HIRED Best and the brightest Moelis is still hiring at the same pace it was before the recession, and the added competition—”It’s one of the few banks hiring while everyone else is laying off employees by the thousands”—has allowed the firm “to be extremely selective.” One source agrees, saying that “Moelis is very selective in hiring new analysts and associates, and requires them to have experience and sharp technical skills.” The talent pool is “the best in class at the top rated business schools.”

Finding the right fit Moelis recruiters can be found on the campuses of elite business schools such as University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Harvard, Berkeley and UCLA. Current employees report that the interview process is two to three rounds, consisting of a “first round with analysts and associates,” followed by a “second round with associates, senior vice presidents and partners” and, if needed, “a third round for fit.” A senior vice president at Moelis reports that the interviews are “usually technically focused in the first round and heavily weighted towards fit given the size of the organization.”

First dibs An internship at Moelis doesn’t necessarily translate to an automatic hire, but employees report that “interns get first dibs” at entry-level jobs. There are “very stringent standards” for hiring all employees, even former interns, and Moelis “only gave offers to about 65 percent of summer interns” last year. Even though it’s not a sure thing from internship to hire, most employees agree that “obtaining a summer position is the best way to earn a fulltime offer.”


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OUR SURVEY SAYS Nowhere to hide Since Moelis & Co. is such a young company, employees say that the “culture is being built from the ground up.” Many note that it is a “very hardworking and driven” company, with “a pleasant work environment.” However, it seems that this “team-oriented” and “collaborative” firm is still working out some of the kinks of being a start-up. One source complains that Moelis has the “worst hours on the Street,” and “useless work is given for no purpose.” Another agrees that the going motto seems to be “work hard, get paid little.” On the plus side, though, you’ll see “lots of deals” and have the “opportunity to try different things.” A current vice president at the firm sums up the culture by saying, “It’s a relatively small firm so everyone knows each other. Individuality is encouraged, but there’s nowhere to hide after a poor performance.”

Not enough Employees at the junior level are not fully satisfied with their level of pay versus the hours put in. One analyst says, “They will pay you enough so you don’t complain, but not enough to make you happy.” Another employee comments, “The firm claims to pay 5 to 10 percent above the rest of Wall Street for bonuses, but that no longer seems likely. Bonuses are now expected to be less than the average on the Street.” Reported salaries ranged from $60,000 for entry-level analysts to $200,000 for employees in management positions. An insider says that entry-level associates can make as much as $90,000 in their first year. Potential employees of Moelis can expect to put in a lot of overtime. One source says, “Analysts and associates average anywhere from 85 to 95 hours per week. And VPs work 65 to 80 hours per week.” Some insiders report weeks when working more than 100 hours is simply par for the course. “It is extremely rare to have an entire weekend day off,” says one analyst. An associate reports that “17-hour days are the norm, and even weekends tend to involve 12-hour days.” Though many employees have not noted significant changes due to the recent downturn, Moelis has cut back on office perks and eliminated its 401(k) matching program to keep up with cost control in the lagging economy.

Difference of opinion There is a discrepancy of opinions regarding the relationship between management and junior employees at Moelis. One analyst explains, “Occasional good guys look out for you, but for the most part, senior guys don’t care about you.” Another says that “given the lean structure at Moelis, managers put a good effort into trying to limit the amount of non-meaningful work given to the juniors.” One employee puts it this way: “Some of the senior people are very good at respecting the time of junior people, but others act as if we have no life outside of the office and show no appreciation for the work completed.” A vice president at the company doesn’t see any problems with the hierarchy and says, “We’re building a culture of mutual respect at Moelis.”

Very nice There is a consensus that Moelis’ office space in Los Angeles is nicer than its space in New York. An insider notes, “The New York office is modest, but it’s a temporary space. (Indeed, the firm moved its New York office into a larger space a few blocks north on Park Avenue in early September 2009). The L.A. office, on the other hand, is one of the nicest offices I have ever seen used by an investment bank—and all of the associates have offices.” One source working out of Chicago says, “We’re in a brand new location that we moved into a few months ago. The offices are very nice, and the building is nice as well. It has a gym and other amenities.” Overall, insiders say offices are “not ultra luxurious, but very nice.” The dress code is a bit more laid-back than at other firms, with “business casual Monday through Thursday and casual Fridays”—which usually involves wearing “jeans and a dress shirt.” Employees can “wear what they like on weekends.” Of course, every banker is required to “wear a tie if going to a client meeting.” Moelis & Co. employees report little to no efforts being made to “green” their offices. One employee even goes so far as to note that “this should not be an emphasis of firms devoted to maximizing shareholder value.”

Lacking in on-the-job training New employees at Moelis are sent out to a formal job training program conducted by a third party. A source reports that “the firm’s formal new-hire training is excellent,” but he adds that “informal on-the-job training has not been as good as I hoped.” An associate explains that at his level, “training involves two weeks of heavy corporate finance and accounting training, two weeks of Series 7 and 66 training, and one week of internal training.” He elaborates that “most new associates have a background in investment banking so the training isn’t as meaningful as it would be for an analyst or an associate with a non-investment banking background.” A disappointed analyst says that “the training program itself was decent. However, on-the-job training is difficult to come by, since everyone in the firm is way too busy to take the time to properly direct those beneath them.”

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Getting ‘ramped up’ Moelis is a “new firm” so it’s still “getting ramped up on mentoring and other women-specific programs.” One male insider says that in the early stages of hiring, there is room for improvement as far as gender equality goes, saying that “we currently have two female analysts in a class of over 20.” Most employees give the firm high marks in the field of racial diversity, noting that there is a “high amount of diversity in this regard.”

Generating new business The growth potential and relative newness of Moelis make it an attractive company, even in the midst of a difficult economy. “I wouldn’t want to be at another firm,” says one current employee. “The senior bankers here are not distracted by corporate issues, and are focused on generating new business and building the firm.” Compared with bigger firms, employees at Moelis “have been able to develop new skill sets and have been able to learn a lot.” However, some sources feel that the firm could do more to encourage an overall sense of satisfaction. “Given that we are growing, the firm should do a better job trying to retain employees. The partners need to be more generous in terms of bonuses and sharing a piece of the pie,” an insider explains.

When the dust settles Most employees are optimistic about the firm’s future, and many feel that the crisis on Wall Street may even help them. One associate notes, “Moelis has been able to take advantage of the current economic environment and has continued to hire an exemplary list of new senior bankers. The firm continues to grow strong and continues to take advantage of the market conditions to establish itself as a leading independent advisory shop.” Members of the restructuring group are particularly optimistic about their potential for success, commenting that “the restructuring practice and the advisory practice have been very successful.” Another source says, “When the dust settles and the economy recovers, Moelis will be in better shape than most of its counterparts. It has a very bright future.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

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UBS INVESTMENT BANK

299 Park Avenue New York, NY 10171 Phone: (212) 821-3000 www.ibb.ubs.com

DEPARTMENTS Equities Fixed Income Foreign Exchange Investment Banking Investment Research

THE STATS Employer Type: Division of UBS AG Co-Chief Executives: Carsten Kengeter & Alexander Wilmot-Sitwell 2008 Revenue: $2.88 billion 2008 Net Income: $34.3 billion No. of Employees: 17,171 No. of Offices: Offices in 38 countries

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America Barclays Capital Citigroup Credit Suisse Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs HSBC Morgan Stanley

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #3 – Training #4 – Green Initiatives #6 – Treatment by Managers #9 – Hours #11 – Offices #13 – Culture #13 – Selectivity #15 – Business Outlook Diversity #6 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #8 – Best for Diversity #9 – Diversity With Respect To Women #10 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians

UPPERS • “Opportunities to work and travel abroad”‘ • “Great sense of team” • “European culture”

DOWNERS • “The layoffs” • “Lots of negative media” • “Limited confidence and trust in management”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” at www.ibb.ubs.com

THE BUZZ


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“Large, diverse” “Taken some big reputational hits in the last two years” “Plays in the middle market—aggressive, solid bank” “Lost ton of great bankers; North American presence unclear”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition UBS Investment Bank

THE SCOOP A tough year for a Swiss giant One of the world’s largest financial firms, UBS AG serves clients worldwide through its investment banking, wealth management and asset management businesses. Headquartered in Zurich and Basel, UBS AG has offices in over 50 countries and employs more than 75,000 people around the world. UBS Investment Bank, UBS AG’s investment banking business, employs more than 17,000 people. It provides advisory services as well as access to the world’s capital markets for corporate, institutional, intermediary and alternative asset management clients. It also provides securities products and research in equities, fixed income, rates and foreign exchange. To say the least, UBS AG has had a rough time lately. As a result of serious losses stemming from the subprime mortgage crisis, it reorganized itself and shrank considerably throughout 2008 and the early part of 2009. It did so by exiting businesses, divesting assets, internally restructuring and significantly cutting jobs. The company also received billions of dollars in aid from the Swiss government and sold $39.7 billion of assets to a separate fund run by the Swiss National Bank. Additionally, Marcel Ospel, chairman of UBS, stepped down from the post in April 2009; Kaspar Villiger, Switzerland’s former finance minister, succeeded him. The draconian measures were responses to staggering losses: for the fiscal year 2008, its net operating loss was CHF 20.7 billion, putting its 2007 loss of CHF 4.7 billion to shame.

Back in the day The current version of UBS was formed in 1998 with a merger between the Union Bank of Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC). SBC dated back to the 1870s, and during the course of its international growth, it had acquired a number of foreign firms. One of these, London’s S.G. Warburg Group, became SBC’s investment banking division (SBC Warburg). In 1997, SBC Warburg brought its business to the U.S. through the acquisition of Dillon, Read & Co. After the UBS-SBC merger in 1998, the investment bank’s name was mercifully shortened from SBC Warburg Dillon Read to UBS Investment Bank. In 2000, UBS made its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. That same year, the firm bought New York-based PaineWebber for $11.8 billion, further solidifying its presence in the U.S.

IN THE NEWS August 2009: Forced to name names An agreement was reached between the U.S. and Switzerland regarding a lawsuit that sought the names of U.S. UBS clients believed to have dodged taxes by storing money in Swiss bank accounts. Each government has initialed agreements and will be signing a final accord at a later time, according to a judge. Specific details of the agreement weren’t released, but tax lawyers said that they anticipate that UBS will ultimately reveal the information attached to about 5,000 accounts.

August 2009: Three in a row UBS posted its third consecutive quarterly loss, citing costs associated with its job cuts and reorganization plans as main reasons for the loss. The $1.3 billion loss for the second quarter 2009, nearly three times larger than the $370 million loss the company suffered in the same quarter of 2008, extended to the company’s investment banking business. The unit endured a pretax loss of $1.74 billion compared with a $4.93 billion loss in the same period in the previous year. The overall results led the bank to say in a statement that its outlook “remains cautious, consistent with our view that economic recovery will be constrained by low credit creation and the structural weaknesses in consumers’ and governments’ balance sheets.”

August 2009: No name protection UBS will not be required to pay a fine in order to settle a tax evasion clash with the U.S., insiders told the Swiss newspapers Sonntag and SonntagsZeitung. The company will, however, be releasing about 5,000 names of clients to U.S. authorities. The amount is only a fraction of what U.S. authorities originally sought out—initially, the government wanted the company to disclose the names of 52,000 of its affluent U.S. clients.

July 2009: Taking Merrill’s bull UBS snagged Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Keith Magnus to head its investment banking unit in Singapore and Malaysia. Magnus, who stepped into a newly-created position (UBS is trying to increase its coverage in the Asia Pacific region), previously oversaw BofA Merrill Lynch’s investment banking operations in Singapore and Malaysia. Most recently, Magnus’ experience in the region includes advising on a $1.28 billion in rights issues for Singaporean real estate developer CapitaLand Ltd.


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June 2009: Selling off its building stake According to the New York Post, UBS will be selling off its 49 percent stake in a New York City building it owns located at 299 Park Avenue. An industry watcher told the Post that the deal may be “the one that pries open the market again.” Currently, the building’s lease is valid until 2018. UBS, which occupies the space, doesn’t disclose the rent it is paying on the floors. However, Crain’s and the Post speculated that it may be somewhere between $60 and $70 a foot. In total, UBS rents 750,000 square feet in the 1.16-million-square-foot building.

June 2009: “Massive” banker raid UBS filed a lawsuit against Jefferies Group Inc., alleging that the midsized firm engaged in a “massive, premeditated raid” that led to the departure of 36 health care investment bankers. The employee exodus to Jefferies, which took place over the course of five days in June, led to the exit of the group’s chief, Benjamin Lorello, and to what UBS has called a “nearly complete lift-out” of the company’s health care unit. UBS also said it will soon name a new head of its health care group.

May 2009: Down again UBS posted a first-quarter 2009 net loss of $1.76 billion, thanks to big write-downs (including a $1.67 billion one connected to monoline insurance companies), a goodwill impairment of $554 million and $161 million in severance costs from the sale of its Brazilian division Pactual. Though the results weren’t as bad as the $10 billion net loss the firm booked for the first quarter 2008, the losses don’t appear to be letting up anytime soon. In its earnings announcement, UBS also noted that it expects to book approximately $571 million in restructuring and severance charges during the second quarter of 2009.

May 2009: Wage increases intact UBS AG CEO Oswald Grübel said the firm will keep to its practice of paying market wages to its employees. This means that despite being disparaged for raising salaries after taking government aid, UBS will still be increasing senior bankers’ salaries by 50 percent to avoid defections. UBS also put about $831 million in bonus funds aside in order to help retain senior bankers. The bank will pay out the bonuses over the course of three years.

April 2009: More layoffs on the horizon UBS was on the brink of more job cuts, according to the Swiss publication Sontag. The report said marketing and support staff in Switzerland will take the brunt of the cuts, which could affect up to 8,000 employees. Previously in 2009, UBS announced plans to slash about 10 percent of its employees in 2009, bringing its total headcount to about 75,000.

April 2009: Bye to Brazil bank UBS agreed to sell its Brazil banking unit UBS Pactual to Andre Esteves, who previously ran the division. The $2.5 billion sale will result in a “small loss” for UBS but will help it shore up capital. UBS bought Pactual for $1 billion in 2006 and is selling the bank (to Esteves’ company BTG Investments) at a price higher than its book value. The move was part of UBS CEO Oswald Grübel’s firmwide cost-cutting plan.

April 2009: Goodbye to Johansson UBS AG announced that Jerker Johansson, head of UBS Investment Bank, would be leaving the firm immediately. The unit has seen more stable days—UBS Investment Bank has been the source of nearly all of its parent’s credit crisis-related losses, and Johansson’s departure is the fourth for the unit in the last 18 months. UBS replaced Johansson with co-CEOs: Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, a senior member of UBS Investment Bank; and Carsten Kengeter, head of fixed income, currencies and commodities.

March 2009: More big cuts UBS said it will slash up to 5,000 jobs within the month, according to the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung. About 2,500 management jobs may be cut in the firm’s wealth management unit—a move that comes in addition to the 2,000 positions the firm announced it would cut in February. While UBS has not officially commented on the latest jobs loss report, the firm had confirmed within the previous week that it was streamlining its business organization from eight to four regions. In September 2008, UBS revealed plans to cut approximately 2,000 positions, including support staff, within its investment banking, equities and fixed income divisions. The new wave of cuts came in addition to the 7,000 jobs the firm has recently eliminated, bringing the total number of jobs purged by banks globally since July 2007 to about 131,700.

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March 2009: Bonuses freefall but salaries skyrocket Despite slashing its bonus pool by about 80 percent in 2008, UBS has decided to offer pay raises to its top bankers, company insiders told DealBook. UBS is in the process of reorganizing its remuneration system, part of which involves boosting the base salary of its senior investment bankers to bring their pay in line with other jobs in the financial services industry. Some bankers’ salaries will increase from about $170,000 to $430,000. UBS—along with rivals Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley—have also inserted “clawback provisions” into bankers’ salaries, which lets banks retract payments from workers who don’t meet specific goals.

March 2009: No more secrets? A few days after he took over as UBS CEO, Oswald Grübel told Swiss newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft that Switzerland should contemplate modifying its banking laws so potential tax evaders aren’t shielded. As they stand, current Swiss banking laws shelter those wanting to dodge taxes (but not those who commit tax fraud). Currently, UBS is facing scrutiny with an investigation into whether it deliberately tried to defraud the U.S. government of client taxes. In addition to the U.S., Germany and Britain have also called for Switzerland to agree to foreign tax probes.

February 2009: Better, but still not stellar UBS AG posted a $6.9 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2008. The loss, smaller than the $11 billion the firm lost in the fourth quarter of 2007, was still enough to cause UBS to make some changes. The firm said it plans to divide its wealth management business into two units: Wealth Management and Swiss Bank, and Wealth Management Americas. Additionally, UBS plans to cut 2,000 jobs in its investment banking unit, making its employee count for that business about 15,000. The new wave of reductions brings the firm’s total job cuts since October 2007 to 11,000.

February 2009: Heading to court? The U.S. Justice Department began to pressure UBS to release information regarding 52,000 of its affluent clients. The push for the release of the information is related to allegations that the firm assisted some of its clients in avoiding taxes through offshore bank accounts. A federal judge said that the bank will have until the end of April 2009 to contest the push for publication and ask for a full trial. If not, the company will likely face a minitrial in July 2009, Judge Alan S. Gold said in a conference call.

February 2009: Mum’s the word UBS was slapped with a Swiss lawsuit by affluent U.S. clients looking to thwart the revelation of their names to the public. The suit says UBS and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority breached secrecy laws and conducted illegal doings with foreign governments. Part of the lawsuit may stem from legal and cultural differences between the U.S. and Switzerland: evading taxes isn’t a criminal offense in Switzerland, but revealing client names is.

February 2009: Poached from UBS Christopher Ryan, the ex-head of credit fixed income at UBS AG, will soon join Moelis & Co, insiders told Bloomberg. In his new role, Ryan will counsel clients on risk and balance-sheet matters, the insiders said. Ryan isn’t the first former UBS employee that ex-UBS Investment Bank president Ken Moelis has drafted for his new venture. Jeffrey Raich and Navid Mahmoodzadegan also joined the firm as head of mergers and acquisitions and media investment banking, respectively, within the last two years.

February 2009: Paying up for Ponzi UBS was ordered by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, Luxembourg’s financial regulator, to pay for its “serious failure” of guardianship of a $1.4 billion fund that served as a channel for Bernard Madoff’s suspected Ponzi scheme. The regulator said that “poor execution of its due-diligence obligations constitute a serious failure of its surveillance role as a depositary bank,” the Financial Times reported. UBS was given three months by the regulator to hand over compensation and develop and improve its systems.

February 2009: Costas’ new venture Ex-head of UBS Investment Bank John Costas and former UBS debt head Michael Hutchins combined forces to create a new financial firm, a boutique that will offer broker-dealer and securities services for institutional clients. Costas and Hutchins previously worked together at the UBS hedge fund, Dillon Read Capital Management. Matthew Johnson, an ex-trader at Dillon Read, will also be a founding member of the new firm, which reportedly will be called VinsonForbes.


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February 2009: New CEO: Grübel steps up UBS announced that its CEO Marcel Rohner had resigned from his post and Oswald Grübel, an ex-Credit Suisse executive, would be taking over for him. Rohner’s resignation came amid UBS’s tax scheme controversy as well as recent defections and big market-related losses. Grübel, who was coCEO at Credit Suisse from 2003 to 20007, was largely responsible for turning that firm around and, so far, investors seem to think Grübel will be able to do the same for UBS—on the news, the bank’s shares increased 9.7 percent in Zurich trading.

January 2009: Too-big bonuses? In spite of the investigation UBS is facing for allegedly assisting well-heeled Americans dodge taxes, the firm hired more than 200 U.S. brokers in the fourth quarter of 2008, offering them signing bonuses equal to 260 percent of the revenue they had brought in over the past year. A spokeswoman for UBS admitted in a February 2009 interview that, among others, the firm had hired five Goldman Sachs brokers based in Dallas who collectively had $4 billion under management, and five brokers from Morgan Stanley’s Houston office with $2.1 billion under management. The hiring spree appeared to be an attempt to recoup losses in the early part of the year. According to UBS, its U.S. clients U.S. withdrew $12.7 billion during the first three quarters of 2008, and its brokerage staff declined by 340.

October 2008: Finding a lifeline UBS received a financial lifeline in the form of a fund set up by the Swiss National Bank. The fund will allow UBS to transfer $60 billion in toxic assets to the fund. Most of the fund’s money will be provided by the Swiss National Bank, but UBS will provide $6 billion in equity capital. Under the plan, UBS will also receive $5.3 billion in mandatory convertible notes.

October 2008: Picking up some Brothers After Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, UBS picked up some of the firm’s top bankers. UBS hired Gregory Fuller to be a senior technology banker and Jorge Martinez to head up its Asian oil and gas unit. Three other ex-Lehman bankers—Anthony Carango, Scott Wilson and Jia Zhai—also now work in UBS’ energy banking unit.

September 2008: A new face in fixed income UBS hired Jeffrey Mayer on as global head of its fixed income unit. Mayer, formerly co-head of fixed income at now-defunct Bear Stearns, has been in relatively high demand amongst financial firms—in May, JPMorgan Chase offered him the opportunity to vice chair its investment bank, but Mayer turned down the proposal.

GETTING HIRED Future All-Stars Applicants for employment at UBS are “competing with the best and the brightest in a large number of fields.” The bank is even “more selective given the current environment,” and its recruiters are “looking for ‘All-Stars’ or those with the raw material to become an ‘All-Star.’” When hiring, the firm “takes into consideration technical skills, fit and potential for career advancement within the firm.” “The number of applicants alone makes it difficult to get an interview, but UBS does not limit itself to only business degrees,” explains one current insider. A vice president with the company says, “We compete for the best candidates, but have increasingly focused on candidates who are also selective about their opportunities. We’re actively asking candidates where else they are interviewing and where else they have offers.”

Rattle and roll UBS has a standard two round interview process. The “first-round interviews are either on campus or over the phone. Interview questions are mostly behavioral- and personality-based, but sometimes you’ll get a critical thinking question.” The first round is followed up by a Super Day of interviews in which candidates interview with associate directors and participate in “a group exercise, in which candidates are split into groups and given a case study to work and talk through, then present to the managers.” The Super Day “can be an intimidating event because every applicant is grouped together and one is able to see, speak and hear their competition.” One source says that “this is done on purpose in an attempt to rattle candidates and see how one reacts to loud, candid environments similar to a trading floor.” UBS recruits from schools in the Northeast, including the Ivy League and NYU, Cornell, Fairfield, UConn, Fordham, Pace, Howard and Carnegie Mellon.

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Live deal experience Internships are “very important” as “most, if not all, full-time offers come from the summer internship program.” Nearly all employees agree that “as the investment banking market contracts, summer internship is becoming more and more essential.” Interns in analyst positions are paid a “prorated first-year analyst salary plus transition payment of $2,000,” and “rotate through trading desks in both sales and trading support roles.” There is also the “added benefit of getting a part-time overtime allowance.” One source says that with the overtime, “you actually make more money than a full-time on base salary before bonuses.” For associate interns, the work consists of all the activities of “full-time associates, including modeling, presentation preparing, financial analysis, and internal and external deal team coordination.” Another says that he “worked on all kinds of M&A live deals, including hostile takeovers,” and that his “role varied from building models, building CIMs, managing the client and managing the data room.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Mixed bag Employees give the culture of UBS mixed reviews. One respondent says that the firm “has an excellent culture,” and another notes that the firm “respects individuality and promotes respect for one another.” Others take a negative tack on the issue of individuality, saying that the culture is “very mixed and unclear” as a result. Another source agrees and says UBS “does not have a strong culture as it’s mostly every man for himself.” There are those who disagree that UBS is a bank without culture. “There is a strong culture of merit based recognition and advancement,” says an associate. “In situations where UBS is the market leader, it still conducts itself as the underdog looking to outsmart—through creativity and superior technical skills—and outwork the competition.” Bad news and market volatility have recently added another layer to the feel of the firm. A source says, “The markets have taken their toll on morale” while another says, “There are clearly frustrations around the turmoil in banking, the negative media coverage and the issues that come with increasing government involvement.” But the news isn’t all bad. Despite the bad press, at least one source reports that “there is a strong sense of pride in the quality of work done here.”

Bad time for bonus Starting salaries at UBS are “$60,000 for undergrads and $95,000 for MBAs” with perks including an “equity program consisting of two options for every one share purchased, a 401(k), three weeks paid vacation and a fully paid training in London for four weeks.” The compensation of employees through bonuses is a recent sore spot, especially in light of UBS’ Swiss bailout. One contact explains that in 2008, “the Swiss regulators capped the bonus pool materially, resulting in below-market bonuses paid out at all levels.” This source also says that payments for “2009 are up in the air.” A disgruntled employee says that in the past year “UBS paid very low relative to the market, which is very unfortunate and disappointing especially since it used to pay above market.” Another has hope for future bonus increases, saying that “2008 was an abnormal year given the market turmoil and political challenges.” Some perks of working at UBS include “cabs after 9 p.m., dinner on nights and weekends”—which have not been cut despite the downturn. Another advantage to employment with UBS is that “employees are encouraged to use their vacation time and avoid working to the extent possible while on vacation.”

No need for face time The “hours are dependent on market activity” at UBS. One trader says that his hours consist of “early mornings on the desk prior to 7 a.m.” but he’s generally “out of the office by 7 p.m.” There are “occasional crunch times in which hours spike,” but, in general, there is a “proper work/life balance.” In the past year or so, “hours have been a lot more volatile given current markets.” An insider says that “whereas prior work schedules included all out sprint for extended periods of time—90 to 110 hours per week consistently—there have been more peaks and troughs in the past few months.” One upside to the work schedule at UBS is that “there is no pressure for face time.” That means you “can get out of the office at a decent hour” if your work is finished. “Slow market and no face time policy means hours are highly reasonable,” says one source.

Great interaction The majority of employees at UBS say that there are “great relationships between managers and subordinates.” One respondent says, “People at all levels are very open and willing to help. I feel as though I’m treated like an equal, not like someone’s subordinate.” Indeed, you’re treated with “respect,” and “junior colleagues are included in meetings.” A source explains, “I haven’t had a manager yell at me or heard of anyone being yelled at. Managers try their best to respect time and commitments.” “There are no raised voices and a minimum of foul language,” adds one contact. “This is probably the best aspect of UBS’s culture.”


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Lively enough The UBS office space in New York is “not great, but it is very satisfactory.” One contact notes that “many floors have been recently redone.” Now there’s “spacious desk space and an open, modern design, with plenty of lighting and window views.” “UBS offices are new and significantly brighter than our competitors,” an insider in the New York office explains. A respondent in the Stamford location says, “I work on the largest trading floor in the world, in a building constructed in 2001.” A Connecticut-based source says the offices are “clean and functional,” and there are “plants around to make it lively.” The dress code at UBS is, for the most part, business casual, consisting of “slacks or khakis, dress shirts, dress shoes and well kept hair and facial hair.” However, “some teams are more formal than others; some have a level of dress for Fridays that is more casual.” A contact says that dress is “almost ad hoc by group or by the whim of senior manager who might start requiring people to wear ties and suits.” Of course, “all client interaction requires formal dress.” There is a “team dedicated to reducing UBS’s impact on the environment globally,” and the firm has “done a number of visible things” to promote green initiatives. The company “encourages car pooling,” and it has “recycle bins for paper, batteries and old cell phones.” In addition, UBS “encourages people not to print unless necessary.” In the cafeteria, “people are encouraged to use real plates and silverware as oppose to disposable plastic.”

Training: is a “strong suit” Training at UBS is “one of the strong suits of UBS.” There is an “extensive six-week training program” followed by “continuing education half-day and full-day classes year-round for analysts and associates.” There are also “always informal seminars and workshops, group specific training and optional firmwide training on ‘hot’ contemporary topics, given by leaders either within UBS or external experts on the subject.” One analyst remembers, “We were sent to London for four weeks of training with our global class in order to ensure that everyone was on an even field. This also gave us the opportunity to meet colleagues and peers from across the businesses and globe for us to contact in the future.” There are reports, however, that training has been “scaled back recently because of market conditions.”

Showing initiative While UBS is “extremely receptive to having women in the group,” the firm still struggles with keeping a high number of females above entry-level positions. One insider says that the company “still exhibits a number of characteristics of old-school Wall Street; many of the women in the investment banking department are admins.” However, female respondents give the firm high marks for its outreach. One female analyst says, “UBS has the most receptive environment to women of all investment banks. It even has a women’s group that all female employees can join.” She continues, “That being said, UBS recruits from fewer women’s colleges than the average investment bank.” UBS is also making strides towards racial diversity. One associate says, “Diversity is recognized as one of the ways our bank can differentiate itself amongst its competitors, and the focus on recruiting, retaining and promoting candidates from a diverse background manifests itself throughout the firm.” An insider who works with the diversity initiative backs this up by noting that the firm participated in NABA’s national conference and are offering finance intern positions to Sponsor’s for Educational Opportunity for the first time in 2009. He concludes, “I’ve been extremely happy with the support UBS has given diversity for both minorities and women.” As for GLBT diversity, there is a “GLBT network” at UBS, and “many businesses have worked with the network to tap into the gay and lesbian business markets.”

Coming through the crisis Employees overall satisfaction with the firm has taken a hit due to the negative events of the bad markets. One contact says that “compensation and senior management have been exceptionally poor, especially through the crisis.” Another adds that “recently, the experience has not been satisfactory.” The firm “still lacks a strong U.S. brand” and is “trying desperately to overcome negative press coverage.” Despite the bad feelings of many employees, there are those who can see the silver lining. One source says, “Other than the recent hiccup with regards to the 2008 bonus package, the firm is a nice place to work. People who are smart and work hard are taken care of well, promoted well and paid well.” Another adds that “it has been a very good place to work.” Looking forward, one reespondent says, “There is still too much uncertainty over economic and market conditions to form a compelling view of the near-term outlook. However, in the medium and long term, UBS’s global footprint as well as its world-class people and systems make it well-positioned for a return to its former strength.”

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HOULIHAN LOKEY

1930 Century Park West Los Angeles, CA 90067 Phone: (310) 553-8871 Fax: (310) 553-2173 www.HL.com

DEPARTMENTS Financial Advisory Services Financing Mergers & Acquisitions Restructuring

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company Co-CEOs: Jeffrey Werbalowsky & Scott Beiser No. of Employees: 800+ No. of Offices: 14 (Worldwide)

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America Blackstone Evercore Partners Greenhill & Co. Jefferies KPMG Lazard Moelis & Company Perella Weinberg Partners Rothschild UBS

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #1 – Business Outlook #1 – Green Initiatives #1 – Offices #1 – Selectivity #2 – Compensation #3 – Best to Work For #3 – Hours #3 – Overall Satisfaction #4 – Culture #4 – Treatment by Managers #8 – Training Diversity #2 – Best for Diversity #2 – Diversity With Respect To Women #3 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #5 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians

UPPERS • “Great, smart people” • “Entrepreneurial spirit” • “Access to upper management and lots of client interaction”

DOWNERS • “Can be somewhat competitive” • “Hours can be long at times” • “Still overcoming the image of just doing fairness opinions and restructuring”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” section of www.HL.com

THE BUZZ


“Strong advisory practice” “Okay” “Terrific restructuring practice” “They work like crazy”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Houlihan Lokey

THE SCOOP Worldwide reach Founded in 1970, the privately-held investment bank Houlihan Lokey now employs more than 800 people worldwide. Although it’s best known as a middle-market advisor, Houlihan Lokey also serves large public corporations and small private companies. Its financial restructuring division has risen to prominence in recent years—Houlihan Lokey’s teams have worked on some of the world’s biggest bankruptcy proceedings, including those of Lehman Brothers, WorldCom, General Motors, Enron and Conseco. And in the past 10 years, the firm has worked on more than 500 restructuring transactions worth a total of over $1.25 trillion. California-based Houlihan Lokey’s business is divided into four groups: financing, mergers and acquisitions, financial advisory services and restructuring. The firm’s U.S. offices are located in Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.; its overseas operations can be found in London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing and Frankfurt. Each year, Houlihan Lokey takes home several high-profile awards and recognitions. In 2008, Thomson Reuters ranked the firm No. 1 in M&A deals with values under $2 billion, and The Deal Pipeline named it the No. 1 Investment Banking Restructuring Advisor. Houlihan Lokey was also named Investment Bank of the Year in 2008 by The M&A Advisor, and Mergermarket and the Financial Times dubbed it the Mid Market Financial Advisor of the Year in the U.S. In addition, Thomson Reuters has ranked Houlihan Lokey No. 1 in U.S. M&A fairness opinions over the past 10 years.

IN THE NEWS January 2009: The Polaroid picture Houlihan Lokey was enlisted by the Polaroid Corporation to advise the firm on a reorganization, refinancing or sale. The legendary camera maker filed Chapter 11 in December 2008 after a fraud investigation involving Polaroid owner Tom Petters. According to court filings, Houlihan Lokey would receive an upfront fee of $300,000 plus $150,000 a month to advise Polaroid on strategic options. If deals fall through within six months, Houlihan would receive a termination fee of $450,000, but if a restructuring is successful, Houlihan Lokey stands to earn 1.25 percent of Polaroid’s court-determined value.

December 2008: Top of the tables According to the Thomson Reuters investment banking league tables for 2008, Houlihan ranked No. 1 in U.S. mid-market advisory, based on number of transactions, for all deal value categories. In worldwide announced mid-market transactions, based on fees, the firm ranked No. 4 for deals valued up to $50 million and up to $100 million. Its ranking slipped slightly as the deals got larger, though. Houlihan Lokey placed No. 5 for deals valued up to $200 million and No. 10 for those with values up to $500 million.

December 2008: Spotting Bally’s Houlihan Lokey was hired by Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. to advise on its Chapter 11 filing in New York. Bally’s, which operates over 340 gyms in the U.S., reported $1.4 billion in assets and $1.5 billion in debt. It also had over 100,000 creditors, the biggest of which are U.S. Bancorp (owed $247 million) and HSBC Holdings ($231 million).

September 2008: Picking up the pieces of Lehman WorldCom’s $107 billion bankruptcy paled before Lehman Brothers’ spectacular demise in September 2008. At the time of its Chapter 11 filing, Lehman claimed $639 billion in assets, spread across its worldwide network of offices, affiliates and subsidiaries. And once again, Houlihan Lokey was hired to advise the creditor’s committee in the case. CEO Jeff Werbalowsky acknowledged that it would be a challenging job. “Enron is the most complex bankruptcy we’ve ever worked on,” he said, “but it’s possible that the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers may involve even more convoluted financial issues and relationships.” At least it proved to be a lucrative job. According to court filings, Houlihan Lokey requested fees of $500,000 per month for the first six months of work and $400,000 for each subsequent month. It also requested deferred fees of 0.05 percent for the first $30 billion of unsecured recoveries and 0.035 percent of all unsecured recoveries in excess of $30 billion.

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September 2008: Real estate gurus on board J.P. Morgan’s loss was Houlihan Lokey’s gain when a team of senior real estate investment banking officers left J.P. Morgan for Houlihan’s New York City office, joining the real estate and lodging investment banking group. The additions included senior vice presidents Patrick Gillan and John Kenyan, and Gary Gordon, who joined as a managing director. At J.P. Morgan, Gordon and his team had led middle-market investment sales, and debt and equity real estate activity. They were involved with a number of splashy deals, including the sale of 75 Wall Street and 650 Madison Avenue in New York and the sale of News Corp.’s 23-acre site in Boston’s financial district. They also had a hand in advising the Port Authority of New York on development of the World Trade Center.

September 2008: He’s back A former Houlihan Lokey managing director returned to the fold, as Matthew Niemann left Cerberus Capital Chicago (an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management) to become managing director and co-head of Houlihan Lokey’s Midwest restructuring practice. Before his stint at Cerberus, Niemann had served as managing director of Houlihan Lokey’s Chicago and Los Angeles offices. According to Niemann, he headed back to Houlihan Lokey because he had a “desire to return to my roots as an advisor as the distressed cycle unfolds over the next several years.”

August 2008: Aerospace flies high Investment Dealer’s Digest reported that one industry sector was largely unaffected by the global slowdown in M&A activity: aerospace and defense. The reason? A flurry of acquisitions by the sector’s largest players, which bought smaller rivals in an attempt to diversify—in part because the impending presidential election left a great deal of uncertainty about future government spending on defense. Anita Antenucci, head of aerospace investment banking at Houlihan Lokey, told the magazine that her group had closed or signed 15 transactions in the past six months, compared to 19 total transactions in 2007. “I think that the number of deals will outpace last year’s level,” she said. “Within aerospace, it is still as busy as ever.” Antenucci’s team, 25 bankers strong, has offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

GETTING HIRED No excess baggage The hiring process “is selective, but it’s not impossible” to get hired, sources say. “Since we’re not a bulge bracket, we have the luxury of being able to pick a small amount of people from a large applicant pool.” “This past year, I have seen hundreds of resumes pour in from just my school, often forcing us to turn down students with nearly impeccable resumes,” adds an analyst. Candidates who make the cut are those who are “highly motivated, analytical and entrepreneurial types who fit with our culture.” “Houlihan looks for a particular candidate that is interested in working on smaller deal teams with more responsibility, and with middle-market clients that demand a true advisor relationship,” agrees another contact. An insider who’s involved with recruiting adds, “To get hired here, it takes a certain tenacity and confidence coupled with humility and demonstrated willingness to learn.” “We need everyone we hire, and we don’t carry extras or excess,” concludes a managing director. “Everyone we hire is important, and we want them to grow within the firm and advance. Therefore, we are looking for people with the right fit and range to accomplish just that.”

Leave the robot responses at home Houlihan Lokey targets “powerhouse programs” like “Yale and Columbia” as well as “Wharton, UVA and NYU.” “Houlihan recruits at highly-ranked MBA and undergraduate programs, and invests significant time to find the right candidates,” says a source. Firm reps head to select campuses to “teach classes, and host case competitions, dinner and cocktail events, and job fairs” in order to meet the cream of the crop. For new hires, “typically there are two rounds of interviews, during which a candidate will meet anywhere from four to six professionals.” First, you’ll go through one or two campus interviews (or a phone interview), and then a final “Super Day” round in the office. Campus candidates may be invited to “a dinner in between” the two rounds. During the interviews, be prepared to field a “mix of technical corporate finance and fit questions.” One associate describes the process as a “no B.S., straight-shot interview. There’s no political shuffle.” “I had five or six interviews” during the final round, recalls an employee. “That included vice presidents, directors and managing directors.” “The interviewers are often from the specific group with which you are interviewing,” tips a source, and questions are “divided between personality questions and quantitative/finance questions.” And, “there are definitely questions regarding your knowledge of the firm and the group or office that you’ve chosen for your future career.” “Be who you are,” advises a firm veteran. “One objective we have is to break down and reverse a lot of the prep students do. In many respects, they start to appear like robots, having all prepared the same way, providing the same pat answers to similar questions. We are interested in interviewing the person that is actually going to show up for the job.”


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Definitely intern The summer analyst and associate program is “a large source for full-time hires,” so sources say it’s a good idea to apply. “Every current first-year analyst in my group originated from the summer analyst program,” a corporate finance insider reports. Summer hires receive the “same pay as full-time” employees and perform work that’s “reflective of full-time positions, though in most cases, summers are a bit slow in banking, so it’s not the same volume of work.” “I had a terrific experience,” a former intern says. “I was on several live deals and spent a week traveling across the U.S. performing due diligence for our client.” “We helped do comps, research and financial modeling, and often sat in on meetings and conference calls,” recalls another ex-intern. Besides assisting employees, interns get the benefits of “training, an educational summer speaker series, mentors, social events and mid-summer feedback.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Friends with responsibility “We started as a boutique firm, and though we have grown considerably, we still have the roots of a boutique firm,” declares a Houlihan Lokey veteran. That means “there’s an entrepreneurial feel and a collaborative energy, driven both by the deal team structure as well as the open-door policy.” Many Houlihan insiders call their coworkers their “friends,” saying, “We are able to enjoy time spent together, which definitely breaks up the work day and makes for a happier environment.” Of course, there’s plenty of work and responsibility to go around, and “people will generally let you take on as much as you can handle.” “We work on small deal teams where every level has responsibility and ownership of the project,” says an associate. There’s an “emphasis on mentoring,” and the firm’s history is still close to the surface. “There is a good amount of senior interaction,” explains an analyst. “Perhaps that is the reason why so many of Houlihan’s senior bankers started as Houlihan analysts or associates.”

Restructuring rules Sources in Houlihan Lokey’s renowned restructuring group have a lot of pride in their reputation. “Restructuring is an absolutely awesome group,” raves an analyst. “Restructuring is incredibly busy and exciting,” agrees another source. Kudos come from other areas of the firm, too. “The M&A group within corporate finance has a footprint in four of our U.S. locations and is led by a strong team of seasoned managing directors,” an associate says. “Our senior bankers realize this is an apprenticeship-type of job and are always seeking to grow their subordinates.”

Working together Senior managers “don’t view analysts as people to take advantage of but rather to work with for a common goal.” “My managers may demand a lot from me at times, but they show proper gratitude and respect for a job well done,” agrees a recent hire. “Positive feedback is given when deserved, which is huge.” Besides making time to “discuss current projects,” junior staff members say managers are willing to talk about “broader issues, as well as their own individual paths to where they are today.” New hires begin with an initial “three week intensive training program” that’s “very practical” and “exactly what it needs to be.” After that, “outside training capabilities” are part of the formal offerings, but by and large, newbies learn “through the deal process.” “On-the-job training is very important and taken very seriously by all managers,” says an insider.

Not too shabby Compensation gets high marks, even as sources note some uncertainty about bonuses and what the future will hold. “We are at or above market” in terms of pay, says one source, and since Houlihan Lokey hasn’t taken TARP money or suffered losses the way some rivals have, “bonuses are not expected to be hurt the way they are for the rest of Wall Street.” Benefits include “cabs home after 8 p.m., gym membership discounts, dinner allowance, late car service if you want it, reimbursable lunches ... the standard perks.” Adds an analyst in New York City, “We also get free MetroCards every month, which is great.” (Other locations provide “free parking.”) There are “no stock options at the analyst level,” but sources do enjoy “10 vacation days with two personal days. Sick days are not treated as personal days—you may take as many necessary, though people hardly do.”

Hard work, but real work Hours “ebb and flow” but are “not nearly as bad as at other investment banks.” The workload can get heavy, “especially in restructuring,” but sources say, “There’s not a face-time culture, so people leave when they’re done with their work and work from home frequently.”

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Many insiders report putting in at least 60 to 70 hours per week, sometimes more—and it’s most intense in the first years. “Junior financial staff often work long hours but they are treated with respect and are never made to work on unnecessary, time-consuming tasks,” a source explains. Since “the work is meaningful,” a majority of Houlihan insiders say they don’t mind pulling a late night or checking in over the weekend. “The work is exciting, value added and we make a difference,” a contact says.

Enough space for most While there’s “nothing remarkably luxurious” about the offices, they are “very spacious” with “ample room for file storage” and “updated” furniture. A Los Angeles source gives points for “adequate space, good technology and support, and a great location.” The Chicago office “had a major upgrade completed recently,” and sources in Dallas, New York and D.C. say the digs are “very nice.” In New York, adds an analyst, the seating is “a bullpen of cubicles,” but “the walls are high enough” to offer some privacy. The dress code is “business casual every day,” with “business formal” mandatory for client interaction. “During the summer, we have a more casual Friday policy where you can wear jeans,” one contact notes.

Gaining, gaining Houlihan Lokey “employs minorities at all levels of the firm, and is fully receptive to hiring, promoting and mentoring.” And one analyst notes, “Significant gains have been made over the past several years.” While some employees say they don’t know very much about GLBT coworkers, others report that there are “openly gay bankers” in various groups, and give Houlihan high marks for its commitment to GLBT diversity. Women can also be found “at all levels within the organization.” One recent hire remarks, “I was pretty impressed with the number of women hired at both the analyst and associate level.” There are still “fewer women on the senior level,” but that’s changing. “The head of my office is female as well as some of the more senior people,” says a D.C. source.

Green from top to bottom “From the CEO down we are very committed” to environmental awareness, which has meant changes like “electricity saving measures,” paper reduction efforts and “water-free urinals, which save 40,000 gallons of water per year.” “We have a ‘Going Green’ program where people can identify green initiatives, and we have a specifically assigned ‘Green Team’ to review and implement changes,” a managing director says. “We have green resources on our intranet that provides corporate updates on efforts, as well as resources and tips for folks to take advantage of at work and home.” The firm also replaced “bottled water and Styrofoam cups by distributing Nalgene bottles.” “In a building filled with traditional, conservative organizations, I was surprised at how much Houlihan is doing to be green,” a Dallas source remarks. “It’s very refreshing.” “We have made many steps in this area,” declares a senior banker, “and we’re not done.”

Steady does it There’s been only “one round of extremely minor layoffs” at Houlihan Lokey, and insiders say it’s all up from here. According to one source, in this environment, Houlihan is “the best place to be in the financial world. The firm does not trade and thus holds no bad assets—it has made solid decisions protecting it from any instability.” While most insiders agree the firm is “held up by our stellar restructuring group,” praise is also given to the “very strong corporate finance and financial advisory practices that have held up well” despite trying times. Another contact adds, “Since we’re a private company, we have more flexibility in managing for the long term, and don’t take steps that drive short-term profitability at the expense of longterm stability and value growth.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

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JEFFERIES & COMPANY, INC.

520 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 Phone: (212) 284-2300 www.jefferies.com

DEPARTMENTS/DIVISIONS Asset Management Debt Capital Markets Equity Capital Markets Investment Banking Mergers & Advisory Recapitalization & Restructuring Research Sales & Trading

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: JEF (NYSE) CEO: Richard B. Handler 2008 Revenue: $1.68 billion 2008 Net Income: -$536.1 million No. of Employees: 2,307 No. of Offices: 25+

KEY COMPETITORS Barclays Capital Credit Suisse Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs J.P. Morgan Lazard

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #6 – Culture #7 – Business Outlook #8 – Green Initiatives #9 – Training #9 – Treatment by Managers #10 – Best to Work For #10 – Overall Satisfaction #11 – Compensation #13 – Hours #13 – Offices #14 – Selectivity Diversity #11 (tie) – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians #12 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #13 – Diversity With Respect To Women #13 – Best for Diversity

UPPERS • “Compensation is competitive” • “Great people who are able to have fun” • “Senior banker interaction”

DOWNERS • “The hours” • “Constantly being tied to your BlackBerry” • “Recent downsizing and cost cutting initiatives”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” at www.jefferies.com

THE BUZZ


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“Hard-charging firm” “Overrated across the board” “Picking up market share” “Lost lots of talent”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Jefferies & Company, Inc.

THE SCOOP On the move again New York-based Jefferies Group, Inc. (widely known as Jefferies) is an independent securities and investment banking firm that was founded almost 50 years ago. Today, it employs more than 2,300 people in over 25 offices worldwide. Jefferies’ investment banking services include M&A advisory, capital raising, debt, equity and equity-linked financing, recapitalization and restructuring solutions, fairness opinions and corporate advisory services. Jefferies’ sales and trading business offers trade execution and liquidity, and traded equity, convertible, high-yield, investment-grade fixed income and commodity-linked financial products; the unit also provides wealth management, correspondent services, prime brokerage, securities finance and floor brokerage services (at the NYSE). The firm’s research team focuses on covering mid-cap and growth companies, offering investment ideas in equity, high-yield, convertible and investment-grade fixed income securities. The asset management division manages products that include equities, fixed income securities, convertible securities and real assets (commodities). And its wealth management division offers financial advisory to corporate clients, private equity firms, institutions and wealthy individuals. Jefferies’ investment banking practice focuses on industry specializations, including aerospace and defense, clean technology, consumer, energy, financial services, gaming, health care, industrials, maritime, media, technology and telecom. It also has a dedicated financial sponsors group, and dedicated product groups, including equity capital markets, debt capital markets, recapitalization and restructuring, and mergers and advisory. Jefferies can trace its roots to 1962 when Boyd Jefferies established his eponymous firm with a $30,000 business loan and one employee—a floor runner. The two began conducting business on the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange floor. Along the way, Jefferies recognized that institutional investors often wanted to trade large blocks of stock without making an impact on the market (or tipping their hand to other traders) but had no mechanism for doing so. He began catering to these investors, discreetly matching large institutional buyers and sellers off the exchange. So-called third-market trading is standard practice today, but in the 1960s, it was a novel idea. Jefferies prospered, becoming a respected equity trading firm and launching an IPO in 1983. Expansion followed in the 1990s as Jefferies began offering investment banking, asset management and research services, opening offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. More recently, as a result of a worldwide financial crisis that began in 2007, Jefferies, like many other financial firms, was forced to make staff cuts. Jefferies laid off nearly 20 percent of its workforce in 2008. However, the firm took advantage of the severe dislocation on Wall Street, hiring several seasoned professionals in its investment banking and other business groups, including fixed income, research and equities. This included the addition of the 40-plus person health care investment banking team from UBS, and substantial new hires on its trading desks in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: Setting records Jefferies booked record net revenue for the second quarter 2009 as well as positive net income, versus a loss during the same period a year earlier. Jefferies reported $578 million in net revenue, a 51 percent boost versus the previous year’s second quarter, and net earnings of $62 million, compared to a $4 million loss a year earlier. The firm also reported record fixed income and commodity revenue, booking $277 million, a 280 percent rise. In addition, investment banking revenue rose by 10 percent, and high-yield revenue increased 95 percent.

June 2009: Jefferies goes primary The Federal Reserve Bank of New York named Jefferies as a primary dealer, which will allow the investment bank to take part in the Fed’s buying and selling of securities. The bank can also now supply market information to the Fed and participate in Treasury auctions. For approximately a year, Jefferies has been seeking the title of primary dealer, which is fairly elusive—the Fed has given only 17 other companies the title of primary dealer.

May 2009: Sales and trading hiring spree Jefferies hired several employees in derivatives, ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and algorithmic trading. Jefferies also bolstered its mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities units, hiring new employees in Boston, Chicago, Stamford and London. Additionally, the firm added to its high-yield, leveraged loan, distressed and special situations sales, trading and research teams.

February 2009: Move over, here we come Underlining Jefferies’ continued expansion in fixed income, the firm acquired the New York-based municipal securities firm Depfa First Albany Securities, immediately gaining a strong position in municipal investment banking, advisory, and sales and trading services. Jefferies CEO Richard


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Handler said the acquisition would offer Jefferies the chance to enter the municipal market in “a comprehensive and high quality way.” He also said the Depfa’s 70-plus employees would be integrated into Jefferies’ fixed income department, which had more than 250 professionals at the time.

January 2009: Movin’ on up Jefferies hired two former Merrill Lynch veterans, Daniel B. Markaity and Christopher M. Bury, as managing directors and co-heads of the firm’s fixed income rates business. In the nine months leading up to these new hires, Jefferies brought on more than 50 new senior professionals in fixed income. In London, Jefferies added seven new health care research analysts and sales professionals, including the top-ranked health care research team from Credit Suisse, as part of a continued build-out of its equity department in London. Other key hires in January 2009 included Stephen Volkmann as a senior equity research analyst in New York, and Hal Kennedy and Leon Szlezinger as managing directors in Jefferies’ New York-based investment banking division.

January 2009: A rough year In synch with almost all of its peers, Jefferies posted losses for the fourth quarter 2008 as well as for the full-year 2008. The firm’s net loss for the fourth quarter was $443 million, while the net loss for the year was $538.8 million (the vast majority of which was a one-time charge for the accelerated expense of stock-based compensation plans), a huge change from the $144 million it booked for 2007. Total revenue also fell, dropping from $2.71 billion in 2007 to $1.68 billion in 2008. In terms of performance across the key Jefferies business divisions, revenue for the equities business dropped 17 percent to $495.4 million from $597.2 million in 2007. However, Jefferies’ fixed income and commodities revenue (excluding high-yield activity) for 2008 was $238.2 million, a healthy 71 percent rise versus the $139.3 million it booked in 2007. The increase in revenue was largely due to “increased customer flow” in Jefferies’ corporate bond, emerging markets, treasury and agencies, and mortgage-backed securities trading businesses, in addition to “declining competition.” Meanwhile, the firm’s capital markets revenue took a huge hit, falling 70 percent, and its advisory revenue fell 15 percent. CEO Handler credited the “unprecedented volatility” for the losses, saying in a press release that 2008 was “the worst year for the financial markets in our lifetime.” He added, though, that the firm kicked off 2009 with its “strongest opening balance sheet ever.” In December 2008, prior to the year end, Jefferies issued a statement preparing the public for its results, saying that it had completed a “strategic review” and implemented changes to “restore profitability” in 2009 that included substantial staff cuts, changes to compensation plans, a reduction of operating expenses, risk reductions and “other” structural changes.

December 2008: Mid-market master Despite the slow merger and acquisition market in 2008, Jefferies fared well in Thomson Reuters’ annual M&A rankings. For worldwide M&A advisory fees on deals with values up to $50 million, Jefferies ranked No. 9. The firm also ranked No. 7 in fees from deals with values up to $100 million, and No. 9 in fees from deals valued up to $200 million. In fees from deals with values up to $500 million, Jefferies ranked No. 11, working on 63 deals worth a total of $119.9 million in imputed fees. On the European tables, Jefferies ranked No. 16 in European announced M&A deal volume, working on 29 deals worth a total of $1.56 billion. Overall in 2008, Jefferies completed 130 M&A transactions worth a total of more than $45 billion.

September 2008: “Best in Class” In Alpha magazine’s 2008 Hedge Fund Trading Survey, Jefferies ranked No. 1 in two categories: traditional execution, and trading expertise and market knowledge. The rankings were compiled by surveying more than 300 hedge funds that use investment banks’ services. Additionally, Jefferies’ prime brokerage group received 53 Best in Class awards from Global Custodian magazine.

December 2008: Cuts across all lines Approximately 10 percent of Jefferies’ 2,465-strong workforce will be cut, sources told Fxsteet.com. Nearly every business line will be affected by the cuts, which aren’t the first during the financial crisis for the firm—Jefferies cut 64 employees in 2007.

June 2008: Adding to its energy Jefferies named Ralph Eads III as chairman of energy investment banking, and Stephen Straty and David Rockecharlie as co-heads of energy investment banking.

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May 2008: Hiring former Bear and Goldman bankers Jefferies appointed David Baxt, previously of Bear Stearns, as head of aerospace and defense investment banking, and Sidarth Punshi, previously of Goldman Sachs, as head of investment banking in India. Additionally, Jefferies expanded its mortgage-backed, asset-backed and commercial mortgage-backed securities group, adding an entire team of sales and trading professionals in mortgage- and asset-backed securities who formerly worked for RBS Greenwich Capital. (According to Asset-Backed Alert, the group ranked as the No. 1 bookrunner of all U.S. mortgage-backed securities in 2008, with a 17 percent market share.),

April 2008: Staking out its claim Leucadia National Corp. agreed to acquire a 14 percent stake in Jefferies, helping to strengthen Jefferies’ balance sheet. The terms of the deal also included Jefferies purchasing 10 million of Leucadia’s common shares, and Leucadia getting two seats on Jefferies’ board of directors. In a press release, speaking about why Jefferies struck the deal, CEO Richard Handler said, “We believe it is prudent to strengthen further our foundation as we look to take advantage of the many opportunities we see in the current market environment.” He added that despite a $60.5 million loss in the first quarter of 2008, Jefferies’ “balance sheet and liquidity are solid.”

GETTING HIRED Looking for smarts “GPA is definitely a crucial factor” when it comes to hiring new employees. “Prior work experience is also a big thing we look for.” One source notes, “Drive, smarts and collegiality are three keys to getting hired at all levels.” Candidates “must answer highly technical questions in the interview process and have a significant grasp of valuation methodologies.” However, the firm “tends to focus more on well-rounded individuals who demonstrate maturity and client-facing ability, in addition to accounting and financial knowledge.” One employee explains, “We typically are far less interested in ‘human calculators.’” One current analyst describes the hiring environment for this year, explaining, “For the analyst intern class of 2009, we have 1,100 applicants from a top-tier undergrad business school and are looking to hire two.”

Why banking? The interview process at Jefferies consists of two rounds. The first is an on-campus interview, and “the second is the standard Super Day, which consists of a five rapid-fire interviews over three hours.” One employee remembers being asked “Why banking?” and “How would you value this painting [in the interview room]?” as well as “basic accounting questions about how depreciation is accounted for in financial statements.” Another source says, “Interviewers look for intelligent candidates who can do the job and, most important, will fit in with the firm’s culture.” Jefferies recruits from, among other schools, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, New York University, Harvard, Yale and University of California Berkeley.

An amazing experience Internships are important at Jefferies because “a high percentage of interns return for full-time” employment. Employees concede that “especially during these rough economic conditions with limited hiring, a greater percentage of full-time positions will be given to interns.” One current employee remembers his internship as an “amazing experience” where “everyone took the time to ensure that each intern’s experience was a good one.” Another source recalls that he “was staffed on two live M&A transactions and gained valuable experience.” “The 10-week program consists of a one-week training course on accounting, valuation and modelling, as well as nine weeks as a generalist banker, working with a number of industry and product groups within the bank,” a Jefferies employee explains. An internship at Jefferies can be a chance to get to know your future employers. “There are many social events organized around the internship program that allow the interns to mingle with each other as well as full-time and senior bankers in a relaxed atmosphere.” Events include “group dinners, going out for happy-hour drinks, a group trip to the Belmont Stakes and other fun events, all paid for by Jefferies.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Laid-back banking Jefferies employees note that the culture within the firm is “more laid-back than at bulge-bracket banks.” There are “not many big egos in the firm,” and “senior bankers are approachable.” One employee agrees, “Although the firm’s rapid growth has recently brought on a slightly more bulge-bracket feel, Jefferies still boasts a very flat hierarchy.” Many current employees of Jefferies describe the firm’s culture as “entrepreneurial and smart,” and


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report that “people have the independence to work and take on responsibility as they are able.” This breeds an atmosphere that “is competitive yet not cut-throat.” A source says that “it is not uncommon for entire groups to all go out together for drinks to celebrate a colleague’s birthday or on Fridays during the summer.” He adds, “The firm has a positive vibe—we’re performing a lot better than most other investment banks and have not needed government aid.”

Pampered workers Sources report that “Jefferies tends to pay on the higher end of the market to recruit talent.” Analysts receive a minimum of a $60,000 starting salary, and associates receive a minimum of a $95,000 starting salary. One employee explains, “Besides competitive salaries and bonuses, Jefferies pays analysts a $10,000 signing bonus with an extra $5,000 early sign-on bonus for returning interns.” The firm also “reimburses the bulk of moving expenses such as brokers’ fees and offers assistance in finding a living space.” There have been some cuts for budget reasons, but one contact says that “Jefferies tends to pamper their employees even during the hard times.” The services that have been cut recently were “unique perks such as free breakfast and lunch every day”—”the firm is now in line with competitors on perks.”

On-call employees Like many investment banks, Jefferies expects its employees to be “on-call 24/7, including weekends.” One employee cautions that the work is more intense for those starting out, saying, “As a first-year employee, you will be working long hours. The work is not necessarily difficult, but it is difficult to plan your own personal time given the unpredictability of client requests.” Another contact says that “the hardworking culture and small deal teams can add to the hours spent at the office,” but notes that “efficiency is stressed, and Friday evenings are typically considered a no-fly zone, with most analysts out of the office before 8 p.m.” An associate advises that you should “expect to work on the weekends, so if you don’t have to, it will be a nice surprise.”

High exposure Junior employees “have a lot of exposure to senior members of the firm.” One employee says, “There is constant interaction—more than at other banks—and senior bankers want to see their junior bankers learn and have a good experience.” Another source adds, “I have not been micromanaged once.” The relationships are more than just business, as senior bankers “will socialize with junior bankers and take them out to dinner.” There are a few problems, however. One employee complains that there is “very little emphasis put on development,” and the “review process entirely lacks detail and provides nothing you can build upon.” Another source notes that “the experience with managers varies considerably. Some of the senior managers are very understanding of the time requirements for junior bankers, while others do not necessarily care how many hours analysts work.”

Big city living The quality of Jefferies’ office space varies by location. In New York, “there is ample space to work and stretch out, and a brand new state-of-the-art, in-house conference center to hold meetings.” In Los Angeles, employees report having a “nice office with great view of Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean,” but say that “fixtures are slightly dated, and the Internet infrastructure could definitely be improved.” An employee in Houston boasts that the Texas office “has nice comfortable chairs.” Overall, the general consensus is that offices are “not ultra-luxurious,” but employees “have what they need.” The dress code is business casual, with some variation based on what level or department you are in. One employee says that “some people wear suits every day,” but stresses the fact that “jacket and tie are optional.” Another explains the dress code in more detail, saying, “Senior bankers usually dress formally, and the trend differs among junior bankers. Analysts will usually be in business casual due to their extremely long hours in the office. Associates dress formally or in business casual attire depending on if they have client meetings.” Ladies “can get away with a variety of clothing,” but men are “expected to have dress slacks and a dress shirt.” Jefferies has made a solid commitment to green initiatives with a “green committee and a renewed commitment to recycling.” In New York, “Jefferies is in an energy star building with recycling initiatives all around.” One employee reports that the green committee “speaks once a month regarding different initiatives.”

Training the Street There is a generally positive feeling about Jefferies formal training programs, which use “Training the Street”—”basically the industry standard for analyst and associate training.” There is also an in-house training process, which features “lectures from different industry and product groups throughout the firm.” The only real drawback to the formal program is that it “assumes incoming analysts already have a finance or accounting background, so it’s very difficult for many of the non-business students to keep up with training.” The firm also offers a mentor program, and sources say that “on-the-job training is also very thorough.”

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Meritocracy According to one source, female employees make up approximately 20 percent of the work force at Jefferies. A male employee at Jefferies notes that “despite being in a male-dominated industry, Jefferies has a lot of female bankers at all levels.” Female employees express relatively happiness with their status within the firm. One female analyst says she is “very satisfied” —her group “has 11 people, four of whom are female.” An associate says, “The firm is culturally welcoming for women,” but she worries that “there are no formal programs in place to encourage diversity or support women.” With regards to racial diversity, many employees report that Jefferies is “fair to all candidates and applicants”—it’s a “meritocracy, and no preference is given to minority groups.” The firm is open to hiring GLBT employees but “still has a very macho environment, with an old-school banking mentality.” An openly gay employee notes that it is “not the most comfortable place to be publicly non-straight. There are some employees who are very publicly homophobic.” But another source says, “We take the best candidate regardless of sexual orientation. A colleague’s brother is homosexual as is another colleague’s brother-inlaw, and I have never heard any inappropriate statements.” An analyst notes, “When I first started, our restructuring group head was gay, and he was extremely successful.”

Great potential Most employees report being “very happy” at Jefferies. One contact recalls receiving “offers from bulge-bracket banks and decided against them after speaking to friends who had summer internships there.” He adds, “I realized I learned more and was a great deal happier than they were.” Another enthusiastic analyst says that he is “very motivated to continue learning and developing my skills” as a result of employment with the company. “Given the current market conditions, I think Jefferies is a great place to be,” says an insider. “It’s a good place to learn, and most senior bankers want to help you learn.” The outlook at Jefferies is cautiously optimistic. One employee points out that “Jefferies has weathered the storm better than most players in investment banking and has not had to take huge write-downs.” The firm also “has a strong balance sheet.” And the turmoil in the market presents an opportunity for the firm. One source explains, “With the loss of competition such as Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, there is great potential for our firm to capitalize.” “Jefferies is in a very strong position,” agrees another, “and although traditional leveraged finance business is struggling, recapitalization and restructuring assignments are surging.” One contact puts it simply, “It’s Jefferies’ time to grow.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

17

CITI INSTITUTIONAL CLIENTS GROUP

388 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10013 www.citigroup.com

BUSINESSES Citi Alternative Investments Citi Investment Research & Analysis Global Banking Global Markets Global Transaction Services

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #2 – Training #5 – Selectivity #7 – Compensation #9 – Best to Work For #9 – Culture #10 – Hours #12 – Overall Satisfaction

KEY COMPETITORS THE STATS Employer Type: Division of Citgroup Inc. (Citi) CEO, Citi: Vikram S. Pandit CEO, Institutional Clients Group: John Havens 2008 Revenue: -$7.87 billion 2008 Net Income: -$20.1 billion No. of Employees: 309,000* No. of Offices: 7,500*

Goldman Sachs J.P. Morgan Morgan Stanley

UPPERS • “People are down-to-earth” • “Access to products and markets is unmatched” • “Great training”

*Citigroup Inc.

DOWNERS • “Potential nationalization” • “Lots of politics” • “Low morale”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.oncampus.citi.com

THE BUZZ


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“Global presence” “In deep trouble” “Big deals” “Have lost a lot of talent”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Citi Institutional Clients Group

THE SCOOP Down but not out Citi Institutional Clients Group, one of the main units of global banking behemoth Citigroup Inc., offers a full range of investment banking services, including merger and acquisition advisory, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring advice, transaction services and alternative investments. Parent Citigroup Inc. was rebranded as simply “Citi” back in 2007. Citi has over 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries around the world. In addition to the institutional clients group, Citi’s main business divisions include consumer banking and global cards. Prior to its rebranding, Citi was revered as the world’s largest banking and financial services group, but the financial storm in the recent past has not been kind to this global giant, which has seen billions of dollars wiped off its market value, laid off tens of thousands of employees, taken $45 billion in assistance from the U.S. government and shed some assets—including its brokerage arm, Smith Barney, which was sold to long-time rival Morgan Stanley in January 2009.

Look who’s on top In October 2007, Citi made some significant changes to its structure, merging markets and banking with alternative investments to create one group called institutional clients. The realignment came on the heels of a 60 percent drop in net income for the third quarter 2007. As many expected, Citi’s capital markets businesses suffered from slowdowns in the credit markets and losses linked to mortgage-backed securities. Two months later, in December 2007, Vikram Pandit became the chief executive of Citigroup, replacing interim chief executive Sir Winfried Bischoff, who became chairman of the board as well as remaining chief executive of Citigroup in Europe. Pandit succeeded Chuck Prince (Charles O. Prince III), who had taken his post in 2003 amid some shareholder frustration that Citi’s stock price wasn’t matching that of its peers. Pandit’s job has not been easy; he took the helm of the world’s largest banking and financial services group during the worst financial crisis the world has seen in modern times. Pandit joined Citi just after it purchased Old Lane Partner, the hedge fund that Pandit set up after leaving Morgan Stanley. (On a side note, and unfortunately for Old Lane, after two years of “flat” returns that caused $200 million of write-downs in the first quarter 2008, Citi decided to close the hedge fund.) At the time of his appointment, industry commentators noted that in the wake of the losses the group was hit with under Prince, Pandit would have to address the firm’s risk management practices to win back the confidence of staff and investors. Although Pandit lowered the bank’s costs and allowed reinvestments in growth in 2007, the following year was not so peachy. In 2008, the firm received a U.S. Federal Reserve bailout of $45 billion. And, by the end of the year, Citi’s stock value had dropped to $21 billion from $300 billion two years earlier. Even so, the firm was still near the top of the investment banking heap in 2008, landing in the top three on numerous league tables for the year. According to Thomson Reuters, Citi ranked No. 3 in worldwide announced M&A deals, No. 2 in U.S. announced M&A deals, and No. 3 in worldwide debt and equity underwriting volume.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Fraud charges for tipoff Federal prosecutors charged ex-Citi banker Maher Kara with securities fraud, alleging that he had informed his brother of insider information regarding imminent mergers. The scheme, which spanned three years and ultimately brought in $6 million in illegal revenue, resulted in civil charges against the brothers as well as six other friends and family members connected to the Karas.

April 2009: Good news on the earnings front Citigroup booked $1.6 billion in net income for the first quarter 2009, concluding five consecutive quarters of losses (including a $5.11 billion loss in the first quarter 2008). Revenue, meanwhile, skyrocketed to $24.8 billion, a 99 percent increase versus the first quarter of 2008. The positive numbers were propelled by increased fixed income trading revenue, a new accounting rule letting Citi take a one-time gain of $2.5 billion on its derivative positions and lower costs—Citi cut operating expenses by 23 percent in the previous 12 months and headcount by 13,000 since the beginning of 2009.

January 2009: Selling Smith Barney Citi agreed to combine its Smith Barney brokerage unit with New York-based Morgan Stanley’s brokerage division, in effect selling a 51 percent majority stake in the joint venture for $2.7 billion. It was reported that Morgan Stanley is expected to acquire full control in phases over the next five years.


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January 2009: Divide and conquer? Citi revealed that it was splitting into two operating units, Citicorp and Citi Holdings Inc. The former would continue to provide traditional retail and investment banking services, while the latter would oversee what remained of the group’s high-risk investments (many had already been sold off). Citi itself remained the parent company, but potential spin offs and mergers from either of the units were not ruled out as possibilities. In fact, the two operating units were divided so that Citicorp remained the core bank, while Citi Holdings encompassed the saleable assets. Along with the restructuring, Citi announced its fifth consecutive quarterly loss, booking a loss of $8.29 billion for the fourth quarter 2008.

February 2009: Dollar days Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit offered to take a $1 salary and no bonus until the bank gets back on solid financial ground, noting that he understands “the new reality” and “will make sure Citi gets it as well.” The announcement came amid U.S. President Barack Obama and other lawmakers slamming Citi and other banks for giving exorbitant bonus payments to top executives while simultaneously accepting federal bailout funding.

December 2008: Top of the tables Citi is one of the leading investment banks in the world, and each year, it ranks in the top 10 of several important investment banking league tables. For 2008, according to Thomson Reuters, Citi ranked No. 3 in worldwide announced M&A deal volume, working on 343 deals worth a total of $705 billion. In U.S. announced M&A volume, Citi ranked No. 2 (with 90 deals worth $308 billion). Equally as impressive were Citi’s standings on the debt and equity charts. In 2008, the bank ranked No. 3 in worldwide debt and equity issues, raising $309 billion worth of securities. It was also the No. 3 issuer of worldwide equity and equity-related securities, No. 3 issuer of global IPOs and No. 4 issuer of global common stock. In the U.S., the bank came in at No. 3 in all equity issues, No. 2 in IPOs and No. 4 in common stock. Citi also scored numerous top 10 rankings on Thomson Reuters’ fixed income tables, including global debt (No. 4), global mortgage-backed securities (No. 7), global asset-backed securities (No.2), international bonds (No. 4), U.S. investment-grade debt (No. 2) and international emerging market bonds (No. 2), among others.

November 2008: Cutting back again After four consecutive quarters of losses, Citigroup announced it would be cutting an additional 52,000 jobs (in addition to the 23,000 it had already sacked before the announcement).

October 2008: Gift from TARP Citigroup found out that it would receive $25 billion from the U.S. Treasury in an effort to recapitalize the markets. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that the Treasury would inject a total of $250 billion into U.S. banks in order to help restore confidence to the markets. Paulson said, “The needs of our economy require that our financial institutions not take this new capital to hoard it, but to deploy it.” With the injection, the U.S. followed in the footsteps of some European countries, which announced similar moves earlier in the week designed to help thaw their credit markets.

October 2008: Denying Goldman Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit was approached by Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein regarding the possibility of a merger soon after Goldman received approval to become a bank holding company in September 2008. According to the Financial Times, Citi roundly rejected the proposal, structured as a Citi takeover that would likely have led to thousands of job cuts in both companies’ investment banking departments. Citi may also have decided that it didn’t need another securities group, FT speculated.

October 2008: It all went a bit too Fargo After giving troubled North Carolina-based bank Wachovia Corp. a lifeline, Citi agreed to buy a portion of the Southern bank’s operations for $2.1 billion in a deal that was to be brokered by the U.S. government’s Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Wachovia agreed to the acquisition, realizing that it was facing imminent threat of dying. However, four days later, it emerged that Wachovia’s board had agreed to another deal: an $11.7 billion allstock offer from San Francisco-based bank Wells Fargo for all of Wachovia. To say the least, Citi was not happy, and said it planned to seek $60 billion in damages for breach of contract. In a statement, Citi CEO Vikram Pandit stated, “We did not seek the Wachovia transaction; Wachovia brought it to us.” Citi also issued a statement saying, “Without our willingness to engage in this transaction, hundreds of billions of dollars of value would have been seriously threatened … We stood by while others walked away. Now, our shareholders have been unjustly and illegally deprived of the opportunity the transaction created.” Citi was adamant that if the original deal was honored it would still be willing to compete for Wachovia. But, in the end, the Wells Fargo deal was deemed to be best for Wachovia shareholders, and the Wells Fargo deal went through.

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October 2008: Revenue in the red During the third quarter 2008, Citi’s institutional clients group posted $81 million in negative revenue due to mortgage- and investment-related writedowns, along with a $792 million charge related to private equity transactions. Total revenue for the unit was also down, dropping 48 percent from the same quarter in 2007.

September 2008: Citi’s new M&A man Citigroup’s efforts to tempt the global co-head of Lehman Brothers mergers and acquisitions department finally paid off as Citi hired Mark G. Shafir shortly after Lehman filed for bankruptcy. In the Citi position (which has been vacant since Frank Yeary left the firm in June 2008), Shafir will report to Raymond McGuire and Alberto Verme, co-heads of Citi’s investment banking unit.

September 2008: Sallie walks out Sallie Krawcheck, who headed up Citigroup’s wealth management arm since 2004, was reported to be leaving the firm, according to The Wall Street Journal. Krawcheck’s exit followed the departure of other high-level Citi employees (such as investment banking co-CEO Michael Klein) who had recently left. Michael Corbat, the head of the corporate and commercial bank in the firm’s investment banking unit, took over Krawcheck’s position.

August 2008: Payout time Citi agreed to pay $100 million in penalties—$50 million to New York State and another $50 million to other state regulatory agencies—related to allegations that it was misleading to consumers in its marketing of certain securities. Additionally, the firm will be buying back approximately $7 billion in auction-rate securities, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the settlement, Citi didn’t acknowledge or deny wrongdoing.

August 2008: Times are tough Citigroup revealed some steps it is taking to attempt to counterbalance the heavy losses it’s been hit with during the year. Institutional clients group head John Havens distributed a memo to employees outlining plans to limit the use of color copies, the firm’s late night car service and even external training programs. In the memo, Havens noted that Citi intends to “manage our expenses by challenging every dollar we spend to ensure that it is truly necessary and in compliance with our policies.”

July 2008: He’s outta there Citi’s investment banking co-CEO Michael Klein stepped down to pursue other opportunities. After Vikram Pandit took over as CEO of the firm in December 2007, he reassigned Klein from his role in the trading and investment banking unit, replacing him with Pandit’s ex-Morgan Stanley colleague John Havens. According to Dow Jones, Klein had been contender for Pandit’s CEO gig.

May 2008: Severe cost cutting Citi promised to cut $400 billion of assets globally in order to shore up its core businesses, and announced that it would cut almost a quarter of its U.K. consumer employees.

April 2008: Big GE deal Citi sold its commercial lending and leasing business to General Electric for an undisclosed sum, in an effort to secure much-needed capital.

January 2008: Deeper cuts Citi announced that it was cutting an additional 4,200 jobs, and that its ultimate total number of layoffs could be close to between 20,000 and 24,000. Citi laid off about 17,000 people in April 2007 in anticipation of losses in the second half of the year.

GETTING HIRED Selective, but not snooty It’s “very difficult” to land a job at Citi, say sources, citing the firm’s focus “on hiring only the best.” Recruiters and interviewers are on the lookout for “academic performance, interpersonal skills and technical abilities,” and to that end, “we maintain relationships at all the top programs and a handful of second-tier programs.” “HR focuses its efforts on roughly 10 to 20 top schools,” a recent hire explains. These include big-name institutions like NYU, Columbia, Wharton, Darden, Duke, UCLA, Michigan and the University of Chicago.


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But that doesn’t mean everyone else is out of luck. “The firm is truly a meritocratic environment,” notes an insider. “An MBA degree from one of the top schools is not a requirement.” Campus candidates will have multiple opportunities to meet-and-greet with Citi hiring teams, including “a series of cocktails and events in the fall, followed by informational interviews, and first- and final-round interviews.”

Happy hour? “Typically, two or three rounds” of interviews are required, the first consisting of a couple of “30-minute interviews” “with associates and vice presidents.” Following that evaluation, candidates may be invited to “a Super Day in New York City with senior bankers.” There, “interviews with all levels from associate up to group head” cover a combination of “technical and situational questions.” One analyst recalls meeting with “managing directors, directors and vice presidents,” as well as people from “human resources and the business side of the company. Analysts and associates interview candidates, too.” The final round “focuses on fit, firm knowledge and technical ability.” Interviewers “will go through your resume, and ask about certain activities, employment and internship experiences.” “Quantitative questions vary based on the area and your interviewer,” reveals an employee. “Preparation is key, especially knowing who’s interviewing you, since their questions reflect who they are.” Another source tips, “As in any interview, the ability to relate interests to interviewer is paramount. Be able to show that you can have a beer with the person, and it’ll be an enjoyable experience. Don’t actually drink in the interview, of course.”

Coveted slots Although “it’s still possible to secure a position without a summer internship,” insiders say a summer stint is “very important, particularly when times are tight.” “Preference for full-time spots goes to interns,” says a source. Spending a summer at Citi also “offers an opportunity to rotate through several groups and pick a top choice for full-time employment.” The 10-week summer program is more than a chance for interns “to sample different groups of their choosing,” however. “The quality of work is on par with full-time assignments,” an insider says. “Interns are treated, staffed and compensated the same as first-year, full-time associates.” Of course, the real trick is landing the internship. “Citi usually has very few slots for the summer associate class,” explains one employee. “Fewer, in fact, than at other banks. However, the firm’s upfront selectivity translates into an almost 100 percent full-time offer rate after the summer.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Tangled in red tape “You will see all different nationalities” at the “very diverse” Citi, where “bright people” keep their “egos in check.” The firm is “definitely a meritocracy,” and insiders say their “coworkers and senior bankers go out of their way to help, train and ensure an overall pleasant working environment.” “It’s very collegial,” concurs a source. “The jerk factor is low at this firm.” And while Citi may feel “more relaxed than other banks,” it’s “still serious enough to get good experience.” For many, the promise of “international opportunities” and a chance to “build my career” is what made Citi so appealing in the first place. However, “red tape” and a “confusing structure and responsibilities” can get in the way. Internal bureaucracy “is staggering.” Despite the financial crisis, a recent hire says Citi still seems to have “a better brand and more deal flow” than its rivals. Another source adds that Citi “has a leg up on the former investment banks, as they are now going to have to follow the Citi/J.P. Morgan model and the regulations that come with it.”

Don’t blame everybody One source of frustration for some employees: public opinion that doesn’t differentiate between departments in trouble and departments that are doing just fine. “Citi is a lot more diverse than it looks from the outside,” says a mergers and acquisitions insider. “The company looks nothing like the onedimensional behemoth described in the news. For example, my department has had nothing to do with the crisis, even though I work in investment banking.” He adds, “Besides the macro problems, I wouldn’t be able to find a better, first post-MBA job.”

Keep it in balance Hours are “definitely investment banking hours,” says an associate, “but not as bad as I feared before taking the job.” Another describes the hours as “heavy, but within expectations.” And while most Citi bankers average 70 to 80 hours per week, often putting in time on the weekends, it will “all depend on the job.” “You might see some bankers staying until extremely late at night while others leave early,” says a source. “Traders, depending on the product, can leave anywhere from 4 p.m. till midnight. Flow traders leave early, along with salespeople, because they are the ones who come in to the office first.”

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An associate who estimates the work week at “sometimes over 100 hours, sometimes below 60,” notes that, on the whole, Citi provides “a very manageable lifestyle.” Plus, “hours have dropped significantly since the crisis intensified in October [2008].” It’s still “not unheard of to work all weekend,” but sources say they may just as likely “have a weekend off.” “People are very understanding if you want to take a trip for a weekend or something like that,” adds one contact. A managing director notes further, “The hours vary by level. Junior associates tend to spend more time in the office, but this shifts over time and becomes more out of office—traveling or on conference calls—as you become more senior.”

Shaky pay Citi insiders aren’t anticipating raises in their base salaries any time soon, and most say their future bonus payouts are “unknown in this environment.” Aside from that, the firm gets mostly average marks on compensation. One associate who received an MBA in 2008 reports that “the signing bonus was $40,000.” Another first-year associate pegs base salary at “$95,000.”

Wear a tie, or don’t A Houston insider calls his office “not over-the-top luxurious, but fine.” Sources in New York agree, calling the digs “very comfortable but nothing fancy.” However, one New Yorker suggests that “the building and internal IT are definitely in need of an upgrade.” The firm does get the thumbs-up for its ongoing efforts to minimize impact on the environment. “We’ve been on the front line of going green,” boasts a contact. Another applauds the fact that “even in the hard times, Citi has demonstrated commitment to green initiatives.” Generally speaking, the dress code is “business casual, except for client contact.” This means “directors and managing directors tend to wear suits and ties,” while associates and analysts don ties or business formal wear “once a month, at the most.”

Diversity is key Diversity is another Citi strength, sources say. “The firm makes active strides to hire ethnic minorities and foreign nationals, as diversity is seen by the firm as one of its key competitive advantages,” explains an associate. Others note that “the firm is very open to women and to promoting women,” and say that recruiters “evaluate each candidate on their merits.” One confident contact declares, “I doubt there’s any discrimination in the firm.”

Train with the champs “I do not recall a single negative experience with my managers,” says a recent hire. Similar reports come from other sources, who say their superiors are “very respectful, overall.” Lots of praise goes to the firm’s “very thorough training,” which includes “two months of training before you start.” “Citi has perhaps the best training program on the Street,” brags one insider. “It’s a legacy Solomon [Brothers] program that lasts a total of nine weeks, starting in early August.” Not only does the initial training “get you prepared for the real thing,” but sources say it “helps you get back into the swing of working after you have been at school.”

Changing Citi Cost-cutting efforts have been felt at Citi, from layoffs to reduced perks to canceled office parties. Even “the annual summer softball league was discontinued.” That said, many insiders are holding off on worst-case scenario predictions. One experienced insider, who admits he has “less faith in management than when [he] first started,” says, “I thought it was a great firm with great people—and it still is.” The tasks ahead will be difficult, no question about it. Employees believe Citi needs to “deal with the market perception, finish its layoffs and resolve the uncertainty regarding bonuses.” “In the short run, Citi is facing significant pressures that will impact the quality of work till 2011 at least,” explains an insider. “In the long run, the firm and its core business should survive, although its culture will probably change substantially.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

18

HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC.

26525 North Riverwoods Blvd. Mettawa, IL 60045-3428 Phone: (224) 544-2000 www.hsbcusa.com

UPPERS • “Committed to a good work/life balance”

DOWNERS LINES OF BUSINESS HSBC Bank USA Commercial Banking Global Banking & Markets Personal Financial Services Private Banking HSBC Bank Canada HSBC Finance Corporation Card & Retail Services Consumer & Mortgage Lending HSBC Insurance Taxpayer Financial Services

• Better known in the Europe than the U.S.

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” section of www.hsbcusa.com

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc CEO: Brendan McDonagh 2008 Net Income: $91 million No. of Employees: 312,866 No. of Offices: 470+

THE BUZZ


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“Strong globally” “Don’t hear much about them in the US” “Strong in Canada” “Not really a major player”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition HSBC North America Holdings Inc.

THE SCOOP North American arm As its name implies, HSBC North America Holdings contains the U.S. and Canadian businesses of London-based HSBC (the name’s an acronym of its predecessor, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which remains part of HSBC’s global business and the largest bank in Hong Kong). With $580 billion in assets, the North American group includes HSBC USA, HSBC Canada and the HSBC Finance Corporation, which provides retail banking, credit cards, lending, insurance and other consumer services. In the U.S., HSBC’s business lines are commercial banking, personal financial services, private banking, and global banking and markets. The vast majority of its 460-plus branches are in the state of New York, but others can be found in Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Illinois, Oregon, Washington State, California, Florida, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

British parent HSBC Holdings is one of the largest financial services firms in the world. Headquartered in London, the global banking group has about 9,500 and more than 310,000 employees throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. HSBC was established as the international and uniform brand name in order to better promote the banking group as a whole in 1999. However, with a truly international presence and established local presence in so many countries, HSBC took its internationalism a step further in 2002 by marketing itself as “the world’s local bank,” an approach that’s still taken by the firm. HSBC’s largest and most-recognized subsidiaries include HSBC Bank plc in the U.K., HSBC France, Hang Sent Bank Limited in Hong Kong, Household International and HSBC Bank USA N.A. in the U.S., and HSBC Private Banking Holdings (Suisse) S.A. in Switzerland, Hong Kong SAR, Monaco, Luxembourg, Singapore, the Channel Islands and the U.K. In addition to being known throughout the world for its size, HSBC has earned a reputation for being a well-run organization. While many other large banking groups have struggled in the midst of the worldwide financial crisis that began in 2007, HSBC has remained relatively (though not completely) unscathed. It has not had to take any government bailout money, remaining one of the better capitalized banks in the world.

Change of address In 2006, HSBC North America announced plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from suburban Prospect Heights, Ill., to the village of Mettawa, about 13 miles north. Construction began on a new 440,000 square-foot campus and occupancy started in early 2008, with nearly 2,400 employees installed by summer’s end. The building, which can accommodate up to 3,000 people, is intended to “support our continued growth plans while offering the greatest convenience for the overwhelming majority of our Chicagoland employees,” according to executive vice president Steve Gonabe. By all appearances, HSBC is preparing to stay at its new headquarters facility for quite some time—it’s leasing the space for 13 years, with an option to renew for up to 30 years.

How the CEO got his job HSBC North America CEO Brendan McDonagh hasn’t been at the top for long—he started his job in February 2008, following the ouster of former chief Bobby Mehta. The cause of Mehta’s troubles was fallout from HSBC Finance Corporation’s exposure to the U.S. subprime market; HSBC was one of the first banks to be hit by the crisis, thanks (or no thanks) to the 2003 acquisition of mega-lender Household International, which became HSBC Finance Corporation after the $14.2 billion transaction was complete. Also booted in the housecleaning was HSBC Bank USA executive Sandy Derickson, who had been vice chairman of HSBC Finance. McDonagh’s no stranger to HSBC, though. Before assuming the top spot he had served as chief operating officer of the bank’s North American consumer finance business.

A storied history HSBC’s origins stretch back to the mid-19th century, when Thomas Sutherland, the Hong Kong Superintendent of the Peninsular and the Oriental Steam Navigation Company identified a need for local banking branches both in Hong Kong and along the Chinese coast. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited was founded in 1865, and opened offices in both Shanghai and London. And, over the coming decades and then century, the bank opened branches throughout China, Southeast Asia and the Indian sub-continent, also further expanding in Europe and North America. In 1959, almost a century into its existence, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation acquired the British Bank of the Middle East, which was originally known as the Imperial Bank of Persia and had a number of operations in the Gulf Arab states, as well as the Mercantile Bank, which had banking operations in India and South East Asia. In 1965, six years after purchasing the two banks, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation bought a controlling interest in the Hang Seng Bank, which had been based in Hong Kong since 1933.


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Through the rest of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the bank continued its strategy of moving into new markets. It established the Hong Kong Bank of Canada in 1981 and the Hong Kong Bank of Australia in 1986. The following year in the U.S., the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank acquired the New York-based Marine Midland bank, further strengthening its U.S. operations. By this point, the group had a global constellation of operations, which needed to sit unified under one umbrella. In 1991, the international conglomerate of banks and companies owned by Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank were brought together under the single ownership and control of a newly-created umbrella banking holding company called HSBC Holdings (where they have remained ever since). In July 2000, HSBC kicked off the millennium by paying $11 billion dollars for French banking group Crédit Commercial de France (CCF). The acquisition of CCF, which was established in 1894, gave HSBC a network of 650 branches in France and prompted HSBC to list on the Paris Stock Exchange (now Paris Euronext). In 2003, HSBC opened a new European headquarters in London. The following year, 2004, was a significant one in the history of HSBC’s European operations, which continued to grow through strategic acquisitions—one of its largest purchases was the financial services arm of the Marks and Spencer Group. The same year, HSBC’s French business, CCF, increased its stake in the French private bank Banque Eurofin S.A to a domineering 84 percent. In 2005, celebrating 140 years in business in China, HSBC significantly increased its business in the Chinese market, particularly in the areas of insurance. The following year, the banking group expanded considerably in Latin America through HSBC Latin American Holdings (UK) Limited. All was going well until 2007 rolled around. The subprime crisis began to snowball, creating a year of huge challenges for the world’s banks, including HSBC, which was directly affected by the struggling U.S. property market through its American subsidiary, HSBC Finance Corporation. By the end of 2007, HSBC had to close its U.S. sub-prime mortgage loans business, Decision One. In 2008, HSBC became the first foreign bank to take on at least a 20 percent interest in a domestic Vietnamese bank by increasing its existing stake in Techcombank. Also in 2008, HSBC strengthened its Central and Eastern European operations, opening new offices in the former Soviet states of Georgia and Kazakhstan, and expanding its existing services in EU member countries Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Award time HSBC regularly picks up honours and awards. In November 2008, Global Finance named HSBC the Best Consumer Internet Bank, and in July 2008, The Banker named HSBC the Top World Bank. Also in 2008, Euromoney awarded HSBC Global Markets with the honour of being the Best Emerging Markets Bank.

IN THE NEWS May 2009: Better, but not out of the woods HSBC Holdings plc posted a $6.6 billion pre-tax profit on its debt for the first quarter 2009, up from $2.5 billion in the same period in 2008. In a conference call, HSBC CEO Michael Geoghegan admitted that “2009 promises to be a tough year,” adding, “We are in this recession. We have not come out of it yet.” HSBC, which doesn’t issue full quarterly results, said bad debts increased from the same period in 2008 but were lower than in the preceding quarter.

April 2009: Big rights offering HSBC Holdings plc sold about 5 billion shares of its stock to existing shareholders, raising $19.1 billion in one of the biggest rights offering in the history of the U.K. The sale, which fortified HSBC’s balance sheet, is expected to allow HSBC to continue to avoid taking capital from the U.K. government.

January 2009: Gold for green HSBC North America’s new headquarters won LEED gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, based on a five-point rating system that analyzed sustainable site development, water conservation, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality and materials selection. The bank’s new HQ recycles or composts a whopping 90 percent of its waste and derives 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources. Employees who drive fuel-efficient vehicles get prime parking spaces, and rainwater is collected for toilet flushing and grounds irrigation. Perhaps most important to anyone working long hours: light-guided window treatments follow the position of the sun, which allows the building to harvest natural daylight and adjust artificial lights accordingly.

December 2008: Global skills HSBC North America’s parent company HSBC Holdings plc ranked No. 21 in worldwide announced M&A for 2008, with 77 transactions worth a total of $78.4 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. In completed deals, it ranked even higher, coming in No. 16 with 75 transactions worth $152 billion.

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The Brit-centric bank didn’t place on the U.S. mergers and acquisitions tables, but in global IPOs, it ranked as the No. 4 bookrunner, right behind Citi, UBS and J.P. Morgan.

September 2008: When the times got tough, staff had to go Though HSBC may not have had to open its hands for government bailout funds, it did have to make thousands of job cuts in the wake of the worldwide financial crisis. In September 2008, less than two weeks after the collapse of New York-based investment bank Lehman Brothers, HSBC announced it would be cutting 1,100 jobs worldwide, representing 4 percent of its global banking and market division. Of this number, half were to be from the U.K. offices. Out of a then-global workforce of 335,000 employees, HSBC assured onlookers that the cuts only affected a miniscule 0.3 percent of its workforce. However, at the time of the announcement, HSBC executives didn’t rule out the prospect of further cuts in the near future, having had already booked write-downs of $18.7 billion dollars since the crisis kicked off in 2007.

GETTING HIRED More of a challenge “If anything, HSBC’s recruitment process is getting tougher,” warns one insider. As far as qualifications go, the firm tends to “select the best,” but “a big part of getting hired is your timing and the position you’re applying for.” Potential candidates must go through “several rounds of one-on-one interviews, group interviews, analytical and verbal tests, and case studies.” After the process concludes, “each candidate is discussed and an offer is extended only to those on whom all interviewers agree.” Expect up to seven individual and group interviews that include the standard “background and experience questions,” as well as slightly offbeat ones such as “What’s your favorite color?” HSBC recruits from “all over the country and the globe” but tries to woo candidates who are “mostly from the top 20 undergraduate schools.” Though, it will “interview applicants from any school, provided that they have what it takes.”

Settle in The interviewing process varies and seems to include a bevy of different questions asked by interviewers. These questions might range from “What’s your strategy to be up-to-date with current financial news?” to “Describe a situation when a group of people disagreed with you and tell me how you managed it.” (For the latter, one insider suggests, “Briefly explain the situation, your role, your contribution and what you ultimately learned from it.”) You might also have to field these: “Tell me an example of a time where you realized more than what you expected,” “Tell me about a time where you used something you learned in your studies, applying it to a real business situation,” and “What recent events may have an influence on HSBC?” In addition, be ready to answer this one: “Where do you see this company in five to 10 years?” Most of all, they want to get a feel for you as a person. “The interview aims at understanding whether you feel confident when your ideas are challenged and whether you are able to change your opinion based on new facts.” You might also be asked about your “educational background,” “personal achievements” and “willingness to work long hours.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Striking the balance While long hours at the firm might be in the cards, rest assured that “the bank is committed to a good work/life balance in theory, and has an ongoing campaign to be a best place to work.” The culture is “collegial,” but “life in the branch was revolved around getting new customers, serving existing ones, sales meetings and one-on-one meetings with branch managers who would push us to reach the numbers.” And even though it can be “demanding,” “people are friendly.” One example of this comes from an insider, who says HSBC accommodated his “severe allergies.” “The department I work for has made tremendous efforts to accommodate me,” he explains, “including implementing a scent-free office. They were very willing to accommodate me with a special schedule.”

Life at HSBC The dress code at HSBC is “business casual Monday through Thursday,” but on Friday, “jeans and casual clothing” are permissible. In fact, the only office that seems to follow a formal dress code is the Washington, D.C., office. Still, the dress code is “formal when working with clients.” When it comes to treatment by management, employees report an “overall very good” experience. “There is a good dialogue that goes on, and I feel comfortable consulting with my managers if I’m confused.” One insider says he “works for a great team” and “has never been berated or made to feel like I don’t play an important part of the team.”


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Offices mostly receive less-than-stellar marks, however. “The building is quite old, and it shows,” says one New York employee. “On some trading floors—there are three in New York—the ceiling is too low, and there is very little space on the desks and between rows, making you feel cramped.” The insider concedes that “the London and Hong Kong offices are much nicer.” Another New York contact says, “I covet high walls, but they are renovating our floor this year, so things will be changing. My floor happens to be fairly boring, but other floors are very nice.”

Covering the bases The training offered by the firm is a “nine-week process that’s pretty comprehensive.” It “involves not just finance stuff, but also interpersonal training that enabled the analysts to form lasting connections.” Though, “in some cases, instructors could’ve been better.” Nothing beats the real world. Another contact notes that “a lot of what you learn doesn’t mean anything until you’re actually in the middle of it.”

Always room for improvement For the most part, “HSBC is an incredibly diverse group,” and “I see absolutely no evidence of discrimination.” While “women are often not seen in trading roles,” “many work in sales and structuring.” And some “very high positions are staffed by women, so I don’t think that it’s an issue for HSBC.” But the representation of ethnic minorities “could improve somewhat,” says one insider, who admits that the lack of diversity might be “representative of the industry.” The hiring of gays and lesbians at the firm receives high marks, though one contact comments, “I believe racial diversity is more evident.” Another insider reports that “employees are very diverse ethnicity-wise—there are many Chinese, French and Indian workers, as well as many Canadians.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

19

WELLS FARGO & COMPANY

420 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94163 Phone: (866) 249-3302 www.wellsfargo.com

BUSINESSES

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America U.S. Bancorp Washington Mutual

UPPERS

Community Banking Home & Consumer Finance Wholesale Banking

• “Endless training opportunities” • “Very accessible and helpful” management

THE STATS

DOWNERS

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: WFC (NYSE) Chairman: Richard M. Kovacevich CEO & President: John Stumpf 2008 Revenue: $41.9 billion 2008 Net Income: $2.66 billion No. of Employees: 276,000 No. of Offices: 11,000 (branches)

• “No race in senior management other than white” • “Salary increases are relatively low for non-bonus positions”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.wellsfargo.com/careers

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Wachovia savior; solvent, stable, reputable” • “Decent regional bank” • “Exceptional credit training, strong with Wachovia, wants to keep employees for life” • “Less of a competitor, but has a friendly feel”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Wells Fargo & Company

THE SCOOP A new era begins The 150-year old institution of Wells Fargo ushered in a new era of banking in 2008 when it merged with banking giant Wachovia, creating the fourthlargest bank in assets in the U.S. The new behemoth has $1.4 trillion in assets, services 48 million banking households, employees 276,000 people and boasts 11,000 branches throughout the nation. Wachovia formerly traded under the stock symbol “WB” but will now trade under the umbrella of Wells Fargo & Co. (“WFC” to traders). The new company is the largest retail branch banking network in the country.

The Wells Fargo empire Wells Fargo & Company is a financial holding company and a bank holding company, providing retail, commercial and corporate banking services. Through subsidiary arms, Wells Fargo offers securities brokerage and investment banking, wholesale banking, consumer finance, mortgage banking, leasing, agricultural finance, commercial finance, data processing, trust services, advisory, mortgage-backed securities and venture capital investment. It has over 80 lines of business, some of the largest being community banking, wholesale banking, home and consumer finance, and investments and insurance. Services provided by the community banking business include products for individuals and small businesses, including investment, insurance and trust services. This division operates mostly in the Midwest and West; its mortgage and home equity business spans all 50 states. Wholesale banking includes corporate banking, commercial real estate, treasury management, asset-based lending, insurance brokerage, foreign exchange, trade services, specialized lending, equipment finance, capital markets and institutional investments. Finally, Wells Fargo Financial, with $71 billion in assets, provides real-estate secured lending, auto financing, consumer and private-label credit cards and commercial services. It operates in 48 states, 10 Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico and recently expanded to the Pacific Rim. Wells Fargo Financial is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa.

Wagons west Henry Wells and William Fargo founded Wells, Fargo & Co. in 1852 during the West’s gold rush. Their firm offered banking services (buying gold assets and selling paper bank notes in exchange for gold) and secure express delivery of gold, notes and other valuable assets. From its office in San Francisco, Wells Fargo grew to include offices in other Western mining towns. In the 1860s, it sealed its reputation for trustworthiness by opening its famous stagecoach line, which made trips through the then-Wild West to ensure delivery across the country. In 1861, it took over the routes of the short-lived Pony Express. In 1918, Wells Fargo’s network was commandeered by the American government as part of its World War I efforts, leaving the bank with just one location in San Francisco. Wells Fargo rebuilt in the 20th century, becoming a regional bank in northern California and operating in San Francisco as a banker’s bank for the region. By the 1980s, Wells Fargo was a major presence in California and the seventh-largest bank in the nation. In the 1990s it returned to the rest of the country, opening locations throughout the West, Midwest and some Eastern states.

Before the big one Wells Fargo completed several mergers in 2008 before its historic acquisition of Wachovia. The first was its acquisition of St. Louis-based Insurance Brokers of America. The Insurance Brokers of America is a small company that offers risk management services including property and casualty and employee benefits coverages. Details of the deal were not disclosed. In May, the company went on to acquire the Flatiron Credit Company, the seventh-largest premium finance company in the United. Before the merger, Flatiron Credit Company was a subsidiary of TD Banknorth, North America. The Flatiron Credit Company originates, funds and services insurance premium finance contracts. It is headquartered in Denver with offices in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Boca Raton, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Salary insanity After banks began accepting money under the U.S. government’s TARP program in late 2008, the American public (and press) called for many TARPsponsored CEOs to give up their bonuses for 2008. As of January 2009, Stumpf was on record saying that his bonus was within “the purview of the board.” And in March 2009, his compensation for 2008 became public knowledge: he took home $13.8 million for the year, during which Wells Fargo booked $2.66 billion in profits. He did not, though, receive a cash bonus, because the bank did not hit certain performance goals.

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IN THE NEWS July 2009: Above expectations For the second quarter 2009, Wells Fargo posted net income of $2.58 billion, or 57 cents per share, shattering analysts’ predictions of 34 cents a share. The figure was a 47 percent increase from the same period in the previous year. The bank, assisted by its purchase of Wachovia, also posted revenue of $22.5 billion, up from $11.46 billion in the second quarter of 2008.

July 2009: Growing its securities division Wells Fargo said it will soon “grow and invest” within the securities division it mostly became heir to through its purchase of Wachovia. The bank, which will be concentrating on services for outside clients, plans to christen the new division Wells Fargo Securities. Through the new group, Wells Fargo will offer services including fixed-income trading, loan syndications and merger advice.

May 2009: More capital needed In May 2009, regulators told Wells Fargo that the bank needs approximately $15 billion in new funding as the outcome of its stress test came to light, Bloomberg reported. Instead of raising capital privately, the bank could convert government preferred shares to common equity. Wells Fargo, which received about $25 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funding in 2008, said it will be paying back those funds in order to re-establish its dividend as soon as it can.

April 2009: A record quarter In April 2009, Wells Fargo booked record net income of $3.05 billion for the first quarter 2009, thanks to low mortgage rates that helped homeowners to refinance. The results were more than 50 percent higher than the net income the firm booked in the first quarter 2007. Revenue for the quarter also increased, rising to $21.02 billion from $10.56 billion. Meanwhile, deposits increased 1.4 percent to $756.2 billion, largely due to the acquisition of Wachovia Corp.

April 2009: Evergreen’s not up for grabs In April 2009, Wells Fargo said the investment management business Evergreen Investments wasn’t for sale. Wells Fargo, which became the owner of Evergreen after buying Wachovia Corp., has notified potential Evergreen purchasers that it won’t be selling the money-management company, insiders told the New York Post.

April 2009: New group on the horizon Wells Fargo will open a division that will supply independent mortgage bankers with funding, insiders told Bloomberg. The bank may ultimately spend $4 billion on the unit, known in the industry as a warehouse lending division. Such divisions are typically used by mortgage banks to create loans and retain the mortgages until they sell. Wells Fargo’s plan comes at an ideal time, too. In early 2009, JPMorgan Chase and PNC Financial Services Group both shuttered their warehouse lending divisions, giving Wells Fargo the opportunity for more prospective clients in the wake of additional foreclosures.

March 2009: Slashing its dividend Wells Fargo decided to cut its dividend by 85 percent, a cost-cutting measure that the bank says is likely to help it save about $5 billion a year. Wells Fargo’s thrifty actions didn’t stop there, however. The bank also said it plans to make $2 billion more in unidentified cost cuts in 2009, beginning in the second quarter. Despite the dividend cut, Wells Fargo’s CEO John Stumpf said the firm will “return to a more normalized dividend level as soon as practical,” adding that the firm will reimburse the government for its $25 billion loan to the bank under its Troubled Asset Relief Program.

February 2009: Reaching a 10-year goal In the year when the first African American president was elected, Wells Fargo achieved its 10-year goal of lending $1 billion to African-American business owners nationwide. The firm set this goal in 1998 with the expectation to complete the program by 2010. However, it came in two years ahead of schedule, just in time for Black History Month in 2008. The firm celebrated the achievement by holding a series of events, including multiple screenings of Two Dollars and a Dream, a film about the first self-made female millionaire.

January 2009: Not going well for Wells Wells Fargo reported a net loss of $2.55 billion for the fourth quarter 2008 (compared with a $1.36 billion profit in the fourth quarter 2007) as the bank struggled under mortgage assets it took on when it acquired Wachovia. Revenue for the quarter dipped slightly, falling to $9.82 billion from $10.21


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billion. Though the bank attributed the loss to the $21.7 billion it created in reserves to guard against losses, it said that it will not be seeking additional funding from the government. While full-year 2008 net income came in at $2.84 billion, down considerably from the $8.06 billion the bank posted in 2007, full-year revenue looked a little brighter, coming in at $42.23 billion, a 7 percent increase from 2007.

January 2009: Losing employees In the current financial environment, it seems that all employees at the big banks fear that their jobs are on the line. At Wells Fargo, it seems that the fears may have some grounding in reality. The firm announced that it was cutting 175 jobs within the first month of the competition of its Wachovia merger and estimates show that the company may have to cut 25,000 to 28,000 jobs in the coming years in order to keep the company running. CEO John Stumpf told the Charlotte Observer in January 2009, “I’m not going to kid anybody here. There will be some job loss, and minimizing that is going to be the challenge for everybody in this company.”

October 2008: Taking TARP After the market crash of September 2008, the government rushed into to save the banking industry with a $750 billion bailout which became known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Wells Fargo received $25 billion of the TARP pie, though CEO John Stumpf insisted to the press that the company didn’t “need or ask for” the extra funds. However, the infusion of taxpayer money may make the company more accountable for its actions than it has been in the past.

December 2008: The green zone Environmentally focused investments are a “significant new area of business for Wells Fargo” according to Barry Neal, the firm’s director of environmental finance. It proved its commitment to the green sector by announcing that it had provided more than $3 billion to environmental financing, going above and beyond a goal it had set to provide $1 billion by 2010. Wells Fargo’s green projects include a $2 billion commitment for building projects which are approved by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). LEED requires that buildings have improved energy and water efficiency, on-site renewable energy, resource conservation measures and clean air quality. The company has also invested approximately $700 million in green energy in the form of solar and wind plants; $500 million in green businesses that support environmental sustainability; and $50 million for nonprofits that work on improving the environment in low to moderate income communities.

November 2008: Capital raising In order to subsidize the $15 billion merger with Wachovia, Wells Fargo held a share offering which raised $12.6 billion. The firm offered its shares at a discount $27 per share, more than a dollar below its actual price of $28.77 per share at the time of the offering. The company raised two and a half billion more than its target goal of $10 billion. The fresh infusion of cash will provide Wells Fargo with capital in advance of potential losses from Wachovia’s troubled assets, which are expected to amount to approximately $74 billion.

September 2008: A pitched battle The merger to acquire Wachovia was hard fought. The firm had to wrest a seemingly done deal from the hands of Citigroup, who had offered the bargain basement price of $2.16 billion in stock for the struggling financial giant. The deal also required that Citigroup take on Wachovia’s troubled assets with the provision that $300 billion of the assets were backed by the FDIC. However, just days after Citibank’s offer, Wells Fargo offered Wachovia $15 billion in a deal that required no government intervention. Citigroup filed a lawsuit seeking $20 billion in compensation and $40 billion in punitive damages for interfering in its deal. A session of legal wrangling followed, including a bid by Citigroup to prevent the merger. Though Citigroup soon dropped the legal challenge that would have prohibited Wells Fargo from acquiring Wachovia, it still plans on seeking nearly $60 billion worth in damages. The merger became official on December 31, 2008.

GETTING HIRED Get serious about banking Selectivity at Wells “depends on what office you are applying to,” but generally speaking, the firm is “very competitive.” According to one Minneapolisbased source, “There were four of us picked out of an applicant pool of 800.” Wells has “high standards when it comes to ethics, grades, experiences and leadership abilities,” as there are “only a few spots every year for entry-level analysts.” Because of this, “many good candidates are turned away,” especially since the “economic down turn and cost-cutting measures” have resulted in fewer full-time hires. Applicants for the firm’s commercial banking team must have “a good foundation in business and accounting.” Candidates must exhibit “strong knowledge of finance, especially with

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regard to cash flow.” And “prior understanding of risk a plus.” Wells wants people with “serious interest in banking,” and the company constantly has its eye out for “future leaders.” The recruiting process is “tough,” but those who demonstrate “determination and interpersonal skills” will go far in the interview process.

Process of elimination Step one in Wells’ recruiting process is “differentiating yourself in meeting with recruiters at the career fair.” Recruiters are looking for candidates whose “resumes stands out and qualify you for a first-round interview.” During first-round interviews, candidates must show “not only personality but also financial ability by answering various questions.” The final step in the process is the in-office interview, during which applicants “have to stand out from the other 10 candidates.” This process can vary depending on what office you are applying to and for what position. Some experience one of these three steps as a “formal phone interview” instead. Others have extensive “on-campus interviews with two interviewers” followed by one “inoffice interview” that involves up to eight separate meetings. Some candidates may be asked to participate in more than one on-site interview day. At minimum, applicants coming out of college “are required to participate in at least two-to-three interviews.” Candidates should expect to be on their toes during the interview process, as many interviewers throw out “rapid-fire questions” and expect answers just as quickly. Some typical questions include the following: “Name three things I should know about you. Name the four financial statements. What are the three parts to the cash flow statement? Walk me through the operating section of the cash flow statement. What does a COO worry about at night? What does Wal-Mart worry about at night? Tell me everything you know about our company.” Another thing that might come up is how a candidate “will fit into the geographical area of the office they are applying to.” Interviewers might also want to know “if you are OK with traveling.” For certain, candidates should be prepared to discuss “various finance and accounting concepts” as well as questions “about personal drive.” Wells recruiters search for qualified candidates at career fairs, through professional associations and its own internal recruiting programs, and, of course, on college campuses. Big schools for Wells include the University of Illinois, Marquette and DePaul University, as well as business schools such as Berkeley, USC and UCLA. The firm hits both “public and private universities,” nationally and abroad.

Helpful, but not a must Insiders say Wells Fargo’s internship program, while “very important” because the firm “looks first to its summer interns for full-time hiring,” is “not mandatory.” It is “definitely not imperative to have an internship here to get an offer.” While it does “get your foot in the door, it’s not a necessity.” The summer internship is designed to be “an introduction into the firm’s full-time rotation program.” “If an intern has performed well, they are looked favorably upon for a full-time position.” And it’s a great learning experience. Most former interns say the internships are “a preview” of a full-time analyst’s job. “It is an opportunity to see if Wells Fargo is a good fit for you.” Even if you can’t score an internship at Wells—the firm normally hires “about three interns from a pool of 40”—insiders say “prior internships outside of the company are looked upon favorably” as well. Whether it’s Wells or someplace else, those with hiring power at the firm believe “it is very important to have internship experience with some financial institution.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS “One Wells Fargo” This firm is “very big on the Wells Fargo culture.” The “One Wells Fargo” slogan emphasizes working together company-wide. This in-it-together attitude fosters a “cooperative, noncompetitive” environment in which people “work hard” but enjoy an “office atmosphere that is social and enjoyable.” A contact says, “From the heads of departments to the administrative assistants, people at Wells are down-to-earth and awesome.” Employees are “smart and know their stuff, but don’t have the Master of the Universe attitude that you find at Wall Street banks.” At Wells, there is the sense that “people really like the company they are working for.” Many “people have been with the bank for over 20 years.” Those who stick around enjoy the “laid-back” attitudes and “good hours” at Wells. People are “friendly” and “helpful,” yet still “results-driven” and “professional.” A contact says, “The atmosphere is serious, but managers work hard to make things fun and interesting on a daily basis.” They want people to be happy, as Wells is a firm that’s “very focused on retention.” Some employees have a beef or two with managers, however. “Senior management gets involved with minutia,” says one source, and the atmosphere can turn into “a very political environment too where everybody is territorial.” “There is absolutely no respect for employees unless you suck up to senior management,” asserts another. The bank is “more conservative than other banks,” which results in “very structured job roles.” But the upside there is that incoming employees have a “defined career path that provides transparency about where they will be in one year or five years.” In addition, because of this conservatism, “job stability is pretty much assured.” Another complaint insiders have about Wells is “bureaucracy.” There can be “lots of red tape,” which makes it “hard to get things done fast.” The firm is “very old-fashioned about working remotely,” causing things to sometimes take longer than they need to. There can also be some big-company “corporate politics.” The bright side of working for a firm this big, however, is that there is “lots of room for advancement.” Insiders say the “sky is the limit” at Wells Fargo. “As long as you know what you want, you can get there.” Sources say “Wells Fargo is a great place to launch a career” because “advancement opportunities are huge.”


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No complaints about hours The Minneapolis office is “very laid-back about taking personal time and the type of hours you work, as long as you get your work done and make it to meetings.” Most in that location work between 40 to 60 hours per week, and rarely or never work weekends. It is “rare to need to work weekends.” Sometimes employee will “stay late during the week to work on pressing projects,” but even that’s not so bad, because “you can make up the time by leaving early when it is slower.” The firm fosters a “very good work/life balance” and most insiders say hours are “reasonable.” The rule of thumb is that “you are expected to finish the work you are given, so if you need to stay later, you do.” The normal working hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., but many junior analysts “get in relatively early, before 7 a.m., and finish work around 4:30.” Some “opt to stay an additional one to two hours beyond that to study for the CFA exam.” Hours tend to be “in line with the compensation,” but some say that “extra hours are not compensated, as the analyst program sets a ceiling on bonuses.” This has a tendency to “minimize the incentive to work beyond what is required.”

Decent, all things considered Although most are content with the number of hours required, many Wells insiders believe “compensation could be improved.” Sources say “salaries do not always line up with the job hours.” And compared to other banks, “compensation is not adequate.” A contact says people at Wells are “not as highly compensated as those from other financial services firms.” And “salary increases are relatively low for non-bonus positions.” Still, those in the optimistic camp point out that although “compensation may be higher at other firms, the work/life balance and job security are arguably better at Wells Fargo.” Plus, employees enjoy “great health care benefits and paid time off.” The firm grants “25 days of vacation a year” (even for entry-level employees), which insiders call “one of the more generous and uncommon paid time-offs in American companies today.” The “amazing health benefits” even include “reimbursement for Weight Watchers.” Wells also “matches 401(k) contributions up to 6 percent and offers stock purchase options and other investment tools.” Sources also speak of “huge discounts on activities, stores and services,” including “cell phones and gym memberships.” Some offices even provide “free lunch every day” and “free soft drinks.” The firm also has a “tuition reimbursement” program, and in New York City, there is a “commuter discount plan.”

Location, location, location Office conditions vary by location. In Minneapolis, some first-year analysts have their own offices, which are “very nicely decorated, clean and airy.” Others work from “basic cubes.” The firm’s Minneapolis crew “recently moved to a new office” and is now “enjoying the accompanying perks.” In Los Angeles, employees enjoy “great views of the west side of Los Angeles from anywhere in the office.” Phoenix-based respondents are less enthusiastic about their working condition. There, “even some senior vice presidents have cubicles versus closed-door offices.” Wells Fargo is “not frivolous” when it comes to office décor, which some consider “a bit inferior to competing employers.” In Dallas, “break rooms are not pleasant to look at.” In Denver, “cubicles are a decent size, but carpet needs to be replaced and décor is drab and dry.” The New York City office is “comfortable but very bare with minimal windows, and lighting is poor.” In the Big Apple, there is “no cafeteria, outdoor space or lounge,” but insiders report that the office is “clean and in a good location.” According to one, “Some of the Wells Fargo buildings are newer and very nice in terms of layout and amenities, while some of the older buildings are not quite as nice.”

Won’t see too many ties Wells Fargo’s dress code falls somewhere between business casual and formal. One contact explains, “They say it’s business casual, but all the directors have their own ideas of what is appropriate. Usually people dress up a little more than business casual, but not business formal in terms of a suit and tie every day.” Regardless of who your director is, employees “always need to dress as if we could meet a client that day.” In some offices, you’ll “never have to wear a tie,” and there might even be “jeans on Fridays.” Some places, “jeans are not as common on Fridays, but they are generally acceptable.” Usually, “business casual or suits are the norm.” Most say “jackets are not necessary.” In the firm’s Los Angeles office, employees enjoy “casual summers,” and even throughout the rest of the year, “everyone is dressed in a collared shirt and slacks.” There are “no ties and no suits except when meeting with clients.”

Managers have your back At Wells Fargo, “the majority of upper management is very accessible and helpful.” Superiors at the firm are “competent” and “very willing to help subordinates create career paths.” “No question is too dumb,” as Wells managers “don’t look down on subordinates, and they trust and value everyone’s opinion.” Managers and analysts “work side-by-side and complement each other very well.” “Management is always willing to hear feedback from employees.” For the most part, managers are “hands off” in that they “allow subordinates to direct the workflow.” But, if something is brought to a manager’s attention, “they will take care of it ASAP.” The firm’s managers have “significant experience and industry knowledge, and they have a desire to pass that on to those who want to learn and advance.”

Among the best in training Wells Fargo “spends a great deal of time and money on training their employees.” One insider “began work at Wells Fargo with two-and-a-half weeks of training in Houston, with 30 other analysts,” then “will head to San Francisco for six months of extended training, all paid for by Wells.” This is a

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typical routine for an incoming banking employee. Upon being hired, “training is very formal.” The initial weeks of training are normally followed by “a period of reading and testing.” Then going forward, “most training is done online.” There’s also “a great deal of on-the-job training.” Sources say both on-the-job and the “structured classroom-based trainings” are “very valuable to development.” Overall, the firm provides “endless training opportunities” around the country. Simply put, “Wells Fargo is among the best of the big banks for training.” The firm’s “best-of-breed programs far exceed what competitors do.”

Big on diversity Wells Fargo “places significant emphasis on diversity.” In addition to its existing recruiting and support efforts, the firm’s diversity council is taking “significant steps to further diversity to ensure that our employee base reflects the customers and communities we serve.” When it comes to women, Wells Fargo “consistently ranks as one of the best companies for women to work for.” No wonder, there are “plenty of successful women working here.” According to a contact, “All of the new analysts hired last year were female.” In most locations, insiders say the ratio is “about 50/50,” with “women always treated equally.” Some say the ratio is as high as “65 percent women.” (According to the firm, about 60 percent of the firm’s employees are female.) Wells Fargo offers “very reasonable to maternity leave,” and it’s a place where “females are treated with the utmost respect.” Women “do not receive any preferential treatment and are not discriminated against.” One source points out that the firm’s “head of commercial banking is an Asian female.” Generally speaking, “women are extremely powerful and influential at the company.” At Wells Fargo, you’ll find people “from multiethnic backgrounds such as Korean, Chinese, Guatemalan, Fiji, Armenian, white, Mexican, Italian, Jewish and German.” One source says, “If you walk through just about any department in Wells Fargo, you will easily see a diverse workforce in terms of ethnic minorities.” The firm “encourages ethnic diversity in the recruiting process” and recently, has begun focusing on it “more and more.” According to one Denver-based insider, “The office puts a lot of emphasis on ethnic diversity in the hiring process, but there is not as much diversity in the actual numbers.” Most agree, however, that “diversity is a priority.” It is “a scorecard metric on which all managers are graded.” Diversity is “held in high regard” and is considered “a big issue” at Wells Fargo, according some insiders. But not everyone feels the same way. The environment is “often prejudiced against seniors, African-Americans and other cultures,” says one employee, and “there are no African-Americans or other race in senior management, other than white.” When it comes to gay and lesbian employees, however, insiders say they receive the same treatment as all others. The firm offers “benefits for domestic partners” and does not “put any pressure one way or the other on gay and lesbian individuals.” A contact says, “Our company is completely inclusive to GLBT community members.”

Looking ahead Considering the state of the economy, the future is looking relatively bright for Wells Fargo. “Wells Fargo is actually faring well,” say insiders. “Many of its competitors are either going bankrupt or being bought out by other financial institutions, but Wells Fargo is still managing to stay afloat,” which may be due to the fact that it has a “conservative nature” and is “risk-averse.” “In my time at Wells Fargo,” says one employee who has worked with the company for 12 years, “the stock has risen slowly and steadily. It was like watching grass grow and grow. The stock definitely dropped in 2008 and early 2009, but has recovered and now is doing very well.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

20

ALLEN & COMPANY LLC

711 5th Ave. 9th Floor New York, NY 10022

UPPER

BUSINESS

DOWNER

Investment Banking

• Workplace is male-dominated

THE STATS

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Employer Type: Private Company President & CEO: Herbert A. “Herb” Allen Jr. No. of Employees: 200 No. of Offices: 1

Allen & Company 711 5th Ave. 9th Floor New York, NY 10022

• Work on huge, high-profile deals

KEY COMPETITORS Goldman Sachs Lazard Morgan Stanley

THE BUZZ


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“Great in media banking” “Secretive, mysterious” “Small but important” “Overrated; over-reliant on their VC business”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Allen & Company LLC

THE SCOOP Allen’s singular status How is Allen & Company unlike other banks? Let us count the ways: It has no website, no barrage of press releases touting recent deals, no sprawling menu of financial services, no research division, no employment contact and no formal recruiting process. What Allen & Company does have is a platinum reputation and serious mystique, earned over eight decades of semi-secretive, exclusive advisory and wealth management work with some of the biggest names in corporate America. The firm is an institutional broker and money manager for high-net-worth individuals, including the founding Allen family; it also provides M&A, underwriting and related advisory services. The firm regularly ranks as one of the top-25 M&A advisors by deal volume each year.

Three-Herbert firm Founded in 1922 by brothers Charles and Herbert Allen, the (very) private company is now helmed by the third generation of Allens, each of whom has the same first name. Founder Herbert Allen relinquished control to his son Herbert Anthony Allen in 1966; Herbert Anthony Allen Jr. took the reins in late 2002. (Rule of thumb around the Allen world: Allen Sr. is always Herbert, while Allen Jr. is always Herb.) When Herb Allen began his tenure as CEO, the firm quietly revamped its legal structure, creating a limited-liability company called Allen & Co. LLC. The LLC, seeded with $40 million of Allen family capital, took over the operations of Allen & Co. Inc., which remains alive as an investment vehicle for the Allens.

Coke is it Most of Allen & Company’s clients hail from the media, sports, entertainment, communications and technology sectors—this tiny boutique was a player in Google’s 2004 initial public offering. It’s also been behind the scenes of such headline-worthy deals as Time Warner/Comcast’s purchase of Adelphia, the Disney/ABC tie-up and the 20-year, $400 million deal that gave Citigroup naming rights to the Mets ballpark. But Allen & Co.’s closest ties are to Coca-Cola, thanks to a relationship that dates back to 1982. Then-CEO Herbert Allen had bought a controlling stake in Columbia Pictures in 1973 (he paid just $4 per share for the legendary studio). In 1982, Coke bought Columbia, paying a whopping $750 million. Allen pocketed $45 million and earned himself a seat on the Coke board; the marquee deal also catapulted Allen & Company into the upper echelons of i-banking, helping it win a number of prestigious clients. Since its first deal with Coke Allen & Co. has done over 15 subsequent deals and underwriting assignments for the soft drink giant and its affiliates, raking in millions of dollars in advisory fees. The Allen family still owns a chunk of Coke shares and there’s been some boardroom back-and-forths, too: Coke president Donald Keough became chairman of Allen & Co., and his son Clarke joined the bank’s institutional sales group.

The place to be By all accounts, 1982 was a very good year for Allen & Company—that’s also the year the firm launched its annual media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The exclusive executive retreat has become ground zero for big media deal making, attracting the likes of Barry Diller, Bill Gates, Michael Eisner, Sumner Redstone and Oprah Winfrey. The event is widely covered by business media outlets, which dispatch reporters to eavesdrop around the closed-door meetings in the hopes of breaking news about a hot deal. Arena Football League Commissioner David Baker (another Allen & Company client) has called the phalanx of corporate jets that land in Sun Valley at Allen’s behest “the largest private air force in the world.”

The cream of the crop Many boldface names have made their way onto Allen & Company’s list of managing directors. Among them are former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley; George Tenet, the former director of the CIA; Priceline.com director (and media M&A powerhouse) Nancy Peretsman; and Steve Greenberg, former Major League Baseball deputy commissioner. As for CEO Herb Allen, he and his family have ranked on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list every year since the list’s inception in—wait for it— 1982. In the 2008 edition Herb Allen and family ranked at No. 227, with an estimated net worth of $2 billion.


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Allen & Company LLC

IN THE NEWS July 2008: No deal Bookmarking site Digg hired the firm in late 2007 to help it find an acquirer, but negotiations with Google fell apart in July 2008. Sources say Allen & Co. may help Digg raise capital by leading future financing rounds.

May 2008: Raising the roof Reports surfaced that Allen & Company’s Dave Wehner, a senior managing director, was pitching a venture capital round for professional networking site LinkedIn. The price was no less than $1 billion. Like most Allen deals, there was more speculation than specific information, but sources suggested that the funding round followed a series of unsuccessful sale attempts. If LinkedIn hits its valuation target, Wehner, who’s said to be the man who led the $850 million sale of Bebo to AOL in April 2008, would be able to take credit for one of the priciest private venture deals in recent memory.

January 2008: Raising cash for Slide In January 2008, Allen & Co. helped Slide, a social network widget creator, raise $50 million in private equity financing.

GETTING HIRED Good luck Though former CIA Director George Tenet landed a job as managing director with the firm, that doesn’t mean you’ll easily gain employment there. (Even the hiring of Tenet himself wasn’t announced in a company release and only leaked months later.) Needless to say, getting hired at Allen & Company is no small feat. The firm doesn’t publicize job openings, and the company’s human resources department doesn’t accept outside phone calls. The company will, though, accept resumes mailed to its headquarters. Experience is necessary, as the company generally hires only MBAs with at least a few years of work experience under their belt. Allen & Company Chairman Don Keough has said that those interested in landing a job at the firm should develop a broad range of interests, get some international experience and learn a foreign language. Naturally, media industry experience is a prerequisite. Intensive networking would seem to help as well.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Nothing but winners If you manage to join the ranks of the elite at Allen & Company, take heart—it’s a “wonderful firm” with management who are “kind and considerate of their employees,” insiders say. In turn, staffers are “very loyal.” And although it’s still largely a boys’ club, some women occupy high positions within the company.

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PRESTIGE RANKING

21

BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION

100 North Tryon Street Charlotte, NC 28255 www.bankofamerica.com

DEPARTMENTS/DIVISIONS Consumer & Small Business Banking Corporate Units (Global Risk Enterprise Technology & Delivery, Finance, Global Human Resources, Global Marketing & Corporate Affairs) Global Banking & Wealth Management Global Card Services Global Markets Home Loans & Insurance

KEY COMPETITORS Citigroup Goldman Sachs JPMorgan Chase Morgan Stanley Wells Fargo

UPPERS • Big, global bank just got a lot bigger thanks to the Merrill deal • Generous benefits

DOWNERS THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: BAC (NYSE) Chief Executive: Kenneth D. Lewis 2008 Revenue: $73.98 billion 2008 Net Income: $4 billion No. of Employees: 284,802 No. of Offices: 6,100 retail bank offices

• Merrill acquisition = culture in flux + uncertain future • Training could use improvement

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.bankofamerica.com/careers

THE BUZZ


“Significant future potential” “Ranks higher with acquisition of Merrill Lynch” “Reputation harmed by Merrill Lynch acquisition” “Who would want to work there?”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Bank of America Corporation

THE SCOOP Beyond America Bank of America is one of the world’s largest financial institutions, with customers in more than 150 countries. The company has business relationships with more than 80 percent of the Global Fortune 500. And as of the beginning of 2009, it could boast about making one of the most high-profile acquisitions in banking history. In September 2008, Bank of America made just about every headline in the world, announcing that it would buy New York-based investment bank Merrill Lynch. On January 1, 2009, the bank acquired Merrill Lynch in exchange for common and preferred stock with a value of $29.1 billion. BofA, which called the purchase “a great opportunity for our shareholders,” expects to achieve $7 billion in pretax expense savings by 2012. When the deal closed in early 2009, it made BofA the biggest U.S. bank in terms of assets, with more than $2 trillion. It also made the combined firm the largest brokerage firm in the world, with about 16,000 financial advisors; one of the leading investment banking advisory firms, with significant operations in M&A advisory as well as debt and equity underwriting; and one of the world’s top wealth management firms, with Merrill Lynch’s nearly 50 percent stake in U.S.-based investment management company BlackRock. In January 2009, not long after the Merrill deal closed, BofA accepted its second round of TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) funds from the U.S. government, taking $20 billion in exchange for preferred stock in the firm. That brought BofA’s total TARP funds to $45 billion (in October 2008, the U.S. government gave $15 billion to BofA and $10 billion to Merrill Lynch under TARP in exchange for preferred shares). Bank of America is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. Many of Bank of America’s services to corporate and institutional clients are provided through its U.S. and UK subsidiaries such as Banc of America Securities LLC, Banc of America Securities Limited and Merrill Lynch. Banc of America Securities LLC (BAS), based in New York City, is the investment banking subsidiary of Bank of America. BAS’s business spans both domestic U.S. and international investment banking markets. The use of the word Banc tends to confuse some people, but its use bears great significance in that it is indicative of the fact BAS is not a bank, and its deposits and holdings are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Based in lower Manhattan, Merrill Lynch had two main business segments when it came into the BofA fold: global markets and investment banking (with sub units of sales and trading; fixed income, currencies and commodities; equities; and investment banking), and global wealth management (which included global investment management and global private clients). Bank of America’s global banking unit focuses on companies with annual revenue of more than $2.5 million. This includes middle market and large corporations, institutional investors, financial institutions, as well as government entities. The unit’s services include M&A, raising equity and debt capital, lending, trading, risk management, treasury management and research.

Awards galore Banc of America Securities’ equity markets division—which caters to institutional, corporate and hedge fund clients, assisting them to raise capital, manage exposure, grow and invest funds—has been extremely successful in recent years, and that success has not passed without recognition. Recent awards include: No. 1 Converts U.S. Market/Global Issuers (Bloomberg, December 2008); No. 1 Algorithmic Trading (Alpha, September 2008); No. 1 Listed Options Market Share (a leading independent research provider, 2007); No. 2 Best Broker for Difficult Trades (Bloomberg, October 2008); No. 2 Best at Recommending Risk Management Solutions (Treasury & Risk Magazine, 2008); No. 3 Overall Best Provider of Derivatives (Treasury & Risk Magazine, 2008); No. 4 Convertibles Market Share (a leading independent research provider, 2007); No. 4 NASDAQ 100 Trade Volume (Bloomberg, full year 2007); No. 5 World’s Best Brokers (Bloomberg, October 2008); No. 5 U.S. Initial Public Offerings and Follow On Offerings (Bloomberg, as of December 5, 2008); No. 5 Equity and Equity-linked Issuance (Bloomberg, as of December 5, 2008); No. 6 NYSE Trade Volume (Bloomberg, full year 2007) In addition, DiversityInc magazine consistently names Bank of America—the largest bank in the U.S. by retail deposits—as one of the Top 50 Companies for Diversity; BofA ranked No. 1 in 2007 and No. 3 in 2008. Black Enterprise magazine consistently ranks BofA one of the 40 Best Companies for Diversity, and Hispanic Business magazine continues to rank the bank as one of the Top 60 companies for Hispanics. And Working Mother magazine has recognized Bank of America as one of the 100 Best Companies for working mothers for 20 consecutive years.

Leader of the pack Kenneth D. Lewis has been the bank’s chief executive officer since 2001. Although he’s received a lot of heat in the past two years (while big banks, including BofA, have been hurting), Lewis has been credited with many achievements during his tenure as CEO. Under Lewis’ watch, before the worldwide economic slide, BofA doubled annual revenue, doubled annual profit, increased assets to $1.7 trillion from $642 billion and grew its market capitalization to $183 billion from $74 billion. A graduate of Stanford University’s prestigious Executive Program, Lewis’ path to company leadership started in 1969 when he joined North Carolina National Bank (NCNB, predecessor to NationsBank and Bank of America) as a credit analyst in Charlotte, North Carolina. After various U.S. roles, he took over as manager of the bank’s international banking business in 1977. Lewis’ executive progression continued and when he was appointed as

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chairman, chief executive officer and president of Bank of America in April of 2001, he was already serving the company as president of consumer and commercial banking and chief operating officer. In 2007, Time magazine included Lewis on its “The Time 100 List” identifying him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. And in 2008, Lewis was named Banker of the Year by American Banker magazine.

Time after time Bank of America can trace its roots back to the late 18th century when Massachusetts Bank was chartered in 1784 and the Providence Bank was created in Rhode Island in 1791. These banks were among the first banks in the United States of America. As decades past and the population expanded, these banks would grow with the country, expanding and merging with smaller firms and businesses. Two centuries later, in the swinging 1960s, a southern bank known as North Carolina National Bank (NCNB) had began an aggressive plan of expansion based on the model of a “hometown bank” where a branch would individually cater to the needs of the community it served. NCNB’s model proved popular, and the bank expanded rapidly through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1991, NCNB merged with Citizens & Southern National Bank (C&S)/Sovran Corporation to form NationsBank, which acquired BankAmerica in 1998 to become Bank of America. The new entity was mighty in that its business reached throughout the country. But that wasn’t all for growth and consolidation. In 2004, Bank of America acquired FleetBoston Financial for $47 billion dollars, and in 2006, the bank paid $35 billion for the MBNA credit card business, which, in addition to its U.S. offices, had operations in Great Britain and Canada. The bank acquired U.S. Trust in 2007. In spring 2007, Bank of America’s growth ambitions were once again the subject of business headlines, as the bank entered into an agreement in April to purchase the American business of Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV—the ABN Amro North American Holding Company—which was the parent of U.S.-based LaSalle Bank Corporation and its subsidiaries. The deal was completed in October 2007. In 2008, Bank of America purchased the U.S. diversified financial services holding group Countrywide Corporation in an all-stock transaction worth about $4 billion, before acquiring Merrill in September.

Merrill’s history The “Merrill” in Merrill Lynch was Charles E. Merrill, who founded the firm in New York City in 1914. He met his partner, Edmund Lynch, while living in a rented room at the YMCA. From these meager beginnings grew a firm with about 900 offices in 40 countries and total client assets of approximately $1.6 trillion. Before being acquired by BofA, Merrill Lynch had established itself as one of the world’s leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies, serving private clients, institutions and corporations and small businesses. As of mid-2008, the firm employed nearly 63,100 people worldwide.

IN THE NEWS August 2009: Bessant’s new role Bank of America named veteran Cathy Bessant as president of its global corporate banking division. Bessant, who headed up the company’s global product solutions unit, will work on “bringing together our corporate bankers with product-delivery officers to oversee industry groups” in her new role, Tom Montag, president of BofA’s global markets and corporate and investment banking divisions, said in a statement. Bessant, who will report directly to Montag, will work out of the company’s headquarters in Charlotte, N.C.

August 2009: Sontag takes his leave Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s head of brokerage Daniel Sontag said he will retire—an announcement that came shortly after Bank of America hired Sallie Krawcheck as head of its global wealth and investment management unit. In a conference call, Sontag indicated that he was leaving voluntarily, insiders told The Wall Street Journal. Sontag, who had been with Merrill since 1978, had held his brokerage hear role since January 2009. Industry watchers have indicated that Sontag’s departure may point to an overall wearing down of the Merrill culture, which has seen a number of exits as of late.

August 2009: Hiring Sallie Bank of America confirmed several management changes. The bank hired Sallie Krawcheck, former head of global wealth management at Citigroup, as head of its global wealth and investment management business. Additionally, BofA said that Brian Moynihan, head of its global corporate and investment banking and global wealth management units, would be taking over the reins as the bank’s head of consumer banking. Meanwhile, BofA confirmed that Liam McGee, head of its consumer and small-business banking arm, is resigning. Tom Montag, the head of BofA’s global markets division, will also head up BofA’s global corporate and investment banking unit. The moves “position a number of senior executives to compete to succeed me at the appropriate time,” CEO Kenneth Lewis said in a statement.


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June 2009: Bull by the horns Bank of America confirmed that it decided to resurrect Merrill Lynch’s iconic bull symbol in a new promotional campaign. The print and Internet campaign will publicize BofA’s Merrill Lynch unit via the “thundering herd” tagline. BofA Chief Marketing Officer Anne Finucane told the Financial Times that after interviewing clients, the firm realized that “combined, the brands are stronger than either on their own.”

May 2009: Raising billions Revealing the results of its stress tests, the U.S. government told Bank of America it needed to increase Tier 1 common capital by $33.9 billion to endure the possibility of an intense and prolonged downturn (beyond what economists had forecasted). As of the end of June 2009, Bank of America had raised the $33.9 billion, mainly by selling common stock worth $13 billion, selling $7.3 billion worth of its shares in China Construction Bank and converting nongovernment-owned preferred stock into common stock.

April 2009: Lewis steps aside as chairman During Bank of America’s annual shareholders’ meeting, Ken Lewis was removed from his post as BofA chairman when shareholders narrowly passed a proposition (50.34 percent in favor) preventing one person from holding the firm’s CEO and chairman position at the same time. Lewis will retain his chief executive title. The board elected Dr. Walter E. Massey, a Bank of America board member since 1998 and president emeritus of Morehouse College, to serve as chairman of the board. Lewis, once celebrated as a top banker, has become a highly controversial figure in the industry. After paying what some industry watchers deemed as too much for Merrill Lynch, BofA endured two governmental rescue packages. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is also currently investigating whether Lewis informed shareholders of the risks of such a transaction. During the meeting, Lewis defended controversial transactions such as Merrill and Countrywide, saying, “These acquisitions are not mistakes to be regretted. Both are looking more like successes to be celebrated. We are building this company for the long run.”

April 2009: BofA turning around Bank of America posted first quarter 2009 net income of $4.25 billion, up from $1.21 billion in the first quarter of 2008. The bank was bolstered by its Merrill Lynch and Countrywide units, profiting from trading at Merrill and mortgage refinancing at Countrywide. Merrill brought $3.7 billion to the net income total, due largely to strong capital markets revenue. (Overall, BofA’s corporate and investment bank delivered $2.4 billion in net income, compared with a $991 million loss in the same period in 2008). Meanwhile, mortgage banking and insurance losses decreased to $498 million from $732 million in 2008. BofA’s credit card division didn’t fare as well, losing $1.77 billion compared with an $867 million in profit in the first quarter 2008. Overall, net revenue for the company jumped about 50 percent to $35.76 billion.

April 2009: Head of Technology, media and telecommunications resigns George H. Young III announced his departure from Bank of America. Young, a respected banker within the industry—who headed up Merrill Lynch’s global technology, media and telecommunications division—is one of a number of bankers and executives from the firm who have chosen to leave BofA after it acquired Merrill. Insiders have indicated that some of the departures have been motivated by a difference in philosophy between the two firms. According to The Wall Street Journal, Bank of America has been accused by some of having a corporate business method as opposed to one that emphasizes person-to-person relationships.

April 2009: Banker leaves for Centerview Alan Hartman, an experienced health care banker and head of M&A for the Americas at Bank of America, departed the recently merged firm for the boutique investment bank Centerview Partners. Hartman was joined by senior health care bankers Richard Girling and Mark Robinson, who also defected BofA for Centerview. As of late, boutique banks have begun to look more attractive to executives of certain large banks, which, as a result of taking government bailout funds, increasingly have had to deal with the prospects of salary and bonus restrictions.

March 2009: No bonus for Lewis Bank of America said it did not give a bonus to CEO Ken Lewis or any other of its high-ranking executives in 2008. Although many of its competitors opted to pay out bonuses, the bank said its most recent financial statement didn’t measure up to its hopes. Though Lewis received a salary of $1.5 million, his total compensation (including stock-based rewards) dropped 56 percent from the previous year; according to AP calculations, it fell from $20.4 million in 2007 to $9 million in 2008.

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March 2009: Commence the probe Bank of America launched an investigation into how Merrill Lynch accounted for some suspicious trades made by traders in 2008. Among the former Merrill employees involved in the probe is London-based currency trader Alexis Stenfors, who incurred a loss of more than $120 million. Stenfors’ trades set off a warning bell to the bank, which then began to look closely at the activities of other traders, some of whom had lost millions of dollars in other areas such as credit derivatives.

February 2009: Who wants to be a millionaire? New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed that 700 of the 39,000 Merrill Lynch employees were paid a bonus of $1 million or higher in 2008. In a letter to the House Financial Services Committee, Cuomo said Merrill “chose to make millionaires out of a select group of 700 employees.” Cuomo also condemned Merrill for moving its bonus payments up to December 2008, prior to the firm’s merger with Bank of America. A month later, in March 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that the annual bonuses may have been higher than Cuomo originally thought. Eleven of Merrill’s high-ranking executives accepted more than $10 million in cash and stock in 2008, insiders told the paper. Moreover, an additional 149 employees collected at least $3 million in 2008. In total, the bonus payments for the firm’s 10 highest-paid workers came to $209 million in cash and stock, up from the $201 million the firm paid out in the previous year.

February 2009: Lewis gets subpoenaed New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo subpoenaed Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis in a state probe regarding whether BofA held back information from investors prior to its purchase of Merrill Lynch. According to The Wall Street Journal, in addition to looking for facts about whether investors were deliberately deceived, Cuomo is also investigating if about $4 billion in Merrill bonuses should have been revealed to investors.

January 2009: Not meeting expectations During the fourth quarter 2008, Merrill Lynch lost $15.84 billion—about $500 million more than the $15.31 billion loss Bank of America had calculated for the firm. The little $500 million oversight was due to not keeping “effective” internal controls, according to Merrill’s annual report. Merrill also took several charges in the fourth quarter, including a $2.3 billion goodwill write-down due to exposure in its fixed income, currencies and commodities trading business. Merrill’s write-downs have stirred up several federal investigations into the firm’s practices.

January 2009: Thain’s exit Ex-CEO of Merrill Lynch John Thain said he would resign from Bank of America, a decision that came about one month after Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America. It also came not long after Merrill’s steep fourth quarter 2008 losses led BofA to take another $20 billion in federal aid (and not long after it was revealed that Thain approved bonuses for several Merrill Lynch executives days before the deal with BofA closed). According to a spokesman for Bank of America, Thain and BofA CEO Ken Lewis “mutually agreed that his situation was not working and [Thain] resigned.”

January 2009: Done deal Bank of America officially closed its acquisition of Merrill Lynch on January 1, 2009.

December 2008: Two at the top According to Thomson Reuters, Merrill Lynch and BofA found themselves near the top of many investment league table rankings for 2008 (the firms were ranked separately for the year, since the Merrill acquisition didn’t close until 2009). Among its many top rankings in 2008, Merrill placed No. 5 in global debt, equity and equity-related underwriting, No. 6 in global debt, No. 8 in global mortgage-backed securities, No. 9 in global high-yield debt, No. 7 in U.S. investment grade debt, No. 7 in international bonds, No. 3 in global equity and equity-related underwriting, No. 2 in global common stock, No. 5 in global IPOs, No. 4 in U.S. equity and equity-related underwriting, No. 1 in U.S. IPOs, No. 4 in EMEA equity and equity-related deals, No. 4 in EMEA common stock, No. 6 in global announced M&A deal advisory, No. 4 in announced U.S. M&A and No. 8 in announced European M&A. Banc of America Securities, meanwhile, ranked No. 10 in global debt underwriting, No. 3 in global mortgage-backed securities, No. 4 in global debt, No. 3 in global asset-backed securities, No. 3 in U.S. investment grade debt, No. 2 in global high-yield debt, No. 7 in global equity and equity-related deals, No. 10 in global common stock, No. 5 in U.S. equity and equity-related underwriting, No. 5 in U.S. IPOs, No. 14 in global announced M&A deals and No. 8 in U.S. announced M&A.

December 2008: Cutting back Bank of America announced plans to cut 30,000 to 35,000 positions over the next three years. “The layoffs will come from both BofA and Merrill Lynch, and will affect all business lines and divisions,” BofA said in a statement. BofA added that the cutbacks, which will “eliminate redundancies,”


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are due to the Merrill acquisition and the anemic U.S. economy. BofA CEO Kenneth Lewis is hoping to save around $7 billion from the merger, necessitating the abolishment of many jobs along with the possible sale of some of its business units. At the time, BofA and Merrill combined had 260,000 employees, including 50,000 working in investment banking.

September 2008: Buying Merrill Lynch Bank of America agreed to acquire legendary investment bank and brokerage Merrill Lynch for approximately $50 billion. The deal, which will create the world’s largest brokerage firm and one of the largest investment banking players in the world, followed on the heels of Merrill competitor Lehman Brothers filing Chapter 11, in the largest bankruptcy in history at the time.

June 2008: Picking up where Bear left off Bank of America hired five ex-Bear Stearns senior executives, including David Glaser, Bear’s co-head of investment banking who was brought on to chair Bank of America’s global mergers and acquisitions department. In addition to the Bear Stearns-set, Bank of America also hired Phil Barnett from Morgan Stanley, to head up the group’s financial institutions unit.

GETTING HIRED Casting a careful net At Bank of America’s careers page (www.bankofamerica.com/careers), you can search for job openings and complete an online application by clicking the link at the end of your chosen position. Vacancies arise across the bank in a number of departments and divisions, including consumer banking, card services, global markets, investment banking, wealth and investment management risk management, technology, finance and human resources. “Clearly, we are very selective,” declares one Bank of America contact. Still, there are several ways to get a foot in the door. BofA recruits at more than 200 schools globally; its “careers” website maintains an up-to-date calendar of events, and has a “Career Fit Tool” to help candidates find programs that best suit their skills and interests. In the past, BofA recruiters have turned to places like Columbia, University of Chicago, University of Virginia, NYU, Harvard, University of North Carolina, Duke, Georgetown, Clemson, Howard, Penn State, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Purdue, MIT, Arizona State, UNC, Florida State and Texas A&M. “It was difficult to get a job at Bank of America,” says one respondent, “because at the time, my MBA school was not a core school that they traditionally recruited from.” Adds another source in investment banking, “For non-junior hiring, the process is driven by a team’s need, and therefore can be very specific.” “We have narrowed our list of schools” in recent years, one insider reveals. That said, all interested students, regardless of school, can create their profiles via the firm’s website, upload their resumes and select programs of interest. Overall, BofA is looking for “students who are well rounded and intellectually curious.” Yet one non-campus applicant says that “after submitting my resume through the Bank of America website, I was contacted by a recruiter” and then quickly invited to a series of interviews that culminated in a job offer. A summer internship is another option—and it’s “definitely much easier to get hired after completing the internship,” a current insider says. Intern applicants can apply online or through their career services centers, and must be a full-time graduate or undergraduate student.

Round after round On the consumer banking side of things, the interview process is a “positive” one, but it can also be “disorganized,” insiders report. Some describe it as a “very lengthy and tricky” process. Another source says the interviews are “very relaxed,” “more like a conversation,” and adds, “I was not asked any specific questions.” “It seemed more like they already knew they wanted to hire me and were just spending the requisite 45 minutes talking to me,” confides one contact. Yet another interviewee says, “Everyone was very social, personable and kind,” and “they treated me and all others with respect.” Another insider interviewing for a management position says, “I was asked very few questions, as it appeared that my resume was used to make their decision.” The insider reports being asked questions such as “What is the highest number of people you’ve managed and what’s the lowest number?”

Pleasant times in investment banking The hiring process for investment banking hires typically “involves at least two rounds of interviews.” Expect to meet with “your future team.” One insider says “the atmosphere was very pleasant, lighthearted and informal.” And for students, “There is an on-campus interview process to screen the best candidates. Selected students are invited to New York for a Super Day.” At company headquarters, candidates “usually interview with four or five individuals on-site, mostly senior employees on the business side.” “The interview process is rigorous,” warns a source. “During each round, a candidate can expect to meet with six to 10 bankers in various industry and product groups,” an analyst says. One contact recalls meeting with “a diverse group of interviewers, from the group head to second-year associates.” After surviving Super Day, “the student is either given an offer or asked to come back for more interviews.”

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As for interview questions, expect a “focus on personality and fit.” Still, interview questions can be “very technical, such as stating the three basic financial statements and how they tie together.” There may also be “specific questions about prior work experience, interest in the business and knowledge of the market.” “From my experience, the interviews can range in material from the typical fit interview to highly technical” questions, an analyst says. “A candidate can expect almost every interviewer to ask them to walk through their resume highlighting relevant work and leadership experience.”

Want in? An internship is a huge advantage for those seeking employment at Bank of America. The firm offers summer internships for analysts (undergrad) and associates (grad students). “I essentially functioned as a first-year associate while I was a summer associate in investment banking. I was paid, pro rata, a first year’s salary,” says an insider. A former summer analyst reports earning “the same salary as a first-year analyst,” adding that “the work is geared toward building up to that of a first-year analyst.” Interns are more likely to move to the head of the hiring line, but they get other benefits, too. “Networking and mentoring offered during the summer allows you to build what could be lifelong friendships,” a former intern says. “The global markets summer rotational program allows you to test more than one part of the business to find a good fit for you and your skill set.” Interns may participate in “several networking events throughout the summer” and “are often staffed directly” on projects with other employees. Work assignments can vary “based on the demonstrated ability of the intern as well as the workload,” but some summer analysts may even get “the opportunity to travel on a road show or to client meetings.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS It all depends With respect to corporate culture, “different groups operate totally differently,” says a source. “Some groups are more laid-back, while some operate with a lot of intensity. I would say this is because different bankers came from different banks and like to do things their own way.” The Bank of America culture can also be a “very dynamic” one, according to one insider. Another agrees that it is “different in every region.” “It depends on what bank was absorbed by Bank of America. There are many cultures among Bank of America, so there is no real consistency in each region.” That said, despite a “collegial” and “friendly” culture that “encourages success and competitiveness” in the units acquired in the Merrill deal, some insiders note that the BofA acquisition led to a “sad situation,” with morale taking a toll due to a lot of folks getting laid off. Still, notes a source, “the majority of the employees are great people, have strong work ethics, and take their responsibilities very seriously.” And another is very optimistic about BofA’s future with Merrill, noting, “Going forward, we’re in an excellent business position.” The dress code at Bank of America is “business casual in most departments, though they notify employees when business attire is required due to executive or client visits.” But it largely depends on your division. Some say the code is “always professional,” but “more so for men than women, since men always have to wear a shirt and a tie.” As far as hours go, expect to work “normal business hours, including “half days on Saturdays.” One insider adds, however, that “hours are similar to Wall Street, but given the huge staff cuts, expect to put in more hours regardless of your group.”

Get to class On the training front, Bank of America offers “formal classroom style” and “on-the-job training.” The training you’ll receive largely depends on your department, however. “Some departments such as customer service type departments often have lengthy training that can last up to six weeks,” admits one contact. The training is “combination classroom training and side-by-side training with experienced employees,” says another. Still, some call the training “substandard.” One insider says, “There are many personal bankers out there who don’t know what they are doing, and consumers trust them with their private information.” Meanwhile, management-level employees don’t get to wriggle out of hard work. “Managers are expected to work extended hours and be available on weekends,” says one insider. “Mobile devices are often issued to managers.” Benefits-wise, you’re in good hands if you’re an employee. “Even part-time employees get full benefits,” which includes “two weeks of paid vacation plus sick days” along with “tuition reimbursement,” and paid maternity, paternity and adoption leaves. There is also “definitely potential for growth within the company,” and “there are resources such as the in-house job postings, where positions are opened for employees before they are released to the public.”

E for effort Staffing, meanwhile, is “very diverse across most of the company.” However, “senior leader positions are still held by mostly males.” Either way, “employees have a very diverse backgrounds” overall. Respondents also are happy that “company goals are mostly detailed and well communicated.”


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MACQUARIE GROUP (U.S.)

Rockefeller Center 600 Fifth Avenue, 21st Floor New York, NY 10020 Phone: (212) 548 6555 Fax: (212) 399 8930 www.macquarie.com/us

KEY COMPETITORS Citi Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs

UPPERS DEPARTMENTS/DIVISIONS Client Services Corporate Finance & Advisory • Energy Supply & Management Solutions • Institutional Stockbroking & Research • Lending & Asset Financing • Real Restate Structured Finance • Treasury & Commodities Activities Investment Management Infrastructure & Specialised Funds • Institutional & Retail Funds Management • Real Estate Capital Product Solutions Business Banking Services • Commodities Funds • German & Austrian Closed-End Funds • Equity Derivatives • UK Investment Funds • Wealth Management services

• “Friendly people” • “Communicative and helpful” managers

DOWNERS • “Women are still outnumbered” in the workplace • Employees “often work Sundays or Saturdays”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” under “about Macquarie” at www.macquarie.com.au

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: MQG (Sydney) Chief Executive: Nicholas Moore 2009 Revenue: AU$5.5 billion 2008 Profit: AU$871 million No. of Employees: 12,700 No. of Offices: 70 offices in 26 countries worldwide

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Up and coming—building a presence in the US and growing fast” • “Who?” • “Australian infrastructure powerhouse” • “Unsettled”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Macquarie Group (U.S.)

THE SCOOP Born in ‘69 Macquarie’s origins date back to 1969, when three men founded Hill Samuel Australia bank in Sydney, a wholly owned subsidiary of U.K. merchant bank Hill Samuel & Co Ltd. The bank grew quickly thanks to its expertise in a diverse range of financial services and products. It wasn’t until the 1980s, 15 years after Hill Samuel was first established in Australia, that the bank’s directors decided to restructure their firm into an Australian trading bank; they received government approval to do so in February 1985. At that time, they renamed the bank Macquarie after the popular early Aussie governor, Lachlan Macquarie (1761-1824), who is fondly remembered for figuring out how to solve the then looming problem of a currency shortage by purchasing Spanish silver dollars and punching out their centers to create two new coins, the “Holey Dollar” and the “dump,” ingeniously increasing their worth, while doubling the number of coins in circulation. This prevented currency leaving the British colony. Hill Samuel’s directors chose the Holey Dollar as the logo to represent their new banking entity, as they regarded Governor Macquarie’s ingenious creation of the Holey Dollar as the ultimate “inspired” solution to a “difficult” problem.

Working in America Most of Macquarie’s business in the U.S. is carried out through its subsidiary, Macquarie Securities (USA) Inc. Its business lines include commodity and energy markets, debt markets, electricity trading, emerging markets, energy capital, institutional stockbroking and research, natural gas trading, private equity funds management, real estate capital, real estate structured finance, residential community development and residential mortgages. There’s also Macquarie Capital Advisors, which handles mergers and acquisitions and restructuring advisory services in nine industry groups: infrastructure and utilities, natural resources, health care, security and defense, transportation, financial services, retail and consumer products, oil and gas and telecommunications, media, entertainment and technology (TMET). In April 2007, Macquarie’s restructuring and special services advisory arm got a boost from the acquisition of Giuliani Capital Advisors (yes, New York City mayor-turned-presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani’s firm). GCA’s specialty was advising distressed companies, and the deal added 100 investment banking professionals to Macquarie’s North American headcount. Finally, Macquarie Capital Funds manages listed and unlisted investment vehicles; Macquarie Electronics (USA) provides lease financing, used equipment sourcing and remarketing services to the electronics manufacturing industry; and Macquarie Equipment Finance provides IT finance, services and logistics.

The groups and divisions Macquarie Group Limited is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange as MQG. In the U.K., it owns Macquarie Bank International and is regulated by the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority. Macquarie Group is organized into five key operating groups (Macquarie Capital, Macquarie Securities, treasury and commodities, Macquarie Funds Group, and banking and financial services) and two divisions (real estate banking, and corporate and asset finance). Macquarie Capital (MacCap) provides corporate advisory, equity underwriting and specialised funds management businesses (including infrastructure and real estate funds). MacCap’s services include mergers and acquisitions, takeovers and corporate restructuring advice; equity capital markets, equity and debt capital management and raising; specialized funds management; debt structuring and distribution; private equity placements; and principal products. Macquarie Securities is made up of three subgroups: cash, which is a full-service institutional cash equities broker in the Asia Pacific region. In Europe, it operates as a specialized institutional cash equities broker; Delta 1, which oversees the group’s equity finance, arbitrage trading and synthetic product businesses, catering to both institutional and hedge fund clients; and derivatives, which offers equity-linked investments, trading products and risk management services to clients around the world. The treasury and commodities group encompass a range of products and services relating to commodities, futures, debt, interest rate and credit derivatives, foreign exchange and emerging market bond broking. The Macquarie Funds Group is a full-service fund manager, offering a diversified range of funds-related products and services. Finally, Macquarie’s banking and financial services group offers banking services to private and corporate clients, in addition to brokerage services, private portfolio management, mortgage management, credit cards, funds management and life insurance. The real estate banking division’s activities encompass listed and unlisted real estate funds management, asset management, real estate investment, advisory, development management and real estate project and development financing. The corporate and asset finance division—located in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, North America and Europe—specializes in providing leasing and asset finance services, debt and finance solutions, asset remarketing, sourcing and trading.

New chief In May 2008, Macquarie hired a new CEO as longtime leader Allan Moss stepped down after nearly 15 years in the chief executive’s office. He was succeeded by Nicholas Moore, who previously served as head of the Macquarie Capital business, which accounts for over half of the group’s profits. David Clarke, Macquarie’s chairman, called Moore “the obvious choice” to succeed Moss, citing his “remarkable vision, energy and acumen.”


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Moore has been with Macquarie for two decades, and has held a seat on the executive committee for more than 10 years. He is credited with leading Macquarie Capital’s growth in corporate advisory, institutional stock broking, equity capital markets and infrastructure funds; his successor there is Michael Carapiet, former global joint head of Macquarie Capital Advisers.

IN THE NEWS August 2009: Snapping up Delaware Macquarie Group bought Lincoln Financial Group’s investment management division Delaware Management Holdings for $428 million. The acquisition will increase Macquarie’s assets under management to more than $300 billion. In a statement, Shemara Wikramanayake, global head of Macquarie Funds Group, called the deal “a demonstration to our clients of the ongoing commitment we have to developing a global asset management capability with significant scale, product depth, research and investment capacity.”

June 2009: Steady hiring Macquarie continued to hire new workers, appointing ex-UBS Managing Director Christopher Striedter in its global industrial unit. Striedter’s appointment came shortly after the bank hired on Christopher Wofford, who worked in Bank of America’s transportation and logistics department (and who will play a similar role for Macquarie). A week prior to Striedter’s appointment, Macquarie Capital hired ex-Bank of America employee Doug Reynolds to work on exploration and production transactions in Houston.

May 2009: So how did the year end? Macquarie ended 16 joyous years of successfully rising earnings. The actual figures came out soon after the announcement, as Macquarie booked AU$871 million for the year ending March 2009, down from AU$1.8 billion it made a year earlier (a 52 percent drop, to be exact). The firm’s stock has also taken a hit as of late. Between May 2007, when the firm’s shares peaked, and March 2009, Macquarie’s shares lost 74 percent in value. And as of May 2009, the firm’s stock price was about AU$35 per share, nearly half of its 52-week high of AU$66. Though the price drop was significant, it correlated to market conditions during the period, and was lower than some of Macquarie’s competitors’ stocks had experienced. Further, as of June 2009, Macquarie’s stock price had risen by more than 34 percent since the beginning of 2009. Macquarie’s full-year 2008 results included write-downs of AU$2.5 billion, due to continued deterioration of markets and provisions on long-term investments. (Macquarie exited the sphere of mortgages and personal loans in 2008.) This came on the heels of Macquarie’s assurances to investors and analysts at its operational briefing in February 2009 that it was comfortably capitalized, which fellow bank Citigroup seconded, saying that Macquarie’s position was strong enough to soak up AU$2.5 billion in write-downs per year without hurting its Tier-1 capital ratio.

May 2009: Gaining energy Macquarie announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Tristone Capital Global Inc. According to Macquarie, the acquisition will substantially enhance its energy offering by integrating Tristone’s energy advisory and capital markets capabilities within Macquarie’s global resources activities.

March 2009: New employees on the block In the first few months of 2009, Macquarie made some key high-profile hires. Macquarie hired Robert D. Redmond to be the vice chairman of its capital advisors group, based in New York. Redmond was formerly at vice chairman of the now-defunct Lehman Brothers as well as Barclays Capital. In the U.K., Macquarie hired Anthony Isaacs, former head of U.K. equity capital markets at Credit Suisse, to develop Macquarie’s European equity capital markets business.

March 2009: Some really fat cats According to research comparing employee salaries with both a company’s performance and shareholder returns, two “fat cats” at Macquarie Group, former Macquarie chief executive Allan Moss and current chief executive Nicholas Moore, are Australia’s most “overpaid executives,” as reported in the Aussie media. Moss, Moore and three other Macquarie execs reportedly earned a combined AUS $105 million in salaries and bonuses in 2008, reflecting Macquarie’s best profit results to date and the company approach to profit share being linked with profitability. In March 2009, Macquarie announced changes (that are subject to shareholder approval) to its remuneration structure. The proposed changes, in line with recent industry-wide remuneration trends, would cut cash bonuses for close to 300 of Macquarie’s most senior managers (executive directors). According to Bloomberg, the changes are an attempt to “placate investors,” since the firm’s stock had lost more than half of its value in the tumultuous 2008. Macquarie said that it would be raising the proportion of performance-based pay (bonuses) made in company stock, adding that the cash

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component of Macquarie boss Nicholas Moore’s profit-share would be reduced to 45 percent from the previous 70 percent. The change in payment type would require the firm to issue an estimated AUS$500 million in new equity. The news emerged at a time that public outrage throughout Europe and Australia (as well as the U.S.) was raging over bankers’ salaries and executive bonuses.

December 2008: M&A tables Year in and year out, Macquarie turns up on Thomson Reuters’ investment banking league tables for M&A volume—and 2008 was no different. The bank ranked No. 18 for worldwide announced M&A advisory on deals up to $500 million, working on $7.25 billion worth of deals. It also secured topfive rankings in the Australia and New Zealand tables (though it didn’t turn up on the European tables).

GETTING HIRED Back in the U.S.A. As far as the firm’s U.S. presence goes, Macquarie has an extensive career section on its web site (www.macquarie.com/us) where undergraduates, graduate students and experienced professionals can search for job openings and learn more about positions at the firm as well as the interview process. There’s also a “meet our people” section of employee profiles that gives job hunters insights as to day-to-day life at the firm. Applications are taken beginning each year in August.

Be up for anything What you’ll encounter during the interview process could vary pretty wildly. One insider describes interviewing with a manager who “just wanted to know if I could do the job.” But expect at least two rounds of interviews, in which candidates meet both HR and executive staff. While some banking firms give their potential hires mathematical aptitude tests, Macquarie administers a psychometric assessment to their new hires. And expect to undergo a reference and credit check, too—along with “original documents such as your certificate, training certificates, driving license and bank statements.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Team up At Macquarie, “everyone is part of the team,” and the office is full of “friendly people.” The corporate culture has an “Australian” feel in the sense that it’s “very different from a typical Wall Street bank.” Workers are “very intense and intelligent,” but they’re also “more laid-back” and tend to “feel less constrained by hierarchy.” But it’s not too laid-back—workers abide by a “formal always” dress code. Respondents report little trouble with the hours, which they call “better than those at bulge bracket firms.” But there may be a catch-22 when it comes to working overtime at the firm. “There’s little pressure to stay late when you’re not working on a live deal, but you’re usually working on at least one live deal.” More often than not, “60 hours is a good week,” and “80 hours is on the heavy side.” Weekend work seems to be a fact of life, but despite having to “often work Sundays or Saturdays,” employees “very rarely [have to work] both days on a weekend.”

Rising through the ranks As far as management goes, there’s a “variety of management styles and abilities.” But thankfully, “most are good.” “Most managers have come up through the ranks and understand the business very well.” Moreover, “they have a significant consideration for my personal development and don’t care about face time.” For the most part, they’re “communicative and helpful,” though “if they need your help, they won’t hesitate to keep you longer.” Macquarie’s diversity efforts receive mostly high marks. But when it comes to women in the workplace, the firm may be “very receptive and considerate”—”but women are still outnumbered.” Another insider even says that it can be a “very male-dominated Caucasian environment.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

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PIPER JAFFRAY COMPANIES

800 Nicollet Mall Suite 800 Minneapolis, MN 55402-7020 Phone: (612) 303-6000 Fax: (612) 303-8199 www.piperjaffray.com

KEY COMPETITORS

DEPARTMENTS

• “Advancement can be quick” • “Very inclusive”

Asset Management Institutional Investing & Research Investment Banking

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Stock Symbol: PJC (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: Andrew S. Duff 2008 Net Revenue: $326.4 million 2008 Net Income: -$182.97 million No. of Employees: 1,035 No. of Offices: 26

Houlihan Lokey Jefferies

UPPERS

DOWNERS • “Employees are viewed more as commodities than assets” • “Can be a grueling experience”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “career opportunities” under “our company” section of www.piperjaffray.com

THE BUZZ


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“Rising star” “Minneapolis is in the middle of nowhere” “Strong equity financing capabilities, great in health care” “Weak in M&A”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Piper Jaffray Companies

THE SCOOP Sweet home Minneapolis Piper Jaffray & Co. is the operating subsidiary of holding company Piper Jaffray Companies, which focuses on investment banking, institutional investing and research and asset management. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Piper Jaffray serves middle-market corporations, private equity firms, public companies, nonprofits and institutional investors. With more than 1,000 employees in 26 offices worldwide, it provides advisory services, equity and debt capital markets products, public finance services, institutional equity and fixed income sales and trading, research, and high-yield and structured products. Piper Jaffray specializes in over a dozen industry sectors, including education; media, entertainment and telecommunications; technology; aircraft finance; clean technology; financial institutions; state and local governments; real estate, housing and senior living; hospitality; consumer; business services; cultural and social services; health care; and industrial growth. Its proprietary research covers more than 400 companies; at the 2008 FT/StarMine Global Analyst Awards, senior research analysts from Piper Jaffray received a whopping nine awards for their stock picking prowess.

Piper plus Jaffray (minus Hopwood) In 1913, H.C. Piper Sr. and C.P. Jaffray opened a commercial paper brokerage in Minneapolis, where grain elevators and milling businesses had created a serious demand for promissory notes. Four years later, Piper and Jaffray merged with local rival George Lane, who had established his brokerage firm in 1895. In 1929, a nearby investment firm, Hopwood & Company, was decimated by the stock market crash—so Piper Jaffray was able to acquire it on the cheap. As Piper Jaffray Hopwood the firm set its sights beyond Minneapolis, picking up a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and opening offices across the country. Its shares debuted on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol PIPR in 1986; in 1992, the firm name was trimmed to Piper Jaffray Inc. A $730 million acquisition by U.S. Bancorp in 1997 marked the end of Piper Jaffray’s independence, but the tie-up was short-lived: in 2003, Piper Jaffray was spun off, becoming an independent public company (PJC on the New York Stock Exchange). A final restructuring came in 2006 when Piper Jaffray sold its private client business to UBS Financial Services for $510 million.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Still down For the first quarter 2009, Piper Jaffray brought in $86.08 million in revenue compared with $102.63 million in the same period of 2008. The company also suffered a net loss for the quarter of $2.73 million compared with a $1.39 million net loss in the first quarter of the previous year. The firm had low investment banking revenue due to lower revenue within taxable underwriting, public finance remarketing and auction rate securities and public finance derivatives.

February 2009: Rough waters For full-year 2008, Piper Jaffray’s revenue came in at $345.05 million, down from $528.07 million in the previous year. The company also posted a net loss for the year of $182.97 million compared with net income of $21.94 million in 2007. Although CEO Andrew S. Duff said the company “took steps to reduce our operating cost structure and manage and mitigate risk exposure,” he added that “our actions were not able to overcome the severe market conditions and our operating results suffered.”

December 2008: Building up restructuring The firm’s financial restructuring team expanded when Victor Caruso, who has provided financial restructuring advisory services for over 25 years, left Morgan Joseph & Company to join Piper as a managing director. Previously he’d been a partner at Gordian Group, a managing director at Bear Stearns and a co-founder of Lehman Brothers’ restructuring division. Murray Huneke, co-head of investment banking, said Caruso’s expertise “will allow us to expand our differentiated and integrated advisory strategy, which combines our strong advisory, restructuring and capital markets platforms to best serve our clients.”

November 2008: Rising in the rankings Institutional Investor magazine’s annual ranking of the country’s best equity sales teams placed Piper Jaffray at No. 3, a five-spot leap from its 2007 rank at No. 8. The rankings were determined by surveys of analysts, portfolio managers, research directors, CIOs and other investment professionals at over 500 firms; a total of 28 finalists were ranked based on their small- and mid-cap equity sales teams. Piper’s No. 3 spot brought it right behind runner-up William Blair & Co. and overall winner Robert W. Baird.


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And according to the 2008 Thomson Reuters banking league tables, Piper ranked No. 2 in mid-market advisory for deals valued up to $50 million (based on deal value), working on 17 transactions worth $287 million. For deals valued up to $100 million the firm ranked No. 3, after Goldman Sachs and Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin. On larger transactions—those valued at up to $200 million and up to $500 million—Piper came in at No. 14 and No. 20, respectively.

October 2008: It’s in the DNA In fall 2008, Piper Jaffray advised Ohio-based DNA Diagnostics Center, one of the world’s largest DNA testing laboratories, on its sale to MTS Health Investors LLC, a health care private equity firm.

September 2008: Carpe diem A newly opened office in Marina Del Ray, Calif., became home to an expanded fixed income group. Piper added five sales and trading professionals to form a structured mortgage products group, with a focus on asset-backed securities and mortgage markets. The same asset-backed and mortgagebacked securities that contributed to the global credit crisis? Absolutely. “There are great opportunities in the distressed market that a highly skilled team can leverage,” explained fixed income head Ben May. “And this is a market we will now serve with an industry-leading and experienced team.” The new Marina Del Ray team operates under the supervision of Managing Director Cliff Corrall, a former executive vice president at Countrywide Securities.

September 2008: East Coast grows Piper Jaffray built up its public finance banking operations, hiring former Wachovia Director Mark Piscatelli as a senior public finance banker. A UConn grad who specializes in municipal financings, Piscatelli is based in one of Piper’s newest offices, in Hartford, Conn. From there he will work with Piper’s existing public finance teams in Boston to develop a wide-ranging business in Connecticut and throughout New England.

July 2008: Good advice Even though the firm struggled through the second half of 2008, its advisory teams managed to stay afloat. Piper Jaffray advised electronics giant Sharp Corporation on its $99 million sale to United Drug; over the summer the firm also served as exclusive financial advisor to Lone Star Funds in its acquisition of the Home Lending portfolio and other servicing operations of CIT Group Inc. That deal involved $1.5 billion in cash and the assumption of $4.4 billion in debt.

May 2008: New faces at the table Senior management got a shakeup as Chief Financial Officer and Vice Chairman Thomas Schnettler was named president and chief operating officer. Schnettler, a 22-year veteran of the firm, was replaced in the CFO spot by Debbra Schoneman. She had previously served as treasurer and managing director. As COO, Schnettler will oversee growth in the core investment banking and institutional securities business; this will allow CEO Andrew Duff to focus on the firm’s asset management business, corporate development and other key strategy. Meanwhile, the heads of Piper Jaffray’s overseas operations received new responsibilities. David Wilson, CEO of London-based Piper Jaffray Ltd., and Alex Ko, CEO of Piper Jaffray Asia, were tapped to join the firm’s management committee.

GETTING HIRED Look down the road If you’re in need of investigating your career path options, look no further than the “careers” section of www.piperjaffray.com, where candidates can view current opportunities, apply online and build a profile to be considered for future openings. Job postings are sorted by and include a brief list of essential functions and job requirements. Piper Jaffray typically wants candidates who are “detail-oriented, possess strong PC/technical skills and strong data mining skills, are able to work independently, are self-starters, and have strong written and oral communication skills.” The firm recruits from “approximately 20 undergraduate institutions” and “10 business schools.” But you can also check out online postings. The “career opportunities” page has links for three different job functions: investment bankers, financial advisors and research analysts. The investment banking and equity research sections have information on analyst and associate positions—both full time and summer for investment banking—and include a day-in-the-life look at what these positions really entail as well as a campus recruiting schedule. The financial advisor link provides a more detailed description of experienced advisor and developing advisor career opportunities.

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When it comes to the interview process, remember that patience is a virtue (if you want a shot at getting hired, that is). Some insiders report that “most people interview with at least 10 people” before receiving an offer. Expect a “first-round campus interview,” a “second round of Super Day interviews” and a third “team-specific interview.” Questions tend to be “behavioral-based.” Internships are also offered by the firm and are “very important” to get your foot in the door-but beware, competition from the outside is fierce. “Over half of the people we hire in any given year did not intern with us previously.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Lean and not mean The firm is “very inclusive,” “entrepreneurial,” “client-focused” and “lean,” with a “flat organizational structure.” “Piper has been great to me,” says one contact. There are also “very strong” opportunities for advancement given the expectation of faster growth after the spin-off from U.S. Bancorp. Also, “the firm typically prefers organic growth rather than hiring from the outside, so advancement can be quick.” Another insider reports, “There have been opportunities for advancement that I have passed up because I like what I do.” And while management at Piper has been called “fairly intense,” relations in that area seem to be doing just fine. One insider says he has “more of a team effort than a boss/subordinate relationship” with his boss. Also, “team dynamics vary across the board.” One contact doesn’t offer as positive a spin on the firm, believing that “employees are viewed more as commodities than assets” and “cost-cutting is the mantra” at Piper. The culture is also not necessarily a social one. A source reports spending “very little time with colleagues outside of the office.” “You will rarely be recognized for your work,” grumbles another, even while saying that “you can expect to receive a good experience if you can make a lot out of your time.” Weekend work tends to happen “often,” insiders say. “Investment banking at Piper can be a grueling experience,” reports one insider, citing “very long hours” as one of the most strenuous aspects of the experience. However, hours at Piper are reportedly “typical” across the board, with average workweeks of 50 hours for traders, 60 to 80 hours for those in research, and 80 to 100 hours for investment bankers. As for the actual work, Piper Jaffray is unique because “associates don’t do any modeling; analysts do all the modeling,” reports one insider. “It’s great for an analyst, because you do all the models, including the complex ones.” The dress code depends on the group. One insider says, “The dress code is business, except on Fridays, when it changes to business casual.” A financial analyst wears business casual clothing all through the week. The analyst also reveals a failed attempt to get particularly casual on Fridays: “When a midlevel manager mentioned that some employees had inquired about reinstituting a ‘jeans day’ on Fridays, he was told, ‘If they want to wear jeans, tell them to work at a factory.’” And with regards to diversity, insiders comment that Piper, “like Minnesota itself, is homogenous, with few minorities,” though “it is an open environment and the only criteria for advancement is hard work.” However, says that I-banking contact, “I think they’re very good with the male/female ratio. They’re not 50/50 at the top, but they definitely have some strong women there.”

Some of the best Compensation tends to receive high marks from employees. The firm offers “healthy salaries” that tend to vary with the performance of the stock market, and “some of the best employee benefits” in the industry, including an “unbeatable” employee stock ownership program. When it comes to starting pay, the firm isn’t all that different from the big boys back East. According to the firm, first-year associates get paid the same as what they’d make in New York. “Where it gets skewed is after four or five years,” says an insider. “But here, people can buy a huge house for $250,000 10 minutes out of town.” Still, some respondents think compensation could be better. One contact says that “compensation is decent, but given the hours you will work, it becomes inadequate compared to what the rest of the Street pays,” and another reports that his “managing directors believe in paying ‘market’ and nothing over. Unfortunately, this means you will wait longer than everyone else to receive your bonus check, while Piper makes calls and figures out what they are willing to pay [based on information from other firms].” In addition to decent monetary compensation, Piper Jaffray offers its employees a host of benefits, including health insurance, life insurance, tuition reimbursement, a 401(k) plan with a dollar-for-dollar company match up to 6 percent of salary, a profit-sharing plan, an employee matching gift program for charitable contributions and employee discounts on Piper Jaffray financial services. As for the outlook of the company, insiders have high confidence that the future looks pretty bright. “Piper is strategically positioned very well as a leading, middle market investment bank,” says one insider. “We are exceptionally strong in municipal finance, being one of the largest underwriters of municipal bonds in the country,” and sources generally feel “very confident” in the firm’s future.


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OPPENHEIMER & CO.

125 Broad Street New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 668-8000 www.opco.com

PRODUCT & SERVICES Asset Management Estate Planning Investment Banking Trust Services Wealth Management

KEY COMPETITORS Jefferies Perella Weinberg Partners Peter J. Solomon Company

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” under “about Oppenheimer” section of www.opco.com

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Chairman: Albert Lowenthal 2008 Revenue: $920.07 million 2008 Net Income: -$20.77 million No. of Employees: 3,500 No. of Offices: 80

THE BUZZ


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“Good research shop” “Surprised they’re still in business” “Solid” “Outdated”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Oppenheimer & Co.

THE SCOOP Back to Fahnestock Oppenheimer & Co. is a New York City-based investment bank that provides financial services and advice to high-net-worth investors, individuals, businesses and institutions. Oppenheimer’s business is organized into four divisions: capital markets, wealth management services, Oppenheimer Asset Management and Oppenheimer Trust Company. The firm is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings, a Canadian financial services holdings company. Neither Oppenheimer nor its parent is related to well-known OppenheimerFunds, the mutual fund management subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance. The U.S. broker-dealer is backed by over 125 years of history. The firm’s roots go back to 1881, when William Fahnestock founded Fahnestock & Co. Through over a century of expansion and merger activity, Fahnestock & Co. eventually became Fahnestock Viner Holdings, which acquired Oppenheimer’s U.S. private client and asset management divisions in 2003, and changed its name to Oppenheimer Holdings. When that happened, the company’s principal operating subsidiary, Fahnestock & Co., was renamed Oppenheimer & Co. In the years that followed, Oppenheimer made two big acquisitions—McDonald Investments and UBS’s Fishkill, N.Y., office—further solidifying itself as a leading financial services company.

Four pillars Oppenheimer’s capital markets group offers investment banking, research and trading solutions to growing companies, thriving communities and institutional investors. Oppenheimer’s bankers work across a variety of industries, including consumer, energy, finance, health care, industrials, media, telecom and technology. The firm’s public finance department works closely with cities, states and public authorities to develop efficient financing plans. Wealth management services is comprised of over 1,300 financial advisors located in more than 90 offices across the U.S. The division provides advice on a broad range of products and services to individuals, families, corporate executives, businesses and institutions. The firm’s asset management arm was founded in 1985 to help individual and institutional investors build customized investment plans based on strategic asset allocation. Today, more than 150 professionals work for Oppenheimer Asset Management, which provides customized professional money management through the consulting group, Oppenheimer Investment Advisers and the alternative investments group of Oppenheimer Asset Management. Oppenheimer Trust Company was established as a service to longstanding, high-net-worth clients and their families. The division provides clients with access to fiduciary services.

I-banking gets a boost For the calendar years 2008 through 2012, CIBC will receive payment of at least $5 million a year, based on the performance of Oppenheimer’s capital markets business—but Oppenheimer doesn’t have to start paying until the first quarter of 2013. In addition, Oppenheimer will borrow $100 million from CIBC, and CIBC will provide a warehouse credit line, initially as much as $1.5 billion, with which a new Oppenheimer U.S. entity will finance and hold syndicated loans for U.S. middle market companies. “Our firm is now positioned to service clients with a complete offering of capital markets services, including M&A advisory, equity underwriting, high-yield fixed income origination and loan syndication,” said Oppenheimer Holdings chairman, Albert Lowenthal, in a statement.

IN THE NEWS March 2009: Lackluster results For first quarter 2009, revenue came in at $205.3 million, an 11 percent decrease versus the same quarter in 2008. Though the company also posted a net loss of $2 million for the first quarter, it was less of a hit than the $16.1 million net loss Oppenheimer took in the same quarter of 2008. The firm cited “credit market disruptions” as a reason for the lackluster results. However, CEO Albert Lowenthal said that while the company was “disappointed with the results of the first quarter of2009,” he added that “we are pleased with the dramatic improvement in operating performance.”

January 2009: Taking a hit For full-year 2008, Oppenheimer reported a net loss of $20.8 million compared with a net profit of $75.4 million for 2007. Annual revenue came in at $920.1 million, up from $914.4 million for the second quarter of 2007. In regards to the loss, the firm cited performance fees and expenses connected with the purchase of part of CIBC World Markets’ U.S. capital markets units.

December 2008: Modestly-rated M&A According to Thomson Reuters, Oppenheimer & Co. ranked No. 20 in announced M&A deal volume for deals worth up to $200 million.


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Oppenheimer & Co.

November 2008: More bad news The Commonwealth of Massachusetts sued Oppenheimer & Co. for fraud and unethical conduct, accusing it of deceiving its customers in sales of auction-rate securities. Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin brought the charges, according to Investment News. In a statement, Galvin said, “Oppenheimer executives betrayed the trust of their clients by continuing to market these auction-rate securities as safe cash equivalents when they knew this was not the case … They kept their clients and their own advisers to those clients, in the dark, even as they themselves got out of that tottering market.” The lawsuit alleges that Oppenheimer customers in Massachusetts could not access $56 million in February 2008 when markets froze up. The suit also called for the revocation of Lowenthal’s broker-dealer agent registration. Oppenheimer denied the charges, saying in an email to The Boston Globe that the allegations made by Massachusetts Securities Division did not have “any basis in fact or law,” adding that it indeed to “vigorously defend itself.” In a separate statement, the firm said that it “and its executives and employees, like dozens of other ‘downstream’ brokerages nationwide, had no knowledge of the conduct of the major dealers which caused the entire auction rate securities market to collapse.” The firm also stated that it “believes that at all times it acted in its clients’ best interests.”

February 2008: Crimes & misdemeanors Oppenheimer & Co. was slapped with a $250,000 fine by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for supervisory and other failures stemming from improper market timing of mutual fund shares from January through September 2003. Typically, brokers engaging in market timing try to exploit mispriced shares by buying or selling mutual fund shares in a very short period of time. As a result, improper market timing can significantly diminish the value of long-term mutual fund shareholders. “While not illegal per se,” said FINRA in a statement, “market timing is prohibited by the vast majority of mutual funds.” FINRA found that five traders traded inappropriately on behalf of hedge fund customers, earning the firm $9 million. The company was also made to pay more than 60 mutual fund companies $4.25 million in restitution.

January 2008: A few key purchases Oppenheimer’s capital markets group (encompassing its investment banking, research and trading operations) received a big boost when the firm acquired CIBC’s U.S. capital markets business, including its U.S. investment banking, equity capital markets and debt capital markets groups. The deal also included CIBC’s Israeli investment banking and equities business, and parts of its U.S. capital-markets-related businesses in the U.K. and Asia. The acquisition did not expose Oppenheimer to the subprime mortgage business, an area in which the firm has advantageously been uninvolved.

GETTING HIRED Find your niche Financial advisors and experienced hires alike get their own respective sections under the careers area at www.opco.com. If you’re interested in a position as a financial adviser, you can fill out a short online form detailing your work experience and background. Unfortunately, there aren’t any job listings for those with a little more experience under their belts to peruse—you are, however, encouraged to send in your resume and a cover letter to human resources at [email protected].

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RBC CAPITAL MARKETS

3 World Financial Center 200 Vesey Street New York, NY 10281 Phone: (212) 428-6200 Royal Bank Plaza 200 Bay Street Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2W7 Canada Phone: (416) 842-2000 Fax: (416) 842-8033 www.rbccm.com

DEPARTMENTS Fixed Income & Commodities Global Credit Global Equity Markets Global Investment Banking Global Research

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada Chairman: Doug McGregor Co-CEOs: Doug McGregor & Mark Standish President: Mark Standish No. of Employees: 3,000 No. of Offices: 76

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.rbccm.com/careers

THE BUZZ


“Top Canadian investment bank” “Bucket shop” “Solid” “Co-manager”

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #3 – Offices #5 – Hours #6 – Business Outlook #6 – Green Initiatives #7 – Best to Work For #7 – Overall Satisfaction #8 – Treatment by Managers #9 – Compensation #11 – Culture #12 – Selectivity Diversity #9 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #10 – Best for Diversity #11 – Diversity With Respect To Women #13 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America BMO Capital Markets Cowen and Company Credit Suisse Goldman Sachs Jefferies J.P. Morgan Morgan Stanley Thomas Weisel Partners

UPPERS • “Small deal teams” • “Matches Street pay” • “Fewer ‘difficult’ bankers compared to other investment banks”

DOWNERS • “Becoming even more conservative in these times” • “Often overly bureaucratic” • “Still working on building the brand”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition RBC Capital Markets

THE SCOOP Royalty in its blood RBC Capital Markets is part of the Royal Bank of Canada, which has two other business segments: RBC Canadian Personal and Business, and RBC U.S. and International Personal and Business. RBC Capital Markets is an international corporate and investment bank, serving corporations, governments and high-net-worth clients around the world. Its 3,000 employees work from 76 offices in 15 countries. Project Finance International magazine recently named RBC Capital Markets the 2008 Global Bond House of the Year.

One tough year RBC Capital Markets held on during 2008, although it was not immune to a few negative results, including job cuts, a buyback of $850 million in securities and a fine levied by New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo for allegedly misleading investors about the riskiness of investments. But the bank also hired nearly a dozen former Bear Stearns employees and formed a new prime services group, suggesting that business is not all bad. Overall, according to Bloomberg, RBC Capital Markets cut about 460 jobs—or 7.1 percent of its workforce during the year. This isn’t a small number, but it was still less than many of RBC’s peers were forced to cut during the year.

Royal history The Royal Bank of Canada began operation in 1869, and today, it has over $665 billion in assets and one of the highest credit ratings of any financial institution. Until 2001, RBC Capital Markets was known as RBC Dominion Securities. The former Dominion Securities was created in 1901 and purchased by the Royal Bank of Canada in 1988. In 2000 and 2001, RBC added several boutique acquisitions to its investment banking arm, including American firms Dain Rauscher Wessels and Tucker Anthony Sutro. These last two acquisitions resulted in the formation of RBC Capital Markets in November 2001. RBC Capital Markets investment banking business is segmented into equity capital markets, convertible debt, corporate finance, high-yield, equity private placements, investment services, income trust group, leveraged finance, syndicated finance, and mergers and acquisitions.

IN THE NEWS March 2009: Direct acquisition RBC Capital Markets acquired Canadian investment service provider Commission Direct Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Before the deal took place, RBC owned 50 percent of CDI. “CDI has a long track record of independent, high-quality agency execution, serving the growing needs of Canadian institutional clients,” said John Reilly, RBC Capital Markets’ head of Canadian Equity Trading. “We look forward to CDI continuing to develop and distribute innovative new products and services for the Canadian institutional marketplace.”

December 2008: Holding (mostly) firm According to Thomson Reuters, RBC Capital Markets ranked No. 24 in worldwide completed M&A volume in 2008, with 101 deals totaling $70.3 billion, an eight point drop from its No. 19 ranking in 2007. It also ranked No. 24 in Americas announced deals, a 12-place drop from its 2007 ranking. The firm lost its No. 1 spot in Canadian announced M&A volume to CIBC, coming in at No. 2 with 44 deals worth $26.37 billion—a 22 percent share of the market.

October 2008: Salut, mon frère CEO and Chairman Charles Winograd retired, though he agreed to see the firm through the transition until January 2009. Winograd, who holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and the CFA designation, began as a research analyst at Richardson Securities of Canada in 1971. One promotion after another followed, and Winograd was named president and CEO of Richardson Greenshields in January 1987, and chairman and CEO in 1991. He joined RBC in 1996, when the firm acquired Richardson Greenshields. He was made president and CEO of RBC Capital Markets in 2001. His successors, Mark Standish and Doug McGregor, previously co-presidents of RBC, were each named co-CEO. Standish was also named president and McGregor, chairman, and both were appointed to the RBC executive committee. Indeed, Winograd seems to have been grooming the two for his job; when they were named co-presidents in February 2007, Winograd called their promotions part of RBC’s “long-term succession planning.”

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October 2008: Maybe not in the spirit of the law … RBC Capital Markets announced a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, in which it agreed to buy back about $850 million of auction-rate securities from some 2,200 investors. The SEC and Cuomo alleged that RBC misled investors about the investments’ riskiness. RBC joined Bank of America and nine other large banks in agreeing to repurchase more than $50 billion of securities. In a statement, the bank neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, and estimated that the buyback would diminish its earnings from the fourth quarter of 2008 by about $30 million (pretax). That figure includes a $9.8 million fine RBC must pay to Cuomo’s office and to the North American Securities Administrators Association, according to The New York Times.

September 2008: Home to Bear RBC hired a whopping 11 former Bear Stearns employees to form a new U.S. institutional equity sales and trading team that will be based in London and Switzerland. Those hires include Tim Allen, RBC managing director and head of U.S. institutional equity sales. Allen spent some 18 years at Bear, where he was head of U.S. equity sales, Europe. It also captured Scott D. Moskowitz, another Bear alum and former senior managing director, making him managing director, and co-head of the investment banking communications, media and entertainment group.

August 2008: A suite of steels RBC acquired Richardson Barr & Co., a Houston-based energy advisory firm that specializes in acquisitions and divestitures in the exploration and production sector. The acquisition will increase RBC’s U.S. presence, which it has made a major priority in the past two years, with some 10 acquisitions in the U.S., among them Carlin Financial Group, Seasongood & Mayer, and Daniels & Associates. The new group is known as RBC Richardson Barr. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. In addition, RBC acted as exclusive financial adviser to ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, on its acquisition of London Mining South America Limited from London Mining. In tandem with the $810 million deal, RBC advised AcelorMittal on its creation of a partnership with Adriana Resources to develop an iron ore facility in Rio de Janeiro. That same month it also served as exclusive financial adviser to Severstal Resources, the fourth-largest steelmaker in the world, on its acquisition of PBS Coals Corporation by way of Coals’ acquisition of Penfold Capital.

GETTING HIRED Core first When it comes to recruiting, RBC maintains “similar selectivity to other large global investment banking practices,” which means a “competitive process” for prospective hires. “If we are talking about hiring from undergraduate and MBA programs, I would characterize hiring as highly selective,” a vice president says. “We probably make offers to 25 to 35 percent of the candidates we bring in for a final round super day.” That’s partially because “the new analyst and associate class sizes are very small, and usually will not exceed eight analysts and four associates per year at the larger U.S. offices like New York and San Francisco.” One contact breaks down the firm’s recruiting targets by percentages hired, saying, “About 60 percent of the analysts and associates are recruited from eight to 10 core schools, 30 percent come from five to 10 non-core schools and 10 percent come from schools at which RBC does not have an active recruiting relationship.” Other sources say the firm often looks to NYU, Wharton, Emory, Columbia, Michigan as well as Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell, Stanford, University of Texas, University of Chicago and other “top” schools.

Straight and to the point Recruiting is “typically a two round process,” though on occasion there may be “three rounds of interviews.” For most candidates, “the first round is on campus and is a 30-minute, one-on-one or two-on-one interview.” Campus interviews may involve “senior associates, vice presidents and directors.” “Students from non-target schools may have first-round phone interviews instead of in-person interviews if that is more convenient,” adds an insider. Then it’s on to “a Super Day in New York or San Francisco,” where “each candidate interviews one on one with four to five bankers of various levels,” including “managing directors.” Current insiders say RBC interviewers rarely throw curveballs, explaining, “Interview questions cover accounting and basic finance, general market and industry knowledge, brainteasers and fit questions.”

“Small and selective” “Only a couple” of associate internships are available each summer, and in the U.S., the investment banking group does not have a formal summer analyst program. “It does have a summer associate program, but it is very small and selective.” Perhaps as a result, “A summer internship at RBC is not necessary to be hired at RBC, but a summer internship of some kind is needed for consideration for full-time employment.” “Summer associates


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are usually staffed as generalists, and in the past, there have been one or two positions open at the larger offices,” a source says. “Historically, one summer analyst position is offered per year in the FIG [financial institutions] group located in Boston.” There were “three rounds of interviews to just get a summer internship offer,” recalls a former intern. Salary was “prorated with the standard $95,000 for two-and-a-half months, with a bonus of $2,500 and signing bonus for full-time at $25,000.” Thanks to the generalist nature of the program, “you’ll work with all industry and product groups” and get experience working on “live deals.” After the interns’ work is done, insiders estimate that the firm hires “50 percent” of its summer class—the rest “are fresh hires.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Check your ego at the door “The culture is very collegial and there is no to very little mistreatment of junior bankers,” say insiders who appreciate RBC’s “very flat” structure and “laid-back” vibe. “Bankers, for the most part, have an open-door policy,” and there’s “not a lot of egos.” While there are “minimal internal politics,” some say “overall leadership is somewhat lacking,” and report that RBC toes a very conservative, risk-averse line. The firm “should be taking more advantage of the market environment,” one insider says. “Our progression up the league tables should be more pronounced.” On the other hand, most employees are quick to admit that a conservative agenda has kept RBC in decent shape despite market turmoil, and say the firm “has been well managed through these difficult economic times.” Even though the RBC brand “is still growing in the United States,” it’s “gaining market recognition with clients,” and “pay is largely in line with the market.” As one source sums up, “the firm treats bankers well, but not extravagantly.”

Up in the air So how well are bankers treated in terms of compensation? Sources say they receive “standard perks,” including “a 401(k) match,” and average to above-average compensation. “Twenty percent of total compensation above $200,000 is in the form of restricted stock that vests over a three-year period,” says a vice president. “In an up market like 2005 and 2006, my compensation was at the low end of the Street range,” but as pay has fallen elsewhere, RBC now pays in line with many of its competitors. Of course, there’s a lot of uncertainty about total compensation packages for 2009 and beyond. “Because my compensation, including bonus, is highly correlated with revenue, I cannot predict my 2009 bonus in this market,” a managing director says. Another associate says he’s “not brave enough to ponder” what total payout will look like by the end of 2009.

Random hours Workload “comes in bursts,” says an associate. “You can have great working hours for weeks at a time. Then it can get pretty busy for extended periods of time.” While overall hours tend to be “reasonable,” many insiders point to the “unpredictability” of their schedules, which also varies by office and by group. “Some groups seem to get worked like dogs and others have more balance,” one contact says. Another tips, “the San Francisco office is better than the New York City one” when it comes to hours worked. Many employees put in a 70-hour workweek, with several saying they put in weekend time from wherever they are. “The BlackBerry makes me available 24/7,” says a vice president, and “remote access via laptop usually means I have the ability to work from home on weekends.” At least “you don’t need to stay at the office when work is complete.” And, as a source says, people rarely find busywork to throw at junior staffers. “The firm focuses on hiring balanced bankers, so it’s been my experience that time is seldom wasted on unneeded work.”

Only the best When it comes to diversity, says a vice president, RBC “is focused on hiring the best talent possible. Race does not come into play.” For American offices, “you need to be a U.S. citizen or have a green card in most cases, since getting H1-B visas is becoming increasingly difficult.” Others say RBC is a fair-minded place, but there’s still some progress to be made in terms of hiring and promoting ethnic minorities and women. Sources call the firm “very receptive,” but notice that “there are not many women in the investment bank.” One contact estimates the female proportion of the bank to be “10 percent, at most, and it decreases with seniority.”

Some formal, some less formal There’s “nothing extravagant” about RBC’s offices, but they’re “still respectable,” and most contacts give the digs decent marks. “We moved to our World Financial Center offices in April 2008 from another downtown location,” explains a New York City contact. “The office space was built by the firm. The offices have good views of the Hudson. The furniture, while new, is not of the highest quality—looks a step above IKEA.” However, “We get

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free coffee, tea, soda, bottled water and milk,” and “double computer screens and wireless headsets make matters more comfortable.” Sources in other cities agree their setups are as nice as can be expected; “I have my own office as an analyst,” crows a Denver contact. As for green initiatives ... RBC’s working on it. “People waste paper,” admits an insider. The dress code is “formal for client meetings and business casual otherwise,” though the precise meaning of “casual” depends on your location. “It is office-specific,” contacts say. New York leans “formal,” while actual “business casual” prevails in San Francisco, and things get “very informal” in Los Angeles (which also allows “casual Friday”). “Most VPs and above wear business attire every day except possibly Friday,” a New York insider reports. “Analysts and associates are more business casual than formal attire. The official policy is business casual unless client contact, but overall it’s more formal than it was three or four years ago.”

Friendly folks “We get treated very fairly and well,” an associate says, and other insiders agree that “we have a good time and work well together.” “The group head I work for treats me with great respect, and I repay with top-quality work,” says a VP. “Treatment by managers, both in my group and superiors in other groups, is very good,” a New York-based contact remarks, adding that there are “strong relationships with subordinates as well,” and very little cutthroat competition among colleagues. Sources say training is one area the firm can improve: “Formal training is lacking, but on the job informal training is great.” New analysts and associates begin their careers with “two weeks of training in Toronto,” partaking in “a combination of classroom sessions and networking.” This is well and good, respondents say, but “could have been longer and more in-depth.” Then, “there are slightly less structured on the job workshops once analysts and associates arrive in their respective offices. These sessions are usually taught by vice presidents, associates and analysts.”

Too little risk? There was “a round of managing director and director cuts in October 2008 and a round of associate and analyst buyouts in March 2009,” but “only 5 to 10 percent of people were allowed to leave.” Other than that, there’s been no “layoffs at the junior level,” which has many RBC insiders feeling relieved. “The firm has been able to hold off on massive downsizing or multiple rounds of cuts that the bulge bracket U.S. investment banks have gone through recently,” a vice president explains. And, as larger competitors stumble, insiders say RBC is poised to “gain market share.” “We act like a boutique that gives senior-level attention to middle market companies, but also act like a large cap company with our full suite of product capabilities as well as our balance sheet”—which has held up fairly well. However, one source says, “The balance sheet is strong, but the firm is hesitant to put capital to work in this environment, except for top-tier existing relationships.”


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NOMURA HOLDINGS, INC.

Nomura Holding America, Inc. 2 World Financial Center, Building B New York, NY 10281-1198 Phone: (212) 667-9300 www.nomura.com/americas

DEPARTMENTS Asset Management Global Investment Banking Global Markets Global Merchant Banking Retail

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Stock Symbol: NMR (NYSE) CEO: Kenichi Watanabe 2009 Revenue: $6.6 billion 2009 Net Income: -$7 billion No. of Employees: 25,000 No. of Offices: 190

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America Merrill Lynch Barclays Capital Citi Credit Suisse Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs HSBC J.P. Morgan Lazard Morgan Stanley Rothschild UBS Investment Bank

UPPERS • “Friendly” culture • “Fairly diverse” workplace

DOWNERS • “Lack of decision-making ability” among managers • “Risk-adverse, muddled” culture

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Follow the “careers” link at www.nomura.com

THE BUZZ


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“Strong in Asia—well known Japanese broker” “Different culture” “A bigger deal post-Lehman” “Okay”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Nomura Holdings, Inc.

THE SCOOP From Tokyo to the world Nomura Holdings is Japan’s largest securities group. As of April 2009, Nomura boasted $203 billion in assets under management and 190 offices in 30 countries. In the Americas, the bank does business through Nomura Holding America, and has U.S. offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Its four operating divisions in the Americas (equities, fixed income, asset management and investment banking) work jointly with Nomura’s businesses around the world, allowing Nomura to conduct plenty of international and cross-border deals. Its broker-dealer is Nomura Securities International. This legend of Japanese finance arrived in New York in 1927. Today, its U.S. offices provide capital raising, mergers and acquisitions advisory, sales and trading, foreign exchange, derivatives, research and asset management. Its M&A group, based in New York, works both domestically and internationally on deals, often collaborating with Nomura’s Asian and European staff on divestitures, joint ventures, restructurings and valuations. It has provided advisory services to companies in the consumer, financial institutions, healthcare, industrial, retail and technology sectors. Nomura’s equity capital markets group is also based in New York, and offers origination, structuring, marketing, placement of equity-related securities and strategic advice to corporate, institutional and government clients. This group works most closely with Nomura staffs in Tokyo, Hong Kong and London, helping non-U.S. companies list on U.S. exchanges, arranging offerings in Asia and Japan for North American companies, offering investment opportunities abroad for U.S. investors, executing global equity offerings and listing North American companies on the increasingly attractive Japanese exchanges. Best known in Japan as a domestic retail bank, Nomura has shown increasing interest in expanding its global operations. Worldwide, Nomura offers a full range of securities and investment banking services, including asset management, merchant banking, corporate advisory, derivatives, foreign exchange, sales and trading, research and capital raising. In Europe, its focus is on securities brokerage services, underwriting, M&A advisory and asset management.

Journey from Osaka to New York The son of an Osaka moneychanger, Tokushichi Nomura II was born in 1878, the year the Osaka and Tokyo stock exchanges were founded. At that time, Osaka was Japan’s business and finance center. After a three-year transcription in the Japanese army, young Nomura joined his father at the family business (called Nomura Shoten, or Nomura Shop). By 1904, the younger Nomura was running the shop, and he decided to add stock sales, trades and spot transactions to his father’s currency exchange business. In 1906, Nomura created an in-house research department, and, to this day, research is a central aspect of his firm’s operations. He began publishing a daily newsletter called the Osaka Nomura Business News, which contained stock analysis, economic research and trading reports. Nomura became well known throughout Japan; no other broker at the time was putting out such reports. Thanks to his solid reputation, Nomura and his company survived the Japanese market crash of 1907. A year later, he took his first trip to New York. Nomura returned to Japan with the intention of creating a global finance firm that could compete with the best in America; his first step was to expand his research department and create a translation department so he could become involved in foreign currency-denominated bonds. Underwriting and international trading were ramped up, and by 1917, Nomura Shoten became Nomura Shoten Incorporated. In 1922, Nomura formed a holding company to contain his empire, and three years later, his securities division was incorporated separately as Nomura Securities. In 1927, Nomura’s dream of opening an office in New York came true. By then, Nomura’s enterprises included the stand-alone securities division, bond sales, underwriting and commercial banking under the Osaka Nomura Bank name. In 1946, the firm’s headquarters shifted to Tokyo, and five years later, it launched an investment management business. Nomura is credited with pioneering the use of investment trusts. It was also one of the first foreign-owned companies to gain membership on the London Stock Exchange. In 2007, Nomura paid $1.2 billion to acquire Instinet, Inc., a major electronic trading services provider with 1,500 clients worldwide.

Landing Lehman In September 2008, Nomura found itself at the center of the world financial crisis—and made the purchase of a lifetime. After the spectacular collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, Nomura swooped in to buy Lehman’s equities and investment banking operations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The Asian businesses sold for £123 million (US$225 million), while the European and Middle East arms went for the nominal sum of— this isn’t a typo—£1.09 (US$2), which was not a bad deal, considering that Europe and Asia typically represented half of Lehman’s annual revenue. The move preserved thousands of Lehman bankers’ jobs outside the U.S. and boosted Nomura’s head count by over 8,000. In London alone, Nomura added about 2,500 people to its existing staff of 1,500; Nomura moved the bulk of its businesses into the Lehman Brothers building in Canary Wharf. Under the terms of the sale, several Lehman managing directors remained in place, and reports revealed that Nomura offered generous compensation and all-cash bonus payments to retain several top Lehman bankers. The Lehman acquisition was clearly Nomura’s leap for the major leagues—the businesses it inherited included rosters of FTSE 100 clients and over 20 offices in Europe and the Middle East.


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With the deal less than a year old, it remains to be seen how legacy Lehman employees will merge into Nomura’s culture and operating system. In March 2009, as the 2008 bonus season approached, Reuters reported that veteran Nomura bankers were concerned about disparities between their pay and the incentives offered to Lehman employees who remained with the firm. Meanwhile, some Lehman bankers have publicly expressed frustration at Nomura’s conservative, risk-averse way of doing business, spurring rumors of a mass departure, layoffs or both. Compounding matters, Nomura took a hefty ¥67.8 billion loss for its fiscal year 2008.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: Nomura acquires NikkoCiti Nomura Holdings confirmed that Nomura Trust and Banking Co. will purchase NikkoCiti Trust and Banking Corporation for ¥19 billion in cash. If the transaction receives regulatory approvals, the acquisition will become official in October 2009, Nomura added. As of March 2009, NikkoCiti Trust and Banking had ¥4.5 trillion in trust assets and more than 100 employees, while Nomura’s trust division possessed ¥19.5 trillion in assets and 261 employees.

April 2009: Cutbacks in Asia Nomura Holdings cut 50 investment banking positions in Asia, representing 2 percent of the company’s total 2,500 workforce in the region (excluding Japan). The bank has struggled with the cost of merging operations with Lehman Brothers, which immediately helped Nomura post a record quarterly loss. The latest round of layoffs followed a few others: in 2008, the firm cut 100 jobs in Asia, 100 in Japan and about 1,000 in London.

April 2009: Taking its biggest hit Nomura Holdings posted its largest annual loss ever for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, booking $7.2 billion in losses compared with a loss of under $1 billion in the previous year. For its fiscal fourth quarter, the firm posted a net loss of $2.2 billion, wider than the $1.5 billion loss in the same period of 2008. Nomura cited trading losses and acquisition costs related to its purchase of the Asian, European and Middle Eastern divisions of Lehman Brothers as major reasons for the slide.

April 2009: London calling The financial world took notice when Nomura’s global head of investment banking, Hiromi Yamaji, packed his bags for London. In a shift that signaled Nomura’s heightened focus on Europe, Yamaji announced that the investment banking division would be run from the U.K. instead of Nomura global HQ in Tokyo. “The importance of Japan as our most important market won’t change,” he told the Financial Times. Even though Japanese retail banking remains Nomura’s biggest moneymaker, Yamaji promised that his move “is a message that we place priority on London.”

April 2009: New board member Nomura appointed Rainer Masera to the bank’s board of directors in Italy. Masera, former chairman of Lehman’s financial institutions group, also holds a position on the board of the European Investment Bank. A former director of the Bank of Italy, Masera served as Italy’s technical minister for budget and economic planning in the Dini government from 1995 to 1996.

March 2009: Good as gilt Nomura was one of just 16 firms to be recognized as a Gilt-Edged Market Maker (GEMM) by the U.K. Debt Management Office and the London Stock Exchange, and the only Asian-headquartered investment bank to earn the status. Thanks to its GEMM designation, Nomura can now participate in U.K. gilt auctions and make markets for both index-linked and conventional gilts.

March 2009: Off to Italy Nomura tapped Andrea Pellegrini to serve as Italy co-chairman and co-head of Italian investment banking, working alongside Alessandro Cremona. Pellegrini had previously served as Merrill Lynch’s chairman of the EMEA public sector group and head of investment banking/Italy.

February 2009: Gathering capital Nomura announced a new share offering, its first since 1989, in an effort to raise ¥300 billion ($3.3 billion). The news sent Nomura’s shares to a 26year low as investors worried that the Japanese bank was losing too much capital on bad investments and the costs of merging in Lehman Brothers’ operations. But the share issue did not seem to be solely intended to recoup losses. Instead, Nomura indicated it also needed the capital to fund expansion plans—especially brewing efforts to make inroads in the U.S.

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February 2009: Kudos on health care Nomura Code, a Nomura International plc subsidiary that specializes in health care and clean tech investment banking, was named Adviser of the Year in the Rosenblatt New Energy Awards for 2009. Nomura Code was cited as the most active clean tech advisor in the UK, representing six listed companies and raising €250 million in eight public market transactions since 2005. In 2008, Nomura raised €20 million in public equity deals for clients like PuriCore and Ceramic Fuel Cells. Nomura beat out rivals such as Morgan Stanley and KPMG for the New Energy Awards honor, picking up extra recognition for its in-house initiatives to promote green purchasing and reduce energy use and waste. Speaking of which, in February 2009, Nomura won a platinum award at the City of London Clean City Awards—for the third year in a row. The bank was one of just 20 companies in the city to be lauded for its above-average efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle during daily operations.

February 2009: Dubai will do Nomura International plc announced that it had been granted a banking license by Dubai’s Financial Services Authority, opening the door to investment banking and capital markets operations there. Pre-Lehman acquisition, Nomura’s Middle East operations were in Bahrain, while Lehman had a presence in Doha and Dubai. In 2008, Nomura secured a license to operate in Saudi Arabia, and is slated to begin business there in the second half of 2009. The firm is also said to be in the process of securing licenses to operate in Qatar. The firm’s Dubai office will be its largest in the Middle East, and will serve as a link between clients and institutions in Asia and those in Africa and the Middle East.

January 2009: Four in a row Nomura Holdings posted a $3.8 billion loss for its fiscal third quarter (ended December 2008), a steep decline versus the 21.8 billion profit it recorded for the same period a year earlier. The quarterly loss, Nomura’s fourth in a row and its worst ever, was spurred on by bad trades and the costs associated with incorporating Lehman Brothers’ Asian, European and Middle East operations, which the bank purchased in 2008.

December 2008: Strong standings On the 2008 Thomson Reuters league tables, Nomura ranked No. 15 in global announced M&A deal volume and No. 12 in completed deal volume, wrapping 181 transactions worth a total of $268 billion. For European dealmaking, Nomura placed No. 14 and No. 12 in announced and completed transaction volume, respectively; in the U.K., it ranked No. 11 in announced deal volume and No. 7 in completed mergers and acquisition volume. Nomura also made the top 10 for completed deals in France, Spain, Germany and Italy, but lingered at No. 20 for completed M&A deal volume in the Nordic region, and No. 14 in the Benelux countries.

October 2008: Another downer Nomura posted its third consecutive quarterly loss, booking a net loss of $785.6 million for its fiscal second quarter. The loss was worse than the $126 million loss the firm posted for the same period a year earlier. Nomura’s revenue also fell, decreasing by 28 percent to $1.38 billion. The poor results were due largely to international fallout from the credit collapse and market conditions causing traders to curb activity.

September 2008: Picking up Lehman Nomura Holdings agreed to purchase Lehman Brothers’ Asian, Middle Eastern and European investment banking arms, shortly after the U.S. firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Nomura’s $225 million bid for the ailing firm’s Asian piece won out over other interested parties, including rumored interest from Standard Chartered. (The price tag for the European and Middle Eastern arms was not disclosed, but Nomura called it “nominal.”) Lehman has a sizable presence in Asia, with 3,000 employees and a No. 2 Thomson Reuters overall ranking in Asian mergers and acquisitions so far in 2008. In Europe, the firm ranked No. 7 in European M&A so far in 2008.

GETTING HIRED You’ll need to do some digging Finding out about jobs at Nomura is not as easy as it is at most investment banks. Sources say the firm has “a poor graduate recruiting scheme,” and that the hiring process is “not systematic.” Nomura’s main career page does provide links to sites for four geographic areas: Japan, Europe, America, and Asia/Pacific. But while the sites are relatively detailed, information on employment in the Americas is sparse. Nomura advises candidates interested in employment in the U.S. to call the contact human resources department at (212) 667-2310 or fax them at (212) 667-1016


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Worthwhile experience One intern at Nomura was hired after sending a resume, followed by one round of interviewing consisting of “six or seven” meetings, all with “senior professionals” who had a “fairly relaxed” and “polite” interviewing style. Internships at the bank can be a good way for candidates to get an idea of what it’s like to be a full-time banker. One intern was tasked with conducting “extensive analysis into competitors in the biopharma venture capital market, focusing on size of fund, investment objectives, co-investors and market segmentation.” The intern was “praised” for designing “research parameters and appropriate questions,” and for analyzing the research results. The intern “gained excellent communication skills and a key ability to listen to people through in-depth discussions with venture capital managers. Despite the fact that “not that much training” was given, and compensation was “a little under what most interns got paid,” the intern says, “I didn’t feel that they were ripping me off or anything.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Traditions tough to break Nomura is a “friendly” firm where employers are “respectful” and respondents “generally seem happy to work there.” One source says, though, that the culture can be “quite bureaucratic.” There can be a “bit too much red tape everywhere,” due in part to the “risk-adverse, muddled Japanese” culture. One former insider says that the “team often complained about” the way things are run around Nomura. Some have fewer gripes, calling the culture simply “traditional Japanese.” But it’s tough to ignore that “all the very top positions are held by Japanese guys.” One source notes that in the junior ranks, the London office is “fairly diverse,” made up of “Brits, Americans, Asians—though they were Asian Brits—and Aussies.” Management at the firm, aside from being traditional, is described as “disconnected and inexperienced, due to short rotation period and language difficulties.” One source says, “Local managers take advantage of this to build private empires,” and another suspects that “Nomura will never be a world-class firm until they fix this.” Overall, there is a “lack of decision-making ability” among the firm’s senior leaders.

Doing time Some sources say that experiences at Nomura differ drastically among business groups. “There is no movement and no communication between equities and fixed income,” according to one respondent. Another points out that hours at the firm can be tough, while one contact is not happy with working “50 to 60” hours per week, but still manages to “rarely or never” work weekends. Yet another insider, who works 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., says hours are “not that bad,” but points out that “some of the team stays later.” Dress code at Nomura is “smart,” says one source, but the firm allows “casual Fridays” in some locations. Opinions about the firm’s office space vary, with some calling it “nice” and others “wanting more space.” Nomura gets below-average marks on compensation and training, but scores well on receptivity to women, ethnic minorities, and gays and lesbians.

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PRESTIGE RANKING

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ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC

36 St. Andrews Square Edinburgh, EH2 2YB United Kingdom Phone: 44 (0) 131 556 8555 Fax: 44 (0)131 557 6140 www.rbs.com

KEY COMPETITORS Barclays Citigroup HSBC

UPPERS DEPARTMENTS EMEA Retail & Commercial Finance Global Banking & Markets Global Transaction Services RBS Insurance Risk & Restructuring Support Division UK Corporate UK Personal US Retail & Commercial

• “Everyone on the team puts in the hours” • “Friendly and open”

DOWNERS • Company is going through tough times • “It isn’t uncommon to put in 60-hour weeks”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Follow the “careers” link at www.rbs.com

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: RBS (LSE, NYSE) Chairman: Sir Philip Hampton CEO: Stephen Hester 2008 Revenue: £25.86 billion 2008 Net Income: -£24.1 billion No. of Employees: 165,000 (Worldwide) No. of Offices: 2,720 (Worldwide)

THE BUZZ


“Decent firm but struggling” “Game over” “Working for Her Majesty’s Treasury” “Terrible risk management”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc

THE SCOOP Royal in name and lineage The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) was chartered by King George in 1727; at the time, its only rival was the non-royal Bank of Scotland. For the first 50 years of its existence, the Royal Bank operated from a single location in Edinburgh, but in 1783, it opened a branch in Glasgow. By the 1870s, RBS had set up shop in London, and from there it grew rapidly, acquiring a number of English banks and opening a New York office in 1960. More mergers followed in modern times, as RBS swallowed the National Commercial Bank of Scotland in 1969 and celebrated Britain’s biggest bank takeover with the 2000 acquisition of National Westminster Bank (NatWest). Then in 2007, RBS led a consortium to acquire ABN AMRO, marking the biggest bank takeover in the world. The Royal Bank of Scotland has 10 main divisions: U.K. corporate banking, U.S. retail and commercial banking (which offers services through the Citizens and Charter One brands), global banking and markets, risk and restructuring, support (HR, strategy and communications), U.K. personal banking (which operates through the RBS and NatWest brands), RBS Insurance, EMEA retail and commercial banking (through the Ulster Bank brand, global transaction services and finance.

RBS in the U.S. In the U.S., RBS operates its commercial banking activity under the brand names Citizens and Charter One (Citizens acquired Charter One in 2004, a deal that added about 600 branches to its network). Citizens is certainly no newcomer to the U.S.—it’s had a presence in New York, Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles since the 1960s. Today, it has operations in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. Further south, it maintains offices in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. It has about $167 billion in assets, $98 billion in deposits, 23,000 employees and more than 1,450 branches. RBS Asset Finance is a big lessor in America, with over $5 billion in assets. Citizens’ credit card arm, RBS Card Services, is headquartered in Bridgeport, Conn., and provides consumer and commercial credit cards nationwide. RBS Lynk, meanwhile, provides electronic payment processing services. In the U.S., RBS’s global banking and markets group encompasses corporate banking, leveraged finance, project finance, loan and high-yield markets, as well as RBS Greenwich Capital—an institutional fixed-income firm that supplies corporate finance and debt capital markets services. In addition to the U.S., RBS has a presence in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Mexico and Uruguay in the Americas.

The worst is (hopefully) over The Royal Bank of Scotland set a record in fiscal year 2008—but it wasn’t the kind of record any bank wants to set. The bank’s annual loss of over £24 billion represented the biggest annual loss of any corporation in British history. In February 2009, one week after dropping that bombshell, RBS became the first bank to join the British government’s asset protection program for troubled institutions. The asset protection plan allowed RBS to move £325 billion of toxic assets from its global markets division into a taxpayer-backed pool. In exchange, RBS promised the government it would divest itself of any remaining illiquid assets within five years, and vowed to increase lending. It also gave the British Treasury preferred shares worth £19.5 billion. The asset-relief plan was not the first time RBS had turned to the Treasury for help. In October 2008, RBS accepted funds from a £50 billion bailout plan, a move that left the British government with a 70 percent stake in the bank. The events of early 2009 meant that the government’s stake in RBS would rise to nearly 95 percent.

Changes at the top The financial crisis led to a massive shake-up at RBS, as former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin and former Chairman Sir Tom McKillop were deposed in October 2008. Calls for their resignation mounted in as RBS accepted bailout funds from the Treasury; the bank initially brushed off rumors that the two men might leave. It was Goodwin who had built RBS’s reputation as a ruthless, acquisition-hungry predator that wasn’t afraid to eliminate thousands of jobs at a time (his nickname: Fred the Shred). He supervised a megamerger with rival NatWest in 2000 and led the RBS-backed consortium that bid £54 billion for Dutch giant ABN AMRO in 2007, despite early signs of the coming credit crisis. Goodwin also raked in more than £4 million in annual compensation, making him an easy target for shareholders’ ire. In mid-October 2008, RBS announced that Goodwin would resign and be replaced by newcomer Stephen Hester, chief executive of British Land. Chairman McKillop agreed to step down at the RBS annual meeting in April 2009, at which point he was replaced by Sir Philip Hampton. The RBS leaders’ woes didn’t end there: in March 2009, the Times reported that two British council pension funds had retained Cherie Blair to bring a class action suit against Goodwin, McKillop and RBS for the losses they have incurred. The pending suit, which is being brought in class action-friendly American courts, is open to all RBS investors in Europe and the United States.

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Circling the wagons With new management secured and the Treasury’s toxic asset plan in place, in early 2009, RBS hunkered down to plan its way back to profitability. According to announcements made in February, the bank plans to cease operations in 36 of the 54 countries in which it currently works. It also intends to realise a one-sixth reduction in costs. Putting a number on that would mean about £2.5 billion in costs cut from RBS’s worldwide operations over the next three to five years. As a preliminary step, in April 2009, the bank announced deep rounds of cuts that would impact 9,000 jobs, 4,500 of them in the U.K. These layoffs came on top of the approximately 6,000 job cuts that took place in smaller rounds earlier in the year and in 2008. Although specific details were not provided, RBS said the layoffs would have the most impact in its group manufacturing division.

One thing after another RBS’s financial problems in 2007 and 2008 were centered in its global banking and markets (GBM) division, which carries out the firm’s investment banking operations. One of the biggest blows was a goodwill impairment charge of over £15 billion, fallout from the 2007 purchase of ABN AMRO. (Critics of the ambitious acquisition got their “I told you so” moment, as did critics of former CEO Sir Fred Goodwin, who spurred the purchase to fruition.) The ABN AMRO impairments were accompanied by yet another £6.5 billion credit impairment loss in fiscal year 2008, £3 billion of which stemmed from GBM. The firm was also forced to write down approximately £8 billion on its exposure to structured credit vehicles, including collateralised debt obligations. As if that weren’t enough, RBS was also heavily exposed to the $50 billion frauds perpetrated by U.S. trader Bernie Madoff. This exposure stands to cost RBS at least £400 million.

IN THE NEWS May 2009: A steep loss with a glimmer of hope Royal Bank of Scotland posted a $1.29 billion net loss for the first quarter 2009, compared with a profit of about $368 million for the previous year’s first quarter. As a cause for the losses, the bank cited $4.3 billion in write-downs on the value of assets (steeper than the $986 million in write-downs it made during the first quarter 2008). Meanwhile, revenue increased 26 percent to $14.5 billion, partially attributed to the 97 percent boost in profits at the firm’s investment bank. However, CEO Stephen Hester warned against overenthusiasm, saying, “We expect credit conditions to continue to deteriorate over the next few quarters,” adding that “there will be a slowdown in financial market activity compared with the very buoyant conditions seen in Q1.”

May 2009: Finance chief resigns RBS said its CFO Guy Whittaker will be resigning from the board immediately and officially departing from the firm in October 2009. Whittaker is the 13th member of the board to leave after the bank accepted a capital injection from the government in late 2008. Whittaker will be staying on while he helps find his successor, RBS said.

April 2009: Destruction in London On April 1, 2009, protesters demonstrating against the Group of 20 summit meeting targeted the Royal Bank of Scotland in London and other banks. About 4,000 people in total demonstrated at what they termed “Financial Fool’s Day” in the city, vandalizing property and outnumbering police forces. A closed RBS building became the object of distinct rage, as protesters broke windows, tossed office equipment out the windows and sprayed graffiti on the branch walls. RBS, in particular, has riled fury in many after receiving a bailout from the U.K. government while ex-RBS CEO Fred Goodwin walked away from his post with a $1.2 million annual pension.

April 2009: More deep cuts RBS said it would initiate up to 9,000 job cuts, including about 4,500 in the U.K., over the course of the next two years. The new cuts, which followed the 2,700 redundancies it already made in 2009, will mostly affect the bank’s back-office operations such as its technology and call center divisions. Hoping to shrink costs by $3.7 billion, RBS said the actual amount of jobs cut could be “significantly lower” due to the bank’s plan to move workers into new positions. In a statement, CEO Stephen Hester said the bank had “set a new strategy [to return] to standalone strength as soon as practicable,” adding that “unfortunately, that means taking difficult decisions about jobs.”


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March 2009: They’re outta there RBS said it planned to cut back to focus on its core businesses—mostly banking within the retail and commercial sectors in U.K. and the U.S.—and remove its banking presence from 36 countries. RBS plans to put its retail and commercial banking units in Asia, central and east Europe on the auction block, and is considering selling off Charter One bank wholly or in divisions.

March 2009: Pension-related attacks Ex-RBS CEO Sir Fred Goodwin’s property was vandalized following news that he would be keeping his $24.89 million pension package. The attackers broke several windows of Goodwin’s Edinburgh home and of a Mercedes Benz parked in his driveway. An email, purportedly sent from his attackers, read, “We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money, and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless. This is a crime. Bank bosses should be jailed.” Goodwin was ousted from his position in October 2008 as the bank posted its largest loss in its history (about $35.5 billion). Fortunately for Goodwin, he was not living in Edinburgh during the attacks.

February 2009: An unenviable record The Royal Bank of Scotland reported the largest annual loss in the history of U.K. companies. The bank posted a $34.2 billion loss for 2008 compared with a profit of about $10.4 billion in 2007. The loss, while less than analysts expected, still shocked markets and caused the bank to be the first to join the U.K. government’s asset protection program, which will help to insure RBS assets up to $462 billion.

January 2009: Getting out of China Following months of speculation, Royal Bank of Scotland sold off its stake in Bank of China for $2.37 billion. (After the sale, Bank of China’s shares closed 2.7 percent higher.) RBS, which had mulled selling the Bank of China stake since October 2008, followed similar moves by other banks. Prior to the sale, UBS and Hong Kong-based billionaire Li Ka-shing both sold shares in Bank of China, and Bank of America sold $2.8 billion of its stake in China Construction Bank.

January 2009: A new chief Stephen Hester took over the CEO position at RBS from Fred Goodwin, who announced his retirement from the post in November 2008. Filling big shoes is a move that comes naturally to Hester, who also stepped in to replace Sir John Ritblat as CEO of property company British Land in 2006. But one move Hester likely won’t want to replicate as CEO is another call to the U.K. government. Under Goodwin, who said in 2006 that the taxes RBS pays help support government and public services, the firm received a government bailout to the tune of $28 billion, a figure outweighing the taxes the firm paid during that timeframe.

December 2008: Still hanging on Troubles notwithstanding, RBS managed to hold its own on the Thomson Reuters banking league tables for 2008. In 2008 worldwide announced M&A by volume, the firm ranked No. 16, slipping three spots from its rank for 2007. In the U.S., the firm ranked No. 20 in announced M&A volume, a one spot fall versus 2007. In European announced M&A, RBS also ranked No. 20 for announced deals, quite a dive compared to its finish at No. 11 in 2007. And in announced U.K. M&A, RBS ranked No. 17, down three spots versus 2007.

November 2008: More write-downs to come The Royal Bank of Scotland said it will face more write-downs in the near future, including during the fourth quarter 2008, even as it took $32.5 billion of emergency capital from its government and from investors. Soon-to-be CEO Stephen Hester said he wants the bank to be able to return to paying dividends in 2010. In order to do this, RBS would have to buy back billion of government preference shares.

November 2008: RBS to cut 3,000 According to sources inside the Royal Bank of Scotland, the firm is expected to layoff as many as 3,000 insiders in its global banking and markets unit (about 15 percent of its staff). The cuts, likely to take place over a few-month period, will mainly affect leveraged loans, asset-backed securities and corporate lending.

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GETTING HIRED Here and abroad Candidates looking for a job with Citizens should check out the careers section of the company website (www.citizensbank.com), which has information about career opportunities and life at the bank, as well as answers to a list of frequently asked questions. For jobs with RBS’s global markets group, you can check the careers link on the RBS website and read about opportunities by location (including the U.S.). Recent grads wishing to check out opportunities in Europe or elsewhere should also go to the RBS site. RBS gas graduate and internship programs throughout the Americas, Asia and Europe. Candidates should have “boundless energy and bags of enthusiasm,” according to the firm, which also values fluency in a second European language and, of course, previous work experience.

Face the challenge In general, the interview process for banking positions tends to take place in “two stages: one that’s based more around fit questions and another that’s based more around competency.” The interviews “are usually two-on-one,” and the questions are “challenging and based on scenarios, actions and results.” But don’t fret too much about the toughness. Though “they do try and stretch you, they also try to get the right information out of you.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Walk the extra mile The bank’s culture places an emphasis on “delivering as a team with exceptional standards” and “pushes to be market leader in all its markets.” It’s also “friendly and open,” and “everyone in the office works extremely hard—because there is an emphasis on teamwork, people are happy to go the extra mile.” And workers actually enjoy each other’s company, it seems. “There are company social activities—everyone seems to get along extremely well with each other,” reports one insider. There’s also a focus on teamwork when it comes to hours spent in the office. Since “everyone on the team puts in the hours, it really doesn’t feel like an issue.” Hours vary, but, “if the pressure is on to meet a project deadline, it isn’t uncommon to put in 60-hour weeks and come in on the odd weekend.”

Add it up It pays to look at the big picture when it comes to compensation, insiders report. “They may not pay huge salaries like some other firms, but when the package is totaled up, it works out to be pretty competitive.” And “pension contributions are paid at 15 percent of base salary—I have not heard of many better offers than this,” admits one respondent. On its website, the firm also offers perks ranging from pet insurance to the option of buying or selling a week of allotted vacation during the bank’s annual benefits enrollment. There are few complaints when it comes to the dress code, too. Although attire is “business casual in many areas,” formal dress is only required “if there is a meeting with a third party.”

Credit where credit is due An ironclad pecking order is something that’s conspicuously absent within the bank, sources say. “It was difficult to notice much of a hierarchy, because the work station of the head of the department was the same as mine.” And while “the workload can be very demanding at times, management is good at recognizing commitment with either a quick email to the team or a social event covered by the company.” And the bank doesn’t leave workers out in the cold when it comes to their personal development. There’s a “seemingly unlimited budget for training, particularly for professional qualifications,” and there’s also the “opportunity to move around the group—they offer training to help you reach your goals, even if they do not sit in your existing business area.” Advancing within the firm is “based on your performance and displayed behaviors, so it is as meritocratic of an environment as you can expect in a large organization.” Diversity is a near-tangible concept at the firm, contacts say. “It was extremely diverse, as I would hear several different languages every day.” One insider adds that “a lot of the people that I worked with had MBAs from top U.S. business schools, but it seemed like there were analysts from all over the world.”


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CHASE COMMERCIAL BANK

270 Park Avenue New York, NY 10017 Phone: (212) 270-6000 Fax: (212) 270-2613 www.chase.com

UPPERS • “Exciting” workplace • Good benefits

DOWNERS DEPARTMENTS Business Credit Commercial Real Estate Corporate Banking Equipment Leasing Middle Market Banking

• “Lots of politics” • Not-so-great pay

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT careers.jpmorganchase.com

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO: Todd Maclin 2008 Revenue: $2.9 billion 2008 Net Income: $1 billion No. of Employees: 5,000+ No. of Offices: 73 (US)

THE BUZZ


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“Premier commercial bank” “Not challenging, bureaucratic” “Great management” “Poor service”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Chase Commercial Bank

THE SCOOP Diverse services Chase Commercial Bank, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase, operates along five business lines. Its middle market banking division, which includes over 600 bankers and 700 service professionals, serves companies with annual revenues ranging from $10 million to $500 million, offering everything from investment banking to cash management and credit. Companies with annual revenue of between $500 million and $2 billion turn to the corporate banking division for traditional banking services and select investment banking products; Chase corporate bankers serve these clients through a partnership with J.P. Morgan’s investment banking teams. Meanwhile, the business credit, commercial real estate and equipment leasing divisions provide structured asset financing (including loan structuring, syndication and collateral analysis); commercial banking for real estate investors and developers; and equipment financing, respectively.

Yeah, we do that All told, Chase Commercial Bank’s more than 5,000 employees work with over 26,000 clients, including financial institutions, municipalities, corporations and nonprofit entities, in 22 states. Chase can boast that it’s the No. 2 middle market lender in the U.S. and the country’s No. 1 assetbased lender. It’s also the top commercial bank in its retail branch footprint, which reaches from New York to Arizona. And, perhaps most important, thanks to several recent monstrous mergers on its parent’s part, Chase Commercial Bank is part of one of the world’s biggest financial services firms: JPMorgan Chase has nearly 220,000 employees in more than 60 countries and total assets of approximately $2.2 trillion. Chase Commercial has industry expertise in nearly two dozen sectors, including financial institutions, health care, art galleries, cultural institutions, labor unions, automotive, entertainment, jewelry and apparel, theaters, sports, technology, funds managers, lawyers and law firms, associations, nonprofits, municipal governments, associations, social services organizations, Native American tribes, public companies, higher education, restaurants and restaurant suppliers, and specialty retail.

Plenty of clout Parent JPMorgan Chase is one of the great legends of U.S. banking history, with roots that date back to 1824, when the Chemical Bank of New York was formed. Over the decades JPMC incorporated or otherwise evolved from First Chicago, the National Bank of Detroit, Manufacturers Hanover, Bank One, Chase Manhattan and the original J.P. Morgan & Company. A 1996 merger between Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank formed the country’s then-biggest bank holding company, which subsequently merged with J.P. Morgan & Co. to form JPMorgan Chase. The new powerhouse was led at first by J.P. Morgan CEO William B. Harrison. In 2004, JPMorgan Chase combined with Bank One, which had been created in 1998 by the merger of Banc One Corp. and First Chicago. In 2006, former Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon became chairman and CEO.

Buying Bear Less than two years later, in March 2008, when legendary financial institution Bear Stearns crumpled under the pressure of the credit crisis, JPMorgan Chase was standing by to pick up the pieces—literally. In May 2008, JPMorgan Chase announced that it had completed its acquisition of Bear Stearns; under the terms of the deal, each share of Bear was converted into 0.21753 shares of JPMorgan Chase common stock. Bear’s fall sent shockwaves through the banking industry, and U.S. regulatory agencies went to extraordinary lengths to smooth the acquisition effort and subsequent transitions. In July 2008, the Federal Reserve allowed JPMorgan Chase to purchase a $44 billion portfolio of derivative transactions and hedges—including Bear Stearns Forex and Bear Stearns Credit Products—from the remains of Bear Stearns, which it already owned. Under normal circumstances, a buy that big would be prohibited by rules governing asset sales between banks and their affiliate companies. The Fed also exempted JPMorgan Chase from regulations governing its transactions with Maiden Lane, a limited liability company constructed with the New York Fed to hold some of Bear Stearns’ assets.

Rescuing WaMu Another bank’s failure resulted in a major acquisition for JPMorgan Chase. Washington Mutual Bank, the country’s biggest savings and loan, collapsed in spectacular fashion: it was shut down by the Office of Thrift Supervision, placed into FDIC receivership and awarded the dubious title of “largest American bank failure.” Once more, JPMorgan Chase was there to pick up the debris, acquiring WaMu’s 2,200 branches and its $135 billion in deposits for $1.836 billion. However, the deal also saddled JPMorgan Chase with WaMu’s extensive portfolio of tanking mortgage-backed investments. To fortify its capital reserves against write-downs and losses associated with the acquisition—nearly $31 billion to start—JPMorgan Chase quickly raised $10 billion through a stock


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sale. WaMu branches, which reopened for business upon completion of the acquisition, are undergoing a rebranding process that’s slated to be complete by the end of 2009. Was snatching WaMu from the brink of disaster a risky move for JPMorgan Chase? Perhaps, but the two banks had history: in March 2008, JPMorgan Chase had made an unsuccessful $8 per share offer for the savings and loan. So, in the end, JPMorgan Chase got what it wanted, including WaMu’s coveted West Coast branch network and the distinction of being the nation’s biggest bank (finally surpassing Bank of America).

IN THE NEWS February 2009: A new wave of cuts JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it will slash 12,000 positions—about 2,800 more than it previously estimated—as part of its integration of Washington Mutual. JPMorgan Chase also said it plans to save about $2.75 billion from the incorporation of WaMu. The announcement came two days after JPMorgan Chase decided to cut its dividend by 87 percent in order to save $5 billion annually.

January 2009: Impact on the bottom line For the final quarter of 2008, Chase Commercial Bank reported revenue of $1.4 billion and net income of $480 million, a 67 percent increase from the same period in the previous year. The reason for this success in the midst of an economic meltdown was largely due to higher net revenue, thanks to the WaMu acquisition. Chase’s middle market banking division had a particularly good quarter, bringing in $796 million (an increase of $101 million from the previous year). Average loan balances skyrocketed to $117.7 billion, a 63 percent increase from the previous quarter and an 80 percent increase from the same quarter in the previous year. Chase Commercial also saw its overhead ratio drop in the quarter, going from 46 percent to 34 percent.

December 2008: Still lending As concern about the U.S. financial system accelerated in the final days of 2008, Chase Commercial and JPMorgan Chase rushed to assure customers—and the government—that they were, indeed, keeping credit flowing into the economy. JPMorgan Chase announced that it had increased its loan commitments by 33 percent, compared to 2007, including $5 billion in loans specifically for health care companies, nonprofits and government units. Chase Commercial Bank CEO Todd Maclin pointed to a children’s hospital in Chicago, which was breaking ground for a new, $900 million building. In conjunction with a $552 million bond issue, Chase Commercial Bank provided a $196 million mixed-use credit facility. “We have expanded and will continue to expand our lending to existing clients while beginning new relationships with others,” said Maclin. “Lending to these organizations helps both them and our communities.”

GETTING HIRED Sell yourself Chase is “very selective” when it comes to hiring, only bringing in “individuals who are highly qualified and have great skills.” Indeed, “the effort they put into the process shows—they screen well and they have a return of reliable and hardworking people.” One source says the interview process “consisted of a pre-interview dinner with senior bankers” and “one interview with two senior bankers at my school.” The questions the firm likes to ask are largely behavioral in nature, such as “give me an example of when you were a leader,” “describe how you’ve worked in a team environment” and “name three things you like and dislike.” You may also get asked questions regarding “what classes you’ve taken.” “They asked me a wide range of questions,” explains a source, “from working in teams to ideas on how to improve the bank from an outsider’s perspective.” Occasionally there’s also “one written test” and “one group activity observed by the managers.”

Fit in Expect at least three rounds of interviews that will “help determine candidates who have the best fit.” So “always remember to be prepared to discuss what the firm does and how your department contributes to the firm’s bottom line—the answer is not always a financial one.” Questions might “target your skill and ability to deal with the scope and complexity of the diverse enterprises that make up the firm.” Interviewers “want to partly know if you’re good at your job—but more importantly, they want to know if you can function in the environment.” But interviews “aren’t necessarily hard or nervewracking” and seem based largely on fit. “I was asked about my motivations, knowledge of the banking industry, and why I chose to attend the university I did,” reports one insider. You may also be asked “is money or enjoyment more your objective in this position?” During the interview, you can also expect to be asked about “what you are looking for” in a position and “what your ambitions are.” They’re also likely to “see what you know

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about banking” through testing and questions. Interviewers may also “ask what your ambitions are and see if they can be filled by the company.” One insider says “my interview and hiring process was very down to earth and professional, adding “I felt welcomed and relieved that I wasn’t made to feel like I was food for an ant eater.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Exciting times Chase provides an “exciting,” “fun” and “challenging workplace,” respondents say. The bank also provides a “highly ethical,” “very relaxed,” “very open” “great” environment with a “flat structure.” “All the employees are helpful and treat everybody with respect.” Workers at the firm “get the work done when they need to get it done, but they try to have fun and interact with other people while doing it.” You’re also “given responsibility early in your career” within a flat structure—”you can go into anyone’s office and ask them for help.” And the firm trims the fat where it can—”we are goaloriented to cut costs and achieve results while being a diverse firm that provides the best financial services.” While there can be “lots of politics,” insiders generally give the overall company culture high marks.

Layer after layer Insiders report mixed feelings regarding management. One insider says there are “too many layers of management,” although he concedes that “it is easy to see how unproductive the bureaucracy can be.” Another contact concedes that “in the nearly five years I’ve worked at Chase, I’ve reported to 12 different managers,” but adds that “you have to embrace change and get used to the manager shuffle that goes on there.” And while there are also “people there who have managed to hold onto the same position and job for long periods of time,” “even they cycle through many managers.” But there is also “constant team-building throughout the firm—not just managers paying lip service to corporate mandates.” “Managers were flattered when you reached out to them,” one insider. Expect to work mixed hours, too. Although most employees “leave at 5 p.m.,” there is a “strong group of people who stay late.” In spite of this, “hours are flexible” and “many work from home on Fridays.” Mostly, “as long as you get your work done and make your meetings, it’s not mandatory to be in the building.” (Of course, “if your team worked with a remote group in India, you would need to be at work by 8:30 for conference calls, but “if you are not working with a remote team, it would be very feasible to show up at 10.”) And “turbulent market conditions” frequently make for longer hours, one insider confesses. For the most part, the dress code is a “generally business casual” one when client meetings aren’t involved, where “slacks and a button-down” become many employees’ standard dress. Depending on the department, however, “some would go quite casual with dark tennis shoes and rolled up sleeves— but most stick with the standard.”

Mixed bag One thing insiders aren’t particularly keen on, however, is the pay. “Poor compensation” is an issue, according to insiders. It’s not all about cold hard cash, though—the company also offers “full benefits,” “four weeks’ vacation” and “five personal and six sick days.” “You also have the opportunity to buy company stock at a 5 percent discount.” As far as advancing goes, opportunities happen “pretty much through the grapevine.” “You get to know people and they ask your superior if they could acquire you for their team.”

Diversity is mandatory Insiders call the diversity at the firm “amazing.” Diversity efforts put forth by Chase include “mandatory group sessions that used large physical maps that included details like what the diversity mix will be in 2050,” says one insider. Another contact adds that “people from all races and socioeconomic levels work hand in hand at the firm.”

The future The outlook for the firm is “strong,” maybe because the firm is “highly regarded.” Chase is “seen as the only bank lately that can add value to shareholders,” says one insider. Indeed, it’s “the only publicly owned bank that can utilize its size and strength to lend credibility in shaky times.” It’s also “very well positioned relative to other banks suffering from credit write-downs and liquidity issues.”


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DRESDNER KLEINWORT*

*Folded into Commerzbank AG’s corporates and markets division on September 1, 2009; the Dresdner Kleinwort name was dropped 1301 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212) 969-2700 www.commerzbank.com/newCM

KEY COMPETITORS Credit Suisse Deutsche Bank Lazard

UPPER • Friendly people

BUSINESSES Capital Markets Equity & Credit Derivatives Financing & Securities Management Fixed Income, Currencies & Commodities Global Distribution Global Equities Hedge Fund Solutions Research

DOWNER • Workdays can be long

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT “A career” at www.commerzbank.com

Global Banking Global Finance Global Loans & Transaction Services Strategic Advisory

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of Commerzbank AG CEO: Stefan Jentzsch No. of Employees: 5,500 No. of Offices: 35

THE BUZZ


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“Formidable competitor” “Commerzbank tarnishes their once pristine image” “Niche player” “Don’t do much in North America”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Dresdner Kleinwort

THE SCOOP Recent history The investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort is now a part of Germany’s second-biggest bank, Commerzbank, which closed its acquisition of Dresdner Bank (Dresdner Kleinwort’s former parent) in January 2009. Currently, Dresdner Kleinwort operates through two main business groups: global banking and capital markets. It offers services such as advisory, financing and cash management to corporations, as well as trading and research to institutional investors. Dresdner Kleinwort has European headquarters in London and Frankfurt, and American offices in Boston and New York City.

Its new parent Commerzbank has a presence in 50 countries around the world, employing approximately 40,000 people, of which more than a third work outside its native Germany. The bank’s total private and business customer base of 8.5 million includes more than half a million corporate customers, and the bank’s network encompasses more than 5,000 “correspondent banks” worldwide. Commerzbank’s business structure is divided into four main units: corporate banking, retail banking, real estate banking and institutions. The services offered by the corporate banking division include financing, transaction management, investment, foreign business, risk management consulting.

Before Commerzbank In 1995, Dresdner Bank took over British investment bank Kleinwort Benson, creating Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. In 2001, the entity took over American investment bank Wasserstein Perella—a firm that was highly reputed for its debt capital markets expertise. The two investment banks were merged to form Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Shortly after that deal closed, German insurance conglomerate Allianz bought Dresdner—and its subsidiaries—for a whopping $22 billion. The famous dealmaker Bruce Wasserstein subsequently left the firm, but it was only in 2006 that the investment bank dropped the Wasserstein part of its name and rebranded itself as Dresdner Kleinwort; this coincided with the integration of Dresdner’s corporate banking operations. (Bruce Wasserstein is now the head of Lazard but his name remains associated with the private equity firm Wasserstein & Company, which he originally helped found). In addition to a global headquarters in Frankfurt, Dresdner Kleinwort was given a second European headquarters in the financial capital of London where, through its capital markets, corporate finance and origination business lines, the firm’s long list of pan-European clients were provided with investment banking products and services. Dresdner Kleinwort quickly developed a strong position in its core home market of Germany and adopted home market of the U.K. Within only a few years of its creation, Dresdner Kleinwort had offices in more than 35 countries and a staff of over 6,000 employees. Dresdner Kleinwort also boasted particular expertise in the realm of European renewables (such as wind, solar, bio-energy and fuel cells). Despite its name recognition around the world, the firm hasn’t performed well as of late, largely due to the worldwide financial crisis, and Commerzbank plans to contract rather than expand the investment banking capabilities once provided by Dresdner Kleinwort. (By May 2009, most of the Londonbased corporate and investment banking businesses serving non-German clients had been phased out.) In addition, once Dresdner Bank is fully integrated, the Dresdner Kleinwort name will likely be retired.

Award time Dresdner Kleinwort raked in a number of awards in 2008, in recognition of its many deals: Project Finance Magazine named its financing of Macquarie’s acquisition of Puget Energy (it supplied $3.6 billion of the $7.6 billion agreement) a deal of the year; The Banker recognizes the Enel/Acciona €42.52 billion acquisition of Endesa as a deal of the year for Spain; and Mergermarket recognized its advisory of Schaeffler Group’s €22.9 billion takeover of Continental.

IN THE NEWS May 2009: Deutsche’s new acquisition Deutsche Bank agreed to buy up Dresdner Bank’s Global Agency Securities Lending unit from Commerzbank AG. The business will be incorporated into Deutsche Bank’s Trust & Securities Services unit. Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, the deal is estimated to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2009.

September 2009: Moniker change The Dresdner Kleinwort was officially disco ntinued, following Commerzbank’s acquisition of Dresdner earlier in 2009. Going forward, former Dresdner Kleinwort employees will fall under the Mittelstandsbank division of Commerzbank or its corporates and markets unit, and Commerzbank will be the brand that relates to all investment banking aspects of the former Dresdner.


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February 2009: More layoffs in London About 150 London-based Dresdner Kleinwort staff members in equity research and cash equities were made redundant. In addition, it was revealed the bank would no longer be covering non-German companies.

January 2009: Shakedown Commerzbank closed on its $14.2 billion acquisition of Dresdner Kleinwort’s parent bank, Dresdner, from Allianz. Twenty-five percent of Commerzbank is presently held by the German government, and the sale spells uncertain times for Dresdner Kleinwort; according to Reuters, Commerzbank plans to scale back Kleinwort to focus on German companies and retail clients.

January 2009: And then there was one All but one member of the executive committee that ran Dresdner Kleinwort stepped down, following Commerzbank’s takeover. Only Berent Wallendahl, former head of client coverage at the firm’s global banking unit, remains—as head of client relationship management. He’s joined by Ralf Werres, not previously a member of the executive committee but the only other Dresdner banker who will hold a top executive role as head of institutional sales. Notably, chief executive Stefan Jentzsch and COO Badouin Croonenberghs did not make the cut.

January 2009: The full list Including CEO Stefan Jentzsch and COO Badouin Croonenberghs, the following executives from Dresdner Kleinwort departed, according to Reuters: Head of capital markets and head of equity and credit derivatives Jens-Peer Neumann, head of global banking Alberto Piedro, M&A specialist and head of strategic advisor John McIntyre, head of global finance Bertrand Pinel, head of global loans and transaction services William Fish, head of hedge fund solutions and head of global equities Martin Newson, head of principal investments Thomas Roeder, head of emerging markets Mike Adams, head of fixed income, currencies and commodities Eddie Listorti, head of global distribution Stefan Guetter, and head of research Colin Philips.

December 2008: Dresdner gets results According to Thomson Reuters, Dresdner Kleinwort ranked No. 22 in worldwide announced M&A deal volume for 2008, working on 37 deals worth $73.9 billion. The firm also ranked No. 17 in European announced M&A deal volume, with 36 deals worth $72.6 billion. Additionally, in its 2008 middle market M&A league tables, Thomson Reuters named Dresdner Kleinwort No. 15 in European announced transactions with values up to $100 million, No. 20 in European announced deals up to $500 million and No. 15 for announced U.K. deals up to $500 million.

December 2008: Fact meets fiction Former Dresdner Kleinwort banker Geraint Anderson published Cityboy: Beer and Loathing in the Square Mile in the U.K. Anderson revealed his identity shortly before the book was published; he previously wrote a column about his job at the investment bank for the London Times. Anderson logged 12 years at Dresdner where he was, according to the paper, a “star stock analyst.” The book was serialized in the Times and also became a national bestseller. “Everybody sells their soul to the devil,” writes Anderson in Cityboy, describing the narrator’s first job interview. “I just decided that I’d get a damn good price for mine.”

December 2008: Cutting back It was revealed that Commerzbank would be shrinking Dresdner Kleinwort’s U.K. M&A business and cutting 1,200 of a total 3,300 London-based staff

July 2008: HBOS tanks Dresdner Kleinwort and Morgan Stanley underwrote the $8 billion rights issue of HBOS, Britain’s biggest home lender, in an effort to help the bank raise much-needed capital. But only 8.3 percent of its shares sold, leaving the two banks with 3.8 billion pounds of stock to sell. The disappointing turnout may have ramifications beyond HBOS, according to The New York Times. The “anemic” response to the rights issue, the paper said, may have made it “more difficult and costly for other banks to raise capital just when they need it most.”

GETTING HIRED Casting a wide net Divided into sections for recent graduates and workers who have industry experience, the “careers” segment of www.dresdnerkleinwort.com offers listings for job seekers in several stages of their professional lives. Like many of its investment banking brethren, DKIB looks for candidates primarily

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from top-tier business programs and universities, including “all the Ivy League schools, Chicago, Northwestern, NYU and Stanford,” as well as Oxford, Cambridge and several other schools in the U.K. The firm posts its full schedule of recruitment events on its website, which also allows all interested candidates to submit analyst and associate applications online. DKIB also offers current undergraduates a way to get their foot in the door with summer internships. The company’s New York office has positions available in its corporate finance and advisory division. The 12-week internships are open to students completing their junior year. Internships are also offered in the Frankfurt and London offices. In addition to the U.S., DKIB also offers opportunities for experienced hires in Spain, Germany and select countries in Asia.

Conjure up your expertise “The first rule is that anything on your resume is fair game,” cautions one insider. “If you were an economics major, be prepared to sound like an expert in the area.” Also, “understand basic valuation and accounting questions.” “Fit is the most important thing here,” say current insiders about the interviewing process. Prospective new hires should expect DKIB’s interview process to last two or three rounds, with the final round held “Super Saturday” style (multiple back-to-back interviews) at the firm’s offices. Meetings may be two-on-one, where two DKIB professionals will ask a candidate a variety of finance, accounting and fit questions (such as “Why banking?”). “Interviews were fairly in-depth and difficult,” says a current source, with questions ranging from the personal to the technical, “[but] I was impressed with the people I met.” DKIB offers candidates its own advice when it comes to the interview process. “Have a sense of confidence during the interview,” says an associate, “but if you don’t sound genuine, no one will take a chance on you.” Also, the firm says, “It pays to be informed.” According to DKIB, interviewees should do their research for two reasons: “First, it’s obviously in your own interests to find out as much as possible about the place where you may be spending most of your waking hours. Secondly, employers will expect you to show an awareness of the company and the industry in the interview.” DKIB’s web site (check out “useful information”) provides detailed information on the best places to look to get the lowdown on companies. It also gives a brief rundown of equity markets and money markets.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Commendable culture By and large, sources enjoy the company culture, which they refer to as “friendly” and “team- and goal-oriented.” “Culture among junior bankers is great,” confirms an insider, who also praises the business casual dress code. “People are nice. It’s a very open and international corporate culture.” One contact says that at night, “people will typically eat together or watch TV in a conference room. Everyone knows everyone.” Salaries could definitely stand to be bumped up, insiders report. DKIB “pays at or slightly below the Street, which is a big difference from the days of Wasserstein Perella, which compensated well above.” Meanwhile, the workdays for junior people can be long, but employees don’t have to work unnecessary hours. As for the actual work, junior personnel tend to assume relatively high levels of responsibility. DKIB is “definitely looking for people who can work hard, people who understand the differences between the small firm and a large firm,” says a source. “It’s not a firm where you can sort of hide in the corner and do one small part of a deal.”


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BNP PARIBAS SA

16, boulevard des Italiens 75009 Paris, France Phone: +33-1-40-14-45-46 Fax: +33-1-40-14-69-73 www.bnpparibas.com

DEPARTMENTS

KEY COMPETITORS Credit Agricole HSBC Holdings Societe Generale

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT careers.bnpparibas.com

Corporate & Investment Banking Investment Solutions Retail Banking

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: BNP (Euronext Paris) CEO: Badouin Prot 2008 Revenue: €27.4 billion 2008 Profit: €3.02 billion No. of Employees: 205,000 No. of Offices: Locations in 83 countries

THE BUZZ


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“Strong in Europe” “Third-rate” “Innovative culture” “No US presence”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition BNP Paribas SA

THE SCOOP Leader of the pack BNP Paribas is the largest bank in France and the fifth largest in the world based on annual revenue. In 2008, BNP Paribas was named Global Bank of the Year by The Banker magazine, the eighth safest bank in the world by Global Finance and the 13th-largest company in the world by Forbes. In 2009, Brand Finance named BNP Paribas the world’s eighth top banking brand. In addition to enviably strong European operations, the banking powerhouse has a solid and growing international presence, spanning 83 countries, with strong operations in both the United States and Asia. The banking group’s total employee network worldwide boasts more than 205,000 employees, of which 165,000 are in Europe. BNP Paribas can trace its roots back to the early 1800s, though the modern day version of the bank began to take form in 1966, when Comptoir National d’Escompte de Paris and Banque Nationale pour le Commerce et l’Industrie united to form Banque National de Paris (BNP). The Paribas Group was formed in 1988 after many (notorious) years of French nationalization and reorganization; the group included the Banque Paribas, compagnie Financiere de Paribas and Compagnie Bancaire. In 1999, after the French financial markets authorities gave BNP the green light, it took control of the Paribas Group, creating one of the largest financial institutions in Europe. (In case you’re curious, Paribas comes from the phrase “Paris et Pays-Bas,” which means “Paris and The Netherlands.”).

The bricks and mortar of it all BNP Paribas’s international business is comprised of three key divisions: retail banking; corporate and investment banking; and investment solutions. The banking group’s retail banking operations include retail banking both in France and internationally, branch banking, personal finance and BNL Banca Commerciale. The corporate and investment banking business encompasses various divisions, including equities and derivatives, fixed income, corporate finance, structured finance and cash management. The asset management and services business is comprised of private banking, asset management, online savings and trading, securities services, real estate services and insurance.

The American way BNP Paribas North America has U.S. offices in New York, Houston, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas, plus branches that operate under the brand names First Hawaiian and Bank of the West. The vast majority of BNP Paribas employees are based in France and the Eurozone; the bank employs approximately 15,000 people in the United States. A fully registered NASD broker-dealer, BNP Paribas underwrites, trades and markets a wide range of global and domestic fixed-income and equity products in the U.S., and works in tandem with its CooperNeff affiliate on proprietary portfolio strategies. The asset management, private banking and securities group includes BNP Paribas Asset Management, which also maintains an affiliation with American asset manager Fischer Francis Trees & Watts; private banking operations are based in Miami and works frequently with Latin American clients. Brokerage services are located in New York and Chicago, offering clearing, custody and execution on U.S.-listed equity and derivative markets. North American retail banking operations are carried out under the Bank West brand, with over 350 branches in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan. Plagued by recession, the 2008 was tough for BNP Paribas: losses in the third quarter led to tougher risk management in the investment banking division, as well as a 5 percent worldwide staffing reduction (translation: 800 jobs lost). BNP Paribas was also a victim of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, losing $470 million to Madoff’s hedge funds (BNP did not invest directly with Madoff, but had risk exposure to his funds through trading and collateralized lending activities). However, although profitable, BNP Paribas did have an overall tough 2008, not unlike many other financial institutions did. For the year, the bank booked revenue of €27.4 billion and net profit of €3.02 billion, down from €31 billion and €7.82 billion, respectively, in 2007.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Together at last Fortis shareholders finally approved the plan to integrate the firm with BNP Paribas in a meeting that was not too cordial—Fortis management was bombarded with shoes and coins from furious shareholders, who believed the government did not have their best interest in mind. After the shareholders stopped throwing things, the vote passed with 72.99 percent support. The merged group will be one of the biggest in Europe in terms of deposits. Additionally, the combined entity will be the sole Europe-based financial firm with four domestic markets in Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg. The transaction included an interest in Fortis’ insurance business in return


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for assurances against losses and ownership of Fortis’ Luxembourg bank. In addition, the deal will have Fortis taking a 25 percent stake of its Belgian insurance group while BNP Paribas promises financial backing. Previously, a form of the deal had Fortis taking just a 10 percent stake in the insurance unit, but a court decreed that shareholders must be able to vote on the matter.

January 2009: First time for everything BNP admitted it was taking a $1.8 billion total loss for the fourth quarter, its first quarterly loss since BNP Paribas was created in 1999. Net income for the full year was reported to be positive, but just barely, coming in at $3.9 billion. However, the CIB unit is expected to show a pre-tax loss of about $2.6 billion, the result of write-downs and capital markets risks.

December 2008: M&A advances BNP Paribas ranked No. 10 in worldwide announced mergers and acquisitions for 2008, according to the Thomson Reuters league tables; with 120 deals in the pipeline, this was a seven-spot jump from its 2007 rank at No. 17. For worldwide completed M&A BNP Paribas ranked No. 13, again up from No. 17, with 110 deals. In the United States BNP ranked No. 12 and No. 14 in announced and completed deals, respectively, making major moves from its previous positions at No. 45 and No. 47. In addition to its advisory prowess, BNP Paribas was the world’s No. 3 arranger of global project finance loans in 2008, coming in behind RBS and the State Bank of India. In debt markets it was the No. 7 bookrunner for global asset-backed securities, and on the Americas project finance tables, it was the No. 13 mandated arranger and the No. 19 bookrunner.

December 2008: In the bailout line The collapse of American banks made headlines in 2008, but BNP Paribas had its own share of the troubles. A French bank bailout in December allocated $13.9 billion to buy subordinated-debt securities from six of the country’s biggest banks, including BNP Paribas ($3.4 billion), Credit Agricole ($4.0 billion) and Societe Generale ($2.3 billion). BNP Paribas’ stock rose on the news; analysts had feared that it might cost as much as $9.3 billion to prop up its operations. Like the troubled asset relief program in the United States, the French bailout was divided into two tranches, and the second round of funding was expected to be put in action by early 2009. BNP Paribas indicated that it would likely participate in this second round, and if it does, it will be able to choose between selling more bad debt to the French government, or selling the government preferred shares without voting rights. There’s a catch, though. In exchange for bailout funds, participating banks had to promise to increase lending by 3 to 4 percent and to focus on building up capital reserves instead of paying dividends to shareholders. Chief executives also had to agree to give up their 2008 bonuses.

December 2008: Shareholders weigh in A roadblock arose with a court decision that would subject the sale plan to a Fortis shareholder vote. The Belgian government, calling the BNP deal “the best guarantee for continuity of Fortis Bank Belgium,” promised to challenge the Brussels Court of Appeals ruling. As part of the decision, the court ruled that the Belgian government would have to pay Fortis shareholders $6.75 billion if a sale went through before a mid-February meeting. Meanwhile, BNP Paribas acknowledges that the court case will mean the takeover won’t be completed on its original timetable. In an interesting twist, the legal tangles only pertain to 50.1 percent of Fortis’ operations; the remaining 49.9 percent are in the clear, and BNP Paribas plans to proceed with that half of the acquisition.

November 2008: Nice work Managing director Renaud-Frank Falce, who’s credited with building BNP Paribas’ corporate loan business in North America, was named to the 2008 Investment Dealer’s Digest list of “40 Under 40.” Like many BNP Paribas executives, Falce was imported from Europe, but he told the magazine that “I’ve been here for five years now, and I’m looking to stay.” In his 13 years at the bank, Falce recently worked on acquisition financing for Mars Inc.’s $23 billion purchase of William Wrigley Jr. Co.

November 2008: Best of the best BNP Paribas was named Global Bank of the Year by The Banker magazine; it was also awarded Best Bank in Western Europe and Best Bank in France. A Ukrainian subsidiary, UkrSibbank, won Best Bank in Ukraine.

October 2008: Still trying for Fortis European Union regulators approved BNP Paribas’ bid to acquire the Belgian and Luxembourg banking operations of Dutch giant Fortis, which was carved up by buyers earlier in the year. To comply with antitrust rules, BNP Paribas agreed to sell off its BNP Paribas Personal Finance unit in Belgium.

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GETTING HIRED Take responsibility Internship programs are offered in all industry segments and are highly recommended by current BNP Paribas insiders. Specifically, for graduates looking for a position within the investment banking division, “a previous internship in finance is a real advantage,” the firm notes. A former intern says that his experience involved “learning by doing,” provided “good integration” and led to an employment proposal. Another contact calls his internship an “incredible experience for those avid to learn about the financial markets in all its aspects.” And yet another insider who had interned at multiple financial firms in the past calls BNP’s internship “the most organized” of all. International prospects abound on the site, offering potential employees choices from Bahrain to Switzerland. There are also more than 300 possible positions to choose from, spanning every core business in which BNP Paribas operates. To apply for a position, candidates must send a cover letter and resume to the respective regional office in which they want to work; BNP Paribas provides a full list of the appropriate contacts online. The hiring process can be three-tiered: “telephone interview, first meeting and second meeting.” A current insider describes the process: “Generally, human resources will organize meetings with groups of 20 to 30 people, then an individual interview with an HR manager takes place. Then there is another round of three to five interviews with operational managers. The interviews focus on motivation, capacity to evolve in the group and professional behavior.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

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THOMAS WEISEL PARTNERS GROUP, INC.

One Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: (415) 364-2500 Fax: (415) 364-2695 www.tweisel.com

BUSINESSES Asset Management Brokerage Equity Research Investment Banking Private Client Services

KEY COMPETITORS Canaccord Adams Cowen and Company GMP Securities Jefferies JMP Securities Piper Jaffray & Co.

UPPERS • “Very team-oriented” • “Highly intelligent, respectful” management

THE STATS

DOWNERS

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: TWPG (NASDAQ) Founder, Chairman & CEO: Thomas W. Weisel 2008 Revenue: $189.5 million 2008 Net Income: -$98.2 million* No. of Employees: 455 (approx.) No. of Offices: 11

• Culture can be “aggressive” • “70 to 80” hours per week

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Follow the “careers” link at www.tweisel.com

*Non-GAAP net income

THE BUZZ


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“Strong banking boutique” “Lots of ship jumpers” “Strong in West Coast PIPE deals” “Co-manager”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc.

THE SCOOP A public affair Thomas Weisel Partners offers investment banking, asset management, equity research and brokerage services. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco, and has offices in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York, Portland, Calgary, Toronto, London and Zurich. The firm was founded in 1998 by Thomas W. Weisel (Wize-ul), who founded Montgomery Securities 37 years earlier. In 1997, Weisel sold Montgomery to NationsBank for $1.3 billion. When NationsBank merged with BankAmerica to form Bank of America, he left his first firm behind to start another. In his spare time, Weisel serves as the chairman of the USA Cycling Development Foundation Board and sits on the boards of the New York and San Francisco Museums of Modern Art. He also supports his alma mater by serving on the board of the Stanford Endowment Management Committee. Thomas Weisel Partners went public in 2006, launching a self-underwritten IPO. The stock debuted strong and rose 30 percent above its $15 per share offering price on its first day of trading. This strong performance shocked Wall Street insiders who had predicted a less rosy future for the IPO after Goldman Sachs backed out as the underwriter just one month before TWP went public. However, after its successful debut, Thomas Weisel Partners’ stock has been volatile. As of August 2009, it lingered well below its debut price at approximately $4.75 per share.

Tech talk With its emphasis on growth sectors, TWP is a natural host for an annual Tech Conference which examines the future of the technology sector. The event showcases new research and puts venture capitalists and institutional investors in touch with CEOs from hundreds of communications, electronics, IT, semiconductor, software, technology, telecommunications and wireless companies. It also gives TWP a chance to scout future IPO or M&A clients.

Big recent hires TWP benefited from the dislocation in the marketplace, recently hiring several key employees, including 12 senior investment banking professionals and 22 senior brokerage professionals since January 2008. Among those hires were Jason Moran and Ralph Sutton, who joined as managing directors in investment banking focusing on the health care sector. Moran was previously with Piper Jaffray, and Sutton was previously with Bear Stearns. Additionally, Seth Ferguson, previously a managing director and global head of technology M&A at UBS, joined TWP as co-head of mergers and acquisitions, and Christopher Poggi, who worked for J.P. Morgan, joined as a managing director in investment banking focusing on software. On the brokerage side, former Lehman Brothers employee Douglas Leo joined as head of commission management for brokerage.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: Investing in precious metals and mining TWP announced that affiliate Thomas Weisel Asset Management formed a strategic alliance with Geologic Resource Partners, a $330 million investment management company that focuses on investing in the global mining and metals sector. According to a TWP press release, “TWAM will consult and guide GRP in asset gathering, operations, compliance and administration,” and “GRP will assist TWAM in building out its asset management capabilities in the natural resource sector.”

May 2009: A new alliance The firm announced that affiliate Thomas Weisel Asset Management would be forming an alliance with IdealRatings, a company that provides investment services to investors who follow Islamic banking principles (also known as “Shariah compliance”). Through the agreement, funds and accounts will be created that comply with the principles that Shariah-observant investors must follow. IdealRatings will manage this process for TWAM clients.

March 2009: Tough year Thomas Weisel reported $189.5 million in revenue for 2008, down considerably versus 2007, and recorded a net loss of $203.3 million. The reasons for the loss included a good will charge due to acquiring energy and mining-focused investment bank Westwind Partners, non-recurring and non-cash items, and “a dramatic slowdown in capital markets activity,” according to Chairman and CEO Thomas Weisel.


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December 2008: Bright horizon In spite of job cuts and disappointing returns, The Wall Street Journal singled out Thomas Weisel as a company that might prosper during economic recovery. The Motley Fool seconded the Journal’s prediction, calling TWP’s local access to “Silicon Valley finest … a massive advantage.” TWP President Lionel Conacher’s words in his December 2008 interview with The Deal also echo that sentiment: “Somewhere between 10 percent and 20 percent market share in the areas where we do business is up for grabs,” he said. “That’s not to say that we’ll get it all, but we intend to get more than our fair share.”

December 2008: Optimistically opportunistic Thomas Weisel Partners had a rough year. But layoffs, closure of the Mumbai office and net losses did not deter Lionel Conacher, TWP president and COO. Although he acknowledges the challenges his firm has faced over the past year, he says he is optimistic about the possibilities presented by overall contraction of the financial industry. “Historically, in venture-backed IPOs, we would have competed with the Morgan Stanleys of the world,” he told The Deal. “It’s my belief that the bulge-bracket firms are all preoccupied and are going upmarket. Goldman Sachs is getting out of small-cap stocks. Its layoffs have all been in the small-cap area. For firms like us, this creates an opportunity.”

December 2008: Bye-bye, Mumbai The firm’s fund of funds business, based in Mumbai, was acquired by U.S.-based asset manager Guggenheim Partners. According to the terms of the deal, TWP will retain an economic interest in the fund, but no longer control the partnership. Otherwise, TWP closed up shop in India; new products intended to expand the fund will be solely controlled by Guggenheim. Employees of Thomas Weisel Partners in Mumbai—led by KV Dhillion (India Head) and Anand Sunderji (Head of Private Equity)—were taken on by Guggenheim, according to Reuters India. Previously, Weisel had also maintained a 25-member research team in India.

December 2008: More cuts TWP followed up its May 2008 layoffs with an additional round of job cuts, bringing the total laid off to about 27 percent of its employees. “I don’t think we’ve cut muscle or bone,” said COO Lionel F. Conacher in a December 2008 interview with The Deal. “I think we’re right-sized. We had been overbuilt for the market opportunity we had.” He also said that the firm would continue to strategically hire.

May 2008: Firmwide contraction TWP announced that it would cut an eighth of its staff, slashing some 160 jobs—about 20 percent of its workforce.

March 2008: New hires in energy The firm beefed up its energy platform, with the addition of Kurt Molnar, who will cover Canadian oil and gas exploration and production companies; Heather Douglas, who focuses on large capitalization gold mining companies and formerly worked at BMO Capital Markets; and Michael Scialla, who previously worked for A.G. Edwards and who will expand the firm’s Canadian energy expertise into the U.S. Jon Fredericks was also named managing director, responsible for expanding the firm’s trading franchise in the energy sector.

January 2008: Where the Westwind blows Thomas Weisel completed its acquisition of the Toronto-based investment bank Westwind Partners, expanding the company’s reach into Canada. Westwind is an independent firm that specializes in the energy and mining sectors and has offices in Toronto, Calgary and London. Since it was launched in 2002, Westwind has completed 140 investment banking transactions and raised about $17 billion in capital. Thomas Weisel paid $147 million for the Canadian firm. Lionel F. Conacher, former CEO of Westwind Partners was appointed to the position of president of Thomas Weisel Partners as part of the deal. Later in January, Conacher became chief operating officer of TWP, succeeding David Baylor, former COO and CFO. Baylor resigned as COO but agreed to remain as CFO through a transition period. Shaugn Stanley was named interim CFO and later held the CFO role with TWPG from 1998 to 2001.

GETTING HIRED Be a rare breed Thomas Weisel is a firm where “pedigree is important.” Because of that, it’s “very selective in its recruiting process” and “careful to ensure that all hires have the requisite level of experience.” Nevertheless, one insider remarks seeing “some positions remain open for a long time as many candidates are reviewed while other positions that require typically less responsibility or are less teamwork-intensive, are filled quickly.” Regardless, if

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you’re “intelligent, have a good personality and are willing to work hard, the firm is a great place to work.” For current openings, check out the “careers” link at www.tweisel.com.

Brace yourself Once you’re asked in, expect about two rounds of interviews that could entail meeting up to 20 people. “Candidates will typically interview with all or most members of the teams hiring, as well as management.” And be prepared to be quizzed—”writing and skills tests are often required for associates.” There are also “technical questions to gauge your ability to grasp financial concepts” along with “questions focused on fit, familiarity with the firm personality and work ethic.” But the course of action does tend to vary. One insider says that “the process consisted of two phone interviews and one Super Day,” adding, “The interview questions were not atypical for investment banking, with a balance of fit and technical questions.” Your experience may depend on when you apply, however. There is “rapid, active hiring when there is a need,” while it tends to be “slower at other times.” Though the firm recruits from “top undergrad and business schools” such as Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and Wharton, it also finds candidates through “recruiters, Monster and [recruiting firm] Glocap.” And never fear if your school isn’t visited in the usual rounds—”the firm does hire from other places if the fit is right.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Great people, but competitive “Entrepreneurial” is a word that comes up frequently when insiders describe the firm’s culture. Additionally, the firm has “great people all around,” and is “very team-oriented,” “friendly,” “encouraging and helpful.” People are “positive from top to bottom,” and the firm has “small, collaborative teams with high levels of responsibility.” “The culture is hardworking” and “has a classy, ‘white shoe’ feel about it without being too pretentious.” And the atmosphere is “not as intense as some banks are known to be.” Still, it is a “competitive” culture that’s simultaneously an “aggressive” one. Salaries and perks mostly receive the same degree of praise from insiders. TWP’s base salary is “in line with the Street,” and employee bonuses don’t look too shabby, either—”15 to 20 percent of the bonus is paid in stock with a four year vesting schedule.” Other perks include “meals after 8 p.m. and taxis after 9 p.m. and on weekends” and “pretax health and commuter benefits.”

Good balance The hours spent at the office “can vary depending on who you work with,” though they are usually “typical investment banking hours” and average around “70 to 80” per week. Making an appearance at the office on weekends is an occurrence that tends to happen “more than once a month.” And while your work load is “ebb and flow,” it’s also “often dependent on the efficiency of the managing director.” But there’s good news: “Bankers tend to be reasonable about not overworking analysts—TWP has a reputation as more of a ‘lifestyle firm.’” One analyst even calls it “the best balance of life that I know of.”

Class act Complaints are tough to find—if not downright impossible—when it comes to sources’ opinions on management. “I have great relationships with both my managers and my subordinates.” “Generally, there is a lot of direct interaction with vice presidents, directors and managing directors, which is [the] great part of working at Thomas Weisel.” One insider even goes so far as to say, “The attitude of the senior bankers is probably the most compelling reason to work at TWP. They are highly intelligent, respectful and genuinely appreciate a thoughtful work product and good effort.”

It’s an art Office space in both the San Francisco and New York offices receive high marks. Both have “amazing artwork,” and the San Francisco offices, “outfitted during the peak of the boom in 2000,” boast the “best offices in the Bay area.” In addition to featuring “lots of good art,” the New York offices are “comfortable offices” and housed in a “good location.”

Your call Although “most people still wear suits or at least dress on the high end of business casual,” “business attire is optional.” One insider calls the option “a little strange,” but says “a lot of people wear suits unless it’s Friday or they have been working too much.” Even though there’s the option of casual dress within the office, client contact is still important. “Slacks and a dress shirt with a jacket” is typically what employees will wear for client engagements. And the higher-ups seem to stick with the formal—”vice presidents and above typically wear suits daily.”


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It’s not the length that counts In terms of training, “our program is not six to eight weeks long, so employees need to have an appetite for learning on the job.” In reality, the analyst program is about half of that—three weeks—and “a substantial amount of learning” is done in a trial-by-fire manner. “If you are looking for a twomonth training program to start your career, don’t come to TWP. But if you are looking to nail the basics and value learning by doing, TWP is a great place to work.” The firm’s push for diversity also generally receives high marks, though there’s room for improvement. “I don’t feel like the finance industry is unwilling to recruit or retain women or minorities, though I can see how there could be a potential culture issue,” says one insider. But overall, respondents have admiration for TWP’s ideals. “I have been given responsibilities and opportunities here that I do not feel I would have received at the other banks. Thomas Weisel is really a unique place.”

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32

DELOITTE CORPORATE FINANCE LLC

600 Renaissance Center, Suite 900 Detroit, MI 48243-1704 Phone: (313) 396-3000 Fax: (313) 396-3618 www.investmentbanking.deloitte.com

KEY COMPETITORS Houlihan Lokey KPMG Corporate Finance

UPPER BUSINESSES

• “Supportive and respectful management”

Acquisitions, Joint Ventures & Alliances Capital Raising Corporate Development Advisory Sales and Divestitures

DOWNER

THE STATS

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Employer Type: Subsidiary of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP DCF National Managing Director: Bob Coury 2008 Revenue: $27 billion* No. of Employees: 165,000* No. of Offices: Offices in 140 countries*

• Work hours can be long for a non-bulge-bracket firm

deloitte.com/careers

* Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

THE BUZZ


“Smaller deals” “They do banking?” “Good for accountants” “Boring”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC

THE SCOOP Well connected Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC (DCF) is a registered broker dealer that offers investment banking advisory services to large and midsized companies. It specializes in sales and divestitures; acquisitions, joint ventures and alliances; capital raising; and corporate development advisory. DCF serves clients across numerous major industries, including aerospace and defense, automotive, business services, consumer business, financial services, food and beverage, general industrials, life sciences and health care, manufacturing, metals, plastic, paper and packaging, and retail. DCF is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP (FAS), which is a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP, the American member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu—a global accounting and consulting network with operations in over 140 countries. The U.S. member firm has offices in 80 cities nationwide. Other units of FAS are valuation services, reorganization services, and forensic and dispute services. FAS contributes approximately 5 percent of Deloitte’s overall revenue. That leaves FAS behind Deloitte’s audit, tax and consulting businesses, but DCF has carved out its own niches. The corporate finance unit’s specialty is the middle market, focusing on deals worth $25 million to $500 million. Although Deloitte is a giant—it’s not called the Big Four for nothing—DCF operates as a boutique within the conglomerate. At the same time, DCF can draw on Deloitte’s extensive resources, including Deloitte Tax, Deloitte Consulting, FAS and the Chinese Services Group of Deloitte & Touche USA (which assists on China-related cross-border deals). DCF national managing director Bob Coury also holds the position of principal at Deloitte & Touche, and sits on the FAS executive committee. There are four five DCF offices in the U.S. (Detroit headquarters, plus New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles).

William and George The Deloitte behemoth was born in 1849, when Great Western Railway, a British joint stock firm, hired local accountant William Welch Deloitte to conduct an audit of its business. This was a novel idea at the time, but soon other public companies followed Great Western’s lead. George A. Touche opened his own audit and accounting firm in London in 1898, moving his office to New York two years later. There, Touche and partner John Niven built up their business, taking advantage of America’s new business regulations and income tax laws. By the end of the 1960s, Touche, Niven became Touche Ross, and William Deloitte’s eponymous firm was operating as Deloitte Haskins Sells. The two firms merged in 1989, creating Deloitte & Touche, a full-service firm that offered consulting and advisory as well as accounting services. In 1993, Deloitte & Touche realigned itself as a Swiss verein, a membership organization in which each member firm operates as a separate, independent legal entity. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) became the international umbrella name for Deloitte member firms around the world—a nod to Tohmatsu & Company, which had become part of Touche Ross in 1975.

Mid-market M&A leader Among deals DCF oversaw in 2008 is the close of Japan’s Hayashi Telempu Company’s acquisition of the Ohio-based Amtex; Hayashi had purchased 50 percent of Amtex in 2007. Also in 2008, it advised Ogihara America Corporation on the sale of its Birmingham, Alabama-based stamping and assembly plant to Cosma International Group. The terms were not released. In the healthcare sector, DCF advised Radiation Oncology Associates on its partnership with Oncure Medical Corporation. ROA is one of the largest providers of radiation treatment in northeast Indiana. Oncure is one of the nation’s largest providers of outpatient radiation oncology care.

IN THE NEWS January 2009: Selling sodium cyanide DCF advised Evonik Industries AG on its sale of its North American sodium cyanide operations—CyPlus Canada, CyPlus Corporation and Cyanco Company—to Oaktree Capital Management. The businesses manufactures and supplies liquid and solid sodium cyanide to support technology, which is used to mine and extract gold. DCF was also named the exclusive financial advisor to Icon Systems’ sale to Science Applications International Corporation for $135 million. Finally, through its member firm in Russia, DCF served as exclusive financial advisor to Kellogg Company on its acquisition of The United Bakers Group, a Russian biscuit, cracker and cereal manufacturer.

December 2008: Little ones add up According to Thomson Reuters, Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC, together with the member firms of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and their affiliates, ranked No. 16 in 2008 worldwide announced M&A deal volume on deals with values up to $100 million (Deloitte worked on logged 217 deals in that

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Deloitte Corporate Finance LLC

category). The firm also ranked No. 20 in announced deal volume on transactions with values up to $500 million, working on 237 deals, and No. 17 for deals up to $200 million. The company made an even stronger showing for worldwide M&A based on number of transactions, with a No. 3 ranking across the board for deals up to $50 million, $100 million, $200 million and more than $500 million.

January 2009: Great place to work Fortune magazine named DCF’s parent company one of 100 best companies to work for—for the tenth year in a row. Deloitte was named to the No. 61 slot. Fortune pointed out that women hold 22 percent of top positions at Deloitte, compared with 6 percent in 1993. Minorities, according to Fortune, hold some 8 percent of top posts, versus 4 percent in 1998.

GETTING HIRED Top of your game Candidates applying for positions “normally have a high GPA, and have demonstrated leadership and academic skills within their college or at their previous work experiences.” The firm recruits from “top universities throughout the nation” as well as “experienced hires with relevant skill sets.” Expect “several rounds of interviews,” which tend to be composed of “at least two or three rounds,” although this “varies by function and team.” You may end up interviewing with everyone from “peers” and “human resources” to “partner representatives.” Expect to “represent your qualifications” in addition to facing “general interview questions that depend on the team and position you’re applying for.” “Sometimes there are case studies involved or specific exercises that are relevant to the position.” You can also expect “fairly general” interview questions “about background and behavior,” which might range from the simple “tell me about your background” to slightly more complicated ones such as “why should we hire you?” And the firm offers internship opportunities, too. Getting into the firm that way “definitely gives you an opportunity to make a favorable impression and increase your chances of getting hired,” although “the same rigorous criteria applies to our intern candidates as does our regular full-time recruits.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Support network Insider report that the firm’s culture has many “high achievers” but is also “congenial, cooperative, respectful and fun.” “I enjoy spending time with the people I work with both inside and outside of work.” Managers get high marks from respondents as well. “I have a great team that includes great, supportive and respectful management.” One contact says “we work hard, but we are always willing to assist each other.” Hours spent in the office largely depend on your department. One insider describes working “heavy work hours while limited to only officially billing 40 hours per week.” Another says he works about 50 to 60 hours per week and says the company is “very flexible,” although it’s not uncommon to make a weekend office visit. But one respondent says it’s not bad overall—”I often only go to the office and/or to visit clients two or three days a week and work from home other times.” (When you’re in the office, “business casual” is typically the code of the land.) And despite the fact that weekend work takes place, “it’s out of choice and it’s not a requirement.” As for the future of the company, “Deloitte will always be around.” “For every person that quits, they find two to three other new hires to replace them with.”


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CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE (WHOLESALE BANKING DIVISION)

161 Bay Street, BCE Place Toronto, Ontario M5J 2S8 Canada Phone: (416) 594 7000 US Headquarters: 425 Lexington Ave New York, NY 10017 USA Phone: (212) 856-4000 www.cibcwm.com

UPPER • Friendly workplace

DOWNER • Hours can be long

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.cibcwm.com/careers

PRODUCT & SERVICES Capital Markets Cash Equities • Fixed Income, Currencies & Distribution • Global Derivatives & Strategic Risk Corporate & Investment Banking Corporate Credit Products • Investment Banking • Merchant Banking • US Real Estate Finance

THE STATS Employer Type: Division of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) CEO: Richard Nesbitt 2008 Revenue: -C$6.04 billion* 2008 Net Income: -C$4.2 billion* No. of Employees: 1,100 No. of Offices: 20 *Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

THE BUZZ


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“Top investment bank in Canada” “Past its prime” “Respectable midtier bank” “Bush league”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (Wholesale Banking Division)

THE SCOOP Canadian contender Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, commonly referred to as CIBC, is one of the largest banks in Canada. Its wholesale banking business provides a wide range of credit, capital markets, investment banking, merchant banking, and research products and services to government, institutional, corporate and retail clients worldwide. The firm’s global headquarters are located in Toronto, and it has additional offices across Canada and the U.S. as well as in other financial centers around the world. The firm’s investment banking and capital markets divisions offer a range of financial services, including equities, commodities, fixed income, foreign exchange, money market and securitizations. CIBC is one of Canada’s top M&A advisors in a number of industries, and is a leader in Canadian equity underwriting and structured products. CIBC’s wholesale banking division was born in 1988 when CIBC acquired a majority interest in Wood Gundy Inc., a leading Canadian securities dealer established in Toronto in 1905. Combining CIBC’s capital with Wood Gundy’s underwriting reputation, CIBC Wood Gundy Inc. became a powerful investment banking arm, quickly establishing itself as a leading North American investing institution. Until recently, the marketing name of CIBC’s wholesale banking division was “CIBC World Markets.” (Today, technically speaking, CIBC World Markets Inc. (Canada) and CIBC World Markets Corp (U.S.) are wholly owned subsidiaries of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and form the bank’s wholesale banking arm, which also includes other affiliates such as CIBC World Markets plc., CIBC World Markets Securities Ireland Limited, CIBC Australia Ltd., and CIBC World Markets [Japan] Inc.)

Neighbor to the south In the U.S., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s wholesale banking division maintains a specialized focus on a handful of business lines: investment, corporate and merchant banking; global equities; fixed income and currencies; and real estate finance. Another key business area is cross-border U.S.-Canada M&A transactions and investment management. In early 2008, CIBC sold its U.S.-based investment banking, leveraged finance, equities and related debt capital markets businesses to Oppenheimer Holdings Inc., exited its leveraged finance activities in London, and placed its structured credit business in runoff. Certain other activities within continuing businesses, including derivatives trading and asset-backed commercial paper conduits, were also reduced. CIBC retained its other U.S. wholesale businesses, which include real estate finance, equity and commodity structured products, merchant banking and oil and gas advisory, as well as the balance of its U.S. debt capital markets, Asia and U.K. businesses. CIBC also maintained its corporate lending capability and its ability to distribute Canadian equities and fixed income products in the U.S. and international markets on behalf of its Canadian clients. In addition to its U.S. headquarters in New York City, CIBC’s wholesale banking arm has office in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Houston, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Restructure, revamp, recover CIBC’s wholesale banking business CEO Richard Nesbitt, former CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange, has only been on the job since February 2008. Nesbitt’s arrival was part of a top-to-bottom recovery process designed to restore CIBC’s operations in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis—CIBC had $11 billion in exposure to these bad assets, more than any other Canadian bank. As part of the housecleaning, CEO Brian Shaw was dismissed, as was Chief Risk Officer Ken Kilgour, who was replaced by CFO Tom Woods.

Ups and downs Although CIBC’s results for its 2008 fiscal year (ending October 31st) included C$4.2 billion in structured credit losses, the bank remained positive when it reported them, stating that its Tier 1 capital ratio of 10.5 percent “exceeds regulatory requirements” of 7 percent as well as its own “medium term target of 8.5 percent.” In addition, in 2008 and the first half of 2009, CIBC said it “repositioned its wholesale banking business to reduce risk and strengthen its alignment with CIBC’s desired risk profile.” According to a column in Canada’s Globe and Mail, CIBC had greater U.S. credit exposure than its Canadian peers, and its losses were likely the catalyst for its move to “largely exit” global markets. And between November 2008 and January 2009, CIBC’s stock price fluctuated madly on the Toronto Stock Exchange, hitting record lows in mid-November, but climbing fairly steadily after that only to fall again in mid-January 2009.

Top honors The bank and its bankers have received several awards recently, and one of the most noteworthy was given by Bloomberg Markets magazine, which ranked a senior economist at CIBC World Markets, Avery Shenfeld, as a top forecaster (fifth place) of the U.S. economy between 2006 and 2008. (Shenfeld received more good news in March 2009, when CIBC’s chief economist Jeff Rubin left the organization and Shenfeld took over his post; Rubin had been with CIBC for 20 years and, during his stay, was named Canada’s top economist 10 times).


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CIBC also picked up honors from Financial Times and Mergermarket in its inaugural M&A Awards Americas. The bank was named Financial Advisor of the Year in Canada and Mid-Market Financial Advisor of the Year in Canada. The firm was also recently named Investment Bank of the Year for its strong M&A performance by ACQ Finance Magazine.

IN THE NEWS February 2009: More changes Further shakeups were afoot, as the division’s deputy chairman, David Leith, departed after 25 years with the firm. Leith, who was also head of investment, corporate and merchant banking, simply said that he had “elected to leave the firm.” Following Leith’s departure Geoffrey Belsher, former managing director of Lehman Brothers Canada, joined as managing director of investment banking. Laura Dottori-Attanasio, former chief risk officer at the National Bank of Canada, signed on as head of corporate credit activities.

January 2009: TSX top trader Some good news: CIBC’s wholesale banking unit beat longtime rival TD Securities as the top trader, by value, on the Toronto Stock Exchange. CIBC had a market share of 13.1 percent for January, with C$28.5 billion worth of trading activity. (By June 2009, CIBC had increased its market share to 17.6 percent, with C$45.5 billion in trading activity.) New CEO Richard Nesbitt deserves credit for this success: he’s the one who hired TMX Group’s Rik Parkhill to head the cash equities division. Under Nesbitt’s leadership, the division has also cultivated more business with foreign traders who are interested in low-commission electronic trading.

December 2008: No. 1 in M&A (in Canada) According to Thomson Reuters, CIBC was the No. 1 advisor of Canadian merger and acquisition deals in 2008. CIBC worked on 54 announced deals during the year worth a total of US$26.9 billion. The bank was also the fifth most active debt underwriter in Canada in 2008, underwriting 49 debt deals worth a total of C$14.1 billion. And it ranked No. 3 in Canadian government debt underwriting, having worked on 35 deals worth a collective C$10.5 billion. In the Canadian equity markets, the bank ranked No. 3 in total equity underwriting volume; it worked on 23 deals worth C$3.4 billion. And it came in fifth in Canadian IPO volume; the firm only worked on one deal, but that was worth C$60 million.

December 2008: Big losses CIBC’s fiscal year ends on October 31st, and for the fourth quarter of the year, CIBC’s wholesale banking division reported net income of C$133 million, compared to a net loss of C$538 million for the third quarter of the year. For the full fiscal year, CIBC reported a net loss of $4.2 billion, mostly the result of structured credit losses; parent bank CIBC had a net loss of $2.1 billion. Damage control is ongoing. Besides selling off its U.S. investment banking, leveraged finance, equities and related debt capital markets businesses to Oppenheimer, CIBC wound down its London-based leveraged finance business and put its structured credit business in runoff. Other operations, including derivatives trading and asset-backed commercial paper conduits, were scaled back. Going forward, CIBC said it will shift to a 75 percent retail business, and it has set an annual net income goal of $300 million to $500 million for CIBC World Markets.

December 2008: It’s a miracle The first Wednesday of every December is “Miracle Day” at CIBC’s wholesale banking unit, and the firm’s major charitable enterprise. Since 1984, the firm has taken this day to donate all sales and trading fees and commissions to children’s charities, raising more than C$44 million over the years. The 2008 Miracle Day brought in $3.1 million CDN to support children’s hospitals, shelters, counseling programs, pediatric health research, education and recreation programs, and meal services.

September 2008: Reducing real estate risk CIBC began taking further steps to reduce its exposure to the U.S. residential real estate market—in other words, it started scrubbing the subprime grime from its balance sheet. First step: brokering an agreement with private equity powerhouse Cerberus Capital Management, which agreed to invest $1.05 billion in CIBC’s U.S. residential real estate portfolio, which was valued at $1.075 billion (down from $1.186 billion) by mid-summer, because it consisted of mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations. Under the terms of the deal, CIBC will retain 100 percent of the returns on the portfolio following repayment of the investment, and CIBC will retain ownership of the assets. CIBC’s CEO Gerry McCaughey described the arrangement as establishing “a floor under CIBC’s exposure to the U.S. residential mortgage market” while providing “important flexibility to benefit from a future recovery in the cash flows of these securities.”

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July 2008: M&A master M&A activity CIBC World Markets was the No. 1 advisor for Canadian announced deals, with 54 transactions valued at $26.8 billion. It also ranked No. 5 for completed Canadian M&A, wrapping 51 deals and maintaining a 21 percent market share. The dealmaking frenzy didn’t extend beyond its homeland, though—CIBC World Markets didn’t crack the U.S. league tables.

GETTING HIRED Solid learners Qualifications required for specific positions vary, but in general, the firm says it looks for self-starters with “a solid work ethic” who have “the ability to work in a team,” a “basic understanding of the financial services industry” and the “ability to learn quickly.” Like its competitors, CIBC World Markets runs a “very competitive” hiring process, focusing its recruiting efforts on undergraduates at top schools in the U.S. and Canada (in the U.S., think Universities of Michigan and Virginia, Cornell, Columbia and other Ivies), and MBA candidates at select programs such as Wharton and Columbia. Interested candidates should check in with their career services centers for postings.

Prepare for questioning During the interview process, expect “basic questions revolving around organization and preparation,” “what do I do if I need help,” and questions such as “tell me about a challenge you had and how you overcame it.” Most questions are “framed in a behavioral question format.” Interviews are conducted by professionals of all levels and normally span two rounds, with a preliminary on-campus interview followed by “four to five” back-to-back meetings at the CIBC World Markets offices. One insider who went through two rounds of interviews says he first went through meetings with “human resources, and then a hiring manager and director,” with “questions based on the posting and also some behavioral interview questions.” Another goes so far as to say “an ideal candidate is good-looking, confident and smooth,” and also advises to “make sure you look glamorous but businesslike” during your interview. One contact who attended a “non-core” school was more closely scrutinized, sitting through “an additional four to five interviews.” Summer interns reveal that it is generally “easier to get hired after completing an internship,” but the firm still weeds out unwanted would-be full-timers. One source reports that after his summer stint, only four of 12 summer associates received offers (the contact was one of the four). CIBC World Markets “looks more for a personality fit than someone with the best corporate finance skills,” says one source, but another contends that “more and more, CIBC is finding that it needs to recruit people with a finance background, because we don’t have the long training programs of the bigger banks.” (The World Markets full-time new hire training program lasts four weeks.) “Fit” questions may include “Why banking?” and “Why us?” as well as seek to determine a candidate’s “strengths and weaknesses.” One analyst applicant adds that his “interviewers wanted to know that I could handle the hours” and “looked for passion about the markets.” Technical questions are “customary for banking interviews” and may test a candidate’s “basic understanding of accounting,” “valuation” and “financial statements.” One current insider advises, “If you have experience in this field, you won’t have much to prepare,” and another says, “Confidence and well-rounded abilities go very far in this organization.” Experienced hires can search the CIBC World Markets web site for listings according to location, type, category and keyword. Postings are also listed by date (most recent first), provide detailed application instructions, and include information on the business units and specific job requirements.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Friendly faces—mostly Overall, CIBC is a “very receptive and friendly place to work for on the whole.” “Each group has their own personality.” For example, “M&A is reputed to be the most hardworking, and leveraged finance is touted as the most laid-back.” Still, the corporate culture tends to “vary according to levels,” though it’s “friendly at the lower levels.” “Employee morale is strong,” says a contact, and CIBC World Markets can be an “intense meritocracy,” where “good teamwork” is the norm and “people on the whole are good to work with and personable.” One source who works “in a satellite office” calls the atmosphere “very frat-like,” and says his co-workers “are very cool to one another, and we all get along very well.” Another confirms: “There are quite a few running gags, inside jokes and workplace legends that are quickly passed on from one employee to another. Everyone gets along with everyone, even managers.” Perhaps a reason the fraternity analogy is fitting is that the firm’s male-to-female ratio is extremely male-heavy. However, another says that while balancing the workforce is on the firm’s to-do list, CIBC is “no worse than the rest of the industry.” CIBC expects its junior staffers to be “hardworking” and to take on “a lot of responsibility,” and a contact adds that it is “not a place where title restricts your responsibilities or ability to have an impact.” A former summer associate says that he “was treated like any other deal team member, although I


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was typically staffed with another full-time associate.” The relatively thin junior ranks are a big reason why young bankers can take on so much, though a lot of responsibility often means a lot of hours. One banker who logs 80 to 90 hours per week says that the hours can be “brutal at times.” “If you are free,” he says, “they’ll give you more work because the firm is so understaffed.” Another insider confirms: “I almost never go home before midnight. And that’s the same on weekends, too.” Others report constant weekend work but “not a lot of pressure to put in ‘face time.’” One contact has “noticed that some have the attitude that they stay longer than others because it is some sort of badge of honor.” But hours tend to vary depending on location. “Work hours are loosely based on the 9-to-5 model,” one insider says, adding that “at 6 p.m., the lights are out for good, and if you’re still around, people start asking questions.” Overall, however, the general sentiment is that the hours at World Markets are “very unpredictable” but “typical for banking.” On the management front, insiders admit that the firm “has become ever more disorderly over the past few years, with numerous senior management changes over a series of public embarrassments on what seems like an annual or biannual basis.” And, says one source, while “senior bankers say they treat junior bankers better here than at other banks,” his experience “is that it’s the same as other banks.” In other words, “there is no consideration for a junior banker’s outside life.” Another insider opines that it “depends entirely on the individual manager’s style, but regardless, junior people are worked very hard—and sometimes for no reason.” One associate, who calls his relationship with his superiors “collegial and friendly,” admits that his “direct superior is employed because he’s a great banker, not because he’s a great manager.” Overall, though, the treatment of junior staffers at CIBC World Markets is “generally acceptable” with “some management” doing “a better job at mentoring and teaching than others.”

Not on par? According to some employees, the firm pays “consistently below” the Street average but “luckily not by much.” One associate, however, thinks that pay is “higher than average,” adding that he works “fewer than average” hours. Another says, “CIBC pays fairly, but tends to try to smooth out on a departmental basis, overcompensating poor performers at the expense of the people bringing in most of the money.” The perks are standard for the industry, and include a late night and weekend meal allowance and car service. Still, you get “three weeks of vacation, though you need to get special approval to take the three weeks at the same time.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

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CENTERVIEW PARTNERS LLC

640 Fifth Avenue, 19th Floor New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212) 380-2650 Fax: (212) 380-2651 www.centerviewpartners.com

RANKING RECAP

Employer Type: Private Company Co-Founding Partners: Adam Chinn, Stephen Crawford, Blair Effron, James Kilts & Robert Pruzan No. of Employees: 80 No. of Offices: 5

Quality of Life #1 – Best to Work For #1 – Compensation #1 – Overall Satisfaction #2 – Culture #2 – Hours #2 – Selectivity #2 – Treatment by Managers #3 – Business Outlook #3 – Green Initiatives #4 – Training #12 – Offices Diversity #2 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #3 – Best for Diversity #4 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians #4 – Diversity With Respect To Women

KEY COMPETITORS

UPPERS

Allen & Company Evercore Partners Goldman Sachs Greenhill & Co. Lazard J.P. Morgan Moelis & Company Morgan Stanley Perella Weinberg Partners

• “Unparalleled access to top dealmakers and senior bankers” • “Opportunity to focus closely on key industries and clients” • “Caliber of employees”

BUSINESSES Advisory Private Equity

THE STATS

DOWNERS • “The hours I work as an analyst are a lot” • “Niche focus limits ability to transfer to new groups/geographies” • “Limited resources for information”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Follow the “careers” link at www.centerviewpartners.com

THE BUZZ


“Strong, emerging boutique” “Small—only do a handful of deals” “Effron is the man; great senior bankers” “Who?”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Centerview Partners LLC

THE SCOOP Small size, big business In 2006, UBS managing director Blair Effron had dinner with his friend Robert Pruzan, a veteran of Wasserstein Perella. The two men decided to capitalize on the lucrative mergers and acquisitions boom by going in to business together, opening a boutique they dubbed Centerview Partners (the name came from the view at their new office on the 19th floor of Rockefeller Center). Since Effron and Pruzan’s vision was realized, Centerview has added three more high-powered co-founding partners and brought total headcount up to 80. And even though the market for M&A has slowed down, Centerview has kept up its pace, advising on megadeals like Altria’s $113 billion spin off of Philip Morris and its $62 billion spinoff of Kraft Foods, ConAgra’s $2.8 billion sale of its trading and merchandising business and InBev’s $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch.

How it works There are just two lines of business at Centerview: advisory and private equity. The advisory business addresses strategic, financial and operational issues for its clients; according to the firm, its partners have advised on over $1 trillion in transactions over the course of their careers, including more than $200 billion of transactions since Centerview was formed. The private equity group focuses on the U.S. consumer middle and upper-middle market, and is led by partners James Kilts, former CEO of both Gillette and Nabisco; David Hooper, who joined from Vestar Capital Partners; and Joseph Schena, who held senior executive positions at Gillette, Nabisco and Kraft Foods.

Top 10 Centerview made a major splash on the 2008 banking league tables. According to Thomson Reuters’ tallies, Centerview ranked No. 10 in both announced and completed U.S. deals—the only boutique to land in the top 10. In 2007, the firm had ranked No. 13 in announced U.S. dealmaking and No. 16 in completed transactions. And in the consumer staples sector in 2008, it was the U.S.’s No. 3 adviser, coming in behind heavyweights Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan. Perhaps even more impressive, Centerview jumped from No. 31 spots in worldwide announced and completed M&A deals to land at No. 13 and No. 14, respectively.

Relationships matter As the biggest banks in the U.S. fell to their knees in fall 2008, Centerview co-founder (and Morgan Stanley veteran) Stephen Crawford explained why his firm will survive—and make the best of a tough time. “The great thing about what we’re trying to do at Centerview, is our relationships are based on just that: the relationships,” he told Fox News. “We either know the institutions we work with over a long period of time, or we come heavily recommended. The second thing that’s very different is we’re obviously an earner-operated firm, which is very different than a large firm owned by shareholders, and I think clients understand that and appreciate it.” Crawford compared Centerview to “a family practitioner,” adding that the current gloomy environment offers “a great opportunity for us to continue to build relationships—but I’m not sure it will be through transactions over the next six to 12 months.” Instead, he said, the firm may have to make a temporary shift to “hand-holding, talking about investor relations, talking about a lot of things that don’t necessarily make Centerview money but make us very good relationships over the long term.”

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Coming to Centerview Centerview Partners hired three senior health care bankers away from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Alan Hartman (head of M&A for the Americas at BofA Merrill), Richard Girling and Mark Robinson may have been lured to Centerview by something bigger firms can’t offer: the lack of salary and bonus restrictions. The bankers brought Centerview their experience in several high-profile deals, including Sanofi-Synthelabo’s $63 billion acquisition of Aventis, Boston Scientific’s $25 billion acquisition of Guidant and Pfizer’s $68 billion pending acquisition of Wyeth.

November 2008: Safety first The firm advised on IPC Systems Inc.’s $167 million sale of Positron Public Safety Systems to the West Corporation, and finally, in December, Centerview stepped up to work on Capital One’s $520 million acquisition of Chevy Chase Bank.

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September 2008: Never a dull moment Despite the downturn, more deals filled the pipeline in late 2008, as Centerview took advantage of its larger rivals’ woes to land some serious assignments. The New York State Insurance Department hired Centerview to advise on its involvement with beleaguered insurance giant AIG, which may include assessing the terms of potential sales. One month later Centerview advised apparel legend Liz Claiborne Inc. on its sale of the Enyce clothing line to Sean “Diddy” Combs.

June 2008: Eye on tech and entertainment Centerview bulked up its technology and telecommunications advisory group with the addition of David Handler and David St. Jean as partners. The two came from UBS, where they served as managing directors and co-heads of the Americas technology investment banking unit. Together, they’ve worked on assignments like Cisco Systems’ $6.9 billion acquisition of Scientific Atlanta; Redback Networks’ $2.1 billion sale to Ericsson; the $1.9 billion acquisition of AFC by Tellabs, Inc.; and Itron Inc.’s $1.7 billion acquisition of Actaris. Handler set up shop in Centerview’s New York office, and St. Jean will be based in Los Angeles. Bryan Spielman, a former UBS technology group managing director, also joined as a Centerview partner. The same month Centerview announced the hiring of Lisbeth Barron, a former partner in Bear Stearns’ media and entertainment investment banking group. A 22-year veteran of the media and entertainment industry, Barron led Bear’s corporate finance practice for clients in the film, television, branded licensing, merchandising, recorded music and location-based entertainment industries.

GETTING HIRED The absolute best and brightest Landing a job at this prestigious M&A firm is not easy. According to one analyst, the “very selective” company “only looks to hire A+ talent.” Indeed, says an insider, “each year” Centerview hires “only a handful” of “the absolute best and brightest.” In part that’s because Centerview’s “very small” size and “boutique culture” mean that “finding the right fit and technical expertise is of great importance,” according to one principal. And, says one contact, “the firm hires people only when it is sufficiently impressed by a candidate to merit adding to the staff.” “Because the firm is very small,” says an analyst, “every candidate is tested extremely thoroughly.” As for the type of employee the firm likes to hire, one insider says, “We’re looking for people who can progress more rapidly than their peers at larger banks. In fact, given our leaner deal teams, our model requires” the ability to progress quickly. One managing director stresses that “cultural fit is a key determinant in any hiring decision. Individuals must display team orientation, ownership mentality and high intellectual capital content.”

A rigorous process Entry-level and more-senior candidates alike can expect a rigorous hiring process, though the particulars “differ depending on the level for which we are hiring,” says one insider. Typically, entry-level candidates (college seniors) can expect “two rounds of interviews: one on campus and one in the New York office.” Another contact says to expect “an on-campus or phone interview for a first round,” followed by “a second round ‘Super Day’ at our offices.” During the Super Day, which “usually lasts all day, each candidate” will endure “several interviews with various employees.” An analyst in M&A recalls a “first round on-campus with two interviewers,” a process he describes as “a general fit interview,” though he cautions that “finance and mental math questions do come up.” The second interview, he says, which “takes place at the firm’s offices in Manhattan, involves several two-onone interviews.” Candidates who make it to that stage can expect “more rigorous financial and math questions, though a heavy emphasis is placed on personality and fit with Centerview.” The process for “lateral hires” is even more challenging. Candidates “for more senior positions” will face “three to four rounds,” according to one managing director. Another contact says to expect “four rounds of interviews.” And don’t expect to be facing down members of HR: a vice president of the leveraged finance group recalls interviewing “with all senior members of the private equity team as well as selected investment banking partners.” A principal in finance “interviewed with eight people, four of whom were partners at the firm.” And a managing director in M&A describes a “detailed interview process with perhaps 10 interviews or more (as well as several meetings with colleagues in recruitment).” Regardless of the post for which you’re applying, “every candidate is interviewed by employees from all levels—analyst, associate, principal, partner”— indeed, even founding partners interview. One analyst recalls meeting “with 11 people from every level.” An insider says that the “first two” interviews “are generally with midlevel personnel; the third is often with more senior personnel.” As a result of interviewing with so many employees, “candidates will have met at least half of the bankers in the firm” by the end of the interviewing process.


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The Centerview from the top Presently, “at the entry level,” the firm recruits from places like Princeton, Harvard, Yale, MIT and Penn—that is, from the “most prestigious colleges on the East Coast.” According to another employee, Centerview focuses on the “tier-one” schools, but “students from non-core schools are encouraged to apply.” One investment banking analyst points out that “surprisingly few of the junior staff did their undergraduate degree in economics or business.” The company also takes “high caliber referrals,” says one vice president. But if you’re getting your MBA, don’t expect Centerview to come knockin’ on your door. “The firm does not recruit from business schools at the MBA level,” says one analyst. Indeed, says another, “Aside from entry-level” candidates, “we only hire people with prior M&A experience.” Another contact says, “We like lateral hires that have client management experience and analytical skills picked up in an M&A department.” According to an insider, “thus far,” all lateral hires “have come from the pool of top performers at major investment banks and boutiques.” Industry experience, on-campus recruiting and connections are key to getting your foot in the door, as the firm “does not offer summer internship programs.” As one contact explains, “for reasons of client confidentiality, all employees are permanent.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Collegial, entrepreneurial and tight-knit Centerview, “consisting of partners from other firms with very different cultures,” has developed a “very unique culture that represents a nice blend of several other banks.” Respondents express deep pride for the firm’s “culture of excellence” and affinity for its “great people who care.” Although employees say the firm’s culture is “performance-based,” “the hours and workload can be demanding” and employees are held to “very high standards,” the culture is also “extremely supportive and understanding.” One insider points out that “the working team is collegial and mutually supportive.” But relationships built in this “very collegial place” are not only about work. In this “tight-knit community,” “professionals often interact socially outside the office,” says one insider. “Friendly collegiality is pervasive,” and “the atmosphere stresses personal and career development.” In spite of the long hours, one analyst says that he has “been able to pursue a more positive work/life balance than at my prior employer.” Others agree, believing that the firm’s “high work ethic and philosophy on work/life balance” represents a “perfect blend of hard work and respect for everyone’s time.” The firm’s size makes it possible for junior-level employees to work alongside senior bankers. “The hierarchy is very flat, and deal teams are very small, which means analysts work in close contact with principals and partners.” The firm “takes a great interest in the professional development of junior personnel,” and “junior bankers are given execution and client-facing responsibility very rapidly.” Because “client-focus is paramount,” “junior employees are encouraged to develop their client-facing skills from an early point in their careers.” Says one insider, “Even at junior levels, professionals are given the opportunity to accept as much responsibility as they are capable” of shouldering. “At the same time, given that it is a boutique, each employee needs to be a self-starter to succeed,” notes another source. “No one is going to hold your hand and encourage you to work hard. You need to be self-motivated.” Another insider agrees, citing the firm’s “entrepreneurial-type culture”— you have to have the “incentive to take ownership of work assignments and client relationships.” A vice president adds that although the “culture is very ‘results-focused,’ face time is discouraged.” Others agree, saying, “One very favorable aspect of Centerview is that if your work is done, you go home.” What counts, says an insider, is “thoughtful and original thinking as well as flawless analytics.”

Most-competitive compensation Overall, folks at Centerview are happy with their pay. “Salary and bonus combinations are targeted at the most competitive levels,” says one banker. Hefty bonuses tend to match or exceed one’s base salary. A vice president adds that “vacation time is considered important—very few vacations are cancelled, and other team members will cover” people who take their days. Few employees have student loans, but those that do say they put anywhere from 1 percent to 10 percent of their salary toward the loans. Other perks include evening meals and a car service home if working late or on weekends.

Days, nights, and weekends For such a small firm to rank in the top 15 in global M&A volume, it’s no surprise that employees log long hours. As a principal in finance explains, “at the end of the day, Centerview is an advisory business that must respond to client requests on short timeframes, like the rest of the industry. For that reason, hours can be long. That said, there is much less ‘face time’ here than anywhere else I have seen. And partners do make an effort to be as reasonable as possible with time outside the office.” Most employees work more than 60 hours per week; some work anywhere from 70 to 90, and the bulk come in often or frequently on weekends. Some respondents, including analysts and a managing director, say they work more than 100 hours per week. But, says one contact, the “long hours” are “part and parcel of the job.” Others agree that the “unpredictable hours” are “an aspect of the job that you will find at any bank.”

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An analyst who works 80 to 90 hours per week says, “I am in the office all day and often very late at night and often during the weekends.” However, another analyst who works about 75 hours per week says that “workflow comes in cycles,” and “work can also be performed remotely.” Although virtually all employees work long hours, only a handful say they would take a 20 percent pay cut in order to reduce working hours by 20 percent. So, overall, insiders don’t mind their hours.

Rolling up their sleeves together The firm’s small size demands that junior and senior bankers work closely together, and “every level employee at Centerview is treated with respect.” The firm’s “work style is very collaborative,” and sources say that “senior bankers take a genuine interest in teaching junior bankers and developing their skills.” One analyst says that he “could not be more pleased with my interaction with partners and principals.” And a vice president points out that the firm’s small size “helps immensely” with regard to maintaining the health and robustness of these relationships. Although “deference is given to experience,” says one insider, “the emphasis is on efficiency, not ‘command and control.’” In general, “everyone rolls up their sleeves together.”

Open door and on the job When it comes to training, explains a principal, “analysts receive a few weeks of formal training at the start of the summer.” Says one source, “There is a formal training program for the first-year analysts that’s probably less intensive than what you would receive at a large bank.” A vice president calls the program “modest,” while an analyst calls it “intensive training.” During this time, says a vice president, analysts develop “a full suite of M&A advisory skills” as well as an understanding of a “broader market context.” By the end of training, all of which is run by Centerview bankers, “analysts are able to perform basic tasks with ease, and have a very solid groundwork laid for more complex modeling and analytics.” They also have “the ability to think creatively around research is stressed, as is rigor in analytics.” One managing director says that the formal program is followed by regularly scheduled “formal and informal training sessions.” Employees say that “given the small size and tight culture of our firm, superiors take a much greater interest in you and developing your skill set” than at bulge-bracket banks. Indeed, “there is hands-on training every day,” and the “firm and its partners have a strong focus on developing its professionals on the job. This is true across the board, from technical and strategic-thinking skills to client interaction skills.” Another insider says that “senior bankers take care to teach junior bankers all that they can, under the assumption that these junior bankers will stay at Centerview and eventually become senior bankers themselves.” Indeed, the firm maintains an “open-door policy up to partner level.” As a result, “training is extremely personal.”

Not enough rooms with a view On the whole, respondents are not overly thrilled with the Centerview office—the firm has only one—mostly because it is “crowded.” The firm is “currently at capacity,” due to “significant growth over the past couple of years.” Sources are looking forward to “moving to a larger, more luxurious” and “more comfortable” space in the summer of 2009. Some do like the old office. One investment banking analyst calls it “very classy.” When it comes to dress and dress codes, “there is no hard and fast rule. People dress professionally as their schedule dictates.” That tends to mean “business dress, though not necessarily a coat and tie” in the office—”a sweater and dress slacks” are suitable. An insider says that it’s “up to the discretion of the banker. Most people choose to wear suits and ties.” Another says that “most but not all of the more senior people tend to be formal every day.” Some sources also say that the firm has “casual Fridays” and “casual summer.” But across the board, sources are firm about “client meetings,” which necessitate “a suit and tie.”

The green warden On the whole, most Centerview contacts feel that their firm is environmentally conscious. “We’re very green,” says one analyst, who cites the company’s so-called Green Warden. An analyst explains that this “Green Warden,” appointed by the firm, “oversees recycling, energy conservation initiatives and other environmental concerns.” Another contact notes that firm has also “implemented initiatives such as double-sided printing and no paper memos,” and installed “motion sensor lighting.” In addition, “all employees are strongly encouraged to embrace these environmentally friendly behaviors.” Indeed, “there is an awareness of environmental impact at the most senior levels of this firm, unlike that I have seen elsewhere,” says one source. Others are less sanguine about the firm’s commitment to environmental initiatives. “We are just beginning to develop our green business practices,” says one employee who feels that the firm could do more. “But,” he admits, “they are in motion.” And respondents say they are open to change: giving up disposable plates and silverware, reducing overhead lighting during off-peak hours and when it’s sunny, not taking a car service home and reducing business travel by air are among the initiatives employees are open to implementing. Change may come soon: According to one vice president, the company’s “new offices,” which it expects to inhabit in the summer of 2009, “have been designed with environmental sustainability in mind.”


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An industry-wide problem On the whole, respondents give the firm high marks for bringing women and minorities into the workplace. But at least one contact says the firm is lacking in that area. Most also commend the firm’s commitment to diversity regarding employees who identify as GLBT, but at least a few believe that the firm can do more. The challenge, according to one contact, may have less to do with Centerview as a firm than with the financial industry itself. “Women and minorities will increasingly join the finance industry at the same time as upstanding, intelligent and well-meaning become key criteria for success in the industry,” he says. “Too often, the finance industry is perceived as a haven for underhanded and occasionally bullheaded business dealings by men, which makes the industry unattractive not only to women and minorities but also to good businesspeople.”

What fiscal crisis? In an era of cost-cutting, most respondents haven’t noticed any cutbacks, though one says that holiday celebrations were scaled back. Perhaps that’s because, in today’s “challenging business environment,” says one senior banker, “the firm’s independent advisory model has generally been well received in the marketplace.” An analyst in corporate finance agrees. “Regardless of the troubled economy,” he says, “there is a lot of business at the firm. Each employee is busy just the right amount.” Some insiders believe that where big banks have lost traction, smaller banks, like Centerview, stand to gain. Given the trouble that “public Wall Street investment banks” have endured, says one analyst, “there seems to be a shift toward working for a boutique investment bank.” And given Centerview’s “solid foundation of people,” “our firm is well positioned to capitalize on this trend.” Another insider agrees, saying, “Strategic advisory firms will ultimately benefit as investment banks lose talented personnel and increasingly become providers of commodity financing-oriented products.” Or, as one executive puts it, “We’re on the offense while the rest of the world is pulling back.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

35

KEEFE, BRUYETTE & WOODS, INC.

The Equitable Building 787 Seventh Avenue, 4th Floor New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212) 887-7777 Fax: (212) 541-6668 www.kbw.com

KEY COMPETITORS FBR Capital Markets Fox-Pitt Kelton Sandler O’Neill + Partners

UPPERS BUSINESSES Equity Capital Markets Fixed Income Capital Markets General Advisory M&A Advisory Mutual Thrift & Insurance Company Conversions Structured Finance

• “Very supportive” culture • “No real pressure to put in long hours”

DOWNERS • “The brand name isn’t as big” as other firms • “If you want to feel like a master of the universe, this isn’t the place for you”

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: KBW (NYSE) CEO: John Duffy 2008 Revenue: $242.2 million 2008 Net Income: -$62.3 million No. of Employees: 75 No. of Offices: 10

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.kbw.com/contact_us.html

THE BUZZ


“Leader in FIG banking” “FIG only; small player with little brand equity in I-banking” “Good niche player” “Who?”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc.

THE SCOOP Three leafed clover KBW, Inc. is the parent firm of three subsidiaries: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, its American investment banking business; Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Limited, its international operation; and KBW Asset Management. All three parts of the firm focus on the financial services and institutions sector. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods serves banking and insurance companies, broker-dealers, mortgage banks, asset management companies, REITs, specialty finance firms and securities exchanges. Its services include mergers and acquisitions advisory, general financial advisory, equity capital markets, fixed income markets, mutual thrift and insurance company conversions and structured finance. The three arms of KBW Inc. employ a total of 450 people in 10 offices around the world; Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is staffed by approximately 75 professionals in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Hartford, Houston, New York, Richmond, San Francisco and London.

Overcoming all obstacles Formerly headquartered in the World Trade Center, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lost 67 employees in the September 11 attacks. The firm fought hard to rebuild, and in 2003, it opened a new, permanent New York office in midtown Manhattan. (Group CEO John Duffy’s book Triumph Over Tragedy details the firm’s rebuilding process.) In November 2006, KBW, Inc. completed the final phase of its post-September 11 recovery by launching an IPO of 6.8 million shares. Priced at $21 a share, the offering was also an opportunity for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to work with Merrill Lynch as joint bookrunners. Within days the firm sold the full slate of shares at the top end of its expected price range, reaping nearly $143 million. Analysts were impressed—KBW wasn’t the only boutique bank to go public, but it was one of the few whose offering was so successful.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Staff cutbacks An insider told the industry publication Private Equity News that Keefe, Bruyette & Woods laid off 7 percent of its workforce—40 staffers in total. According to KBW, there had been two layoffs in the fixed income division, but the firm didn’t say in which departments the other layoffs took place. A KBW spokesperson told Private Equity News that the firm is examining the current makeup and leadership of its 70-employee fixed income department.

March 2009: Coats hangs it up Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ co-head of fixed income, E. Craig Coats Jr., announced his retirement. Coats, co-head since 2002, started trading in 1969 and was considered a “bond vigilante” who lobbied the U.S. government to force bond yields higher. In the 1980s, Coats worked on Salomon Brothers’ government bond trading desk, which received fame with the release of Liar’s Poker, written by bond salesman (and now Bloomberg columnist) Michael Lewis. KBW did not immediately name a replacement for Coats.

February 2009: Rough times For 2008, KBW booked $242.2 million in total revenue and a net loss of $62.3 million, a significant drop versus the $427.5 million in revenue and $27.3 million in net income it posted in 2007. The firm cited a steep decline in investment banking revenue and institutional commissions as reasons for the less-than-stellar results. The firm’s fourth quarter 2008 was particularly rough, as KBW booked a net loss of $22.1 million versus net income of $3.6 million that it brought in during the same period a year earlier.

January 2009: Dealmakers The firm did well on the Thomson Reuters’ 2008 league tables for middle market M&A deals. KBW ranked No. 5 for U.S. announced M&A deals valued up to $50 million; No. 11 for U.S. announced deals up to $100 million; No. 17 for U.S. announced deals up to $200 million; and No. 17 for U.S. announced deals valued up to $500 million.

September 2008: Capital raising on the shelf In the wake of disappointing returns, KBW filed a universal shelf registration statement that enables the firm to sell, in one or more public offerings, common or preferred stock, debt and other securities. In a statement, the company said that it “has no current plan to raise capital.” But the registration allows KBW access to public markets “in order to facilitate and expedite opportunities for growth,” said Chairman and CEO John Duffy. He added that since KBW’s 2006 IPO, “a significant portion of our outstanding common stock, owned by employees, has been subject to restrictions on

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transfer and sale. Those restrictions are scheduled to begin to expire shortly.” The shelf, he concluded, allows employees to effect a secondary offering on the shares they own.

May 2008: Word on the Street KBW was repeatedly honored for its research in 2008. David Konrad was named by The Wall Street Journal as the top banking industry analyst in the U.S. in its Best on the Street survey. Konrad beat 102 other analysts for the title. The newspaper also honored KBW analysts Jeffrey Schuman, Dean Evans and Bose George. Schuman was ranked the second-best analyst in the life insurance category, and Evans and George were singled out in the non-life insurance category and real estate category, respectively.

May 2008: Three more bankers The company hired three bankers from Wachovia Securities to staff its newly formed real estate investment banking group. They are Michael Hawkins, Robert Woomer and Christopher Haney. Hawkins and Woomer joined as principals; Haney as associate. The group also includes John Dalena, and focuses on public and private real estate companies and their capital needs.

April 2008: In memoriam Keefe, Bruyette & Woods was among the companies that donated $5 million to the construction of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center in New York City; the memorial and museum reached their $350 million fundraising goal in April 2008. The firm also maintains its independent September 11 family fund to support relatives of the 67 KBW employees who died on that day.

April 2008: Misstep The firm issued a retraction of what it termed a “negative element” in its research report on KBC Groep, a Belgian bank and insurance company. KBW’s report questioned KBC’s supervision of the Belgian Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission. “After due consideration, we have determined that such statements were not supported and should not have been included in that report,” said KBW in a statement.

February 2008: New hires for a new group The firm hired Frederick Kannon as associate director of research and chief equity strategist, a new position. Cannon joined from Golden State Bancorp, where he was executive vice president, director of investor relations and a member of the operating committee. Cannon’s hire will help KBW to boost its research capabilities, for which is has been historically lauded by the industry.

GETTING HIRED Get ready to schmooze KBW is “specialized due to its financial services focus,” and for that reason, it can be tough to get in. “While the firm makes significant efforts to locate and hire good undergrads and MBAs, our size and scope obviates many traditional recruiting programs,” says one insider who explains that “KBW is very small, and focused on the banking industry only.” The contact adds, “As a result, it’s not the kind of place where a regular stream of new analysts and business school interns come through.” In general, observes another source, “hiring tends to be done on an ‘as needed’ basis, and the truth is that you really need to know someone or have some connection to get in the door.” Yet another insider confirms, explaining that “hiring tends to be from within the industry, based on prior relationships or on having amassed a major track record at another firm focusing on the financial industry.” Still, sources say that “there are plenty of KBW employees that knew no one initially.” For those with the energy to actively hunt down a position with KBW, insiders have a few words of advice. “First,” one source says, “you’ll want to know exactly what we do, what our business units are, and who the important people in them are. Then contact those people and ask what kind of needs they have.” “If,” on the other hand, “you don’t have that much energy, you can use the KBW website and send a message to the departments.” Individuals who take the latter route are less likely to get a response. Insiders report that KBW “classically likes people who are smart and easy to get along with.” “Humility probably helps more than bravado,” adds a source. For individuals interested in sales or trading, contacts advise, “humor helps.” Those looking at research or corporate finance should have “a willingness to work extraordinarily hard.” Interviewing is a “thorough process” that involves “a variety of questions” with “nothing that’s prescripted.”


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OUR SURVEY SAYS Collegial culture The firm’s culture is “excellent,” “very supportive” and “collegial.” And even though “there’s positive interdepartmental rivalry like there is at any firm,” there are few complaints. KBW is “small and quite unified—a firm with a family feel,” notes one banker. “Housed on one floor of a large building in New York, it’s easy to know and interact with just about everyone. There is very little formality and there are a lot of close friendships.” Just like at home, dress is still apparently casual except for client contact. “The guys at Keefe long ago came around to the epiphany that no one really wants to wear suits,” says another. “People keep the place neat, and no one really thinks about it.” The firm has little hierarchy thanks to “flat structures and management availability.” Compensation is at market, as are hours. “One of the hallmarks of this firm is that not only is there no real pressure to put in long hours, there’s no real consciousness of the issue,” says a source. “They give us a clear premise: we’ll talk at the end of the year and see if you made money.” But Keefe isn’t for everyone, says one insider. “To work here, you have to be geared to a small firm and its reach and resources. I guess the brand name isn’t as big as Goldman’s, so maybe there are times when you have to work harder to make an imprint on new clients.” The contact adds, “If you want to feel like a master of the universe, this isn’t the place for you; they just don’t care about the trite side of Wall Street.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

36

ROBERT W. BAIRD & CO. (BAIRD)

777 East Wisconsin Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53202 Phone: (414) 765-3500 Fax: (414) 765-3633 227 W. Monroe, Suite 2100 Chicago, IL 60606 Phone: (800) 537-9854 www.rwbaird.com

BUSINESSES Asset Management Equity Capital Markets Institutional Equity Services Investment Banking Research Fixed Income Capital Markets Private Equity Private Wealth Management

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #3 – Culture #4 – Offices #5 – Best to Work For #5 – Overall Satisfaction #5 – Treatment by Managers #10 – Selectivity #11 – Hours #12 – Green Initiatives #12 – Training #14 – Business Outlook #14 – Compensation Diversity #9 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians #10 – Diversity With Respect To Women #11 – Best for Diversity #13 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities

UPPERS THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company Chairman, President & CEO: Paul E. Purcell 2008 Revenue: $680 million No. of Employees: 2,400 No. of Offices: 100+

• “Lifestyle is not as hardcore as working on Wall Street” • “Well positioned for 2009 and beyond” • “Great attitude of co-workers”

DOWNERS • “Full-time hires should be shown more appreciation” • “Middle market stigma” • “The ridiculous cost cutting measures”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” at www.rwbaird.com

THE BUZZ


“Strong middle-market firm” “Decent ... for the Midwest” “Niche player” “Regional broker/investment bank”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird)

THE SCOOP What slowdown? While other banks handed out pink slips in 2008, Milwaukee’s Robert W. Baird & Co. (better known as Baird) handed out job offers. The firm added more than 200 employees to its payroll over the course of the year, bringing global headcount to nearly 2,400. Most of these employees were hired in the U.S.; Baird’s overseas business remains modest, with just about 100 professionals. But according to the firm, European and cross-border assignments have accounted for one-third of its mergers and acquisitions work in recent years. Since the late 1990s, Baird has advised on over 620 M&A and financing deals with a total value of over $107 billion. In 2008, Baird was named the Middle Market Investment Bank of the Year by Buyouts magazine.

Baird’s business mix Investment banking, research and equity sales and trading comprise the equity capital markets business, which includes an institutional sales team in London and investment banking teams in Germany and the U.K. The fixed income capital markets unit, with about 25 offices in the U.S., consists of fixed income sales and trading and public finance. Baird’s asset management division includes Baird Investment Management (which manages equity mutual funds), Baird Advisors (a fixed-income investment manager), and Baird Public Investment Advisors (manages investment portfolios for public entities). The private wealth management division, which serves high-net-worth individuals, corporate clients and business owners, has 63 offices nationwide. The firm’s private equity business is carried out by several partners around the globe: Baird Capital Partners, Baird Capital Partners Europe, Baird Capital Partners Asia, Baird Venture Partners and Granville Baird, a German affiliate.

A storied founder Robert Wilson Baird wasn’t just the lead partner of the firm that bears his name: he was also one of the founders of the National Association of Securities Dealers, and served as the NASD’s third chairman. Baird the bank traces its roots to 1919, when Robert Wilson was named lead partner of the First Wisconsin National Bank’s securities division. He rose to become president of the division, called First Wisconsin Company, which was later spun off and renamed the Securities Company of Milwaukee. By 1948 the firm had obtained a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and assumed its current name. Baird gathered its strength in Wisconsin in the 1980s, becoming the state’s top investment bank before embarking on a strategic expansion in the 1990s. This led to the opening of dozens of new offices in the U.S. and Europe. Wholly owned by its employees, Baird has also stayed true to its hometown and maintained its headquarters in Milwaukee.

IN THE NEWS January 2009: Courting loyalists The firm ranked No. 14 overall on Fortune’s 2009 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. It also came in No. 3 among small companies (those with 2,500 employees or fewer). This was the sixth consecutive year in which Baird made the prestigious national listing.

January 2009: Nice deals For the second year in a row, Baird won top honors for its M&A prowess in the Acquisitions Monthly annual roundup of investment banks. Baird was named the 2009 Manufacturing Sector Adviser of the Year for its work on deals like the sale of Avery Weigh-Tronix Holdings Ltd. to Illinois Tool Works and the sale of Driessen Aerospace Group to Zodiac S.A.

December 2008: Consumer and retail bigwig Baird nabbed the Consumer and Retail Products Deal of the Year award from The M&A Advisor for its role in advising Technical Concepts on its $445 million sale to Newell Rubbermaid Inc., one of the largest middle market consumer products transactions of 2008.

December 2008: Here come more execs Gregory J. Ingram was named managing director and co-head of equity capital markets. He joined Baird’s San Francisco office from the equity and capital markets division of Pacific Growth Equities; before that he was co-head of J.P. Morgan’s Americas ECM division.

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October 2008: More pros on board Richard P. Conklin joined Baird’s equity capital markets team in the Chicago office. His new assignment: building Baird’s equity capital markets business in the industrial and real estate sectors, and overseeing private placement activity for both public and private companies. The equity capital markets division is clearly on a path of expansion. Earlier in 2008, it opened equity sales and trading offices in San Francisco, Boston and Stamford, Conn. Conklin joined Baird from ProLogis, the world’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT). Previously, he held a senior position in William Blair & Co.’s investment banking group. Two more senior investment banking professionals joined the Baird ranks in October, as the firm opened a new office in Charlotte, N.C. Brian McDonagh, former head of the industrial growth M&A group at Wachovia Securities, signed on as managing director and co-head of mergers and acquisitions. Joe Pellegrini, who led the retail and soft goods investment banking group at Wachovia, joined as a managing director. (Pellegrini tackles advisory assignments these days, but before going into banking he spent seven years in the NFL, playing with the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Jets.) To further flesh out the Charlotte team, managing director Frank Stokes, who joined Baird in 2007, left the Chicago office and headed south.

September 2008: Target: Asia For the latest proof that Baird’s gone global, look no further than Shanghai. The firm announced that it had expanded its international platform to include investment banking capabilities in Asia, thanks to the hire of Anthony Yan-Hong Siu, a veteran Hong Kong investment banker who joined from Standard Chartered Bank. In his new role, Siu will focus on cross-border M&A deals, working in partnership with Baird’s M&A teams in the U.S. and Europe. Siu joined Baird’s 140 investment banking professionals in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. Steve Booth, the firm’s director of investment banking, said Baird is poised to make more inroads in the international market, a move that may mean more work for its domestic teams. “In the late 1990s, our clients valued us for our deep sector expertise, but we were in danger of becoming less relevant due to our strictly U.S. focus,” he said. “As we expanded into Europe and gave our U.S. clients the access they were interested in, we formed relationships with European clients who were similarly interested in our U.S. connections.”

GETTING HIRED Aggressive growth The most important criteria for getting hired at Baird is how well an employee can fit in with the culture. One respondent says that recruiters are “very concerned with personality and cultural fit,” while another adds that “cultural fit is equally as important as intellectual capacity and work ethic.” It’s become harder in the last few years to get hired at the company, and there’s a “relatively limited number of openings,”—”hundreds apply” with “maybe 10 selected for analyst positions each year.” The firm is “aggressively growing headcount through the downturn” but “continues to be very selective.” The good news is Baird may take on hires that other companies might not consider as it’s “more open-minded than other firms about career-changers.”

Screening the field For entry-level positions, the interview process consists of one or two “on-campus interviews and a Super Day, consisting of six half-hour interviews.” One current source remembers being “interviewed by 18 people of all levels,” and asked both “fit and technical questions.” Another with the company explains that “Baird’s interview process is rigorous and thorough.” He adds that “initial resume screens seek to identify those candidates with outstanding academic records, and evidence of focus and determination to get into the field.” Baird focuses “more on fit in their interviews, with only one of the six [interviews] devoted to technical questions.” On-campus recruiting is done at many Midwestern schools, including Notre Dame, University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of Wisconsin, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan and the University of Virginia.

Meaningful work Internships are “crucial to receiving a full-time offer, especially within this environment.” “Quality interns receive offers every year—and nearly all of them accept.” The internship doesn’t have to be at Baird, however, as “any banking internship is helpful in the hiring process.” Those who have completed internships at Baird say they did work “between what an analyst and associate would do.” Although one contact complains that it was “not a very structured program,” another raves that “the internship was great,” adding that “the work given was meaningful,” and points out that “there are intern events where department heads speak to interns about each group.” Another insider recalls, “I was treated as a first-year analyst during my internship, and mostly did basic modeling work. I was staffed on a few pitches and two live sell-side deals, basically assisting the analyst.”


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One source offers a tip about a little known and thus less competitive internship, saying that “while not advertised, we have had very good success with undergrads who have adequate credits and take off the fall semester from school to work as an intern with us. Then they go back to school for the spring semester and start with us full-time in the summer.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS “Unusually cohesive” Baird gets raves across the board for its “down-to-earth Midwestern banking culture,” which is “much more laid-back than Wall Street firms.” At Baird, “senior bankers care for junior bankers and their lifestyles.” One current insider explains that this kind of relaxed culture is “very unique in investment banking” and “feels like a true partnership.” Another says that “this is the No. 1 reason I chose Baird. Everyone at the company is approachable, from the CEO to the director of banking.” Employees “still work very hard,” but say that “having people around you that care about your career and you as a person makes the stress and long nights a bit more tolerable.” Indeed, “the culture is unusually cohesive, collaborative and generally employee friendly for an investment bank.”

Employee ownership is a plus Though “it’s widely known that Baird needs to improve its analyst compensation,” many feel satisfied based on the extra perks that come with being a Baird employee such as a “strong stock ownership program, a limited 401(k) match and profit sharing.” One source feels that “year-end bonuses are always below market” and is worried that “perks have pretty much evaporated in current climate.” Another explains that “Baird is an employeeowned firm with nominal debt. All VPs and above are granted Baird stock and given the opportunity to purchase shares annually. Baird also has a venture capital group and private equity group that provide investing opportunities.”

Make hay The hours at Baird “have not been treacherous” in recent years, although one respondent says that “50 percent of that is status quo at my office and 50 percent relates directly to the poor market.” Most report working about 70 to 80 hours per week. Working time gets “much better in the VP and director years”; before that, “analysts and associates bear the brunt.” There’s “no need for face time,” though, so “if you’re work is done, you can go home.” And insiders note that the “hours are much better than banking in New York.” Though most are happy with the workload, some have complaints. One source says, “For middle market banking, the hours are very bulge-like.” Another says that he can “work at home on weekends, but total hours are 80 to 100 per week.”

Mentors for life Baird’s manager-employee relationships are highly regarded by nearly all insiders. One says that it is “impossible to overstate the amount of respect shown by senior people here to junior people.” Another source notes, “This is without a doubt one of the best banks in the world in this respect.” Training also gets high marks. Baird “has an excellent training program,” which employees attend for four weeks before starting a job. There’s also a “continual mentor-mentee relationship” that goes on for new employees that includes excellent, on-the job training with “senior involvement in transactions.”

Clean and bright Respondents report that the office space at Robert Baird is nothing particularly special. One source says that the space “needs an upgrade.” An associate comments that having an office at his level of work is “unprecedented” at other companies, but says that “it’s quite nice” of Baird to provide it. The “Chicago office was recently completely renovated,” and has “extended its lease and remodeled the space.” Employees working in the space say that the new offices are “clean and bright.” The dress code at Baird is business casual, although one director says he “would prefer business attire 100 percent of time.” Another insider says that “clients are not allowed on the banking floor of the Chicago office,” which makes the atmosphere somewhat more relaxed. Employees are expected to dress “formal for most client meetings” and are allowed a “jeans day occasionally on Fridays.” Baird contacts report that the company has yet to make the switch to a fully environmentally sound office. One source says that green measures are “good in theory, but tough to implement,” while another believes that they’re “not a priority.” One banker details some of the measures that Baird has made, saying that the firm “recycles and has reduced unnecessary printing.”

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Receptive and supportive There is a “balance of females and males in the office,” but, like many large banking organizations, the [number of] females thin out at senior levels. One male employee explains that with regards to females, “hiring is good, but retention is not.” “We are not very diverse,” says another source, “though we work hard at getting there. We’ve undertaken huge efforts to broaden diversity.” Overall, there are “not many minorities,” but the firm is “making strides.” As for GLBT diversity, one banker notes, “We have a comprehensive diversity initiative staffed by leaders of the firm to encourage and support women, minorities. I’m confident that we are among the most receptive and supportive to these groups within financial services.”

Room to run Overall employee satisfaction at Baird is very high. One professes, “I wouldn’t work at a different investment bank.” Another agrees that he “wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” and adds, “While Baird is smartly reigning in spending during this environment, we added eight to 10 senior bankers in 2008 and expect to come out of this downturn stronger than we entered. We have a lot of running room, and I’m looking forward to the coming years.” Like many of its competitors, the “outlook for 2009 is pretty bleak” at Baird, but the company is “very excited about the market opportunity for our firm.” One current employee says that “compared to other banks, Baird is on solid ground. We are well diversified across product lines and have a very small leverage ratio. Baird will be around for a long time.” Another agrees, saying, “We’re extremely well positioned for the market recovery.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

37

BROADPOINT GLEACHER SECURITIES GROUP, INC.

One Penn Plaza 42nd Floor New York, NY 10119-4000 Phone: (212) 273-7100 www.broadpointsecurities.com

UPPERS

DEPARTMENTS

DOWNERS

Broadpoint Amtech (Equity Capital Markets) Broadpoint Descap Debt Capital Markets Investment Banking Venture Capital

• In terms of hours, “conditions are difficult today” • “Needs to pay competitive bonuses to retain top performers”

THE STATS

Human Resources Fax: (518) 447-8115 Email: [email protected]

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: BPSG (Nasdaq) Chairman: Eric Gleacher CEO: Lee Fensterstock 2008 Revenue: $145.01 million 2008 Net Income: -$17.36 million No. of Employees: 300 No. of Offices: 8

• Culture is “changing” • “US platform is a mix of professionals from many different backgrounds”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

See “careers” under “about us” section of www.broadpointsecurities.com

KEY COMPETITORS Cowen and Company Evercore Partners Greenhill & CO. Stifel William Blair

THE BUZZ


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“Solid boutique—high-quality reputation” “Who?” “Rock stars, well paid, analysts get placed well for PE” “Not what they once were”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Broadpoint Gleacher Securities Group, Inc.

THE SCOOP Rebuilding from scratch Broadpoint Gleacher Securities Group is a New York-based investment bank whose most recent incarnation was formed in June 2009 when Broadpoint Securities Group acquired Gleacher Partners for $20 million in cash. Today, Broadpoint Gleacher focuses on serving middle market and emerginggrowth companies, and, in addition to its headquarters in Manhattan, its nearly 300 employees work out of offices in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, St. Louis and London. In the wake of the subprime crisis and the subsequent collapse of the global markets, along with making a major acquisition, the firm recently added restructuring and recapitalization groups, and expanded its debt capital markets business.

Five areas of business Broadpoint Gleacher has five main businesses: investment banking, Broadpoint Amtech, debt capital markets, Broadpoint Descap and venture capital. Broadpoint’s investment banking group offers M&A Advisory services including buy-side and sell-side advisory, fairness opinions, board and special committee advisory; recapitalization and restructuring advisory including in and out of court restructurings, exchange offers, Chapter 11 reorganizations, distressed asset sales, company, creditor and board advisory; debt financing solutions including public debt, bank debt, high yield, private debt and equity financing solutions including IPO’s, follow-ons, PIPEs, registered directs, private placements, convertibles and other equitylinked securities. Broadpoint AmTech is the firm’s equity capital markets group. It provides equity research, sales, and trading to institutional investors, covering more than 130 stocks and 300 institutional account relationships. Broadpoint’s debt capital markets is a group of approximately 50 professionals that provide primary issuance and secondary trading of debt securities. It trades more than $36 billion in securities annually. The Broadpoint DESCAP group provides primary issuance, and secondary sales and trading in mortgage and asset-backed securities. Broadpoint’s FA Technology Ventures provides growth capital to early and expansion-stage companies in information technology and energy technology, and assists management in developing new companies.

The name game Before it became known as Broadpoint Gleacher, the firm was known as Broadpoint Securities Group, a name it picked up in December 2007. Prior to that time, it was known as First Albany Companies. The Broadpoint moniker entered the fold after the firm sold its municipal bond unit for $12 million to Dublin, Ireland-based DEPFA Bank. The sale to DEPFA gave the former First Albany a more streamlined focus on investment banking, and gave DEPFA the rights to the First Albany name (the municipal bond unit is now called DEPFA First Albany Securities). As a result, First Albany’s board voted to change the firm’s name to Broadpoint Securities Group. Also in the fall 2007, MattlinPatterson, a private equity firm, invested $50 million in Broadpoint and gained controlling interest of the company. This gave MatlinPatterson control of the board and the right to name a new CEO, Lee Fensterstock. Prior to joining Broadpoint, Fensterstock founded Bonds Direct Securities, and served as its chairman and co-CEO until it was sold to Jefferies Group. Previously, he was president and COO of Gruntal & Co., a regional broker dealer. Earlier in his career, Fensterstock worked for PaineWebber. Under the new Broadpoint name, First Albany CEO Peter McNierney was bumped to second place, taking on the president and COO titles. After acquiring financial advisory firm Gleacher Partners in June 2009, it was rechristened Broadpoint Gleacher Securities Group.

Where the Gleacher comes from Eric J. Gleacher, who founded Gleacher Partners with some former colleagues from Morgan Stanley, made his mark on the financial world in 1978 when he started the mergers and acquisitions practice at Lehman Brothers. He defected to Morgan Stanley in 1985 but only stayed there until 1990, when he set out on his own. Before being acquired by Broadpoint, Gleacher offered investment banking and asset management services, advising companies on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and capital raising. The firm had advised clients on over $250 billion of M&A transactions, representing such big-name clients as Apollo Management, AT&T, BAE Systems, Bank of Scotland, British Airways, ConAgra, General Dynamics, Hexion, Telewest, WebMD and Wyeth.


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IN THE NEWS June 2009: Gleacher enters the picture As part of its rebranding, the firm officially became known as Broadpoint Gleacher Securities Group as it completed the acquisition of financial advisory firm Gleacher Partners Inc. The merged firm will have about 300 employees in total.

April 2009: A happy first quarter The firm posted net revenue of $70.6 million for the first quarter of 2009, a big boost from the $17.3 million in the same period of 2008. Net profit, meanwhile, came in at $5 million in the first quarter of 2009, quite a different picture from the net loss of $9.2 million the firm pulled in for the first quarter of 2008. Increased revenue within investment banking, the Broadpoint Descap unit, the equities division and debt capital markets division all contributed positively to Broadpoint’s strong showing.

March 2009: A new boss Broadpoint Securities Group agreed to acquire Gleacher Partners, merging Broadpoint’s debt and equity raising prowess with Gleacher’s advisory expertise. Under the terms of the deal, Broadpoint will pay selling Gleacher shareholders $20 million in cash and issue 23 million shares in common stock.

February 2009: A positive turn Things were mostly looking up for Broadpoint when it came to full-year 2008 results. Full-year revenue came in at $145.01 million, up considerably from the $47.11 million it brought in for 2007. The firm did report a net loss of $17.36 million, but it was less than the net loss of $19.46 million in reported for the previous year. While the recession affected Broadpoint, it seemed to result in somewhat of a positive turn for the firm. “The current industry turmoil is providing us with an unprecedented opportunity to hire industry veterans who share our focus on service and whose clients can benefit from our full suite of products,” Peter McNierney, president and COO, said in a statement. “Over the past 15 months more than 200 professionals have joined Broadpoint.”

November 2008: Technology savvy The restructuring of the firm’s equity capital markets group was finalized when Broadpoint completed its acquisition of American Technology Research Holdings, a broker-dealer that specializes in institutional research, sales and trading in the information technology, cleantech and defense areas. The firm renamed the division Broadpoint AmTech. The combined Broadpoint and American Technology team consists of 53 professionals including 25 research professionals (including 14 publishing analysts), 14 institutional sales professionals, eight trading personnel and six management and support staff. Former American Technology employees Richard Prati and Curt Snyder now serve as managing directors of the division.

July 2008: New blood The firm’s restructuring efforts also included a new leader in the firm’s executive branch. Broadpoint named industry veteran Robert I. Turner as the new chief financial officer. Turner previously served as executive vice president and CFO of Knight Capital Group, a Nasdaq-traded online brokerdealer. He also served as a corporate vice president at Paine Webber and a vice president at Citibank in the treasury and investment banking division.

June 2008: Beefing up the team Nearly six months after the announcement that Broadpoint was acquiring BNY Capital Markets, it added a team of six investment grade fixed income sales professionals to its debt capital markets division in order to further strengthen the team. The team is headed by Richard Crecenzo and Douglas Scales, two Bear Stearns veterans with more than 25 years of experience in the business. Scales and Crescenzo were joined by Robert Arslanian, Renee Rainero, Michael Leit and Meredith Stable in the new investment grade sales department.

January 2008: Bringing in BNY Broadpoint expanded its fixed income division by acquiring BNY Capital Markets, the institutional Fixed Income division of Bank of New York. BNY Capital Markets was formerly known as Mendham Capital Group until it was purchased by The Bank of New York in 1998. The New Jersey-based group operates a sales and trading platform that specializes in high-yield, distressed, investment grade corporate, treasury, government agency, convertible bond and equity securities.

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Lee Fensterstock said that adding BNY Capital Markets “is strategically additive in that it gives us a distribution capability, particularly in high yield and convertible bonds, which will enable us to expand our investment banking practice and better serve our corporate clients.” Former BNY Capital Markets employee Joe Mannello was appointed as the executive managing director and head of the Broadpoint fixed income division.

GETTING HIRED Selective Broadpoint Gleacher is in search of “good, quality people” who want to “make an impact.” The firm’s main priority is finding people who embody its personal ethic of dedication and accountability to clients. But one source notes that in certain departments, candidates must “have niche or area of concentration to be hired.” Junior people looking to join the firm normally go through a “three- or four-step” interviewing process. The company recruits “mostly” at “New York City-area schools” for its internship program and full-time positions. More senior, experienced candidates typically go through a “two- or three-step” interviewing process. Insiders say Broadpoint Gleacher is among the most selective firms in terms of hiring (at least, Gleacher Partners was before it was swallowed by Broadpoint). According to an associate, individuals from Ivy League schools, top undergraduate programs and “selected top-20 MBA programs” often get the most consideration. Perhaps because of the firm’s relatively small size and high selectivity, the interview process is very comprehensive. Their “combination of quality and focus creates a tremendous opportunity for junior professionals to make an impact in addressing the most complex and challenging situations,” according to the firm.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Happy on payday The company’s culture is “changing in the U.S.,” according to one associate in the Atlanta office, who adds that Broadpoint Gleacher is “morphing substantially into a much more aggressive middle-market” type of organization. Working at the firm yields employees “standard fare in terms of lifestyle perks,” according to one source who praises the “summer program for new hires,” which takes place in Toronto over several weeks’ time. Offices are generally well liked by employees, and respondents report that the firm has a casual dress code, except when meeting with clients. Although insiders are split with respect to treatment by management, an associate relays that manager treatment tends to be “situation-specific.” That contact, who’s very happy with the way his superiors treat him, praises the diversity of his U.S.-based group, saying, “Our U.S. platform is a mix of professionals from many different backgrounds.” Other respondents, though, say that Gleacher needs improvement in the areas of diversity with respect to women and minorities. Insiders do quite well in the money department, with sources reporting annual bonuses significantly exceeding their annual salaries. An associate notes that the firm “realizes it needs to pay competitive bonuses to retain top performers,” and praises the firm’s wealth accumulation plan, which allows associates to defer pretax bonus dollars into various investment vehicles. But they work hard for their money. An analyst notes that he works between 60 and 70 hours per week, and he works weekends “often.” Another contact, who reports working between 90 and 100 hours per week, complains that it’s “difficult to make a blanket statement on hours, but conditions are difficult today.” He adds that generally the “market conditions dictate the hours worked,” noting that the long hours also include “travel related to transaction processing and marketing.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

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WILLIAM BLAIR & COMPANY

222 West Adams Street Chicago, IL 60606 Phone: (312) 236-1600 Fax: (312) 368-9418 www.williamblair.com

BUSINESSES Asset Management Equity Research Institutional & Private Brokerage Investment Banking Private Capital

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company President & CEO: John R. Ettelson No. of Employees: 907 No. of Offices: 10

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #2 – Offices #6 – Compensation #6 – Overall Satisfaction #6 – Selectivity #10 – Culture #10 – Green Initiatives #11 – Best to Work For #11 – Training #12 – Business Outlook #12 – Treatment by Managers #15 – Hours Diversity #15 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians

UPPERS • “Excellent place to launch one’s career” • “Learning from talented and intelligent people” • “Exposure within small deal teams”

KEY COMPETITORS Baird Bank of America Credit Suisse FBR Capital Markets Goldman Sachs Jefferies Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Piper Jaffray Companies Thomas Weisel Partners

DOWNER • “Hours can be grueling” • “Hierarchy” • “Office politics”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.williamblair.com/careers

THE BUZZ


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“Strong middle-market firm” “Baird without the rock solid research” “Decent research” “Intense, bordering on cutthroat”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition William Blair & Company

THE SCOOP Chicago pride In addition to investment banking, William Blair & Company provides a range of services that include asset management, equity research, wealth management, institutional and private brokerage, and private capital services. William Blair has 10 offices around the world, but 95 percent of its employees remain based in the Chicago office. The firm says this unusual structure means a high degree of internal communication between employees and the ability for different groups to share knowledge and expertise. Heavily employee-owned, William Blair has 900 employees (164 of whom are principals) and more than $182 million of equity capital. Headquartered in Chicago, the firm’s additional offices are in Boston, Indianapolis, Hartford, New York, San Francisco, London, Shanghai, Tokyo and Zurich. The firm’s roots go back to 1935 when Chicagoan William McCormick Blair opened a firm with his partner, Francis Bonner; from the start, Blair Bonner & Company’s mission was to finance the expansion of local Chicago companies during that city’s boom. In 1941, Bonner decided to relocate to Washington, but Blair, a loyal Midwesterner, had no intention of leaving his home. Blair renamed the firm after himself and soon became a leader in local business finance and investment advice for many of Chicago’s wealthiest families. Chicago profited from William Blair & Company’s services, and as the city’s local businesses grew into major companies, the firm profited from them.

Investment banking with William Blair William Blair’s investment banking division is broken into two groups: corporate finance and debt capital markets. Corporate finance, which operates from the Chicago, Boston, New York, San Francisco, London and Shanghai offices, serves industries such as business services, commercial and industrial, consumer and retail, financial services, health care and technology. The debt capital markets department provides investment banking and advisory services to both public finance issuers and public and private corporations. The corporate debt team works on debt restructurings, recapitalizations, and other debt products; the public finance team offers tax-exempt financing services. The debt capital markets department also works on public-private partnership (P3) transactions.

“Exceptional financial position” One week after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch, and the $85 billion federal bailout of AIG, the senior leaders of boutique investment bank William Blair & Company sent out a press release assuring nervous investors that the firm was in an “exceptional financial position.” The firm wasn’t just blowing smoke—unlike many of its competitors, William Blair could honestly state that it had “no external debt,” “no direct exposure to Lehman” and had “virtually no risk of write-downs.” At the end of the fiscal year, the firm backed up its assertion that business was still going well by ranking high on Thomson Reuters’ M&A league tables. The company placed 22nd overall for announced advisory deals in the Americas, with 45 transactions valued at a total of $35 billion. The proceeds from these deals boosted the firm’s rank in the tables more than twenty places and showed a 238.7 percent growth from the previous year. Overall, the firm’s M&A team completed 60 deals worth $40.5 billion during 2008.

Top talent William Blair is known for its strong equity research department, which has been a vital part since the firm’s inception in 1935. In 2009, William Blair proved its researching prowess by taking home six separate awards for individuals who excelled at stock picking or estimating earnings. In the Financial Times/Star Mine Analyst Awards, awards included the No. 1 stock picker in the air freight and logistics sector, No. 1 earnings estimator in the professional services sector, No. 2 earnings estimator in the diversified consumer services sector, No. 2 stock picker in the trading companies and distributors sector, No. 3 earnings estimator in the capital markets sector, and No. 3 earnings estimator in the food and staples retailing sector. The firm’s researchers also appeared in The Wall Street Journal’s 2008 Best on the Street Awards. John Kreger was named as the No. 5 stock picker in the health care providers sector, and Mark Lane was named as the No. 5 stock picker in the investment services sector. It was Kreger’s fourth time being included in the rankings, and Lane’s second.

IN THE NEWS January 2009: Wizard of M&A William Blair’s head of M&A, Mark Brady, was named Investment Dealer’s Digest Mid-Market Banker of the Year for his work with the firm in 2008. Brady was recognized by IDD for his work in expanding William Blair’s business into Asia, where the firm completed eight M&A deals in 2008. His contributions include serving on the Chicago-China Development Corporation for three years, and making repeated trips to the Guangdong Province in China.


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Brady was also the head of a team that performed surprisingly well even in the midst of one of the worst economies in recent memory. William Blair’s M&A team completed 60 transactions worth $40.5 billion including 21 cross-border transactions in 2008. Brady told the publication that his success has been a long time coming saying, “It took me 17 years to do my first $20 billion of M&A deals in aggregate, and a month to do my second.”

November 2008: Tops in wealth management Barron’s’ ranked William Blair 34th in the country in its 2008 Top Wealth Managers rankings, which listed the top private banking firms in the U.S. by private banking assets under management. William Blair also appeared on Barron’s list of the Top 40 Private Banks, coming in 25th among banks with assets of more than $10 million. As of September 30, 2008, William Blair had more than $42 billion in assets under management.

November 2008: Sticky deal William Blair served as the placement agent on $400 million of senior unsecured notes issued by J.M. Smucker & Company. The funds from the transaction helped Smucker finance its $3.3 billion merger with Folgers Coffee. J.M. Smucker acquired Folgers from Procter & Gamble in an all-stock reverse transaction that included the assumption of $350 million of Folgers debt.

April 2008: Sweet deal William Blair acted as co-advisor to Mars and Warren Buffett’s investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway, on their acquisition of Wrigley Jr. Co. The candy makers and Warren Buffett teamed up to buy Wrigley for $23 billion. Buffett contributed about $6.5 billion into the deal and told a CNBC anchor, “I’ve been conducting a 70-year taste test ... since I was about seven years old on the products. I’ve done the same thing with Mars products. And they met the 70-year taste test.”

GETTING HIRED It ain’t easy It’s not easy landing a spot at this highly selective firm, which has only seen five CEOs in its 74-year history. Even during the best of times, “incoming classes” of analysts “were capped at around 10 to 12.” An analyst in corporate finance agrees that “there are very limited spots available,” while another contact says that hiring “gets more selective each year.” And given the present economic environment, “we’ll have a class of less than 10 joining summer 2009,” says one employee. Active recruitment, says one employee in M&A, is “limited to a handful of schools, mostly Midwest and Big Ten types.” But others say that hires come mostly from the Ivy League, and can boast of “GPAs over 3.8.” In addition to the Ivy League—Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale get special mention—the firm recruits at the University of Illinois, University of Indiana, University of Michigan, Notre Dame, University of Chicago and Georgetown. One employee also warns that as a result of “the market downturn,” in the fall of 2008, “the firm concluded full-time recruitment efforts before giving out any offers.”

The long road to becoming an analyst Typically, says one contact in M&A, “The analyst hiring process is two rounds, each consisting of five to six interviews with a lunch in between.” For the second round, expect a “Super Saturday” at the firm’s Chicago headquarters, where prospective employees interview with “associates, vice presidents and partners.” One analyst remembers that his “first round consisted of two 30-minute interviews,” followed by a “lunch interview” and a second round of “eight 30minute interviews.” Another contact endured a Super Day with “eight rounds of interviews back to back.” Applicants can expect questions that range from “quantitative” to those regarding one’s “fit” with the firm. One source says that it is “important to differentiate your desire to be at William Blair as opposed to a bulge bracket bank in New York.”

Into the great wide open Respondents say that landing an internship “is becoming critical to gaining a full-time offer at William Blair.” In fact, “100 percent” of the analyst class for the summer of 2009 came from the previous summer’s interns. According to one former intern, “It is definitely easier to get hired after an internship—almost every intern has come back for a full-time position in the last five years.” But others warn that the internship, considering this competitive economic environment, is not a guarantee of hire. One analyst explains, “In summer 2008, we had a class of interns four times larger than in years past and invited the best ones to stay on full time.” According to William Blair, it plans to expand the analyst program in 2010 by hiring 15 analysts and extending the program to four years.)

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Interns make a “$40,000 annual salary prorated for three months,” says one analyst who held the role. Another source in corporate finance recalls a “$50,000 a year salary, adjusted for a 10-week period,” which roughly translates to “$950 per week.” Others note that interns are paid “at street levels.” And don’t expect to be making coffee. One former intern recalls working on “multiple live deals and a fairness opinion, as well as pitches and internal projects.” He adds that his “experience mirrored that of a full-time analyst, though colleagues were more patient and expected that I did not know very much.” Another says that he worked on “research projects,” and contributed to “pitches and presentations.” “At a place like William Blair,” according to another insider, “interns can actually become key members of the deal team. They are encouraged to reach for more responsibility, and although they are still on the bottom rung of the ladder, they are given chances to add real value to the transaction process.” And if you’re lucky, “interns join the bankers’ meetings with CEOs and CFOs, and even get to travel with the deal team.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Kickin’ it old-school Insiders tend to agree that “William Blair is an old-school financial services firm with Midwest values.” But the culture does vary group to group. One member of the corporate finance department who says that “the firm has a very good culture overall” cautions that “the corporate finance department is another world. It is very intense, results-driven. You have to be prepared to pay your dues.” The firm’s relatively small size seems to exert an influence on the corporate culture. “Most people in corporate finance know each other across all levels,” says one insider, who calls the firm “pretty collegial.” “There’s no competition among analysts.” In fact, analysts help one another “on a daily basis.” Another points out that “in comparison to larger banks, with dozens of analysts and limited exposure to senior bankers, William Blair analysts of the lean deal teams often interact directly with the vice presidents and principals on the deal.” Indeed, perhaps because “there are only four levels in the hierarchy”—analyst, associate, vice president/director and principal—”all the bankers know the analysts by name and regularly show appreciation for their hard work.” Another insider points out that the head of the corporate finance department “says hello to everyone, including analysts, if you pass him in the hallways.” And apparently the head of corporate finance “sends a very thoughtful department-wide voicemail whenever a corporate finance employee has a baby.” “People here are very ambitious,” but “they have great moral values and treat everyone with respect. People are very demanding of your work, but nobody tolerates disrespect to anyone.” One contact explains, “Senior employees within” investment banking “generally treat people below them with respect, though expectations are very high for the quality of work.” An analyst in corporate finance finds the “culture extremely male-dominated, but equal in terms of treatment.”

New York salaries, Chicago style The bulk of William Blair employees are happy with their compensation, though some feel that the firm could do more by its employees when it comes to salary. Analysts can expect a “$10,000 signing bonus out of undergrad,” which is “paid roughly six months prior to starting work.” Bonuses, which are awarded in June, vary, though they are generally greater than or equal to analysts’ base salaries. Given the firm’s location, that’s a boon. “We are paid New York salaries but live in Chicago.” Insiders say that, given the present economic environment, they’re expecting bonuses “to be on average with the rest of Wall Street.” Less than half of respondents don’t have student loans. But those that do spend a good chunk of their salaries paying back the money they borrowed to finance their education. A few spend less than 10 percent of their salaries on the loans; a handful between 10 and 30 percent; and at least one spends at least 40 percent of his salary on his student loans. In addition to salaries and bonuses, employees also earn one vacation day per month. But one insider cautions that there are “no stock options for entry-level employees.” Generally, employees are eligible to participate in the profit-sharing plan after two years of full-time employment. The firm provides coffee, tea and soda to its employees in corporate finance. Employees purchase their own phones or BlackBerrys, but the firm “will reimburse up to $145 of the monthly bill.” William Blair also grants employees “up to $15 for dinner if you stay past 9 p.m. on weekdays” and “for every four hours you work on the weekend.” Additionally, it foots the bill for “cabs home if you stay past 9 p.m. on weekdays.” On weekends, the firm covers “cabs to work and back.”

A free weekend? Don’t hold your breath On the whole, employees at William Blair work hard for their money. Mostly, analysts work 80 to 90 hours per week, although one source in M&A says that “analysts are no strangers to 100-hour workweeks, though an 80- to 90-hour workweek is more common.” One insider says “there is the


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occasional week with a few all-nighters, but overall, you can manage your time comfortably.” Another disagrees, saying, “I probably average getting out of the office around midnight. A lot of nights are much worse.” Expect to be logging some of those hours on weekends. Respondents say they come in more than once a month on the weekends. “Sundays are work days (four to eight hours at a minimum),” says one contact in M&A. “Hold your breath that you will be free on Saturday. We generally work one or two per month.” Another analyst in corporate finance says that “working Monday to Friday and Sunday is standard” for the department, but “firstyear analysts are here both Saturday and Sunday.” Sources are split regarding the importance of face time. One says that “there is less face time than at bulge bracket counterparts.” Another agrees that “if you have work to do, then do it, but if you don’t, there’s no reason to stay until the early hours.” Others disagree. The firm tries “to emphasize that there’s no face time, but that’s definitely not true. You’re expected to work every weekend, especially Sundays.” Even so, one insider says that “most of the bankers respect that analysts may also have a life outside of work, and if you have a date, concert, wedding or other event to attend, your deal team will mostly be OK with it if you provide sufficient notice.” Some respondents are not sanguine about the time commitment. One complains that “this job requires too many hours of work,” though he admits, “I have heard the hours are fewer here than at bulge bracket firms. I do not have to work most Saturdays, for instance.” Nevertheless, he says, the hours are “the worst part about the job.” Another points out that “even though not as many deals are being closed and the bonuses will not be as good, you’re still working quite a lot.”

The view from the bottom Sources are split on their take regarding treatment by managers. Some say that “Blair treats all employees with tremendous respect and honors personal time as well as any investment bank.” In other words, respect transcends hierarchy. “I am shown a great deal of appreciation for the hard work and long hours that I put in on my transactions,” says one member of the M&A team. “Many of the senior bankers were once investment banking analysts and realize the immense pressure that we face. They know that we are sacrificing a good chunk of our youth to work these 90-hour weeks.” And another insider adds that although managers are “demanding,” they “treat employees with respect.” But some first-year analysts say that life at the bottom of the hierarchy is not easy. “You are definitely at the bottom of the totem pole,” says one source. “People do not have respect for your time and/or personal life. Many people do not appreciate or thank you for your work, or waste your time by assigning menial tasks or giving false deadlines.” Another says that “at the lowest level, people treat you like a commodity. You have to be prepared for this mentally. Otherwise, it can be shocking.” The case of a few bad apples? One analyst says that although “the majority of senior bankers treat you with respect, there are a few that are fairly inconsiderate with respect to giving lead time on projects or taking your capacity for new projects into consideration.”

Training the Street—on the South Side Like their counterparts at other banks, “Blair analysts spend the first month in a comprehensive training program that include Series 7 prep, Training the Street,” and other internal programming. One analyst recalls “two weeks with Training the Street, one with a senior analyst learning how to succeed as an analyst, and one with a tutor to help pass the Series 7.” Although TTS “was fairly good at giving a crash course, as a history major, I still had no idea what I was doing once I started full time.” Overall, “training is very average for the industry,” and “first-year associates definitely could have used more training.” But another insider says that training “begins six months before our start date, when we are mailed study materials for the Series 7 and Series 63.” After the training period is over, “third-year analysts” are “available to help,” though “informal training is hit or miss depending who you work with.” The firm also has a generalist program for first-year analysts, in order for them to find their place in the company. “Essentially,” generalists “audition a year prior to placement into an industry or product group, which makes for a stressful first year. Once you are in a group and you can build a relationship with your team,” says one contact, you can “create a more positive work environment.”

Double room occupancy “No cubicles or bullpens” here; “analysts get offices!” First-years can expect to share a “spacious” office “with a second-year analyst (for mentoring purposes).” Of course, the best part about an office is it has a door. “Late at night or during weekends, analysts can close their doors and gain a welcome level of privacy.” Third-years get offices all their own. Décor “is very old-school classy and very Chicago with rich dark wood and marble covering the walls, with gold accents,” and is “matched by no other investment bank.” But at least one insider says that the décor “is a little dated but fits the firm’s culture” while another holds that “the office is nothing spectacular.” One insider who is less thrilled says, “They provide what we need,” though “the temperature is awful and fluctuates frequently.”

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Overall, the dress is “very conservative. You will see a lot of dark pants,” and “white and blue shirts abound.” “No jacket or tie required” for the dayto-day rounds, “but everyone dresses very professionally—Brooks Brothers or better.” Think “slacks and a dress shirt.” The formality eases up on weekends and holidays. And in the summer, “some bankers,” who, during the rest of the year “show up in a suit and tie every day,” will “wear polo shirts on Fridays since they’re mostly all avid golfers.” Insiders are split regarding the degree of formality in the office. “Chicago business is conducted in a slightly more formal manner than in New York,” says one contact. Another Chicagoan wishes that “it was more formal so that people always looked presentable.” But all agree that formal is the word when it comes to client contact. Employees are similarly split regarding the firm’s attempts to implement green business practices, with some feeling that the firm is doing a good job of it. Most say they are open to a reduction in unnecessary lighting during off-peak hours, and to giving up disposable silverware and table settings. Presently, initiatives include “printing double sided, using more electronic files,” which “is a major shift as we traditionally print everything.” One insider says that these initiatives reflect an attempt “to reduce costs” rather than a conscious effort “of going green.” And at least one employee says that “so much paper and electricity is wasted it is almost disgusting.”

No high marks for equal opportunity employment When it comes to gender, racial and GLBT diversity, the firm does not score high marks among the bulk of its employees. The investment banking division “is a lot of white males. But other departments across the firm are much more diverse.” Although “women are not well represented,” “the ones that are here seem well respected.” One insider points out that the firm “has always had a good amount of female analysts,” but that currently, there is “only one female partner in corporate finance.” And a female source says, “I feel that I’m treated differently, less harshly, because I’m a woman. It can be an advantage, but I’d rather be treated like an equal. I also fear that some people do not think female analysts are as capable as males.” A few insiders say that “the firm is not racially diverse.” Another points out that there are “hardly any minorities in more senior positions. It doesn’t seem to be something we even recruit for. I would not call us an ‘equal opportunity’ employer. I also think minorities have a more difficult time fitting in.” But insiders specify that it’s the corporate finance department that needs to improve and that “Blair overall is very diverse.”

A balance sheet free of toxic assets William Blair was founded during the Great Depression, so “the business model was designed to operate in difficult economic times.” The firm “doesn’t lend, has no third-party debt on its balance sheet and doesn’t engage in proprietary trading,” which makes it “one of the best positioned investment banks in the country.” Others point out that William Blair is “privately owned,” and is “not at risk for defaults or huge asset write-downs.” The firm is “as well-positioned as any other” in the financial industry “to take advantage of a market recovery.” Nevertheless, “business has been slowing and revenue has been hit.” As a result, the firm “has taken steps to cut costs and buckle down for the long run,” which include cutting back on holiday parties, reducing the workforce, and diminishing the number and scale of free meals.


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THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORPORATION

One Wall Street New York, NY 10286 Phone: (212) 495-1784 Fax: (212) 809-9528 www.bnymellon.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

UPPERS

Asset Management Asset Servicing Broker-Dealer & Advisory Services Issuer Services Treasury Management Wealth Management

• “There are opportunities to move around within the company” • Management is “very open and easy to work with”

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: BK (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: Robert P. Kelly 2008 Revenue: $13.7 billion 2008 Net Income: $1.4 billion No. of Employees: 42,900 No. of Offices: Offices on 6 continents in 42 countries

Citi JPMorgan Chase State Street

DOWNERS • “No sick days” • “No overtime pay given”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.bankofny.com/careers

THE BUZZ


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“Strong firm” “Old” “Well positioned” “Needs government funding”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation

THE SCOOP No. 1 on Wall Street Established in July 2007 from the $17.6 billion merger of Mellon Financial Corporation and The Bank of New York Company, The Bank of New York Mellon is a securities services and asset management company with over 42,000 employees operating across 34 countries. Headquartered in New York City, at the enviable address of One Wall Street, The Bank of New York Mellon has about $21 trillion in assets under custody or administration and more than $1 trillion under management. The firm services some of the world’s leading corporations, governments, unions, foundations, endowments, mutual funds and high-net-worth individuals through six main business units: asset management, asset servicing, wealth management, issuer services, treasury services, and brokerdealer and advisory services. The Bank of New York Mellon offers asset management services through 15 wholly owned and three partially owned subsidiaries. BNY Mellon operates six main business lines. Pershing LLC and Pershing Advisor Solutions are the bank’s broker-dealer and advisor service businesses, and they perform an average of 119,000 trades on a daily basis. The bank’s treasury management services is the third-largest payment processor in the U.S., with more than 170,000 wire transfers daily.

From New York and Pennsylvania to the world Founded in 1784, BNY can honestly claim to be the oldest bank in the U.S. Chartered by a group of New Yorkers (including Alexander Hamilton), it was the first corporate stock to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, which opened in 1792. The bank played a major role in financing industrial and economic growth in New York City, building its assets through the 1800s and into the 1900s. In 1922, BNY gained a trust business by acquiring the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company; it survived the stock market crash of 1929 and went on to acquire the Fifth Avenue Bank and the Empire Trust Company. In the 1960s, BNY went where it had never gone before—outside New York, by opening a London office and purchasing National Community Banks in New Jersey and the Putnam Trust Company in Connecticut. The 1988 acquisition of the Irving Bank Corporation created what was then the 10th-largest bank in the U.S. Mellon, on the other hand, was founded in 1869 by Thomas Mellon and his two sons. One of those sons, Andrew Mellon, eventually became the U.S. Treasury Secretary. Many industrial giants—from an oil company to a steel empire—were backed by Mellon, and it was known for taking investment risks as well as allowing the burgeoning industrial community in southwestern Pennsylvania to thrive. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, it bought up a number of banks in its native state of Pennsylvania, and eventually nabbed such firms as the Boston Company, the Dreyfus Corporation, United Bankshares and insurance company Safeco Corporation.

Up to its old tricks Shortly into its marriage, The Bank of New York Mellon was acquiring companies as a combined entity. In December 2007, the firm bought ABN AMRO Mellon Global Securities Services B.V., a 50/50 joint venture company established by Mellon Bank N.A. and ABN AMRO in 2003 to provide global custody and related services to institutions outside North America. The firm became known as BNY Mellon Asset Servicing B.V. and a part of the asset servicing division of The Bank of New York Mellon. The bank continues to be headquartered in Amsterdam and regulated by De Nederlandsche Bank. Existing ABN AMRO Mellon clients will remain contracted to BNY Mellon Asset Servicing B.V., as will ABN AMRO Mellon staff at the company’s operational centers around the world. In conjunction with the deal, ABN AMRO Mellon CEO Nadine Chakar took up a new position as chair of the supervisory board of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing B.V., and Pim Nederpel, ABN AMRO Mellon’s CFO, was appointed CEO. The Bank of New York Mellon made another international purchase in January 2008 when it completed the acquisition of ARX Capital Management, an independent asset management business headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ARX specializes in Brazilian multi-strategy, long/short and long only investment strategies, and has more than $2.8 billion in assets under management.

An embarrassment of riches Where to begin? BNY Mellon was lauded by industry publications across the board. Its Mellon Transition Management Services was named 2008 Transition Manager of the year by Global Pensions magazine—beating out more than 1,000 other pension funds.

Global Investor named BNY Mellon No. 1 in all major categories, including best FX service overall, while ICFA magazine named it custodian of the yearEurope, US Fund administrator of the year (onshore) and custodian of the year-overall, in its first-ever global awards. Finally, BNY Mellon won Global Finance’s World’s Best Global Custodian—for the ninth year in a row. To give an idea why, during 2008, BNY Mellon was named custodian of a wide range of investments, including Banco Central de Uruguay’s $4.5 billion portfolio; Old Mutual Capital’s $5 billion mutual fund portfolio; and the Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado $3.5 billion portfolio. It was also named sole custodian of the U.K.-based Co-Operative Group’s £5.3 million pension plan and appointed by the Free State of Saxony in consultation with Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg and a group of German banks to provide execution services for the €16 billion Sealink Funding transaction.


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IN THE NEWS June 2009: Freddie picks Mellon Bank of New York Mellon was selected by mortgage provider Freddie Mac as designated custodian. In this role, Mellon will be the custodian for all documents related to mortgages delivered to Freddie Mac—a role Freddie Mac will be relinquishing. Mellon will officially begin providing custodial services in October 2009.

April 2009: A big slide Bank of New York Mellon booked first quarter 2009 net income of $370 million, a 51 percent decline versus the first quarter 2008. The bank’s revenue, meanwhile, fell to $2.95 billion from $3.75 billion. BNY Mellon’s results were adversely affected by weakened equity markets, which ate into the company’s money-management fees.

January 2009: Securities lead to slowdown The bank also suffered billions in write-downs in the fourth quarter of 2008. And it was one of the first banks to receive a boost from the federal government—to the tune of $3 billion in preferred stock. For full-year 2008, the firm brought in $1.16 billion in revenue, down from the $1.39 billion it reported in 2007. Net income for the year came in at $1.42 billion, down from the $2.04 billion it posted in 2007. The bank cited mortgage-based securities write-downs as one of the main reasons for the overall decline.

January 2009: Working for Fannie Mortgage giant Fannie Mae designated it document custodian for materials related to mortgage loans in its mortgage portfolio.

November 2008: Not even a giant is untouched BNY Mellon slashed about 4 percent of its 43,000-strong workforce, or about 1,800 positions. “It has become clear that we need to take additional steps beyond our merger synergies to reduce expenses, given the current weakness in the global economy. We will take advantage of natural turnover to lessen the impact on existing staff,” Robert P. Kelly, chairman and CEO, said in a statement. The firm was also one of the first banks to receive a cut of the U.S. government’s initial $250 billion aid package; BNY took a $3 billion shot in the arm in the form of the sale of preferred stock.

October 2008: Master custodian for TARP BNY Mellon was named master custodian overseeing the Treasury Department’s $700 billion bailout. Among its responsibilities as master custodian are providing record-keeping services and overseeing the bailout fund’s cash and assets; providing pricing and asset valuation services; and managing reverse auctions for troubled assets and executive compensation limits. The company outbid Citigroup, Wells Fargo and State Street for the job, according to The New York Times.

September 2008: Lehman trustee When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, BNY Mellon had no loans outstanding to the firm. But it was a corporate trustee for Lehman debt issues, and sat on the committee overseeing the Lehman bankruptcy proceedings.

September 2008: Perfect marks for GLBT treatment And the Human Rights Campaign Foundation awarded it perfect marks in its 2009 Corporate Equality Index, an annual survey that rates employers’ treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees and clients.

July 2008: End of an era Thomas A. Reyni retired as executive chairman and director of the Bank of New York Mellon. Prior to the Mellon and Bank of New York merger, Reyni served as chairman and CEO of the Bank of New York. Reyni, who was fundamental to the merger, worked with the bank for the duration of his career— nearly 40 years. He was succeeded by Robert P. Kelly, BNY Mellon’s CEO.

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June 2008: Two steps closer to world domination The company announced that would open an office in Dubai—a major step toward its expansion into the Middle East and African markets. It obtained a license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority and will operate from the Dubai International Financial Centre. The company also acquired an enhanced banking license for Mexico, which will enable it to bolster its business in that country, where it operates as The Bank of New York Mellon, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple.

April 2008: Equal opportunity employer In April 2008, the New York City Bar Association named Bank of New York Mellon’s legal department the diversity employer of the year for 2008.

April 2008: Case of the disappearing tapes A back-up storage tape containing images of scanned checks and other documents related to payments made to some 50 BNY institutional clients disappeared en route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. In apology, the bank offered two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft insurance for up to $25,000. It also promised to encrypt future data to be transported and, when possible, to transport it electronically. The identities of nearly 500,000 Connecticut residents were put at risk, according to the U.K.-based Register; affected companies include John Hancock, Walt Disney Company and TD Bank Financial Group.

March 2008: Park steps down Michael Hughey, BNY Mellon’s controller, stepped down from his position. John Park, previously CFO of the company’s treasury and global markets businesses, succeeded him.

Feburary 2008: Foibles Data belonging to more than four million people was exposed after a box of data storage tapes went missing; the tapes included names, addresses and Social Security numbers of BNY Mellon and the Bridgeport, Conn.-based People’s United Bank. An outside vendor lost the tapes, said BNY Mellon, while they were being transported to a New Jersey storage facility.

Feburary 2008: Down with OPG Stichting Pensioenfonds OPG engaged BNY to provide global custody, investment accounting, regulatory reporting, and performance measurement for €219 million. OPG Group, an international pharmaceutical and medical supply company, has operations in the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Hungary and Switzerland.

January 2008: A plethora of deals The bank closed on its acquisition of ARX Capital Management, an asset manager headquartered in Rio de Janeiro with $2.8 billion assets under management.

GETTING HIRED Cradle robbers For potential candidates, especially those just beginning their careers, you just might be in luck. On the firm’s career site, individuals with undergraduate degrees seeking entry-level positions can apply for positions such as branch banking, corporate trust, investment accounting, stock transfer, unit investment trust and American Depositary Receipts. For MBAs, BNY Mellon regularly hires newly minted business grads to serve as corporate banking associates, investment management associates, and media and telecommunications banking associates. The bank also offers an MBA summer associate program where business students work for 12 weeks in one of the following divisions: asset management, private client services, capital markets, corporate banking, international banking, product management, marketing or operations management. BNY Mellon summer internships for undergraduate students are typically in the firm’s branch banking group. “The company generally likes to hire new college grads,” says a current insider. “It is an excellent opportunity right out of college.” Another adds that it is a “good first-time job.” The firm’s website makes the application process easy, allowing you to submit your resume online.


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Just relax The interview process, insiders say, is “relaxed,” “relatively informal” and “nothing fancy.” One insider, who says he interviewed with “three different managers and supervisors, reports being asked “basic questions”—many of them “behavioral.” Expect at least three rounds, but don’t expect bells and whistles—it’s a “fairly straightforward” process, insiders say.

OUR SURVEY SAYS They’re pros The bank houses a “very professional, yet laid-back working environment,” insiders say. Overall, the corporate culture at the firm is “traditional,” but with a “very good work environment for everybody.” Maybe that’s because where “teamwork is the core of business.” Although “people need to work hard,” it’s likely an offshoot of the fact that “the company has grown up very quickly in recent years.” But there’s a flip side, too—”the bank also has people who are dead set on leaving the office by 4:59 p.m.” Then again, “if you are ambitious, there is no limit to the amount of exposure you can receive here.” So, “for the brightest, this is an open field in terms of experience and learning.” Hours spent in office tend to be reasonable—”your basic 8:30 to 5 and 10 to 7,” says one insider. Still, “there is overtime which pays you time and a half” for nonexempt employees. But be warned—”once you get to be an analyst and above, you do not get paid overtime,” so many become “more reluctant to stay late and take on extra work or work that has yet to be finished.” On the management front, sources seem to be pretty content. “My supervisors and managers are very open and easy to work with.” They’re also “not overly demanding, but expect you to carry your weight and complete your daily work with accuracy.”

Pretty poor perks But the reluctance may also stem from the paltry salary and benefits. “Actual bonuses were small,” one insider confides, “and not even close to compensating for overtime.” Plus, “bonuses are paid four months after they’re earned to force staff to stay longer.” There are “four weeks of vacation and medical/dental benefits” offered “but only for the employee,” so “any dependents or spouses must pay their own medical/dental premiums.” Insiders report being offered “stock options,” but “no sick days.” (One contact adds that the “‘interview process’ after taking any time off from work was demeaning and very much like being questioned about an absence in high school.” Another source reports that “the only other benefits are free coffee and tea—but staff must supply their own milk and sugar” and adds “the milk is frequently stolen from the company fridge by other staff.” On the bright side, the training offered gets a thumbs-up. “There are terrific online educational programs that range anywhere from in-depth education about daily activities to a CFA prep course,” one contact notes. And “there are opportunities to move around within the company, including some of BNY Mellon’s subsidiary divisions.” Another aspect of firm life that does receive high marks from insiders is a “business casual” dress code that allows “jeans and sneakers on Fridays and specific manager-permitted weekdays.” However, use common sense when dressing for the office. There are “no cargo pants” and “no T-shirts with words, phrases or logos” allowed for women and men. Meanwhile, there are “no city shorts,” “low-cut blouses” or “revealing camisoles” allowed for women.

A long way to go On the diversity front, “there appears to be more women than men, and the majority of the administrators were very young.” But there are a “low number of African-Americans” and an “even smaller number of Hispanics.” There is, however, notable diversity in management, insiders report, but when it comes to advancing, it seems as though it’s important to “say the right thing” and “impress the right person” to get ahead. One contact says there was “political correctness in name only—actions and tone spoke louder than words.” One insider notes that “in recent years, the bank has adopted a policy of ‘no discrimination based on sexual orientation.’ This was the first time the bank acknowledged that there was a sizable gay employee population, and didn’t reserve the anti-discrimination policies to only race and sex.” This is a move that definitely denotes progress, the contact asserts. “For a stodgy, old-world bank, this moved the institution light years ahead.” And the firm seems to be on the right track for the future. “Due to the recent merger of Bank of New York and Mellon, the company is now the biggest custodian in the world and still has much room for growth, especially in Asia.” It seems that on the whole, Bank of New York Mellon “is in very strong standing and should be for the long term.”

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COWEN AND COMPANY, LLC

1221 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Phone: (646) 562-1000 Fax: (646) 562-1741 www.cowen.com

BUSINESSES Institutional Sales & Trading Investment Banking Research

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: COWN (NYSE) President & CEO: David M. Malcolm 2008 Revenue: $217.32 million 2008 Net Income: -$72.15 million No. of Employees: 440 No. of Offices: 13 (Worldwide)

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #6 – Training #7 – Treatment by Managers #8 – Best to Work For #8 – Compensation #8 – Culture #9 – Overall Satisfaction #10 – Offices #11 – Selectivity #13 – Business Outlook #14 – Green Initiatives Diversity #6 – Diversity With Respect To Women #9 – Best for Diversity #11 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #11 (tie) – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians

KEY COMPETITORS Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley

UPPERS • “Attention from senior management” • “Great culture” • “Good work/life balance”

DOWNERS • “The hours” • “Less commonly known” • “The politics”

THE BUZZ

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT


“Strong niche player, strong in technology” “Not a serious player” “Solid boutique” “Struggling”

www.cowen.com/CareerOpportunities.asp

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Cowen and Company, LLC

THE SCOOP Growth sector gurus The Cowen Group, Inc. is an investment bank with two arms: Cowen International Ltd., which handles overseas business, and Cowen and Company LLC, which operates in the U.S. Cowen’s investment banking services are focused on small and midsized public companies as well as private companies in seven emerging growth sectors: aerospace and defense, alternative energy, health care, consumer goods, telecommunications and technology. Investment banking services include mergers and acquisitions advisory, equity and convertible debt financing, private placements and restricted security sales. Cowen also operates busy institutional sales and trading and research units. Over the years, the firm has become a leader in after-market trading services among market makers in tech and health care stocks. Similarly, it has proven successful at equity capital raising in these sectors. The firm has kept busy advising on a variety of M&A deals. In 2008, for deals based on value, Thomson Reuters ranked Cowen No. 8 for U.S. Targeted M&A up to $50 million, outranking competitors Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. In the other M&A categories based on value, it was named No. 19 for deals up to $100 million, No. 16 for deals up to $200 million, and No. 19 for deals up to $500 million.

A subsidiary no more In 1918, Harry Cowen and Arthur Cowen Sr. opened a small bond brokerage business in New York City’s financial district. By the 1920s, the Cowens’ firm had joined the New York Stock Exchange, and began offering clearing and execution services for correspondent clients. Research and institutional sales were added in the 1960s, around the same time the firm relocated to a new headquarters at 45 Wall Street. A decade of rapid expansion followed—during the 1970s, Cowen opened six offices across the U.S. and began making its first acquisitions. Cowen launched a retail business in 1970 with the purchase of Greene & Ladd, then expanded its retail services in 1977 by acquiring Hardy & Company. The firm’s expertise in technology and health care dates back to 1976, when Cowen bought Boston-based institutional research firm G.S. Grumman. Cowen’s reach went beyond U.S. borders in the 1980s with the opening of offices in London, Tokyo, Paris and Geneva. The investment banking unit debuted in 1986, but it really took off a few years later—by the time the 1990s rolled around, Cowen’s lead-managed transactions accounted for onethird of the firm’s business. In 1998, Cowen was acquired by France’s Societe Generale and continued operating as SG Cowen Securities Corporation. A few years later, SG Cowen sold its retail business in an effort to focus on the core businesses of research and investment banking. By 2006, Cowen was an independent company once again: its parent SocGen agreed to a spin-off, and Cowen issued its IPO in July 2006, trading under the symbol COWN. Kim Fennebresque, who guided Cowen’s restructuring under SocGen and the subsequent IPO, led the transition. Today, Cowen employs 440 people in eight U.S. offices and two international affiliate offices in Beijing, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, and Shanghai. In spite of its layoffs in 2008, the company did make some hires: Stuart Gould joined as head of electronic trading from Morgan Stanley; Christine Arnold, another MS alum, was named senior analyst covering managed care and health care service providers; and Paul E. Griffin and Andrew M. Barish joined the firm’s technology and consumer investment banking groups, from Oppenheimer & Co. and Banc of America Securities, respectively. The firm also made hires in its capital markets and consumer investment banking groups.

Slumping toward Bethlehem? Cowen posted disappointing earnings throughout 2008. In the first quarter, total revenue was $55 million, down 25 percent from the same period a year earlier. Net income for the first quarter of 2008 was $0.7 million. In the second quarter of 2008, total revenue was $62.7 million, a 12 percent decrease from the same period in 2007. The net loss for the second quarter of 2008 was $0.7 million. In the third quarter, Cowen reported $58 million in revenue, a 1 percent increase from third quarter 2007. But the company once again posted a net loss, this time of $61.7 million. For full-year 2008, the firm posted $217.32 million in revenue, down from $261.57 million it posted in 2007. The firm posted a net loss of $72.15 million for the year, deeper than the $11.32 million net loss it posted in the previous year. The firm cited the disarray in the financial markets as part of the reason for the disappointing results.

IN THE NEWS December 2008: Sorry, dance card’s full The firm announced that it had rejected a $100 million hostile bid from Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group. At $40 million, according to Forbes, Rodman & Renshaw has less than half of Cowen’s market capitalization. The firm, an investment bank that specializes in the biotechnology sector, said Cowen’s expertise in public offerings would appeal to its clients. Needless to say, folks at Cowen felt differently.

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In a statement, the firm said: “There are no complimentary products or business strategies and little additional sector coverage between the two firms due to Rodman & Renshaw’s reliance on the life sciences sector and the fact that Cowen offers all of the primary products and services offered by Rodman & Renshaw. Further, Cowen believed, and continues to believe, that there is significant risk that a transaction with Rodman & Renshaw would result in the destruction of shareholder value.” The hostile bid wasn’t Rodman & Redhaw’s first attempt to acquire Cowen. The two, according to Forbes, had been in informal discussions throughout the fall—to no avail. In spite of Cowen’s rejection, Rodman & Redman was undeterred. After Cowen declined its bid, Rodman & Redman took its offer public, hoping that it could entice Cowen’s shareholders to agree to it. According to Forbes, the firm offered to pay Cowen shareholders a 20 percent premium to the company’s stock.

December 2008: Parting is such sweet sorrow Cowen cut 11 percent of its workforce in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to The Wall Street Journal.

September 2008: Underwriting time With Citigroup, UBS and Wachovia, Cowen underwrote the $100 million IPO for medical device company Therox, which focuses on treating oxygendeprived tissue in heart-attack victims.

August 2008: Dealicious Cowen acquired Latitude Capital Group, a boutique investment bank headquartered in Hong Kong. Latitude is now known as Cowen Latitude Asia, and Frank K. Au, president of Latitude, has become its CEO and has joined Cowen’s investment banking operating committee. According to Cowen, the acquisition will open up access to Asian markets; Latitude had offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, which are now Cowen affiliates.

May 2008: A new chief Amid a tough market that has caused the firm trouble, Cowen named a new chief. Not long after announcing dismal first quarter results, Cowen announced that David Malcolm, an executive vice president of the firm, would take over as president and CEO, while former chief executive Kim Fennebresque would resign after 10 years as the firm’s leader.

July 2008: Health care royalty The company closed its Cowen Healthcare Royalty Partners fund (CHRP), with commitments in excess of $500 million. In a statement, Cowen said that the fund “was significantly oversubscribed, and substantially exceeded its initial target size of $350 million.” Under the direction of Gregory Brown, Todd C. Davis, and Clarke B. Futch, CHRP focuses on long-term investments in health care products and companies. Investors include affiliates of OMERS Capital Partners, Crestline Management, Nordea, Strategic Investment Group, New York Life Insurance Company, and The Travelers Companies.

June 2008: Stepping down Kim S. Fennebresque departed from the firm. Fennebresque, the former Cowen CEO who had stepped down in January 2008, resigned from his post as nonexecutive chairman of Cowen Group. John E. Toffolon Jr. succeeded him as nonexecutive chairman of the board.

April 2008: Tasty deal And it advised Landry’s Restaurants, owner of the Chart House and Rainforest Cafe chains, on the possibility of a sale, following a bid by Tilman Fertitta, Landry president and CEO.

January 2008: Things will get worse before they get better Cowen & Company rang in 2008 with a bang and a whimper. The company started 2008 down 52 percent since the beginning of 2007—a worse record than now-defunct Bear Stearns. The year never really turned around for Cowen, which posted disappointing returns, was the subject of a hostile bid, and cut some 11 percent of its workforce in the fourth quarter.


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GETTING HIRED Make it your first choice Cowen & Company is “more selective in the current environment,” and there are “not many positions available.” One associate explains that the company is “looking for very few, extremely qualified candidates who can clearly articulate why they are interested in being investment bankers here.” If you want to get your foot in the door, “Cowen does typically recruit from a small batch of schools,” but “there are several analysts hired through connections.” Only a handful of recruits are hired each year, and the numbers are dwindling. An insider says, “We usually do maybe 15 to 20 preliminary interviews for each spot, which comes after screening resumes, of which we probably get 40 to 50 per open spot. We hired sixteen for the class of 2007, 15 in 2008, and 10 for 2009.” The No. 1 most important requirement is that Cowen be the candidates’ first choice. One contact says, “Cowen doesn’t want people that only want to work here because they can’t get a job at a bulge bracket. They want people that choose to work here because they recognize the advantages of the platform.”

Round ‘em up Candidates recall two to three rounds of interviews where they’ve gone one on one with up to fifteen different people. One current analyst describes the process, “The first was a 30- to 45-minute introductory interview on campus with an associate. The second was an office visit, comprised of several 30- to 45-minute interviews with VPs, directors and MDs. The second round was much more intensive than the first.” Recruiters can be found at schools such as “Tuck, Columbia, Emory, Haas, UCLA and Carnegie Mellon on the MBA side,” and “Bowdoin, Richmond, Berkeley on the BA side.” On the West Coast, Cowen “recruits primarily from UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC and, to a lesser extent, Stanford.” Current insiders also say that generally the company “has a national eye towards Ivy and NESCAC schools” (like Amherst, Williams and Wesleyan). Interviews at Cowen are “focused on fit as opposed to pounding you with technical questions.” Because of the “the number of hours spent with your colleagues, personality fit and intelligence is extremely important,” and the responses to these questions are more important than “memorizing the answers to the basic gamut of IB interview questions.”

Prior experience necessary Internships can be the key to employment at Cowen. One former intern recalls, “My summer internship was a good experience. I worked as if I was a full-time analyst, albeit without nearly the same level of expertise. I received a full-time offer at the end of the summer.” An internship at either Cowen or another banking firm is almost a prerequisite for hire. Be wary, however, of how you frame your prior internship experiences, because “if you did not intern at a bank, the question will be ‘Why not?’ And if you did intern at another firm, the question will be ‘Why are you not going back there?’”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Small but competitive The firm culture is “more relaxed than at a typical investment bank due to the smaller environment”—”the hierarchy associated with most banks does not come into play as much here.” Entry-level employees may want to be cautious, however, because “as an analyst, you have a lot of rope so-tospeak—more than enough to hang yourself at times if you are not careful.” Though the group atmosphere is described as “very collegial and tightknit,” the “culture can be very aggressive”—employees “need to be very thick skinned to fit in.” Analyst salaries start at $60,000 and “increase $10,000 a year for seniority.” “Bonuses are based upon firm wide performance at the analyst level,” and “vacation is accrued at 1.5 days per month.” Perks include “free meals and transportation nightly and on weekends” (“Individuals receive $20 a night for meals assuming they work past 8 p.m.”) One analyst working out of the San Francisco office reports, “We have a box at the Giants games, which is a great perk. I got to go to maybe seven or eight games last year.” Despite Cowen’s size most respondents say that the salaries are “comparable to Wall Street”, “the same as everywhere else,” and even on the “high end of the Street range.” However, the firm may see this change in the future as recently “salaries were frozen for all levels,” and in the past year, “bonuses were down significantly, about 60 to 80 percent.”

Dig in Employees who are hired at Cowen are expected to contribute a sizable amount of their time to the company. Most employees at the analyst level and above report working between 80 and 100 hours per week, and one source confirms that “during 2008, 100-hour weeks were standard.” Another comments that “even during market slowdowns, leaving before 9 p.m. is uncommon.” Long hours “come with the territory,” and one goes so far as

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to warn, “If hours are a concern, this is not the right industry for you. People here won’t waste your time, but you will likely find you don’t have the time to waste.”

Take me seriously Managers at Cowen “generally treat colleagues with respect.” “As an analyst, your opinion and advice is often critical and is taken very seriously,” which “doesn’t always seem to be the case at other banks.” Most managers get high marks from their subordinates but “it depends a lot on who you work for. Some managers are mindful of your time and others are more focused on getting the work done.” Though most employees report a very open environment, one source notes that “direct managers have become more difficult to work within the downturn,” and “the environment is no longer as collegial—there are many more closed doors to senior bankers’ offices.” The downturn has also caused employees to note that the firm has cut back on several former mainstays, including its winter holiday celebration. According to insiders, Cowen has also downsized its workforce and reduced business related travel as a result of the difficult market.

Basic banking Office space is “is fairly basic” and “nothing fancy.” One source says, “I grade it well since I have a reasonably-sized office with a window where most associates don’t have that.” Another says, “I work in the Bank of America building in a cubicle on the fifth floor. It’s not glamorous, but it’s not all that bad, either.” San Francisco gets high marks for its offices, with one employee commenting that the space is “very nice, light and modern”— it’s not dark and depressing like most banks.” Another source notes, “Associates all have offices.” Cowen employees have a dress code that consists of “business casual in the office on the West Coast” and “formal dress in New York.” All employees are required to wear suits for client interaction. The company has “become more business casual over time,” and many offices offer a business casual dress code in the summer. One respondent reports that in his office, even though a “jacket is not formally required during the summer, most if not all bankers stick to formal dress.” A West Coast contact says that he “always wear slacks and a collared shirt to the office.” At this boutique firm, “training can be very intimate.” A source explains that “compared to the bulge banks, Cowen provides the exact same training without the credit analysis.” Another agrees that the training is similar to bulge banks, but says that it also has an added perk: “We benefit from small class size and much more insightful feedback.” Training programs have a duration period of five weeks and are split into two different groups: one for analysts and one for associates.

Not there yet Cowen’s offices “have not been retrofitted for environmentally sustainable practices,” though the firm does “employ power conservation and similar cost-saving techniques.” Many sources give the firm low marks for its lack of green initiatives, with one commenting that “we recycle but it’s not a big focus.” Respondents suggest cutting back on disposable plates, napkins and lighting during the day as potential means of addressing the problem.

No bias Insiders agree that “the firm is male-dominated,” but “there are a number of females that work at all levels.” The good news is that Cowen is making efforts to reach out to its female employees. One female associate explains, “Last year the firm had a Women’s Summit event in New York, where every woman professional in banking, sales and trading met for a day to talk about women in the workplace.” The firm doesn’t have any outreach targeted towards hiring or supporting minorities, but many employees feel that their colleagues “are unbiased when it comes to ethnicity in hiring, promotion and mentoring.” One source cites that there are “not many minorities here,” while another agrees that “the firm is mostly Caucasian.” Still, “a number of different races are represented at all levels.” As for diversity as far as sexual orientation, it “is not a topic often discussed around the office so it’s a little bit more difficult to gauge.”

Job jitters Cowen respondents feel that their firm is surviving the financial crisis better than others, but at least one source admits that “no one is completely satisfied in an investment banking position right now.” Another adds, “I share a healthy fear with everyone on the Street that this will not last.” One current associate’s overall satisfaction at Cowen is so great that he confesses that he “would not work at another firm on Wall Street. When I leave Cowen, I will leave Wall Street.” Looking forward, most employees think that Cowen is “taking the right steps to survive and come up with interesting ways to make money.” One source says that the downturn has actually benefited the firm, saying that “given the current shake up and issues at bulge bracket firms, Cowen has been able to increase its face time and mindshare of the CEOs of our clients.” Indeed, most agree that the “the firm is in a much better position than most.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

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CITI CONSUMER BANKING

399 Park Avenue New York, NY 10043 Phone: (800) 285-3000 Fax: (212) 793-3946 www.citi.com

BUSINESSES Commercial Business Consumer Finance Retail Banking Retail Distribution

THE STATS Employer Type: Division of Citigroup Inc. CEO, Citigroup, Inc.: Vikram S. Pandit CEO, Consumer Banking North America: Terri Dial 2008 Revenue: $28.65 billion 2008 Net Income: -$12.28 billion No. of Employees: 309,000* No. of Offices: 7,730 *Citigroup Inc.

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #1 – Hours #7 – Selectivity #12 – Compensation #13 – Green Initiatives #13 – Treatment by Managers #14 – Training #15 – Best to Work For Diversity #2 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians #5 – Best for Diversity #7 – Diversity With Respect To Women #8 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America Chase Commercial Bank HSBC Wells Fargo

UPPERS • “Great learning opportunities” • “Intelligent and accomplished people” • “Global footprint”

DOWNERS • “Politics” • “Hierarchy suppresses ideas and discussions to drive growth” • “Uncertainty regarding the future”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

THE BUZZ


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www.oncampus.citi.com

“Good; smart people” “Mediocre” “Stalwart US brand” “In trouble”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Citi Consumer Banking

THE SCOOP Global giant Although its official name is Citigroup Inc., the global banking group based in New York and known throughout the world was rebranded as simply “Citi” back in 2007. Citi has over 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries around the world. Citi’s main business divisions are consumer banking, the institutional clients group and global cards. Citi’s commercial and consumer businesses are carried out by the consumer banking group, which includes U.S. and international retail banking (offered by Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica Financial Services and Citibank Direct), U.S. consumer lending (including student loans, real estate lending and auto loans), international consumer finance, a commercial finance group (offering banking, leasing and commercial real estate), and a microfinance group. The global consumer group is one of Citi’s biggest revenue drivers, typically bringing in more than half of each year’s Citi-wide earnings. The institutional clients group includes global banking services such as merger and acquisition advisory, debt, equity, restructuring and underwriting, as well as global capital markets, transaction services and alternative investments. The global cards business encompasses Citi’s worldwide credit card business. Prior to its rebranding, Citi was revered as the world’s largest banking and financial services group, but the financial storm in the recent past has not been kind to this global giant, which has seen billions of dollars wiped off its market value, laid-off tens of thousands of employees, taken $45 billion in assistance from the U.S. government and has sold off some assets—including its brokerage arm to longtime rival Morgan Stanley in January 2009.

From City Bank to Citibank In 1812, Samuel Osgood, the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury, used $2 million of capital to found a commercial bank called the City Bank of New York. His creation expanded through the 1800s, offering consumer lending and conducting business internationally. It took the name City Bank in 1865 and, by 1894, was the largest bank in the U.S. By 1929, it was the largest commercial bank in the world. First National City Bank (as it was then known) became Citibank N.A. in 1976; its holding company was known as Citicorp. In 1998, Citicorp merged with Travelers, a corporation which included the Travelers Corp. insurance company, the Salomon Smith Barney investment bank, the Commercial Credit loan company and Primerica financial services. The resulting entity was Citigroup, led by former Commercial Credit chairman Sandy Weill. In 2003, Charles O. “Chuck” Prince III took over from Weill. Prince led a 2007 overhaul of the bank’s image, swapping its red umbrella logo for a streamlined red arc and changing its brand name from Citigroup to simply Citi. The old red umbrella can still be seen at Travelers insurance offices— Travelers was spun off from Citi and merged with the St. Paul Companies in 2004, becoming St. Paul Travelers.

Look who’s on top Vikram Pandit became the chief executive of Citigroup in December 2007, replacing interim chief executive Sir Winfried Bischoff, who became chairman of the board as well as remaining chief executive of Citigroup in Europe. Pandit succeeded Chuck Prince (Charles O. Prince III), who had taken his post in 2003 amid some shareholder frustration that Citi’s stock prices weren’t matching those of its peers. Pandit’s job has not been easy, taking the helm of the world’s largest banking and financial services group during the worst financial crisis the world has seen in modern times. Pandit joined Citi just after the global banking group purchased Old Lane Partner, the hedge fund that Pandit set up after leaving Morgan Stanley. At the time of his appointment, industry commentators noted that in the wake of the losses which the group was hit with under Prince, Pandit would have to address the firm’s risk management practices to win back the confidence of staff and investors. Although Pandit lowered the bank’s costs and allowed reinvestments in growth in 2007, the following year was not so peachy. In 2008, the firm received a United States Federal Reserve bailout of a whopping $45 billion.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Good news on the earnings front The firm booked $1.6 billion in net income for the first quarter 2009, concluding five consecutive quarters of losses (including a $5.11 billion loss in the first quarter 2008). Revenue, meanwhile, skyrocketed to $24.8 billion, a 99 percent increase versus the first quarter of 2008. The positive numbers were propelled by increased fixed income trading revenue, a new accounting rule letting Citi take a one-time gain of $2.5 billion on its derivative positions and lower costs—Citi cut operating expenses by 23 percent in the previous 12 months and headcount by 13,000 since the beginning of 2009.

March 2009: Giving unemployed homeowners a break Citi said that it will reduce some of the mortgage payments it receives from unemployed homeowners. The move, which will cut monthly payments to about $500 for three months, came shortly after the firm received additional government bailout funds. To qualify for the reduced payments under


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the program, homeowners must have a loan from CitiMortgage, live in their home as a primary residence and be at least 60 days past due on their mortgages or in home foreclosure.

February 2009: TARP spending breakdown Citi posted its initial progress report regarding its use of the funds from the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. During the fourth quarter of 2008, of the $45 billion it received, Citi said it lent $36.5 billion, including $1 billion in student loans and $2.5 billion in business and personal loans. Citi also increased credit lines and opened new credit card accounts. Most of the funds, though, were ironically allocated toward the very thing that got the company into trouble: the housing market. Citi spent $27.5 billion to buying mortgages in the secondary market during the last three months of 2008. Also in February 2009, the U.S. Treasury said it would boost its stake in Citi from 8 percent to 36 percent, converting $25 billion of its preferred stock into common equity. The move freed up capital for Citi—the bank doesn’t have to pay dividends on the common stock unlike it did on the preferred. It also significantly diluted existing shareholders’ stake in Citi by nearly 75 percent. According to Citi CEO Vikram Pandit in a statement, the swap “has one goal —to increase our tangible common equity.” He added, “While we believe Tier 1 capital remains the most important measure of the financial strength of banks, we recognize that the markets also view tangible common equity as an important measure.” Coinciding with the announcement, Citi agreed to make several changes, including changing the makeup of its board to include a majority of independent directors.

February 2009: Dollar days Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said he had offered to take a $1 salary and no bonus until the bank gets back on solid financial ground, noting that he understands “the new reality” and “will make sure Citi gets it as well.” The announcement came amid President Obama and other lawmakers slamming Citi and other banks for giving exorbitant bonus payments to top executives while simultaneously accepting federal bailout funding.

January 2009: Selling Smith Barney Citi agreed to combine its Smith Barney brokerage unit with New York-based Morgan Stanley’s brokerage division, in effect selling a 51 percent majority stake in the joint venture for $2.7 billion. It was reported that Morgan Stanley is expected to acquire full control in phases over the next five years.

January 2009: Divide and conquer? Citi revealed that it was splitting into two operating units, Citicorp and Citi Holdings Inc. The former would continue to provide traditional retail and investment banking services, while the latter would oversee what remained of the group’s high-risk investments (many had already been sold off). Citi itself remained as the parent company, but potential spin offs and mergers from either of the units were not ruled out as possibilities. In fact, the two operating units were divided so that Citicorp remained the core bank, while Citi Holdings encompassed the saleable assets. Along with the restructuring, Citi announced its fifth consecutive quarterly loss, as it booked a loss of $8.29 billion for the fourth quarter 2008.

January 2009: Big trouble in China banking? Citigroup will shutter its China-based private banking division and make the operation part of its consumer banking group, insiders told Reuters. Citi, however, said that private banking services will remain on its menu. Meanwhile, the news agency reported that many employees currently working within the private banking unit will be relocated to the firm’s consumer banking area.

November 2008: Bring on the deep cuts The firm announced that after four consecutive quarters of losses, the firm would cut an additional 52,000 jobs (in addition to the 23,000 it had already sacked before the announcement).

October 2008: An ongoing battle Just days after Citigroup’s proposal to buy Wachovia’s banking operations for $2.2 billion in stock, Wachovia found another suitor—one that would buy its entire operations. In early October 2008, Wells Fargo agreed to acquire Wachovia Corporation for $15.1 billion in stock, usurping the earlier offer by Citigroup. The Wells Fargo deal included Wachovia’s brokerage and asset management units, which were excluded in Citi’s proposal. Although the new acquisition was approved by shareholders of Wachovia and Wells Fargo, Citi has said it had an exclusive deal with Wachovia, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and other regulators initially appeared to favor the Citigroup deal. Less than a week after the Wells Fargo offer went public, a judge with the New York State Supreme Court issued a temporary edict preventing Wachovia from “negotiating, entering into or consummating any transaction” involving an acquisition or merger with any other bank than Citi. An official hearing

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regarding the legality of the Wells offer was scheduled for October 7th, but a day before the hearing, Citi filed a suit seeking $60 billion in damages from Wells Fargo and Wachovia for obstructing its transaction. This, in turn, prompted the Federal Reserve to get involved, and the Fed successfully brought Wells Fargo and Citi to the negotiating table to agree to stop their battling until October 8th, when litigation and negotiation was slated to begin again. But when October 8th came around, Citi and Wells Fargo decided to lengthen their truce until the morning of October 10th. Again, in another early announcement, on the afternoon of October 9th, Citi said that it was dropping out of the running for Wachovia but added that it was going ahead with its $60 billion lawsuit against Wells Fargo. “We stood by while others walked away,” Citi said in statement. “Now, our shareholders have been unjustly and illegally deprived of the opportunity the transaction created.” Neither Wells Fargo nor Wachovia made any immediate comments on Citi’s announcement.

October 2008: A gift from Hank (and Uncle Sam) Citigroup found out that it will receive $25 billion from the U.S. Treasury in an effort to recapitalize the markets. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that the Treasury would inject a total of $250 billion into U.S. banks to help restore confidence to the markets. Paulson said, “The needs of our economy require that our financial institutions not take this new capital to hoard it, but to deploy it.” With the injection, the U.S. followed in the footsteps of some European countries, which announced similar moves earlier in the week designed to help thaw their credit markets.

February 2008: Rock on Citi became the exclusive credit card partner of music giant Live Nation, creating an exclusive “Private Pass” program that will give cardholders access to presale concert tickets, box seats, premium seating, exclusive merchandise and VIP artist events. Live Nation will benefit from exposure to Citi’s 150 million U.S. credit card holders, and as part of the deal Citi will also receive marketing perks like venue naming rights, branding rights at concerts and a special partnership with Live Nation’s new ticketing operation.

January 2008: More write-downs and job losses While the world’s banks were reporting dramatic write-downs and losses, Citi’s write-downs of $15 billion fell below analyst expectations of $22 billion. Still, the firm announced it would cut another 5 percent of its workforce.

April 2007: It’s credit crunch time Due to the U.S.-subprime crisis, Citi announced it would cut costs by axing 5 percent of its workforce, representing 17,000 jobs, in a restructuring attempt to boost its suffering stock value.

GETTING HIRED Lots of ways in The odds of landing a position can vary depending “on the program you apply to,” but insiders say Citi tends to be “highly selective” when it comes to new hires. “Several very qualified people interviewed for the 13 positions in my class from top national and international institutions,” a source reports. Primary recruiting targets include “top-20 rated business schools” and high-caliber undergrad institutions around the world; expect to see Citi recruiters at places like “Michigan, Harvard, Wharton, Duke, Tuck, Georgetown, ESADE, LSE, Columbia and NYU.” But that’s not all: insiders say Citi pays serious attention to job fairs and its own web site, which allows students and experienced candidates to search open positions, consult up-to-date recruiting calendars, create profiles and submit online applications.

Questions and a challenge Most candidates will go through “three rounds of interviews,” starting with “a campus round” that focuses on behavioral and personality questions. The process intensifies with “an on-site all day interview and business case session” in which “three to four managers” conduct a series of competencybased and knowledge-based interviews. According to Citi’s careers page, it’s a good idea to come armed with some detailed questions of your own to prove you’re interested in the specifics of the job. The on-site round will include a “candidate challenge case study and presentation with other candidates,” and the process wraps up after “a final round with the business head” of each prospect’s preferred division.


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Take it if you want it Participating in a summer internship is “a plus but not necessary” for those seeking full-time positions; insiders caution that “not all MBA recruiting programs have a summer program” available—for instance, there’s no way to intern within the Global Consumer Group Management Associates program. “Internships in other management associates programs are available,” one woman says, “but I did not see any correlation between participating in those and being accepted in the program.” Although Citi hires plenty of people from outside the internship pool, sources say those who do well during a summer stint may be on their way to employment, if they want it. “Nearly all summer interns get jobs,” an employee says. “You have to blow it to not get an offer.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Diverse, but unsettled There’s a “diverse group of people” inside Citi’s walls, and most insiders say their co-workers are “great to work with.” They also applaud the “high priority placed on employee feedback, and reward systems for recognizing good work.” Thanks to Citi’s sheer size and the scope of its businesses, many respondents say they were lured by the opportunities for lateral moves and relocation assignments. “It’s so vast that there are almost no jobs or career tracks that would not be available for you within this company,” says one contact. The downside? Citi’s recent woes have dealt a blow to morale and shaken the internal culture. “Fragmented” is how one insider describes the vibe at Citi today; others point to “constant flux.” One insider wishes the firm would make an effort to “streamline and build a common culture across all businesses.” Another sums up the uncertainty many feel: Citi is “a world leader changed to a struggling giant.”

Balance it out Reasonable hours in the consumer bank get high marks from employees, who say they enjoy “very flexible” work schedules with “almost no weekend work,” leaving plenty of “time for family and children.” Citi is “respectful of work-life balance,” adds an insider, “and supportive of work at home options.” Perhaps best of all, “face time doesn’t seem to be a necessity here,” but that doesn’t mean slacking is OK: “The successful people clearly put in their time,” one management associate says. “They don’t stroll in at 9 a.m. and leave at 5 p.m.” As for pay, there’s no way around it: Citi insiders say there’s a lot of “uncertainty” about their compensation in 2009 and beyond. “All salaries were frozen this year, and obviously bonuses were kept to a minimum,” explains a recent hire (who, before the downturn, received “a $20,000 signing bonus”). Management associates who “rotate through different businesses, functional areas and geographies” every six months receive “$10,000 cash after taxes, lump sum, to cover moving expenses” and insiders note that “four weeks of vacation is standard.”

Global feel For the most part, Citi is doing well on diversity, although insiders point out that “mentoring programs are not gender specific.” “It is definitely a male dominant industry,” one woman says. But Citi is “very accepting of minorities in general.” Another source suggests that more could be done during the recruiting process to attract a diverse workforce. “Have representatives show an interest in diversity,” she says. “Have actions and results to show commitment.”

Toe the line Managers get mixed reviews from sources who say Citi can there’s “limited mentorship, although effort has been made.” While some call their managers “respectful,” others say the “very hierarchical” nature of the firm means junior staffers are “not encouraged to speak up or question directions from above.” Formal training programs are “minimal” and could “be streamlined and moved online,” but sources agree that they are “given significant responsibility” early on, which means plenty of opportunities for “on-the-job training.”

Rotating wardrobes There’s nothing fancy about Citi’s office setup, which is “mostly cubes,” and sources bemoan the “dated and worn” furniture at their disposal. For management associates, dress code “depends on the business you are rotating through.” “Front-line bank employees must wear formal dress,” but “different businesses all have their different dress codes.” “Citi Cards is business casual, but the retail and commercial banks are business [formal],” an insider explains. Some divisions do allow “casual Fridays.”

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The fight of its life So what lies ahead for Citi? “There is too much uncertainty with the firm and the larger business environment right now to give an accurate outlook,” a source admits. “I do believe that the senior leaders of the firm are trying their best to get the company back on track.” Another frustrated insider sounds a far bleaker note, saying, “Big diversified financial services companies are not the rage. We’ve taken a beating and will continue to do so. Financial strength and product diversification use to be our strengths, but balance sheet losses, poor operational integration, mediocre customer service and general mismanagement have driven this company into the ground.” Most agree that Citi’s pedigree is “prestigious,” and say they arrived at the firm confident that it was a “great company to work for.” But as one source says, “Many changes in the environment have changed my perceptions.”


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PRESTIGE RANKING

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BROWN BROTHERS HARRIMAN & CO.

140 Broadway New York, NY 10005-1101 Phone: (212) 483-1818 Fax: (212) 493-8545 www.bbh.com

BUSINESSES Corporate Banking Corporate Finance Global Custody Investment Management Investor Services & Markets

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company Managing Partner: Douglas “Digger” Donahue No. of Employees: 4,000 No. of Offices: 14 (Worldwide)

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of New York Mellon J.P. Morgan Private Bank Northern Trust State Street

UPPER • Culture supports a work/life balance

DOWNER • Some face time required: “modest pressure to be in the office”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “career opportunities” at www.bbh.com

THE BUZZ


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“Good niche player” “Average” “Traditional; old, old, old Wall Street name” “Snooty”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

THE SCOOP What, me worry? North America’s oldest and largest partner-owned and managed bank, Brown Brothers Harriman has seven offices in the U.S. and seven overseas, employing about 4,000 people. In addition to a full range of commercial banking services, the firm provides global custody, foreign exchange, private equity, mergers and acquisitions services, investment management for individuals and institutions, personal trust and estate administration, and securities brokerage. It also operates a subsidiary, Brown Brothers Harriman Investment Management LLC. In July 2006, BBH converted its New York trust company into a nationally chartered trust, Brown Brothers Harriman Trust Co., with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, and Philadelphia.

The Brothers’ history Alexander Brown left his native Ireland for America in 1800, arriving in Baltimore to establish an import/export business built on his experience as an auctioneer in the Belfast linens market. Ten years later, his four sons opened a merchant banking firm in Liverpool; a branch office in Philadelphia followed in 1818. In 1825, Brown Brothers & Co. opened an office in New York City, and proceeded to expand their business into shipping and banking. By 1857, Brown Brothers’ banking business had become the focus of the operation, and import/export work was discontinued. In 1931, two businesses owned by railroad tycoon E. H. Harriman merged with the Browns’ company, forming Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH).

Ready for M&A BBH’s mergers and acquisitions practice is focused on growing mid-market businesses, with special industry emphasis on health care services, medical technology, telecommunications and media and outsourced business services. The M&A group is part of BBH’s corporate finance department, which also includes the private equity and mezzanine groups. BBH offers equity and mezzanine capital for corporate growth via its 1818 Funds. The corporate finance department serves private and closely held companies, advising on middle-market mergers and acquisitions for companies with values between $50 million and $500 million. Unlike some private banks that boast of their advisory groups’ independence, BBH believes its ability to be both advisor and investor creates several unique advantages—the firm takes an “owner-oriented” approach to examining strategies for clients.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: No. 1 securities lender BBH was ranked as the No. 1 Securities Lending provider in the 2009 Global Custodian Securities Lending survey.

July 2009: Landing the first Islamic ETF BBH was chosen to be the custodian, administrator and transfer agent for the JETS Down Jones Islamic Market Index Fund, the first U.S. Islamic ETF (exchange-traded fund).

March 2009: Appointing two new partners BBH named two new partners: Geoffrey M. Cook, of BBH Luxembourg, who joined the firm in 1997; and Kevin W. Stone, who joined the firm in 1992.

January 2009: On the coast The company advised Coastal Maritime Stevedoring, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based marine terminal operator, on an agreement to sell CML and affiliated companies to ICS Logistics.

November 2008: Bottoms up Forbes named BBH Core Select the best bottom-up stock picker for long-term investors. “With only $197 million in assets,” said the magazine, “what this fund lacks in name recognition it makes up for in performance.” BBH Core Select returned 8.3 percent annualized over the past five years, compared with 5.2 percent for the S&P 500. The fund is co-managed by Richard Witmer Jr. and Timothy Hartch, who invest in established businesses that provide essential products and services, and who typically hold stocks from three to five years.


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Fitch Ratings also praised the bank, saying that its rating outlook as of 2008 is stable. It listed the bank as having an A+ in Long-term IDR and F1 for Short-term IDR, and credited those ratings to “the company’s solid track record of performance and its strong specialized franchise in global custody.” Fitch also pointed to BBH’s “low-risk balance sheet” and “ample capital and liquidity positions” as well as its strong risk management. (In its appraisal, Fitch also mentioned BBH’s “relative lack of business diversity” and “smaller asset servicing scale” than its peers.)

July 2008: Best of the best The firm was ranked No. 1 global mutual fund administration provider by Global Custodian magazine. Global Custodian also bestowed 48 best in class awards upon the firm, and named it the top firm of fund managers of $1 billion to $5 billion in assets and fund managers with more than $5 billion in assets. The firm was also highly ranked for its client service, proving that there are people behind the numbers. As one client commented, BBH staff members “understand client service, and provide top quality client service, and always take time for discussions to take place immediately.”

May 2008: X-ray vision Among deals that the company announced in 2008 was an $18.75 million investment in the Bedford, Mass.-based Reveal Imaging Technologies, which provides explosives detection systems used by the Transportation Security Administration at airports.

March 2008: Aid in India BBH also assumed the post of full service custodian, administrator and transfer agent for PowerShares India ETF, a global exchange traded fund that invests in Indian securities. PowerShares, a subsidiary of Invesco, has franchise assets of more than $35 billion.

March 2008: Partner up The firm appointed two new partners: Carl S. Cutler and Maroa C. Velez. Cutler originally joined the firm in 1988 and is responsible for developing its banking business. Velez joined in 1995 and is currently head of BBH’s operations division.

February 2008: Minor reshufflings Brown Brothers Harriman merged its investor services and treasury and markets businesses. The new division, known as investor services and markets, is led by William B. Tyree. He replaced Douglas A “Digger” Donahue Jr., who became BBH’s new CEO as of January 1, 2008. The divisional merger also saw some shuffling of staff. Although senior management stayed in place, the company said in a statement, each partner assumed additional responsibilities: Andrew J.F. Tucker became head of the company’s market-related activities; Susan C. Livingston was named to oversee the asset manager and fund client relationships and related services; Jeffrey R. Holland became head of client relationships and related services for the financial institution group; and Timothy J. Connelly was named head of client technology solutions and subcustodian network management.

GETTING HIRED From all corners The firm utilizes “multiple resources” to traffic in top-shelf candidates. Brown Brother Harriman recruits via “colleges,” “job fairs,” “internal postings and referrals,” “Internet job boards” and even “cold-call recruiting.” But no matter how they get them, the firm “is known for selecting candidates from the top schools around the world and certainly in the U.S.,” says a source. “This is also true of the institutional equities business, on the sales desk in particular. The recent history of hiring patterns in institutional equities has shown somewhat of an Ivy League bias in sales.” On the flip side, another insider notes that not all departments are so stringent. “In research I think they look for something a little less traditional. I think they are just looking for really good thinkers, maybe with a flair for the creative, no matter what school they went to.” Interested candidates can check out the firm’s open positions on the company website, www.bbh.com. Applicants can search the firm’s database of job opportunities by title, keyword, location, line of business and career level. Postings include a full list of responsibilities and qualifications. Brown Brothers has an internship program, but one former intern calls the experience “a little dull.” “There is a lot of back-office activity and interns rarely get exposed to the revenue generating parts of the company.” But internships are also available “in all areas” and if you’re willing to do a little drudgery, you may be rewarded, since “most interns/co-ops get full-time offers.”

No applicant is an island Expect “competency-based” interviews where “the questions are all pretty similar, but teamwork is a main focus.” Also, “most of the teamwork questions were specific and I needed to give detailed examples of how I influenced others within my group, how I solved a problem within a group,

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etc.” Candidates interviewing for positions at Brown Brothers Harriman are also advised to “study your resume really well.” One source says it is important for applicants to “know yourself and know what you want in life.” Candidates whose resumes spark interest among Brown Brothers recruiters may receive a phone call from human resources “to go over the position and the company.” One source remembers the phone interview as a good opportunity “to have my questions answered, as well as for Brown Brothers to get a feel for my personality and see if I would be a good fit for them.” Recruiters ask a variety of questions, including ones about “basic knowledge of finance and the stock market,” as well as ones to determine how much the candidate has researched the firm. After one or two phone interviews, candidates are invited to Brown Brothers’ offices, where a number of interviews take place. One investment banking recruit recalls “one extremely vigorous eight-hour Super Day. I met everyone, including Brown Brothers Harriman’s equivalent of the CFO, the senior partner managing the institutional equities business, managing directors, strategists and associates.” Another recruit recalls meeting “a senior portfolio manager,” “an assistant” and a manager in the group he’d be working for. This candidate was asked “various questions about managing people’s money and how I saw the market in the near term.” Another source says the most difficult interview was with one of Brown Brothers’ strategists, who initiated a “conversation about my thoughts on the market and what was going on out there, probing me for opinions and what I knew.” One source recalls “a lot of product questions, which I feel took some of the interviews to a level of detail they otherwise would not have gone to.” Other interviewers just want to “see if I was comfortable talking with people and could think on my feet,” according to one source. The process could involve “up to 20 interviews” depending on your level, reports one insider (yes, you read that correctly—20 interviews). One insider vying for the position of vice president calls the process “rigorous” and says it’s “very careful about who it brings in at senior levels.” Another insider reports going through “seven or eight interviews over the course of a nine-month period.” On the whole, interviewing days can be “long,” but they’re fair. “No one was out to give me a hard time,” says one source. “My impression was that people seemed more interested in how I was as a person, what I was like to work with, and how I would fit in with a team that works long hours together.” Just don’t expect the process to be fully over once the interviews are finished. Anticipate “a background check” (though “they’re mainly just concerned if you’re wanted by the law and that you haven’t declared bankruptcy in the last few years”), a “drug test” and a “reference check.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Life, meet work There’s a “good work/life balance” at Brown Brothers Harriman, which is “supportive of career development.” Some also call the firm “very tapped in to the prep school and old wealth networks,” as well as “conservative” and “risk-averse.” It also places an “emphasis on individual results,” but employees are “encouraged to do the best thing for their clients and there is no pressure to sell inappropriate products.” Still, you will have a life outside the firm if you work here, since “management is very respectful of personal lives and other commitments.”

No major complaints Compensation gets a thumbs-up from most sources. One source, who says Brown Brothers is a true meritocracy, agrees that “your bonus and raise depend solely on your performance.” Benefits are “nothing to complain about,” says another. The firm matches 50 percent of employees’ 401(k) contributions for up to 6 percent of salaries. After five years with the company, you are fully vested in 401(k) contributions. “Vacation time is good,” adds one respondent, who currently has “about 28 days vacation.”

You may feel a little pressure ... As far as hours spent in the office, there’s a “modest pressure to be in the office,” but “face time is not as important as other shops.” “I work a lot of hours due to personal devotion to my work,” says one workaholic. “But no one asks me to stay late.” One source reports spending “less than 40 hours” per week at work and “rarely or never” working weekends. Managers at the firm don’t require face time, but one contact notes, “Your colleagues will definitely pay attention to your hours. If they feel you’re not working hard enough, they’ll give you a tough time, but it’s all in good fun.” If you’re a big boss, expect to dress to impress. “The managers—vice presidents and above— seem to wear suits every day except Fridays.” But for everyone else, the dress code at Brown Brothers is business casual. “Collared shirts and slacks will suffice,” says one source. There are “no jeans” allowed, but “no tie” required. “People dress in khakis and a polo shirt.” The firm’s training programs get mixed reviews, with some calling them “very useful” and others giving them below-average ratings. Brown Brothers Harriman scores well on diversity with respect to women, ethnic minorities, and gays and lesbians. But there’s always room for improvement. “I think the firm is eager to hire women, but I don’t see a lot of formal efforts with respect to promoting and mentoring them.” Even so, insiders say they’ve “never encountered any problems or prejudice.”


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RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL, INC.

880 Carillon Parkway St. Petersburg, FL 33716 Phone: (727) 567-1000 Fax: (727) 567-5529 www.raymondjames.com

KEY COMPETITORS

DEPARTMENTS

UPPERS

Asset Management Financial Planning Investment Banking

• “Working at Raymond James is phenomenal” • “Extremely flexible” hours

Edward Jones Morgan Keegan Wells Fargo

DOWNERS THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: RJF (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: Thomas A. James 2008 Net Revenue: $2.8 billion 2008 Net Income: $235 million No. of Employees: 5,500 No. of Offices: 2,200

• “Formal attire” only in some offices • Diversity efforts could be improved for gays and lesbians

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “professional opportunities” section of www.rjf.com

THE BUZZ


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“Major competitor” “Regional firm that’s not that great for I-banking” “Strong research, great southern presence” “Supermarket for people with $2,000 to invest”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Raymond James Financial, Inc.

THE SCOOP Financial Floridians Founded in 1962, Florida-based Raymond James Financial (RJF) is one of the largest financial services firms in the U.S., with 2,300 offices around the world. RJF subsidiary Raymond James & Associates is the largest full-service investment firm and New York Stock Exchange member headquartered in the Southeast. Its business falls into four core areas. The private client group offers securities transaction, investment advisory and financial planning services to approximately 1.2 million client accounts. It operates through subsidiaries Raymond James & Associates (RJA) and Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS) in the U.S. In Canada, it’s known as Raymond James Ltd., and in the U.K., it is Raymond James Investment Services. The private client group consists of more than 5,000 financial advisors. The equity and fixed income capital markets group includes institutional sales, investment banking, syndicate, equity research, equity and fixed income trading and public finance. It also provides research on more than 600 companies and market-making in 330 common stocks, as well as bond trading. And its research group is well regarded on the Street. RJF’s professional asset management division includes proprietary asset management operations, internally sponsored mutual funds, nonaffiliated private account portfolio management alternatives and several nondiscretionary fee-based programs. As of early 2009, assets under management totaled nearly $28 billion—a significant decrease from the $37.3 billion it managed a year earlier. The asset management group also includes personal trust services and two private equity funds. Finally, the Raymond James Bank is a federally chartered savings bank providing loans and deposit accounts to clients of the firm’s broker-dealer subsidiaries.

Hometown spirit At Raymond James Financial customer service is a No. 1 priority. In practice, this means that financial advisors are given a certain degree of autonomy in their dealings with clients. As CEO Thomas James puts it, good customer service can’t come from “automatons who only read scripts provided by the home office.” RJF’s philosophy extends to its community, and many Floridians know it as a major supporter of local arts, sporting events and charities. The firm also sponsors the Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, an arts and crafts festival that has been held in downtown Tampa since 1971. The RJF main campus in St. Petersburg is also home to over 1,800 works of art, almost all of which are owned by CEO Tom James and his family. It is considered one of the largest private art collections in the Southeast.

IN THE NEWS June 2009: Two top women Barron’s named financial advisors Sheryl Stephens and Margaret Starner to its Top 100 Women Financial Advisors annual list. The list takes into consideration factors such as assets under management and client retention. COO Chet Helck said in a statement that the advisors “define what it means to be the best in the industry and perennially appear on these lists of the nation’s top advisors.”

April 2009: Sliding down For the second quarter ended March 31st, revenue came in at $596.1 million, down from the $807.13 million the company brought in for the same quarter of 2008. Net income, meanwhile, slid to $6.09 million in the quarter from $59.79 million in the previous year’s quarter. The firm partially attributed the overall decline to loan losses.

March 2009: Here comes Reilly Raymond James confirmed that Paul Reilly will take on the role of president of Raymond James Financial on May 1, 2009, and will ultimately succeed Thomas A. James as CEO one year later. After Reilly takes over the role of CEO, James will stay on as executive chairman of the board.

February 2009: Go big or go home Super Bowl XLIII was played in the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. According to Joyce Julius & Associates, a research company, the hubbub leading up to and during the Super Bowl granted Raymond James an estimated $37.3 million worth of media exposure. That includes pregame mentions of the stadium’s name and references to it in print-media for the two weeks prior to the game, Reuters reported.


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January 2009: A weak link For the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year—ended December 31, 2008—the firm reported $61.1 million in net income, an increase of about $5 million from the same quarter a year earlier. These results represent weakness in the firm’s private client group, said CEO James, as well as a 17 percent decrease from the previous quarter in the company’s retail commissions and fees. But investment banking revenue climbed an astonishing 126 percent in domestic M&A fees from the same quarter a year earlier.

January 2009: No buybacks Chairman and CEO Thomas James announced that the firm wouldn’t buy back the auction-rate securities it sold to investors. His reason: the company doesn’t have “anything near” the $1 billion necessary to buy back those investments, according to the St Petersburg Times. What’s more is that regulators would not extend credit to the company to repurchase the securities “because they are illiquid,” the paper said. The firm’s stock subsequently plummeted. In a letter to clients, James alluded to other broker-dealers that allegedly intentionally misguided investors, to whom they sold the securities while liquidating their own positions. “To the best of my knowledge, we didn’t participate in those types of acts,” he wrote.

December 2008: CNBC’s blooper When news of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme broke, Raymond James was implicated by CNBC as having marketed Madoff Investment Securities. The company, in fact, “has no history of marketing Madoff Investment Securities and otherwise no known exposure to the scheme,” it said in a statement.

November 2008: Down all around The firm didn’t do so well in the fourth quarter of 2008, for the fiscal year ending September 30th. It reported net income of $49 million. Investment banking revenue was down 39 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. Commissions and fees were also down, said the firm, adding that it had suffered from a 41 percent tax rate as a result of declining values of securities in its life insurance programs. “Although that might be disappointing to analysts, I’m actually pleased that our results were that good in light of the devastation in the financial sector,” James said. The firm wrapped up the year with net revenue of $2.8 billion, an eight percent increase from 2007.

November 2008: Top entrepreneur For his leadership, Thomas James, the firm’s chairman and CEO, won the 2008 entrepreneur of the year award presented by Ernst & Young.

November 2008: Facing off against Barron’s Barron’s ran “The Siren Song of Banking,” an article in which it speculated that the price Raymond James’ shares could fall as much as 20 percent as mortgages and business loans go bad. The article also cautioned investors from buying Raymond James stock, which has declined in value and, as a result, is attractively priced. In response, the bank issued a point-by-point statement addressing the price of its stock and the health of loans it has underwritten.

September 2008: “An important lesson” In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Raymond James Chairman and CEO Thomas James told the paper, “When times are good, leverage is wonderful … When times are bad, it’s a disaster. It’s an important lesson.” Indeed, operating procedure at Raymond James bears out his point. According to the paper, where other firms acquired “$20 to $30 worth of assets for every $1 owned,” “leverage at Raymond James remained at half that much.”

September 2008: From thrift to commercial The bank announced its intention to change from a thrift to a commercial bank. The company issued a statement declaring that the move had been part in the works for years. “For some time, the Raymond James Financial board has been concerned about the limitations associated with Raymond James Bank’s thrift status, leading to alternative charter considerations,” the firm said in a statement. “The move would permit a higher proportion of corporate lending, which has historically been more profitable and bears less interest rate risk,” it said. Overall, the firm said, “the switch will have little impact on the firm’s overall operations and organizational structure.” The announcement followed Goldman Sachs’ and Morgan Stanley’s announcements that they, too, would change become bank holding companies. But Raymond James’ CEO Tom James emphasized that the spirit of these transformations “are more form than substance.” He also sought to put distance between his firm and the other, troubled banks that have made the switch.

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September 2008: Leaders in diversity The Human Rights Campaign gave Raymond James a perfect score on its Corporate Equality Index. The index is used to rank companies on their diversity policies.

July 2008: Brand new post The firm also hired Angela Biever, who was named chief administrative officer. The CAO post is a new position. Biever previously served as a member of the Raymond James’ board of directors, a position she held since 1997. Prior to her appointment, she was vice president of Intel Capital and managing director of the consumer internet sector at Intel Capital.

June 2008: Welcome to the firm Raymond James hired Paul Allison as co-president and co-CEO of its Canadian arm. Allison will partner with co-president and co-CEO Peter Bailey to grow Raymond James’ equity capital markets and private client businesses in Canada. Allison was most recently executive vice president and vice chairman at Merrill Lynch Canada as well as co-head of its investment banking business.

June 2008: Award-winning The firm was named best full-service broker in the SmartMoney annual broker survey for 2008—an honor for which it beat out Merrill Lynch, Wachovia, UBS and Morgan Stanley, among others. Twenty-seven advisors registered with the firm were named to the Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors list published by industry magazine Registered Rep.

April 2008: No backsies, please Raymond James was named among 10 broker-dealers in a lawsuit involving the sale of auction rate securities. Like UBS, Merrill Lynch and other large investment banks that had been named in the first round of lawsuits, the suit alleged that Raymond James had misinformed investors about the riskiness of auction rate securities.

GETTING HIRED Seasoned pros wanted Be sure you’re at the top of your game if you want to apply for Raymond James—insiders say “you must have attained a higher level of production” and “seasoning in your field” to be considered for employment with the firm. If you feel up to the challenge, job openings available at Raymond James can be found by checking the “career opportunities” link at www.raymondjames.com. There, the firm has full job listings in all of the firm’s locations, detailed descriptions of job duties in each of its 18 departments and a section extolling “life at Raymond James.” For entry-level opportunities in investment banking, Raymond James offers undergraduates three avenues: financial analyst, research associate and syndicate analyst. RJF offers a three-year financial analyst program where, according to the firm, analysts play an integral role in the department’s activities and are given a high level of responsibility as a member of a specific industry-focused team. Research associates work directly with senior research analysts in the firm’s equity research department. And syndicate analysts work closely with the investment banking, research, institutional sales and trading departments, gaining a broad understanding of equity public offerings and the equity markets. Expect “many rounds of interviews” if you’re asked into the office. You’ll likely go through “generally at least three interviews” and possibly take a multiple-choice personality and intelligence test. An investment banking analyst, for example, reports going through “an on-campus interview that consisted of fit questions,” and second rounds that typically “last two days and involve many interviews of varying types— some fit, some technical.” The source adds, “You also take a test that has math, logic and psychological questions.” A research associate, who went through two rounds of interviewing, says the first round was a three-on-one, on-campus interview with “numerous macroeconomic questions.” The source faced six senior interviewers in the second round and warns prospective researchers to “know the current market environment very well.” Insiders advise applicants not to stress about the firm’s assessment test, describing it as “standard in the industry.” The 100-question exam, “which you’re not expected to complete,” “measures the ability to think quickly and accurately.” One insider even says “they also asked all the financial planners in my geographic region about my integrity.” And don’t try to hide anything, because you likely won’t get away with it. The company requires an “extensive background check” before any prospective employees join the Raymond James team.


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OUR SURVEY SAYS Happiness all around Generally, employees at the firm seem content. “Working at Raymond James is phenomenal,” asserts one insider. “The flexibility to change jobs is provided because the company strives to ensure each employee loves his or her job and is happy doing it.” Another says “the company culture is great—very family-friendly and family-oriented.” More than one correspondent mentioned “integrity” when it comes to the workplace culture. One insider simply calls it “great,” adding, “That’s why I’ve been here for more than 20 years.” “The company works for me and allows me to make the best recommendations to my clients.” And in striving to maintain a “personal” atmosphere, Raymond James is “more laid-back than your average bulge bracket New York firm,” says a source in investment banking who’s pleased with the exposure to management and deals. “The investment banking group is small, and analysts have access to managing directors and senior management within equity capital markets. Because industry teams are smaller, you develop better relationships with superiors and are often given significant responsibility.” Another insider who says that Raymond James has a “strong history of family values” supports the claim by pointing to “associate phone directories listed by first name instead of last,” and “company-wide events, including fiscal year-end parties, graduation ceremonies for [the firm’s] in-house education system and annual company festivals.”

A little bit of everything The firm also offers a wide range of perks—although benefits offered may hinge on your office location. In independent offices, “each individual chooses the perks they want to have.” Some perks the firm offers include “401(k),” “profit sharing,” “stock options” and a “retention bonus.” Raymond James also offers significant educational benefits, including tuition reimbursement and firm-run training (“Raymond James University”), which includes industry- and product-related courses, as well as leadership development classes. Vacation time offered is “two weeks for the first year, and it keeps increasing based on length at the company.” Plus, “unused vacation and sick time can be rolled over for one year, after which it is lost.” As far as hours go, many employees are allowed to set their own “extremely flexible” hours. But staffers will “meet with clients as needed.” One contact is fine with maintaining a certain flexibility, adding that “if meeting with clients means coming in on Saturday or Sunday, that’s cool.” There also may be travel required at times. One insider reports their time out of the office as happening “two or three days per week.” But if you’re looking to quickly move up the company ladder, you may be in luck—”opportunities for advancement are available to anyone seeking such,” stresses one insider.

Wide wardrobe Outerwear required for the job is based largely on where in the country you happen to work. An insider based out of Atlanta says the code is mostly “formal always,” while a Tampa contact calls the required dress code “business casual. We’re expected to wear a collared shirt, but jeans aren’t allowed.” And another working out of a Los Angeles branch says “casual summer” attire is allowed.

Tackling diversity In terms of diversity with respect to women, there’s “no glass ceiling, as evidenced by the number of women at the top of our company,” one insider says. Underlining its commitment to the development of women, the firm has two in-house groups to promote the cause: the Women’s Advisory Council (WAC) and the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN). Ethnic diversity receives high marks as well. The firm has a “Cultural Awareness Week” and “color is not an issue in our company,” another source reports. But when it comes to the company’s treatment and hiring of gays and lesbians, the jury may still be out. One contact reports that “our company is definitely family-oriented, but our independence allows all walks of life to coexist.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

44

SANDLER O’NEILL + PARTNERS, L.P.

919 Third Avenue, Sixth Floor New York, NY 10022 Phone: (212) 466-7800 Fax: (212) 466-7888 www.sandleroneill.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

UPPERS

Capital Raising Equity Research Equity Sales & Trading Fixed Income Transactions Investment Portfolio & Interest Rate Risk Management Investment Banking Mortgage Finance Mutual Conversions

• “Very friendly” atmosphere • “Flexibility to work at home”

THE STATS

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods FBR Capital Markets Fox-Pitt, Kelton

DOWNER • “Functional, but not luxurious” office space • “There are a few egos”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Follow the “careers” link at www.sandleroneill.com

Employer Type: Private Company Senior Managing Principal: James J. “Jimmy” Dunne III No. of Employees: 285 No. of Offices: 6

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Top FIG bank” • “Small US broker/investment bank focused on financials” • “Who?”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P.

THE SCOOP Small and powerful In its September 2008 story about the “smaller, nimbler rivals” of Wall Street’s major investment banks, The New York Times named Sandler O’Neill + Partners among the new generation of firms to watch. The 21-year-old company, said the paper, is part of the “corps of small investment banks is hoping to carve a lucrative niche in the new financial landscape.” A privately owned boutique, Sandler O’Neill focuses exclusively on the financial services sector—its client list consists of banks, thrifts, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and insurance companies. Its services include mergers and acquisitions advisory, IPO underwriting, capital-raising, research, trading and sales, fixed income advisory and strategic consulting. It also assists insurance companies and thrifts with the demutualization process. Sandler O’Neill + Partners was founded in New York City in 1988 by Thomas F. O’Neill, Herman S. Sandler and four other veterans of Bear Stearns. Sandler and O’Neill brought several of their Wall Street contacts on board as their business grew; today, Sandler O’Neill has additional offices in Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco. Its mortgage finance division operates in New York and Memphis. Formerly headquartered in the World Trade Center, Sandler O’Neill lost more than a third of its employees, including co-founder Herman Sandler and investment banking head Christopher Quackenbush, on September 11, 2001. Current senior managing principal Jimmy Dunne led the rebuilding process after the September 11 terrorist attacks, relocating the firm to new offices in Manhattan.

Huge deals Sandler O’Neill + Partners advised on 37 M&A deals in 2008, among them the advisory of National City Corp on its $5.6 billion sale to PNC Financial Services. That deal, which closed on New Year’s Eve 2008, garnered significant media attention; PNC used a good chunk of its federal bailout money to make the purchase. Sandler O’Neill also advised Countrywide Financial on its $2.5 billion sale to Bank of America in the early part of January 2008. Finally, in February 2009, the company joined forces with Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan Chase to help sell $413.9 million of bonds in the first pooled debt offering for regional banks, according to Bloomberg. The firm also participated in 42 capital-raising transactions in 2008, among them offering private placements for New York Community Banccorp, North State Bancorp, and Security Bank Corporation and public offerings for such big names as Bank of America and Citigroup.

Rebuilding post-September 11 Sandler O’Neill’s recovery from the September 11 terrorist attacks earned it respectful praise in the press. In a Newsweek feature, senior managing partner Jimmy Dunne revealed the changes that had taken place at his firm. In addition to maintaining the Sandler O’Neill Assistance Foundation for the victims’ families, Dunne and the firm’s partners decided in 2007 to expand benefits to the families for another three years. “[That] discussion was 12 seconds,” Dunne said. The tragedy made some significant differences in the way Sandler O’Neill does business, most notably in terms of Dunne’s own leadership style. “Having the luxury of Chris Quackenbush and Herman Sandler before September 11th allowed me to play a hard-edged, tough, deliver-the-news-withno-Novocain kind of guy,” Dunne told Newsweek. With their loss, his approach “had to” change. While he maintains that he’s opposed to “any kind of cuddling” or kid-gloves treatment on the job, Dunne admits that September 11th made him “much softer ... I remember one of my partners saying, ‘I’m afraid to go into Jimmy’s office now because I don’t know if it’s the nice Jimmy or it’s the old Jimmy.’” Dunne’s diligence and relentless focus played a major role in rebuilding Sandler O’Neill’s business in 2001 and 2002. “I’m kind of a nut on the figures,” he said, “so I kept all our [financial] figures at my home. I’d go through them overnight. And that was extremely helpful in rebuilding. At one point all we had was that.”

IN THE NEWS January 2009: The REIT stuff In January 2009, Sandler O’Neill announced that Alexander D. Goldfbarb had joined the firm as associate director. Goldfarb covers real estate investment trusts, or REITs; his hiring marked the initiation of the company’s REIT coverage. Goldfarb was previously director and senior REIT analyst at UBS. Prior to UBS, he was vice president and REIT analyst at Lehman Brothers. He graduated from Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., and earned his MBA from Babson College.

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December 2008: On the tables Sandler O’Neill ranked No. 23 in U.S. announced M&A deal volume in 2008, according to Thomson Reuters. The firm also made a respectable appearance on Thomson Reuters’ league tables for midmarket M&A. For U.S. announced deals based valued up to $50 million, it ranked No. 10; for deals up to $100 million, it ranked No. 12; for deals up to $200 million, it ranked No. 11; and it ranked No. 16 on deals up to $500 million.

November 2008: Irish eyes are smiling According to The Irish Examiner, Sandler O’Neill + Partners was in talks with Bank of Ireland about the possibility of acquiring a major stake in the bank. Bank of Ireland, according to the paper, is hoping to avoid pressure to merge with rival domestic banks.

GETTING HIRED Inside connection is important Insiders at Sandler O’Neill give pretty high marks to selectivity. Scoring a full time gig at the firm can be “on the difficult side,” due to “limited recruiting activities.” Also, “new hires typically know someone at the firm.” Sandler does do some campus recruiting, however, picking its lot from “select colleges.” Specifically, the firm concentrates on “schools overlooked by bulge brackets,” including “some Ivies, Patriot League schools, and top-level state schools like UVA and UNC.” The firm tends to focus on “institutions where current employees attended.” Candidates also come via “word-of mouth recommendations from through clients and colleagues.”

Thorough and straightforward The firm’s interview process is “very thorough,” with candidates meeting with “employees at all different levels of the firm.” There are typically two or three separate sessions, each running “long, about three hours in length.” Things can be “somewhat less formal in the Chicago office,” but even candidates for that office may “meet with heads of I-banking and others at the New York headquarters.” In total, a candidate will have “about four-tofive 30 minute interviews per round.” Some meet as many as seven different people. A contact says, “If you are interviewing for an investment banking position, you will most likely meet with at least six people, from analysts to partners.” Interviews are designed to “test personality and reason for wanting the job.” The firm also assesses “thinking skills, but is not necessarily looking at specific skills related to the job.” Questions tend to be “straightforward, focused on past experience” and “willingness to work in the banking industry.”

A summer well spent “A large percentage of those hired into Sandler’s investment banking group have done an internship” for the firm. Participation in the program is “very important when considering interns for employment,” as the experience is “essentially a 10-week interview” during which “the firm can assess the candidate’s skill set.” Sandler’s internships offer “good exposure and potential to yield a full-time offer.” Those who exhibit “the right attitude and effort” can get “tangible, hands-on experience.” A contact warns, “You need to be proactive, otherwise it is easy to get lost in the shuffle.” Although “not all new hires are from the internship program,” participation “gives them a great chance at a New York full-time position.”

On its own schedule Candidates who make it through the resume screen and first interview should expect to meet “three to six people” on-site at Sandler O’Neill, “including associates through partners.” A current managing director was hired after meeting “the CEO and two department heads.” An analyst recalls interviewing “with two principals, an associate director and two vice presidents” after a preliminary phone conversation. “The questions were all behavioral,” he adds. Because Sandler O’Neill is so small and selective, contacts count. One source describes “staying in touch with the firm” after an initial round of interviews, which led to “a phone interview with a partner a few months later, followed by an offer.” This kind of cultivation is especially important at a firm that doesn’t operate on the same prescribed hiring cycles as bigger banks. “Hiring is more needs based and less structured in terms of a formalized program than at larger firms,” says an insider.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Friends in the office The firm promotes a “very friendly working environment” where “the people are extremely nice.” Spend a day at Sandler O’Neill and you’ll find “a generally collegial atmosphere that promotes a proactive approach to the job.” The firm’s “work hard, play hard” environment “lacks the need to put


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in face time and some of the other political requirements of larger firms.” Employees of this “meritocratic” firm are given “a high responsibility level” and “room for advancement.” Investment banking deal teams tend to be small, which “provides great experience for junior bankers.” There are many “opportunities for career advancement, and there’s lots of deal exposure.” Sandler’s “smaller-firm feel” offers “flexibility” and creates an environment in which “everyone is very accessible.” Junior bankers enjoy “constant exposure to partners and senior bankers,” and sources at all levels “feel appreciated and well compensated.” There’s “a lot of interaction and idea bouncing among co-workers.” Sometimes it feels “almost like a family” at Sandler, because “the firm really goes above and beyond to assist employees experiencing personal problems.” As with any firm, “there are a few egos,” but on the whole, “most people are friendly, intelligent, knowledgeable about their fields and helpful to others.” Some complain that there is “a certain degree of monotony to the work,” which can be “redundant and tiresome.” And “travel destinations are never exciting.” But the consensus among Sandler insiders is that their firm “treats employees very well.”

Catered lunch Sandler bankers feel “well compensated.” In addition to salary and bonus, employees are entitled to the firm’s “non-matched 401(k) program, along with a profit sharing.” Bankers get catered lunch every day and a “dinner allowance if working past 8 p.m.” Car service is also provided after 8 p.m.

Reasonable hours On the whole, Sandler has “generally reasonable expectations” about work hours, although some feel as though they “need to be accessible at all times.” Workload is “in proportion to compensation,” and most people have “flexibility to work at home outside of normal office hours,” which are considered 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Still, it is not uncommon to find bankers logging up to 90 hours per week including weekends. Some “nearly always work on the weekends,” but most can “limit it to one weekend day.” Hourly requirements can “fluctuate wildly” depending on deal flow and projects.” The rule of thumb is, “stay as late as you need to, and leave as early as you can—within reason.”

Learning opportunities Bankers at Sandler O’Neill enjoy “free interaction with management.” Juniors “work directly with managers” and are “not micromanaged.” It’s a place where “everybody is treated with respect, regardless of rank.” A contact says, “I have been treated better at Sandler than any other firm I have ever worked at.” The senior bankers are “uniformly sharp, helpful and respectful.” Training at Sandler could be a little more helpful. There is “little formal training,” so bankers are expected to “learn on the job.” One insider says, “Depending on your learning style, this is either a positive or a negative.” Learning at Sandler requires you to be “self-motivated and proactive,” because “nobody is going to hand anything to you.” The bright side is, “there is more to be taken than at bigger shops.” Bankers are “afforded many opportunities to learn.”

Not too stuffy Office facilities get average marks from Sandler respondents. Those who are based in New York work from a “good building in a good location.” The look is pretty formal around headquarters, with bankers sporting business casual “during summer only.” Casual days are sometimes allowed on “days with poor weather or during holidays, if no clients are visiting.” Overall however, the vibe is “not too stuffy.” A contact says, “They just expect you to be nicely dressed.” And in Chicago, “it’s a bit more casual than in New York.”

Equal opportunity for all Sandler insiders give decent marks to the firm’s attitude toward diversity. The firm “employs many women, and several hold top management positions.” A contact points out that there are “few women” in the Chicago office, but notes that things are “more balanced at New York headquarters.” Sandler “has never displayed any kind of discrimination toward any race,” as the firm is “truly about equal opportunity.” “People are judged on their work, not any other factors.”

No hunting, just gathering Many Sandler O’Neill sources give the firm middling marks on pay; one analyst wishes the firm would “increase junior investment banking compensation levels to [match] the rest of the Street.” “Standard” benefits are considered “comparable to other firms,” and include “meal and taxi allowances,” a 401(k) plan and “expense accounts.” One busy contact says, “I love the fact that I do not have to go out on a day like today and hunt for food. They provide daily.” Dress at the firm is “business attire,” and when warm weather arrives it’s “business casual until Labor Day.” But Sandler O’Neill’s offices are a low point for some. One respondent calls the workplace “functional, but not luxurious by any means.”

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All-access pass “Such a firm probably exists,” says a corporate finance staffer, “but it’s tough for me to imagine an investment bank with better access to high-level bankers than Sandler O’Neill. The senior bankers are uniformly sharp, helpful and respectful.” “If you’re a junior person who works hard and keeps a good attitude, you will get a great deal of respect from senior people,” notes another source, and an analyst points out that “you know everyone on a personal level.” Managers and senior staff “are typically extremely helpful,” and most feel that “the firm does a good job of training and investing in the next generation.” While most training at Sandler O’Neill still happens “on the job,” sources say that “training has been a major focus in the last few years,” with marked improvement in terms of formal preparation.


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PETER J. SOLOMON COMPANY

520 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 Phone: (212) 508-1600 Fax: (212) 508-1633 www.pjsc.com

DEPARTMENTS Fairness Opinions/Independent Committees Family Business Advice General Financial Advisory M&A Restructuring, Recapitalization & Refinancing

KEY COMPETITORS Evercore Partners Goldman Sachs Greenhill & Co. Morgan Stanley

UPPERS • “You are respected” • “Very friendly and understanding” managers

DOWNERS

THE STATS

• Training “may not be as comprehensive as at larger banks” • “There is not too much ethnic diversity”

Employer Type: Private Company Founder & Chairman: Peter J. Solomon No. of Employees: 61 No. of Offices: 1

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” section of www.pjsc.com

THE BUZZ


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“Very strong in retail” “Not a good place to learn” “Prestigious” “Limited breadth of industry coverage”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Peter J. Solomon Company

THE SCOOP Ex-Lehman brother branches out Peter J. Solomon opened his eponymous Manhattan firm in 1989. Before striking out on his own, the Harvard-educated Solomon had spent many years at Lehman Brothers. Solomon remains chairman of the privately owned boutique; by mid-2009, the firm’s upper crust included 16 managing directors and six senior advisers. Peter J. Solomon Company (PJSC) offers strategic and financial advice to owners, chief executives and senior management of public and private companies. The firm’s industry expertise includes retail, wholesale and catalog distribution; branded and unbranded consumer products; health care and life sciences; media and communications; energy, pulp and paper; and industrial products. Since its founding, PJSC has completed more than 350 advisory assignments. Business at PJSC is divided into five primary divisions: mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, financing advisory services, the special committee practice (which provides counsel to corporate boards and renders fairness opinions) and the family business advice practice. But don’t mistake this last division for something out of Norman Rockwell; PJSC advises families like the Fortunoffs, the Comers (who own retail giant Lands’ End), the Rabbs (owners of the Stop & Shop grocery chain) and the Wylys (who own the Michaels craft supply stores, and entered into a $5.6 billion leveraged buyout agreement with Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group).

Private banker’s public persona In 2007, Peter J. Solomon told The Deal that he intends to keep his firm private. But the veteran banker—dubbed a Master of the Universe by The New York Times—seems to relish bringing his opinions to the public. Solomon published a number of articles in 2008 and 2009, in the Times and the New York Sun, criticizing the particulars of the government’s bailout plan. In addition to his industry experience, Solomon has public-service credentials to back him up: he served as counselor to the secretary of the Treasury under President Carter and was New York’s Deputy Mayor of Economic Policy and Development under Ed Koch.

Deals still flowing Despite an overall slow M&A and capital raising deal market worldwide since the beginning of 2008, PJSC has been busy. Some of its most recent, high-profile deals include advising Eddie Bauer on its $286 million sale to Golden State Capital in August 2009; Quicksilver on its $150 million term loan, $200 million revolver and $400 million credit refinancing in July 2009; and Office Depot on its $350 million convertible preferred stock offering in June 2009. PJSC has also recently advised on big deals for grocery retailer A&P, retailer Tween Brands and beauty salon conglomerate Regis Corporation.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: Hiring a hitter PJSC hired experienced M&A banker John Sheldon as a managing director. Sheldon brought 27 years of dealmaking experience to PJSC. He has worked at Lazard, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan for big-name clients such as Quaker Oats, Mars and Cerberus. Sheldon became one of the approximately 10 senior-level bankers to have joined PJSC in 2009.

June 2009: Selling Tween PJSC advised retailer Tween Brands on its $320 million sale to Dress Barn Inc. Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised Dress Barn on the deal.

March 2009: A new era for Solomon There’s a new movement sweeping Wall Street. As the big firms—once thought to be the VIPs of the scene—are slowly shrinking or seeking fiscal reprieves in government bailout funds, smaller firms such as Peter J. Solomon have stepped in to fill the void. In an interview with Investment Dealers’ Digest, firm founder Peter J. Solomon agreed, admitting that “you cannot rely on capital providers. The trust is broken.” Instead, institutions such as Solomon “will have a more important role going forward.” Additionally, Solomon said, “The world will divide into two: capital providers and people with wits.” Solomon also added that President Barack Obama, in his battling against Wall Street bonuses and support of limiting high-earners’ salaries, has helped Solomon’s recruiting efforts. To that end, Solomon told IDD he hopes to boost his 40-employee firm by 40 percent within 2009. By mid 2009, the firm had grown 50 percent—to 61 people.


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February 2009: Welcome to the firm The firm added Richard S. Brail as managing director to head its media and communications advisory. Brail joined from Morgan Stanley, where he worked for 18 years and specialized in media and communication firm advisory. Among other deals, he advised SIRIUS Satellite Radio on its merger with XM Satellite Radio. Brail earned both a BA and a BS from the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from Harvard Business School. In addition, the firm hired Wall Street veteran banker Frederic Seegal, formerly president of Wasserstein Perella, to work with Brail and along with Senior Advisor Robert Glauber, to work on financial institution transactions. PJSC also brought on renowned health care bankers Frederick Frank and Mary Tanner. Frank was hired from Barclays where he was vice chairman, and Tanner, the founder of Life Sciences Partners, was hired to co-head PJSC’s global pharmaceutical and life sciences practice.

January 2009: More opinions In a New York Times editorial, PJSC Founder and Chairman Peter J. Solomon wrote that the Obama administration should “be explicit about a changed relationship between government and private banking.” He added, “Active involvement, including perhaps board representation, is necessary as the taxpayer finally provides capital sufficient to permit a sound financial system.”

November 2008: Pontificating on TARP PJSC Founder and Chairman Peter J. Solomon published his opinions about the federal bailout of the financial system in The New York Times. “As constituted,” he wrote, “TARP is an incipient disaster.” He criticized then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for repeatedly changing the objective of the program; pointed out that the two-page application for federal assistance is “shorter and less detailed than a mortgage application that a homeowner must complete”; and concluded that TARP is an example of ineffective, inefficient government. Furthermore, he wrote, “taxpayers need protection from profligate ‘bailouts,’ which have the potential of making ‘earmarks’ look penny ante.” As an alternative, Solomon proposed creating an independent agency based on the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which was implemented under the New Deal. The agency, staffed by “professionals,” would answer to the Treasury secretary and Congress; would offer the sort of bipartisanship advocated by President Obama; and separate “dealmaking from policy,” empowering the Treasury secretary to “fashion policies that will restore long-term growth.”

September 2008: Active advising Peter J. Solomon advised Athleta, a women’s active apparel company, on its $150 million sale to Gap.

May 2008: “Let losers lose” PJSC Chairman and CEO Peter J. Solomon published an editorial in the—ironically—now-defunct New York Sun. In the article, he contended that “it was simply a question of time before a lack of personal liability coupled with access to unlimited capital would lead to disastrous levels of risk.” Rather than modify or enhance existing market regulation, “let the players know they can get wiped out,” he wrote. “If we let losers lose, more permanent stable markets will result. The greater good, then, will be served.”

March 2008: Pharmacy purchases The company advised Walgreens on its $278 million purchase of the Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania-based I-trax and on its acquisition of Whole Health Management, a privately held company based in Cleveland, for an undisclosed amount.

GETTING HIRED Make the top five The firm is “very selective in that it accepts as few as six analysts per year.” And “since it is a relatively small place, with everyone working on one floor, fit is extremely important.” PJSC finds potential candidates at a variety of schools, such as University of Michigan, MIT, Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, University of Chicago, Duke and “select undergraduate business school programs.” Expect two or three interviews in total, starting with a first-round campus interview. The second round is usually a Super Day featuring “an interview with three to six bankers, ranging from analysts to senior managing directors, followed by a dinner with analysts and associates.” The on-campus interviews “will typically be ‘two-on-ones’ with a partner as well as either an analyst or an associate,” and “about two or three people from each school are invited back for the final round of interviews, which is usually a mix of partners and associates.” During the process, expect to field some technical

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questions, and “if a candidate has trouble with technical questions, it is much more difficult for them to get hired.” But expect a wide range of queries as well. One candidate recalls “There were all types of questions, ranging from resume-based questions to technical questions.” Interns may face slightly better odds. The firm hires “two to three” summer interns who “get a real idea of what it’s going to be like” as far as day-today tasks. And they “definitely have an advantage in getting a full-time offer” if they perform well.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Both sides now The culture is described by insiders as “hardworking” within a “family company” that’s “analytically intensive” but simultaneously “extremely friendly.” “You’re definitely expected to work hard, but in general, you are respected,” an insider adds. Another comments that “it’s a small firm with a good culture.” Yet another says, “We have quarterly outings for analysts and associates to sporting events, dinners, billiards and bowling.” Some insiders paint a different picture of the culture, though. And though you can “take on serious amounts of responsibility while dealing with very senior people both internally and with senior clients,” says one insider, “senior partners show little care or consideration for analysts’ well-being.”

There’s a range Insiders disagree about PJSC’s salary package. Some say it’s “about average for the Street,” others say it’s “well below what the rest of the Street pays.” Perks, however, mostly receive pretty decent marks. The company springs for half of employees’ gym memberships, offers a “$25 dinner allowance for night work,” provides “all weekend meals,” reimburses “taxis home past 10 p.m.,” provides “a BlackBerry” and offers “a fully stocked fridge with juice and soda every day.” But insiders also warn that “the firm has a strong tendency of pinching pennies, and nickel and diming employees.” Practices like “questioning taxi cab receipts” “add up and create bitterness among the junior people.”

Watch out for the hours As for hours, these are “unpredictable,” possibly because some insiders say that “face time is required”—”people often stay later than they have to, waiting for senior bankers to leave before them.” One insider warns that “though the firm claims there is no face time policy, PJSC has one of the worst unspoken of face time policies on the Street.” Though the hours are better than those typically required at larger banks, “there are still late nights and weekends, and we are always on call.” And don’t even think about being late: “There are times when attendance is taken and scolding mass emails are sent regarding having to be in the office between certain hours.” Sources tell us that, “When projects arise, there can be times when people work 100-plus hours per week.”

A few bad apples? Overall, managers are “very friendly and understanding” and “treat the junior resources well and with respect,” though more than one insider notes that one bad banker can spoil the whole bunch. “It only takes one influential banker to make life difficult,” he observes. Another tells the story of a partner who “treats analysts with no respect whatsoever,” sending out “weekly emails scolding analysts, masquerading as ‘helpful career advice’ that are all aimed to call out and embarrass a particular analyst.” “When an email is sent about having to shave, we all look around to see who got him mad by not shaving.” But bad behavior from the higher-ups seems to be the exception to the rule at PJSC. Insiders say that, “Most senior bankers are great to work for” and that “associates at the firm are very good teachers and managers.” Management also seems to “take an active interest in developing junior people’s work potential and understanding for the subject matter.” Junior analysts “are brought to client meetings and participate on conference calls whenever possible, which tends to happen more frequently at a smaller firm like PJSC.” And communication is encouraged, as “the open-door policy actually means something here.”

Look sharp The firm’s digs are “very nice,” “comfortable” and “appealing,” and offer “great views” from the New York offices. Enthuses one staffer, “It’s one of the nicer I-banking offices I have seen.” The offices also have “roomy cubicles,” and “there are multiple conference rooms and spare rooms.” Plus, “the building is very well maintained.” But be prepared to maintain your appearance to match your office surroundings. The dress code has always been governed by a “formal always” rule, “even at the height of the dot-com bubble.” And while it can be “annoying,” it’s a “part of life at PJSC,” respondents say. Don’t expect to scoot by on charm, either. “Appearance is very important and scrutinized and systematically checked—from the type of shirt to shaving every day.” And although “weekends are casual,” the protocol for the rest of the week is unyielding—”You have to be fairly well put together every day.”


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Getting the skill set While the training offered provides “individual attention and specific skills,” it’s also “not as formal as bigger banks.” It’s mostly “led by associates and senior analysts” but “includes classes with an outside accounting professor.” Training typically lasts four weeks and “definitely provides the skills necessary to succeed on the job,” but “may not be as comprehensive as at larger banks.” Part of the program is outsourced and includes “a visit to Bloomberg headquarters” and seminars with outside specialists, though the “nuts and bolts of analyst training is done in-house by other bankers.” But once the formal training process concludes, the firm makes sure that learning doesn’t stop. “Classes are often taught throughout the year” and “continually improving training is a real focus for the firm,” sources note.

Putting forth the effort Although the workplace culture is “somewhat male-dominated,” the firm is “making more of an effort to recruit women.” PJSC “actively seeks female analysts and has two female managing directors.” One insider adds that “about 33 percent” of his first-year class was female. But the firm’s attempt at ethnic diversity could use a shot in the arm. There are “very few minorities in the office” and overall, “there is not too much ethnic diversity.”

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KPMG CORPORATE FINANCE LLC

757 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017 Phone: (212) 872-2920 www.kpmgcorporatefinance.com

SERVICES Advisory Services & Financial Opinions Global Infrastructure & Projects Investment Banking Private Equity Coverage Special Situations Advisory

KEY COMPETITORS Goldman Sachs Merrill Lynch Morgan Stanley

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See www.kpmgcorporatefinance.com/careers or email your resume to [email protected]

THE STATS Employer Type: U.S. based subsidiary of KPMG LLP (UK) Managing Director, Head of KPMG Corporate Finance LLC: Stephen Gaines No. of Employees: 75 No. of Offices: 9

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “OK in the US” • “Smaller deals”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition KPMG Corporate Finance LLC

THE SCOOP Not just audit KPMG Corporate Finance LLC, a member of FINRA (Financial Industrial Regulatory Authority) and registered as a broker dealer with the SEC, is a U.S. subsidiary of KPMG LLP (U.K.), a limited liability partnership. KPMG LLP (U.K.), like KPMG LLP (U.S.), is an independent member firm affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. One of the Big Four auditors, KPMG is structured as a Swiss Verein, with each member firm acting as an independent legal entity. Its three lines of service—audit, tax and advisory—brought in global revenue of $22.7 billion in 2008. KPMG is one of the world’s largest professional services firms, with over 137,000 employees working in 144 countries. KPMG Corporate Finance LLC is a part of KPMG’s corporate finance practice, which operates in 62 countries and comprises more than 2,200 professionals. KPMG Corporate Finance provides investment banking and advisory services to domestic and international clients. Its professionals advise clients on mergers and acquisitions, sales and divestitures, buyouts, financings, debt restructurings, equity recapitalizations, fairness opinions, infrastructure project finance and other strategic initiatives. On a global basis, KPMG’s corporate finance practice regularly outranks almost all other financial advisers by volume of deals completed annually. KPMG’s corporate finance practice is part of KPMG’s advisory service line, which includes eight other service offerings: accounting advisory; internal audit, risk and compliance services; forensics; transaction services; restructuring; IT advisory; business performance services; and financial risk management services. As of October 2007, KPMG Corporate Finance LLC has included the realty advisory practice of Long Island-based Keen Consultants; the business now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of KPMG Corporate Finance LLC. One of Keen’s most notable assignments in 2008 was assisting video rental giant Movie Gallery with the disposition of several Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video store locations. Given the current economic environment (in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis), KPMG Corporate Finance’s real estate services team has shifted from focusing on traditional acquisition and disposal services to a broader focus of providing lease mitigation services—a means for companies to reduce their lease costs and effectively raise capital amid frozen credit markets. KPMG Corporate Finance’s key assignments for 2008 included advising Cash Management Solutions on its $36 million sale to River Associates Investments; helping Unilever Canada divest assets to Margarine Golden Gate-Micha; working with the trustees of Food Management Group LLC on the disposition of 27 Dunkin’ Donuts franchises in New York; advising Vivitar Corporation on the sale of its brand and intellectual property to Sakar International; advising Concept Mining on its sale to ArcelorMittal; and advising Frontline Direct on its $20 million sale to Adconion Media Group. KPMG Corporate Finance experts also provided a valuation opinion to Pacific Crossing LLC in conjunction with its Chapter 11 filing; and offered fairness opinions to the boards of Pacific Internet and Precision Dynamics Corporation.

Declaration of independence A unique feature of KPMG Corporate Finance’s operations is that the firm is completely independent of financing sources—it does not underwrite, make loans to or invest in any of its clients, and it doesn’t have an in-house research division. According to the firm, “Our independence helps insure that our interests are aligned with those of our clients.” Speaking of clients, at KPMG Corporate Finance, they fall into 10 industries: business services, consumer markets, energy and natural resources, financial services, health care and pharmaceuticals, insurance, media and marketing services, real estate, industrial markets, and technology and communications. The firm’s U.S. offices are located in Atlanta; Austin; Baltimore; Chicago; Dallas; Los Angeles; Melville, N.Y.; New York; and Orange County, Calif.

IN THE NEWS June 2009: “Special Situations” honors KPMG Corporate Finance was awarded the Special Situations M&A Deal of the Year at the Turnaround Atlas Awards for its role as advisor to Vivitar in its sale from Syntax-Brillian Corporation to Sakar International.

March 2009: Energy award time The M&A Advisor handed KPMG Corporate Finance its 2008 Energy Deal of the Year award for its role as advisor to Concept Mining in conjunction with its sale to ArcelorMittal.

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition KPMG Corporate Finance LLC

January 2009: Recovery’s on the horizon With all eyes on the global economic meltdown in early 2009, many wondered what the New Year had in store for M&A deals. Enter KPMG Corporate Finance’s annual publication, the Global M&A Predictor, a forward-looking survey of 1,000 leading companies that analyzes prospective price to earnings ratios and balance sheet capacity. Unsurprisingly, the January 2009 edition of the report forecast “a very subdued year for M&A activity,” as Stephen Gaines, head of KPMG Corporate Finance LLC, put it. The silver lining: according to KPMG, deal volume is nearly at the trough—which means it’s all up from here. “While this M&A downturn is different from previous ones in character, I think we can draw some parallels between the current situation in the deals market and how we emerged from one of the last big deals recession in the early 1990s,” Gaines said. “I am feeling very optimistic that we will see a similar pattern emerge this year and next, and that by the close of 2010 the M&A downturn will be behind us, with a sustained recovery in transactional activity.”

January 2009: Big Four advantages A Financial Week review of middle-market M&A activity in 2008 noted that the Big Four, while primarily known for their audit prowess, had certain advantages over pure investment banks: like a well-coordinated network of professionals around the world. “We’re able to identify counterparties, be they acquirers of businesses or capital sources, across the globe and not just in one market or another,” explained Stephen Gaines, the head of KPMG Corporate Finance LLC. The larger KPMG network “gives us access to on-the-ground intelligence and cultural sensitivities that competitors can’t match.”

December 2008: Top of the charts In 2008, KPMG’s Corporate Finance practice completed 390 deals totaling $51.5 billion, according to Thomson Reuters’ global M&A league tables. KPMG outranked (by number of deals completed) other Big Four players Ernst & Young LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance, as well as bulge bracket banks J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.

GETTING HIRED Fitting the ideal The career section of the firm’s website (www.kpmgcorporatefinance.com/careers) gives information on available opportunities within its U.S. offices. The firm describes itself as having “enlightened leadership, shared values, and a diversity of talent,” saying it strives to recruit employees whose “aim is to maintain an environment in which each individual achieves their personal goals.” Employees who demonstrate these qualities are given opportunities for advancement, according to the firm. The ideal candidate for most positions should also possess a bachelor’s degree in finance, economics or accounting, as well as strong research and financial analysis skills, a willingness to learn, Microsoft Office skills, high attention to detail, strong written and verbal communication skills, the ability to work independently and with a team, and one to three years of experience for entry-level positions and more than seven for managing and upper-level positions. If you are interested, send your resume to [email protected].


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U.S. BANCORP

800 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MN 55402 Phone: (800) 872-2657 www.usbank.com

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America JPMorgan Chase Wachovia Wells Fargo

BUSINESSES Consumer Banking Payment Services Wealth Management Wholesale Banking

UPPERS

THE STATS

DOWNERS

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: USB (NYSE) President, Chairman & CEO: Richard K. Davis 2008 Revenue: $20.31 billion 2008 Net Income: $4.3 billion No. of Employees: approximately 55,000 No. of Offices: 2,542

• “The pay is far less than what we deserve” • “No special perks”

• Employees are “always treated with respect” • “Good job of hiring for diversity”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.usbank.com/careers

THE BUZZ


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“Strong and still lending” “Midwestern commercial bank” “Escaped subprime” “Competitive”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition U.S. Bancorp

THE SCOOP Finding its footing U.S. Bancorp, with $256 billion in assets as of December 2008, is the parent company of U.S Bank, the sixth-largest commercial bank in the U.S. Based in Minneapolis, the firm offers a full range of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services to individual consumers, businesses and institutions. Though U.S. Bancorp remains one of the 10-largest banks in the U.S., it suffered huge losses in 2008 that have seriously affected its bottom line. Once seen as a conservative bank that strayed away from risky investments, U.S. Bancorp lost more than 50 percent of its stock price in 2008, reporting billions of dollars in losses in the final quarter of the year. The fourth quarter earnings report showed that U.S. Bancorp set aside $1.27 billion for credit losses in relation to the drop in home values and commercial and construction loans. It also reported net charge-offs of $632 million. Securities tied to structure investment vehicles cost the company $253 million. The bank’s profit for the quarter was $330 million, the lowest it had been since the third quarter of 2001.

Lines of business Business is divided between four core lines at U.S. Bancorp. The wholesale banking division provides commercial banking to middle-market companies, as well as commercial real estate services, correspondent banking, equipment finance, foreign exchange and international banking, government banking, treasury management, dealer commercial services, consumer banking and small business services. U.S. Bancorp’s payment services division contributes nearly a quarter of its total revenue each year, and offers corporate payment systems, merchant payment systems, retail payment solutions (including debt, credit and gift cards), consumer and integrated credit and debit card processing through Elavon, formerly Nova Information Systems. The wealth management and securities services division includes a private client group, plus corporate trust services and institutional trust and custody. FAF Advisors distributes U.S. Bancorp’s proprietary mutual funds family, First American Funds. Funds, investments and insurance are handled through U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC; U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc.; and U.S. Bancorp Insurance Services, LLC respectively. According to U.S. Bancorp, all of its subsidiaries range in size from $39 million to $139 billion in deposits. Most of its business is centered in the U.S., although it does offer merchant services in Canada and parts of Europe; those operations, however, are “not material.” Finally, the rapidly expanding consumer banking division provides community banking, metropolitan branch banking, in-store and corporate on-site banking, consumer lending, financial sales, small business banking, home mortgages, community development, workplace and student banking, and transaction services. The company has 2,791 banking offices (primarily in 24 states in the Midwest and the West) as well as 5,159 ATMs in the country. U.S. Bancorp is proud of its Five Star Service Guarantee, which it claims as a unique customer service experience “to change forever what you expect from a financial institution.” This includes the promise of 24/7 service, accurate online account information, and a response via email inquiries within 24 hours.

IN THE NEWS November 2008: Changing its mind As one of the largest U.S. banks, U.S. Bancorp received a big chunk of the money the government allocated to struggling banks as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. U.S. Bancorp agreed to take $6.6 billion of capital from the Treasury Department. The agreement to participate in the government’s bailout plan was a sharp turnaround for the company. The bank’s CEO Richard David told investors that “we don’t have any particular reason to need that,” referring to the sale of troubled assets. However, as conditions on the ground changed as a result of failing credit and falling home prices, the bank agreed to sell a preferred stake to the U.S. government in exchange for help.

November 2008: Sharing with the FDIC The biggest acquisitions of the year for U.S. Bancorp came after the markets crashed, leaving many institutions on the verge of bankruptcy. U.S. Bancorp took over the branches, deposits, and most of the assets of California-based banks Downey Savings and Loan and PFF Bank & Trust from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. U.S. Bancorp entered into an agreement with the FDIC to alter the mortgages taken out by Downey and PFF’s customers. In return for modifying the mortgages, the FDIC agreed to share losses on the loans with U.S. Bancorp. Though U.S. Bancorp agreed to buy Downey and PFF, it did not acquire any of the assets of liabilities of the banks’ parent holding companies. The company picked up 213 new branches throughout California as a result of the merger. Downey had $12.8 billion in assets and $9.7 billion in deposits at the time of the acquisition while PFF had $3.7 billion in assets and $2.4 billion in deposits.


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October 2008: Banking on women A spot of good news came when U.S. Bancorp was named the Top Banking Team in U.S. Banker’s annual rankings of The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking. The ranking was based on hard data: U.S. Bancorp scored the best overall in terms of percentage of women corporate officers and management committee members, number of senior women executives and financial performance of women-led business units. Two of U.S. Bancorp’s employees also made the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking list. Pam Joseph, vice chairman of payment services, ranked No. 5 on the list while Diane Thormodsgard, vice chairman of wealth management and securities services, ranked No. 14. The firm got an additional shout out as Leslie Godridge, executive vice president and head of national corporate and institutional banking, was recognized as a Woman to Watch. Overall, 44 women were part of the group that was recognized as the Top Banking Team in the country.

June 2008: Expanding operations The crisis in the markets may have made a significant impact of U.S. Bancorp’s balance sheet, but it didn’t affect its growth goals. The firm continued its buying spree in 2008, starting in June with the acquisition of Mellon 1st Business Bank in California. Mellon 1st Business Bank provides standard retail deposit products and operating and equipment loans, treasury services, asset-backed financing and financial advice to businesses, entrepreneurs, professionals and nonprofits. U.S. Bancorp acquired $3.4 billion in assets, $1.1 billion in loans and $2.7 billion in deposits from the merger.

August 2008: Purchasing Capital City U.S. Bancorp continued on its expansion spree by acquiring the merchant processing portfolio of Capital City Bank through Elavon, a wholly owned subsidiary that was acquired by U.S. Bancorp in January 2008. Elavon paid Capital City Bank $6.25 million for the purchase of its merchant services business assets.

GETTING HIRED Log on U.S. Bancorp “primarily” keeps a “local” focus to its recruiting. However, the company website allows applicants to search for open positions by job category or location (the link is www.usbank.com/careers). There, candidates can also find scheduled recruiting events at regional job fairs, including those aimed specifically at minorities (like the National Black MBA conference). While some respondents don’t think U.S. Bancorp is overly selective, the company emphasis is on customer service—and that’s a key consideration for recruiters and hiring managers. The bank says its guiding principle is its Five Star Service Guarantee, which “ensures specific performance standards that reflect our customers’ expectations for quality, responsiveness, accuracy and availability.” After an initial resume screen, most candidates go through “multiple interviews.” One corporate finance staffer recalls “half a dozen interviews, roundrobin style.” “Two or three is normally the minimum,” says another source.

Quick and painless The interview process is a “very brief” one, especially “compared to other banks,” insiders say. There’s “the initial submission of your resume,” then “an HR review and phone interview with an HR representative.” If you pass that initial interview stage, you’re “brought in for an in-person interview,” which one contact describes as lasting around an hour. Then, “you interview with your direct reporting manager or managers who ask a few standard interview questions” and “a few questions regarding your goals and expectations.” You may also be asked about your “overall ability to work in a banking atmosphere,” “your resume,” and “working in a team versus working independently.”

Employee love U.S. Bancorp recently showcased a film about its employees in 75 different locations around the nation. Featuring real employees, the film allows U.S. Bancorp workers from different divisions the chance to share what they love about the company. The movie will be used to recruit new talent, and showcases new employee programs, such as Five Star Volunteer Day, a paid day off to volunteer with a nonprofit of the employee’s choosing. U.S. Bancorp also announced that it had created an employee assistance fund to aid workers who have experienced natural disasters, illness or other extreme situations.

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OUR SURVEY SAYS Be up for anything Insiders call U.S. Bancorp “a great company to work for” and “a decent employer,” but also note that “the corporate culture varies greatly from department to department.” Even so, one characteristic that seems to be constant is that “the company has a lot of great employees and great expectations.” On the other hand, however, “the corporate culture does not stress challenging the status quo.” “Put another way,” one insider extrapolates, “the way the business operates is the same today as it was 15 years ago.” As far as management goes, employees are “always treated with respect and challenged,” insiders say. “My manager is incredible,” enthuses one insider, “even though the company has yet to promote this manager even though [he is] taking care of multiple branches at the same time and has improved the quality of employees and the quantity of sales.” Another contact says, “My manager cares strongly not only about the business but the employees who work for him and the customers who help keep him in business.” Salaries, however, don’t receive quite such glowing reviews from insiders. “The pay is far less than what we deserve,” says one insider. “With my experience and education, I am not being paid what is standard— not even in my state,” says one source. “I have done the research and I am being paid $7,000 less a year than I should be.” Plus, “raises are very low and based on overall corporate performance—there aren’t any performance incentives.” All in all, “this is a great company to work for, they only need to adjust the pay for their employees,” admits one respondent. Benefits, too, could use a little jazzing up. There are “no special perks or reimbursements” and “no stock options.” “Benefits are not the greatest,” says one contact. “Although employees are presented with many options for benefits, none are all that great.” There are a few aspects that insiders seem to enjoy universally—the “standard,” “9-to-5” work hours, for one. And there’s also “a lot of room for advancement”—the company “recognizes achievement.” There are “numerous opportunities to apply for other positions within the bank after being in your position for one year,” says one employee.

Running the gamut When it comes to the dress code, employees can expect “anywhere from casual to business formal,” depending on office. In other words, “the dress code varies from jeans to a suit-and-tie daily, with no casual Fridays.” One insider in a more formal outpost says wryly, “Regarding casual dress—I wish,” adding, “We are not allowed to wear jeans or T-shirts. Granted, I don’t have to wear a blazer every day, but we do not get to go casual.” The bottom line, says one contact, is that “we feel that our customers should always see us at our best.” One thing U.S. Bancorp is staunch about are its principles. “They have a no tolerance policy on ethical issues,” says one insider. And diversity within the firm is “great—HR does a good job of hiring for diversity.” Another says “diversity is excellent,” adding that “working here you get a chance to meet so many people from different cultures.”

What’s next? By and large, U.S. Bancorp’s future prospects look bright. “I think the firm will succeed for years to come,” says one source. “It has not, like some banks, been very impacted by the mortgage crisis.” Additionally, “the firm is growing—especially into the international markets—and continues to look for new opportunities in distribution channels, products and services.”


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BMO CAPITAL MARKETS

100 King Street W., 1 First Canadian Place Toronto, Ontario M5X 1H3 Canada Phone: (416) 359-4000 111 West Monroe Street Chicago, IL 60603 www.bmocm.com

SERVICES Capital Raising Institutional Brokerage Market Risk Management Merger & Acquisition Advisory Services Research Treasury Services

KEY COMPETITORS Baird Bank of America Barclays Capital Deutsche Bank Houlihan Lokey Piper Jaffray RBC Capital Markets TD Securities UBS Investment Bank Wells Fargo

UPPER • “Great corporate culture” where “everyone respects everyone else”

THE STATS

DOWNER

Employer Type: Subsidiary of BMO Financial Group Chairman: L. Jaques Ménard CEO: Thomas Milroy 2008 Revenue: C$2.41 billion 2008 Net Income: C$692 million No. of Employees: 2,400 No. of Offices: 27 (including 14 in North America)

• “Few minorities in professional positions”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” section of www.bmocm.com

THE BUZZ


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“Good in Canada, good in metals and mining” “Mediocre in the US” “Up and coming” “Third-rate”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition BMO Capital Markets

THE SCOOP North American leaders A division of BMO Financial Group, BMO Capital Markets offers a full range of wholesale banking services, including advisory, capital markets, research, risk management, sales and trading, treasury management and institutional brokerage. BMO Capital Markets has over 2,400 employees working from offices in 27 locations around the world, including 14 in North America. In the U.S., BMO Capital Markets focuses on middle market clients with $250 million to $2 billion in annual sales. Wealth management services are provided to these middle market clients through BMO’s subsidiary Harris Private Bank. In Canada, the firm caters to larger clients and is a major underwriter and advisor on Canadian transactions. BMO Capital Markets is a listed member of all the major stock exchanges including NYSE, Nasdaq, American Stock Exchange, The London Stock Exchange, AIM (London Stock Exchange’s international market for smaller, growing companies), The Toronto Stock Exchange and The TSX Venture Exchange.

Coming to the U.S. BMO Capital Markets has been focusing on grow its presence in the U.S. through increased product penetration, improved cross-selling, expanded trading activities and enhancing client coverage within key industries. Underlining the firm’s success south of the Canadian border, during its 2008 fiscal year, the firm doubled the size of its U.S. municipal bonds business through the acquisition of Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson Inc. (BMO Capital Markets has been active in originating Build America Bonds, which were introduced in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009), and the firm advised U.S. Sugar Corporation on a multibillion-dollar sale to support Florida Everglades restoration. In addition, during the second quarter of BMO Capital Markets’ fiscal year 2009, over 50 percent of its net income was earned in the U.S.

IN THE NEWS May 2009: Rough recession For the second quarter 2009 (ended April 30, 2009), BMO Financial Group brought in C$2.65 billion in revenue, up slightly from the C$2.62 billion it brought in for second quarter 2008. Net income, meanwhile, took a drop to C$358 million in the quarter from C$642 million. The firm cited “an increase in the general allowance for credit losses” and “severance costs” as reasons for the dip. The BMO Capital Markets division produced solid results, growing revenue 17 percent year over year and increasing net income by 33 percent.

March 2009: Finishing strong Despite the difficult financial environment in 2008, BMO Financial Group still managed to deliver net income of C$2 billion, and BMO Capital Markets saw an increase in net income to C$692 million. BMO Capital Markets participated in 162 corporate and government debt transactions with a value of C$126 billion as well as 197 equity transactions with a value of C$45 billion. It also advised on 54 completed mergers and acquisitions in North America totaling C$46 billion.

January 2009: Leading the charts BMO Capital Markets is one of the biggest players in North America in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt underwriting, and securitization. The company jumped three places to take the No. 7 spot on the Thomson Reuters league tables measuring announced M&A deal activity in Canada in 2008. The firm completed 26 deals with Canadian involvement that had a rank value of $10 billion or 8.4 percent of the market share. For all deals with North American involvement, the firm placed No. 19 overall, with 46 deals valued at $38 billion. BMO was also one of the only companies to see an increase in value of deals completed in the midst of a very difficult financial environment. In equity capital markets, the firm ranks even higher in the Canadian market. BMO ranked No. 4 in equity and equity related deals, behind only RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities and CIBC World Markets. It completed 19 deals with proceeds of $3 billion and a total market share of 10.5 percent. The firm also finished No. 4 in Canadian common stock and trust deals, with 17 deals with proceeds of $2.9 billion.

December 2008: “Renaissance man” makes an exit Don Coxe, the global portfolio strategist for BMO Capital Markets and the firm’s resident “Renaissance Man,” retired from the firm in late December 2008. Coxe was one of the firm’s most decorated strategists, winning awards such as the National Polst/StarMine lifetime achievement award in investment research. Though Coxe will be opening his own independent advisory firm, he will retain his role as portfolio consultant to BMO’s Coxe Commodity Fund.


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November 2008: Heading up an IPO BMO Capital Markets led the initial public offering of Cymbria Corporation, a Canadian investment company which raised $220 million.

November 2008: Moving into Mumbai BMO Capital Markets announced that it would be expanding its business into India with the opening of an office in Mumbai. The company’s Indian operations will include a collaboration with Ernst & Young that will help the two companies to “develop cross border opportunities between India and North America.” Its business will focus on mergers and acquisitions in the sectors of mining and metals, health care, oil and gas, IT and industrial production.

September 2008: Best in tough times In a year when investment banking faced some of its biggest challenges in history, BMO Capital Markets was awarded the honor of the Best Investment Bank in Canada by Global Finance. The publication announced the winners in its September 2008 issue and held an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., in October. According to Global Finance publisher Joseph D. Giarrupto, in this volatile environment, the awards for best investment bank carry special meaning. “The last 12 months have been some of the most difficult ever for investment bankers,” he said. “But many institutions made heroic efforts to continue to provide the best possible services to their clients, and we salute them.”

April 2008: More municipals BMO acquired the Chicago-based bank Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson (GKST) in an effort to grow its domestic fixed income business. GKST specializes in debt securities including municipal bonds, U.S. Treasury debt, agencies, and mortgage-backed securities. The acquisition more than doubled the size of BMO’s municipal bond business, creating the largest bank-qualified municipal bond dealer in Illinois and the sixth-largest in the United States. The merger brought together approximately 100 employees from GKST and 20 from BMO’s Chicago office, creating a total team of 120.

December 2007: Big deal The firm was a part of several significant deals in 2008. It was the bookrunner on the IPO of Franco-Nevada, a mining and energy royalty company which debuted on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The deal was the biggest mining IPO in North American history, raising $1.26 billion in its share sale. The transaction officially closed on December 20, 2007, which falls into revenue for fiscal 2008 for BMO.

GETTING HIRED Consider the odds “Beyond academic and professional experience, personality and cultural fit are highly emphasized in the selection process,” a source says. Because the firm prizes its “tight-knit culture” and has “small analyst and associate classes relative to the bulges,” the recruiting process “can be somewhat selective.” According to one contact, BMO “has been more selective every year, but does not necessarily target the top business schools, so it’s not so hard to get hired.” Instead, the firm “targets selected schools” within its footprint. Chicago sources say “the Big 10, Morehouse, Depauw and the University of Chicago” are frequent feeders, while the New York office’s targets often include “Brown, Columbia, Wharton, Villanova and Emory.” “The decision process takes longer for senior hires, but is quite clear-cut for analysts and associates,” an insider says. “We are not hiring in large numbers for the New York office, so it is competitive.”

A social process Candidates who come from nontarget schools must go through “one or two” preliminary interviews before being invited to “a full day” on site. For campus recruits, the process “begins in the fall with an informational presentation session on campus,” explains a source. “About a month later there are one-on-one interviews on campus. Within two weeks of the interview, selected candidates will be called back to the head office” for a series of second-round interviews “plus a meal with several employees at the same level as the candidate.” There may be an additional “socializing event or dinner” with fellow candidates “the day before the final rounds.” On-site interviews may be conducted by “a range of senior analysts and associates along with a few vice presidents,” and sources say it’s the second round that has “more technical questions.” Behavioral questions are still in the mix, though: a contact recalls “naming examples of times when I was challenged or took a leadership position.” Generally, you can expect a first round that’s “more technical and skills-based,” while the second round is more qualitative-oriented.” The company “wants to know how you will fit with the bank’s culture and atmosphere.” Another insider notes that BMO tries not to leave candidates hanging too long—”offers are made promptly” after the final round.

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Few summer slots The firm does offer summer positions “for both undergraduate and graduate students,” but “participation is not critical to getting hired.” Of course, it “is one important way to learn about our firm and gain consideration for full-time employment,” but BMO’s summer classes “tend to be far smaller than our classes of full-time hires.” An insider adds that there are “limited summer opportunities available” in the first place, though this varies by office. “Even at the analyst level there are few summer opportunities in New York,” he says. “Most of the summer opportunities are in Chicago.” Those who do enter the summer program will find that “pay is market,” based on an equivalent first-year’s rate. Summer staffers “work alongside coverage, M&A or commercial bankers doing live deals.” They also “get additional training and go to events.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS No “freaking out” The firm has a “great corporate culture” where “everyone respects everyone else.” The company boasts “great people,” and “your input actually counts for something.” Also a plus: there’s “no yelling or freaking out.” Perhaps this is because the company culture is steeped in Canadian politeness. The BMO culture “is very collegial and reflective of our Canadian roots,” sources say. There’s a “strong emphasis on teamwork,” but a contact points out that “individuals who excel are able to quickly take on more.” Senior bankers are “smart and busy, but very approachable”—”everyone knows each other by name.” An “open-door policy” helps managers “delegate more and more responsibility.” There is also “direct access to and work directly with directors and managing directors as a first-year analyst,” reports one insider. “Superiors actually care what you think and take an interest in your develop and career track.” Overall, there is a “charismatic style of leadership” among managers at BMO. And “managers seek to help and guide junior professionals—and not as subordinates.” “Managers outside my group know my name and make the effort to say hello and to ask how things are going.” Expect “a great deal of respect” from “seasoned managers who know the business.” According to this source, “It is rare to find big egos here.” One managing director appreciates that BMO has “the resources of a large firm, but the entrepreneurial spirit of a small firm.” And although it “covers all industry groups and provides all investment banking products,” BMO is “less structured than a large bank.” This creates a “very tight network between junior bankers.” “We celebrate the wins rather than getting yelled at for the misses,” explains an insider. There’s “a common spirit of having fun while getting deals done,” and young bankers get “lots of visibility.” The downside, insiders say, is that while “you can work closely with upper-level management, you must sacrifice the volume of deal flow” that larger banks enjoy.

Big deal, long hours BMO’s marks on pay are mostly above average. One associate says, “If you are in banking only for money, BMO is not bad, as it pays competitively.” However, “if you are in banking for exit opportunities or deal flow,” BMO may seem less attractive. Besides offering competitive compensation, BMO provides a “401(k) matching plan with up to 5 percent of salary before taxes, and an employee stock option purchase plan with a 15 percent discount on the purchase price.” Senior bankers can take advantage of a “long-term incentive plan paid out over three years with a tie to stock price.” For those working late in New York, there’s “$25 a night for dinner and $25 per meal for up to two meals on the weekends, and car service if you work after 8 p.m. or on weekends.” In Chicago, employees get “meals and cabs after 7:30 p.m., company-provided lunches once a month or so,” plus “free downtown parking” and discounted gym memberships. In terms of time spent in the office, the company offers “pretty good hours for investment banking,” but hours do depend “on the time of year and what live deals are going on.” There can be “crazy weeks,” but, in general, employees “work the amount of time that we need to, and there is little required face time.” “Some weeks are about 60 to 70 hours, while others can easily be 80 hours or more,” says an insider. The situation can also become more manageable as employees work their way up the management ranks. “As a director I control my hours more than I used to,” says a source, “but it is almost impossible to go a weekend without a phone call or answering emails.” “Work on the weekends can vary,” reports an analyst, who averages “about five to 10 hours split between both days. A completely free weekend is rare—about once a month.” BMO’s lean teams can help keep individuals from getting overwhelmed, however. “The group is small enough that we look out for each other, so workload is pretty evenly distributed,” a contact explains.

Dodge the tourists For BMO’s New York City employees, the office location in the heart of Times Square’s bustle is a “major downside.” However, the firm occupies “the top four floors of the Reuters building,” and “the conference rooms are very modern and cubes are spacious.” It’s “very typical office space,” but BMO does provide “a fully stocked kitchen and decent comfort and amenities.” A banker in Chicago says, “I have a nice big office, although it lacks windows.”


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The “business casual” dress code means that “ties are optional, unless you are pulled into meetings.” And “usually in the summer we can dress slightly more casual,” a source says. Then again, “casual” seems to have its own meaning at BMO. The company dress code is “business casual daily but more business than casual.” “Casual in this case means business casual and business formal for client meetings,” clarifies one insider. But “people dress appropriately” and “you rarely see khakis on the banking floor except on Fridays.” But generally, there is a “broad range of standards and the code “is what you make of it.”

Lots to learn BMO’s current training program “first started in summer 2006,” and “it is trying to mimic the training programs of other banks on the Street.” Sources describe initial training as “very good,” thanks to the firm’s “extensive training environment.” The formal training session “is just the right length—six weeks.” A contact notes, “It is very relevant to how business gets done at our firm, and helps get new hires up to speed quickly. It is also a great way to meet people.” After initial training, learning takes place “on the job” or through seminars. Says a source, “Informal training is good, because you are exposed to a lot of hands-on experience and can work directly with senior bankers.”

Trying to cultivate Generally, the firm has “a diverse workforce throughout the entire bank.” “There are many women in upper management at BMO” and there is “great opportunity for women in the firm.” In fact, “40 percent of the incoming I-banking analyst class was female,” and although “few senior bankers are women,” “those who are do a good job of mentoring.” But there’s always room for improvement. “Specifically in terms of women, finance companies need to offer more opportunities for women to work part time or flex-time,” notes one insider. Although the bank tries “very hard to recruit women and minorities,” there are still “very few minorities in professional positions.” One insider suggests “making sure that there is a diverse group that goes to recruit at the universities.” But the firm is making progress—”Having a mentoring program of men-to-men and women-to-women set up for the new hires has been great.” Treatment of gays and lesbians receives generally high marks from employees as well—”We extend all benefits to spouses and life partners.” Still, for GLBT staffers a “don’t ask, don’t tell” mentality prevails; an insider believes that “the firm is underrepresented relative to the general population.”

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PRESTIGE RANKING

49

MORGAN KEEGAN & CO., INC.

Morgan Keegan Tower 50 Front Street, 17th Floor Memphis, TN 38103 Phone: (901) 524-4100 Fax: (901) 579-4406 www.morgankeegan.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

• “Friendly, fun people” • “Challenging and rewarding”

Equity Capital Markets Fixed Income Capital Markets Private Client Wealth Management

DOWNER

Edward Jones Raymond James Financial

UPPERS

• Salaries could be higher • Corporate politics

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of Regions Financial Corporation CEO: John Carson Jr. President: R. Patrick Kruczek No. of Employees: 4,300 No. of Offices: 400 (approx.)

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.morgankeegan.com/MK/CareerOpp/default.htm

THE BUZZ


“Strong middle-market firm” “SunTrust Lite” “OK” “Small and Southern”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Morgan Keegan & Co., Inc.

THE SCOOP Out of the South Morgan Keegan is the brokerage and investment banking arm of Regions Financial Corporation, one of the top 12 bank holding companies in the U.S. and the largest regional bank in the Southeast. In 2004, Alabama-based Regions merged with Memphis, Tenn.’s Union Planters Corp., and in 2006, the entity merged with Birmingham, Ala.-based AmSouth Bancorporation in a massive $9.8 billion deal. These mergers—plus the company’s organic expansion efforts—have turned Regions into a national banking powerhouse, with over $146 billion in assets and $89 billion in deposits. Morgan Keegan’s story began in Memphis in 1969, when it went into with just five employees and one office. By 1972, Morgan Keegan had secured a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, opened a second location and launched a fixed-income group. It added an investment banking division in 1976, and after a successful IPO in the 1980s, expanded into asset management. Although it made a handful of acquisitions, Morgan Keegan stuck close to home, buying smaller investment boutiques in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. It was acquired by Regions in 2001, and today, Morgan Keegan’s clients include corporate, institutional and individual investors around the world. Regions has used some of its vast resources to grow Morgan Keegan, which employs approximately 4,300 people in 300 offices across the country. And when Regions sealed its big deal with AmSouth, all of AmSouth Investment Service’s accounts and brokers were handed over to Morgan Keegan.

Top underwriter Morgan Keegan’s underwriting prowess was demonstrated in 2008, when the firm continued to have success in its municipal bond business despite the adverse market conditions. According to Thomson Reuters, the firm ranked as the 10th-largest underwriter of municipal bond issues in 2008, with 457 issues valued at $10.7 billion. The firm was also the No. 1 underwriter in all of the South Central U.S. (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee), serving as senior manager on 219 issues with a total value of $4.9 billion. In addition, the firm generated significant business from the Southwestern region, where it issued 136 bonds with a value of $4 billion.

IN THE NEWS February 2009: Hiring the best As the fallout continued over the collapse of large Wall Street banks, Morgan Keegan sought to take advantage of the turmoil by snapping up some of the talent that was no longer needed on the Street. A report by OnWallStreet.com reported that Morgan Keegan had hired 17 advisors in January alone, many who were seeking a change after becoming disenchanted with the bad reputations of the big investment banks.

January 2009: Icy environment for I.P.O.s With the abysmal state of the market in late 2008 and early 2009, there was understandable reluctance on the part of companies to venture forth into the risky world of initial public offerings. Underwriting dropped 64 percent in 2008 to $931 million for all American investment banks, and big investment banks were desperate to score IPO deals and boost their fee income. In the midst of this highly competitive environment, Morgan Keegan was the only bank to score an IPO deal in the first two months of 2009. The bank agreed to underwrite the initial public offering of O’Gara Group, a security company that was expected to raise $172.5 million upon its debut. No other investment banks were involved in the transaction.

January 2009: Regions’ problems Morgan Keegan’s parent company, Regions Financial Company, ran into significant problems during the 2008 fiscal year as it saw its stock price decline by more than 80 percent. The bank registered a $5.5 billion loss for the year, most of it resulting from a $6 billion non-cash charge the bank was forced to take in the fourth quarter due to bad assets. Regions took $3.5 billion in aid from the government as part of its Troubled Asset Relief Program. As a result of the bank’s financial woes, it was forced to sell 11 RMK Select Funds to Pioneer Investment Management in January 2009. The funds had approximately $2 billion in assets under management. The transaction included five equity funds, one balanced fund, two money market funds, two bond funds and one tax-exempt bond fund. Dowd Ritter, Regions’ CEO assured investors that “Our team at Morgan Keegan excels at managing our clients’ assets, municipal underwriting, and investment banking. This transaction will allow us to continue to meet our clients’ investment needs while offering them the breadth of options Pioneer brings to the table.”

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December 2008: What recession? A bystander looking at Morgan Keegan’s activities in the past year might not realize that the bank is operating in the midst of a credit crisis. The bank found it within its means to make three strategic acquisitions in late 2008, adding resources to its swiftly growing business even in the midst a cash strapped economy. In December, the company acquired Atlanta-based investment bank Burke Capital Group, a firm that has advised on more than $5 billion in merger transactions since 1995. Burke’s specialties include buy and sell side advisory, private equity and ESOP valuations, fairness opinions and trust preferred placement services. A later acquisition expanded the company’s operation in the Northeast as Morgan Keegan moved to buy Revolution Partners, a Boston-based investment bank that specializes in mergers and acquisitions and private capital advisory services. Revolution will also strengthen the company’s capabilities in the technology sector due to its narrow focus on certain niches including application and infrastructure software, business services, wireless infrastructure, storage, communications infrastructure, hardware and financial technology.

November 2008: Big spenders While it usually hires advisors who generate about $400,000 to $800,000 in fees and commissions, some of its new advisors have figures much higher. In November, the firm hired an employee who had garnered $4.5 million in fees and commissions the previous year. Jim Parrish, the president of the private client group at Morgan Keegan, told OnWallStreet.com that many of the new employees are almost apologetic about their pasts. He said, “I feel sorry for them when they say ‘I didn’t have anything to do with those headlines.’”

July 2008: Funds fiasco One of Morgan Keegan’s top-ranked bond investors saw his rising star flicker out in 2008 when the seven funds he managed for Morgan Asset Management lost more than 67 percent of their value. James Kelsoe was once considered to be a company hotshot who easily outperformed his peers by making risky bets which usually paid off. However, as the credit market dried up in 2008, things went very quickly awry. The largest fund that Kelsoe managed, Regions Morgan Keegan Select High Income, lost more than $1 billion in value as its value plummeted from $1.23 billion to $104 million in just one year. In late July 2008, Morgan Keegan handed over management of the seven funds to Hyperio Brookfield Asset Management, removing Kelsoe from the account altogether. Kelsoe was to remain with Morgan Asset Management in a “portfolio management role.” Dozens of lawsuits were filed against Morgan Keegan by angry investors who lost money on the funds. The lawsuits allege “mismanagement and misrepresentation” on the part of both Kelsoe and the firm.

May 2008: Tennessee flavor Morgan Keegan added Shattuck Hammond, a Tennessee-based investment bank which specializes in health care to its team. The firm bolstered its new Shattuck Hammond Partners division by opening a Nashville office in November and added six new investment bankers to the team there.

GETTING HIRED All on file Check out the firm’s open positions at www.morgankeegan.com/MK/CareerOpp, which are separated by location (headquarters or elsewhere) and division. Candidates for senior positions at Morgan Keegan should expect to go through a “very difficult” hiring process with “two to three interviews.” A senior financial planner notes that when she was hired years ago, “it was a very easy interviewing process. Now, it’s a much longer procedure, meeting all management and department employees.” Although they can be arduous, Morgan Keegan interviews are generally “informal” and are reported to consist primarily of “questions about experience.” “I met with professionals from trading, sales and research,” says one contact. Another says, “No one really interviews. It’s a ‘who you know’ thing at Morgan Keegan.” Interested candidates can apply for desired openings through an online application process. Certain departments at Morgan Keegan such as “investment banking, equity capital markets and fixed income like to recruit from the top MBA schools in the country,” says a source, “but it’s possible to get a job without that credential. If you are sharp and have a good rapport with management, you can get hired.” Another contact says that Morgan Keegan “mainly recruits by word of mouth,” but says the firm usually swings by the campuses of Duke, the University of North Carolina, the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Washington University and the University of Texas on a quest for new analysts and associates.


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OUR SURVEY SAYS Family affair According to insiders, Morgan Keegan is “a regional firm with a small, family feeling.” It’s also “competitive, young, challenging and rewarding.” The employees are said to be “friendly, fun people who have numerous interests outside of work.” One source confirms that there is a “very flexible culture that rewards people who can make money for the firm.” Downsides at Morgan Keegan include “competing with bigger firms with more resources,” says one insider. But “they want results” and “the good thing, though, is that Morgan Keegan can deliver.” As for the dress code, it’s professional business attire only. “Everyone is expected to be in suits,” says a contact in Morgan Keegan’s Memphis headquarters. However, the firm does allow for casual Fridays during the summer. Managers get fairly high marks. One source warns, though, that banking “is a tough industry. If you want to get treated with great respect, you should probably work for a government entity, not an investment firm.” For those outside investment banking, the workweek isn’t too strenuous, but junior investment bankers can work long hours. As for climbing up the corporate ladder, one contact believes that getting promoted at Morgan Keegan is largely a function of “who you know, not what you know.” Another confirms, “Corporate politics are terrible.” The source, a female banker, also complains that “women still fall behind men in pay and management.” Another, more vocal contact adds, “Women are not respected. Cultural and ethnic diversity is not accepted. You are expected to assimilate to move up the ladder.”

Bottom of the barrel Most Morgan Keegan sources believe their salaries could be higher. One insider notes that “bonuses are paid in August and February. The August bonus is a fixed percentage of base salary, while the February bonus is based on the profitability of the department.” Perks at Morgan Keegan include “discounted gym memberships,” plus “the firm matches part of the 401(k) contribution, and it issues options and restricted cash.” There is also a deferred compensation plan. One contact reveals that the firm “used to have a stock purchase plan but it stopped when Regions bought us.” The source adds that “stock options are available for senior VPs and up.” Other benefits at Morgan Keegan include a qualified parking/mass transportation plan, partial tuition reimbursement for approved courses, and free counseling for employees and their families.

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PRESTIGE RANKING

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BB&T CORPORATION

200 W. Second Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 Phone: (336) 733-2000 Fax: (336) 733-2009 www.BBT.com

KEY COMPETITORS

DEPARTMENTS

UPPER

Asset Management Brokerage Commercial Banking Commercial Finance Equipment Finance Insurance International Services Investment Services Mortgage Retail Banking Trust Wealth Management

• “Work hours are conducive to having a life outside of work”

Bank of America SunTrust Wachovia

DOWNER • “Compensation is below average compared to industry peers”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” section of www.BBT.com

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: BBT (NYSE) Chairman: John A. Allison IV CEO: Kelly S. King 2008 Revenue: $3.2 billion 2008 Net Income: $1.5 billion No. of Employees: 29,000 No. of Offices: Approximately 1,500 branches

THE BUZZ


“Solid, sustainable, wise” “Average” “Growing” “Small shop, Southern”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition BB&T Corporation

THE SCOOP Southern comfort With over $152 billion in assets as of March 2009, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T is the 10th-largest financial holding companies in the country. Through its subsidiaries, the firm offers retail and commercial banking, brokerage, commercial finance, insurance, trust and investment services through approximately 1,500 branches principally in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic States. BB&T currently is ranked No. 260 on Fortune’s 2009 list of the 500 top corporations in the country.

Small town story Before BB&T grew to such proportions, it was more of a small-town story. Its history begins like a late 19th-century novel: Alpheus Branch, the son of a wealthy planter, moved to eastern North Carolina to attend military school and married into a prominent Wilson County family. He set up a small trade business, through which he met Thomas Jefferson Hadley, who was trying to set up an educational infrastructure in Wilson. The duo thought the county could use a reliable bank—swindlers were taking citizens’ money right and left—so they set up Branch and Hadley in 1872. The county residents slowly started leasing money from Branch and Hadley, using its loans to build up their farms and plant a new crop, tobacco. Branch bought Hadley out in 1887. As the years went on, the bank added savings accounts, trust departments and, come World War I, liberty bonds. Insurance and mortgage products were offered by the early 1920s. When the stock market crashed in 1929, dozens of North Carolina banks had to close their doors. BB&T survived and grew, doubling the number of branches and tripling its assets between 1929 and 1933.

Size without red tape BB&T’s main subsidiary is Branch Banking and Trust Company, but the bank owns many other businesses, including Agency Technologies, an insurance software and computer hardware provider; BB&T Insurance Services and Prime Rate Premium Finance Corporation, insurance offerings; Scott & Stringfellow, brokerage and private client services; BB&T Investment Services, a discount brokerage; BB&T Equipment Leasing; BB&T Commercial Finance, a firm that buys, manages and provides funding for accounts receivable for various clients in the furniture, textile and homefurnishing industries; FARR Associates, leadership development consulting; Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, which provides commercial real estate financing; Lendmark Financial, offering consumer finance; Liberty Mortgage, specializing in wholesale mortgage lending to brokers; Regional Acceptance, for auto financing; Sheffield Financial, for small equipment financing; and Stanley, Hunt, DuPree & Rhine, which offers employee benefits consulting. To help such a sprawling organization run efficiently, BB&T management has streamlined the decision-making process, organizing its banking network into 33 regional groups, each run by a separate president. Each region is able to apply strategies and policies applicable to its particular area without the red tape of securing approval from BB&T’s headquarters.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: Credit-related conundrums BB&T’s second-quarter profit dropped 52 percent as the company continued dealing with the fallout from credit woes. Earnings dropped to $204 million from $428 million while revenue saw a 13 percent boost to $2.1 billion (analysts had expected only $2.01 billion). The company was battered by credit-loss provisions, which increased by more than 50 percent to $701 million from the previous year’s figure of $330 million.

June 2009: Buyback time BB&T announced that it was leaving the Troubled Asset Relief Program by repurchasing the preferred stock it sold to the U.S. Treasury in November 2008. The bank paid the Treasury $3.1 billion along with a dividend payment of approximately $13.9 million. In total, BB&T’s dividend payments under the program came to about $92.7 million. All in all, 10 banks have received permission from the TARP program to repay their loans.

January 2009: King of BB&T Kelly King assumed the role of chief executive officer of BB&T on January 1, 2009 after the retirement of John Allison, who had served the company for 19 years as CEO. King takes the helm after more than 35 years with the company. The Raleigh native was one of a group of young MBAs known as the “fab five” who shook up the company in the early-1980s. The group included outgoing CEO John Allison, and fellow executives Ken Chalk, Scott Reed and King’s good friend Henry Williamson. King’s group was the driving force behind the series of acquisitions which began in the late1980s that eventually catapulted the company to its spot as the 10th-largest financial holding company in the country. Before being elected as CEO, King served as COO of the firm.

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King’s era of leadership will undoubtedly be fraught with challenges. King acknowledged the enormity of his task in a press release announcing his promotion. “If you’re someone who relishes a challenge, then you certainly couldn’t ask for a better time to assume the role as CEO of a major financial services company than right now.” In light of the credit crisis and complications in the residential mortgage industry, the firm will focus on four main areas of improvement under King’s leadership; continuing to work through the credit crisis, revenue growth, client service quality and expense control. Just two weeks after his appointment as CEO of BB&T, Kelly King was elected to service on the board of the directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. King will serve a three year term as a “Class A director.”

January 2009: Down we go Despite John Allison’s letter to Congress insisting that there was “no panic” for BB&T, the bank’s investors may have reason to be concerned. The firm announced that its earnings for fiscal 2008 were $1.5 billion, a 12 percent decline from earnings the previous year. Net income in the fourth quarter was down to $305 million, a decline of 26 percent compared with fourth quarter 2007. Newly appointed CEO Kelly King explained that the year “was very challenging and credit deterioration remains a significant concern.” BB&T also pointed to the swift deterioration of the housing market in Georgia and Florida, saying that more homebuilders and developers have stopped paying their debts. The firm’s stock declined more than 28 percent during the 2008 fiscal year.

January 2009: Still acquiring assets There is still action in BB&T’s M&A department. Several of its subsidiaries have recently expanded operations through strategic acquisitions. In January 2009, the company completed two acquisitions. The first was through its insurance premium finance subsidiary, AFCO Credit Corporation, which agreed to acquire Cananwill, a Glenview, Ill., firm. Cananwill was founded in 1937 and provides insurance premium financing for commercial property and casualty policies. On January 16, 2009, one of BB&T’s commercial banking subsidiaries, Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, completed the acquisition of Live Oak Capital. Live Oak Capital is a Houston-based commercial mortgage banking firm, which closed more than $7 billion in commercial real estate capital transactions since its formation in 2000. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

December 2008: Tapping into TAPCO In December 2008, the firm’s subsidiary CRC Insurance Services, announced it would acquire TAPCO Underwriters, Inc., a Burlington N.C.-based company. TAPCO specializes in high-volume, middle market excess and surplus insurance lines.

November 2008: Accepting assistance Under the Troubled Assets Relief Program, BB&T Corporation received $3.1 billion in capital in exchange for preferred shares. The program provided banks with much-needed capital infusions when the economy led to the failings of several large financial institutions. Even banks like BB&T that were well capitalized were strongly encouraged to participate to help loosen the credit freeze.

September 2008: Criticizing Congress Before his retirement as CEO of BB&T, John Allison criticized Congress for its allocation of bailout funds, saying that the TARP plan aims to help “poorly run” companies. The scathing letter was sent on September 23, 2008, when panic over the collapse of major banking institutions such as Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch was still palpable. Allison said that the Treasury is “totally dominated by Wall Street investment bankers” and “cannot be relied on to objectively assess” the situation of the industry. He pointed to BB&T as an example of a responsible institution that avoided the risky subprime mortgage market, saying that, “there is no panic on Main Street and in sound financial institutions. The problems are in high-risk financial institutions and on Wall Street.” Allison’s suggested solution for the problem was to offer a tax credit for home purchases or to purchase vacant lots for homes under construction, citing these ideas as far superior to the government’s plan to purchase troubled assets.

August 2008: Servicios en español BB&T reached out to the fastest growing minority demographic when it launched a new multimedia Spanish language advertising campaign. The ads were designed by Machado Garcia-Serra Communications (MGS) for the purpose of targeting select neighborhoods in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Washington, D.C., with large Hispanic populations. This newest wave of advertising featured tips for money management and investment translated into Spanish.


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The campaign is part of series of efforts on BB&T’s part to reach out to the Hispanic community. Approximately 10 percent of the firm’s branches are staffed with bilingual employees and feature Spanish signs and brochures. In the past, the company has also created a series of Spanish language audio recordings about a fictional character named “BiBi” who is designed to help Hispanic immigrants adapt to life in the U.S.

GETTING HIRED Make them feel special Selectivity at BB&T “varies greatly depending on the position being sought.” The firm’s leadership development program, for example, “is very selective” and “the process is difficult.” Only “the cream of the crop” receives offers, as the firm focuses on “hiring intelligent individuals with a lot of potential for success.” A contact says, “We are looking for long-term relationships not only with our clients, but also with our employees.” To find these people, recruiters turn to universities “all across the U.S.,” with emphasis on the Southeast. It is “not typical for them to recruit schools in the Northeast,” but “they will take applications from all over.” Overall, BB&T is “generally looking for intelligence and basic financial knowledge and interest with strong academics” when it comes to its college recruiting. The firm whittles its list over the course of two or three interviews. A typical experience starts with an on-campus interview with a recruiter, followed by a “wine and dine dinner and two interviews,” and ending with a final round of “in-depth meetings with prospective bosses.” Some simply have “one on-campus interview followed by a full day on site.” Potential questions include the following: “Why do you want to work for a financial institution? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Why would you be valuable to our corporation?” In addition, “there can be role-play skits that make you think on your feet.” When going through the interview process, “the important thing is to walk through a reasonable thought process that leads to a reasonable answer, which demonstrates logical thinking ability,” shares one insider. The company “wants to know about your personal skills, asking about situations where you dealt with teams and difficult people.” They also “want to know that you have done your research on the bank, its operations and its culture.” And be sure to let them know “why you want to join them instead of one of their immediate competitors.” Insiders say that largely, the process is “smooth,” but warn it can take “a while to hear back from them between the first and second interviews.”

Under-the-radar internship program Those looking for a leg up might consider participating in one of BB&T internships, which are “offered in an informal basis by select departments.” Insiders say participation is “not overly important,” but does “give you an edge over an outside candidate because they are familiar with your work ethic.” It’s not surprising that “internships are not vital for someone seeking employment,” considering few BB&T insiders even know they are offered. Still, those who are aware of them say participation is an “excellent opportunity.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Growing pains? While BB&T is “definitely a conservative banking culture,” it’s also a “growing organization,” insiders say. BB&T insiders can’t say it enough: “This is a value-driven firm.” The firm’s mission is to adhere to 10 core values: “teamwork, productivity, self esteem, pride, justice, integrity, honesty, reason, reality and independent thinking.” These are “continually discussed and emphasized.” This “altruistic” bank is “uncommonly focused on the wellbeing of the client,” which creates a “highly moral” environment in which employees are “treated fairly.” A contact says, “I’ve worked for several other banks, and BB&T is the first bank where I have not questioned whether I was in the right place.” People at BB&T “really do follow the mission of the firm.” Insiders say BB&T is “very disciplined and conservative compared to peers.” The “old-school banking” culture, though, is “not stuffy.” There’s a healthy dose of “work/life balance” and “those who contribute the most are rewarded the most.” It’s a “family-orientated” place that “people come to because of the environment.” Some say there is “a disconnect between the corporation’s beliefs and the regions responsible for implementing them.” BB&T “expects a lot” from its employees, but also offers “a great deal of job security.” This isn’t always a good thing, however. A contact says, “There are a great number of employees who fly under the radar that should be forced out based on retirement age or fired for incompetence.” This might be because “the good ole boys seem to run the place,” causing “age and tenure to be treated as a skill.” Some find the firm to be “naïve,” “ignoring problems” that should be dealt with. And “sometimes the politics and personal agendas can be frustrating.”

“Excellent” benefits aren’t enough BB&T insiders are not thrilled with their pay packages. “At BB&T, you are not paid to industry standards,” states one insider. “I believe that there is more to life than money, but bills must be paid.” “Compensation is below average compared to industry peers.” And the formula for annual bonuses is “too complicated.” Not only that, but “the incentive structure makes co-workers work against each other rather than together.” New employees might have an edge, because “they treat existing employees unfairly in terms of compensation.” According to one source, “They will bring in a new employee

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in a higher salary bracket than someone who has proven himself year after year.” Employees do enjoy some nice perks, including “excellent stock options and excellent medical care.” The firm also picks up the tab for “travel services, including hotels and rental cars, and per diem food expenses.” In one case, “the company paid the initiation fee to join a tennis/social club.” The “health incentive program” offers insurance premium discounts and motivates employees to purchase “discounted gym memberships.” Employees also enjoy “flexible vacation schedules” and a “401(k) matching plan.”

Flexibility counts There’s a little bit of wiggle room when it comes to hours worked at BB&T. The hours are “somewhat flexible,” and have “an allowance of plus or minus an hour around the typical 8:30 a.m. start time and 5:30 p.m. departure.” Most employees work between 40 and 60 hours per week and rarely on weekends. Some log “10-hour days and are still asked to do more,” but the consensus is that “work hours are conducive to having a life outside of work.” And the firm overall is “pretty flexible to allow for personal issues.” “Some departments are expected to stay late and held to higher expectations,” but for the most part, “working extra hours is not mandatory.” Newer employees may find it “necessary to work extra to keep up with the workload.” One source, who works between 60 and 70 hours per week and “often” on weekends, says, “I wake up at 5:30 a.m. and read The Wall Street Journal and other materials. I’m at work between 8 and 8:30 a.m., and leave around 6 p.m. After a few hours with my family, I work from around 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.”

Learning experience BB&T’s managers are “amazing mentors and coaches.” Subordinates are treated “very fairly” and receive a “great deal of assistance with career development.” Most managers are “very open and inviting,” offering “support and empathy” to those working for them. Some say leadership skills could be improved. According to one source, “Everyone is friendly and respectful, but some managers have never been in lower positions, so they don’t set realistic expectations.” And some feel “favorites are apparent.” “Managers have their own agenda and will play favorites to other managers to “pad their pockets.’” Overall, treatment by managers is “pretty respectful.” Insiders can’t say enough about training for the firm’s leadership development program. “The LDP program is the best training program in the industry.” This “nationally recognized” program teaches “not just specific work-related classes but also various skills such as MS Office and public speaking.” The bank’s “impressive” dedication to employee training and development is evident in its “exceptional offerings.” BB&T “always tries to further educate its employees and provide appropriate resources.”

Don’t come looking for luxury BB&T’s office space is a mix of bare-to-reasonable styles inherited through its acquisitions. The Baltimore digs are “horrible” and “look bad.” In Raleigh’s “very old” offices, “it seems there are no upgrades given until it is absolutely necessary, and even then it is just enough to where it is presentable.” The Greensboro, N.C., location “does not provide offices” (meaning it’s all cubes), which can make it “difficult to conduct activities related to my job.” By way of contrast, down in Atlanta, some first-year employees have their own offices. This is rare, however, as the office in Wilson, N.C., is “90 percent cubicles.” The Asheville office is a “fairly nice facility.” In Orlando, Fla., meanwhile, offices are “adequate and comfortable with a responsible sense of fiscal responsibility.” Frederick, Md., employees enjoy a “fairly spacious, clean and comfortable” facility.

Not quite obligatory Overall, BB&T’s dress code is “business casual but not strictly enforced.” Generally, the company’s dress code is “pretty conservative,” with most wearing “business casual-to-professional attire.” On Fridays and Saturdays, people drift more to the business casual end of the spectrum, but “no khakis or jeans” are worn. “A button-down shirt or a golf shirt is acceptable” on these more casual days. For women, “shoes must have a defined heel and panty hose is always encouraged.” Managers must “always wear a jacket,” but a contact says, “In Florida, the jacket policy slides a bit.”

Difficult at all levels Insiders admit “there isn’t a lot of diversity at BB&T, and it just gets worse the higher up you go in the organization.” Although the firm offers ongoing diversity and communications training opportunities, and is “open to minorities,” insiders say it is “not racially diverse.” “There are some obvious issues with the number of minorities that are employed at BB&T.” “Essentially, if you are not a white male coming through the Leadership Development Program (LDP), you can forget about going very far there.” As for diversity with respect to women, sources say there are “not a lot of women in leadership positions” at BB&T. Some note that the firm is still “probably superior to other firms” in this regard, but the reality is that “most of upper management is men.” A contact says, “We have 33 regions and three of them are run by female regional presidents. That speaks for itself.” However, insiders add that this “doesn’t necessarily indicate a preference for men over women.”


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THE BEST OF

THE REST


BANK LEUMI USA 579 5th Avenue New York, NY 10017 Phone: (917) 542-2343 Fax: (917) 542-2254 www.leumiusa.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

UPPER

Advisory Services Brokerage Services Cash Management Corporate Services Deposit Products Insurance Products Lending Leumi Direct Leumi Global Link Trade Finance Wealth Management

• Good perks • Leumi “has potential”

Chase Commercial Bank Citi Consumer Banking Israel Discount Bank

DOWNER • “Limited technology” • “Poor management”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Follow the “careers” link under “about us” at www.leumiusa.com

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of Bank Leumi le-Israel Chairman: Eitan Raff President, CEO & Director: Uzi Rosen 2008 Revenue: $180.8 million 2008 Net Income: $19 million No. of Employees: 500 No. of Offices: 13

THE BUZZ


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“Smartest guys in the room” “Minor player—not very active in the US” “Small, Israeli bank” “Who?”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Bank Leumi USA

THE SCOOP Loans, not handouts The Bank Leumi story began in 1902 as part of a Jewish repatriation effort. The bank’s founder, Dr. Theodore Herzl, established the Anglo Palestine Company in London; as he explained at the time, “Jewish settlers in the Land of Israel do not need charity, but rather bank loans.” Herzl believed that a Jewish state could not survive without a robust industrial and financial infrastructure, and, over the years, the institution that became Bank Leumi has played a major role in Israel’s development. Today, Bank Leumi is the biggest bank in Israel by market share, and the Leumi Group includes some 230 branches in Israel and 82 branches and offices in 21 countries around the world. At the group level, services are divided into four business lines: middle-market commercial banking, corporate banking, private banking and retail banking. Bank Leumi USA is one of Leumi Group’s nine international banking subsidiaries. Based in New York, it also has operations in California, Florida and Illinois.

New York roots Bank Leumi USA was established in New York City in 1954, and for the first two decades of its existence, expansion was confined to the five boroughs. After changing its name to Bank Leumi Trust Company of New York in 1973, the subsidiary opened additional branches in Manhattan and Queens, as well as a foreign exchange facility at Kennedy International Airport. In 1975, the bank made its way to Chicago and opened a branch in Beverly Hills, Calif. A 1976 acquisition deal with American Bank & Trust Company added five more branches, and in later years Leumi unveiled locations in Long Island, Florida and offshore centers in the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. Bank Leumi USA’s nationwide presence ballooned in the 1980s with the launch of a dozen more branches, a leasing corporation and an international banking facility. A slimdown began in the 1990s, as Leumi sold off its retail branches concentrate on core commercial, private and international banking businesses. Its name went on a diet, too: the Bank Leumi Trust Company of New York became Bank Leumi USA (occasionally abbreviated BLUSA) in 1997.

A brokerage is born In recent years, Bank Leumi USA has moved into the brokerage business with the 2001 debut of Leumi Investment Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary that provides financial planning, insurance programs, investment plans and services, equities, bonds, mutual funds, annuities and hedge fund products. As an FDIC-insured, full-service bank, Leumi USA provides a complete range of international, commercial and private banking services to middle market businesses, multinationals, nonprofits and high-net-worth individuals. One of Leumi’s prime niches in the U.S. is its ability to serve as an intermediary for American companies and individuals with investments in Israel.

Rosen’s rise CEO Uzi Rosen came to Bank Leumi USA from another Leumi subsidiary, Bank Leumi U.K. A 20-plus year veteran of the Leumi Group, Rosen replaced Dr. Zalman Segal at the top spot in late 2004. Rosen rose through the ranks after joining the Leumi Group’s corporate division in 1982; from there he became a regional manager in charge of 65 branches, then served as head of the banking division’s commercial credit department. He became head of the bank’s construction and real estate division in 1995, then took over at the U.K. subsidiary in 2001—but departed after a few years to focus on the United States business.

IN THE NEWS February 2009: Fighting through tough times The global financial crisis of 2008 made an impact on Bank Leumi, but the situation certainly could have been worse. The Leumi Group closed 2008 with net income of $19 million compared to $30.5 million a year earlier. The bank’s assets were basically flat, finishing the year at $5.8 billion.


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Bank Leumi USA

December 2008: Cerberus, out Since 2005 Cerberus Capital Management—the mega-hedge fund that owned U.S. automaker Chrysler (until it filed for Chapter 11)—has held a 4.83 percent stake in Bank Leumi, but in December 2008, Cerberus indicated that it will join former partner Gabriel Capital Management in selling off its shares. (The two funds obtained the stake together during Leumi’s privatization by the state of Israel.) Bank Leumi’s shares plummeted by more than 50 percent over the course of 2008, and by most accounts, Cerberus and Gabriel lost 37 percent of their initial investment. If the funds do divest their interest in Leumi, it will close a long chapter between the institutions: Cerberus and Gabriel had previously tried to acquire up to 20 percent of the bank, but the bid was blocked by Israel’s central bank.

October 2008: Jumping in the safety net As the U.S. Treasury’s bailout of the American banking system dominated the final months of 2008, Bank Leumi USA was among the institutions to participate in the FDIC’s Transaction Account Guarantee Program. Under the terms of the program, the bank’s non-interest-bearing transaction accounts are fully guaranteed by the FDIC through December 31, 2009. (This coverage is in addition to general deposit insurance coverage.) All other deposit accounts are insured up to $250,000 until January 1, 2010, when the FDIC coverage limit will return to its normal rate of $100,000—except for IRAs and certain retirement accounts, which will continue to be insured at the higher rate.

July 2008: Cross-border deals Despite a difficult climate for acquisitions, Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals announced in July 2008 that it will buy Barr Pharmaceuticals, the New Yorkbased pharma giant, for a reported $7.46 billion plus $1.5 billion in assumed debt. To fund the deal, Teva sought $1.75 billion in loans.

GETTING HIRED Send it off If you’re interested in applying for a job at Bank Leumi, check out the Careers section of www.leumiusa.com. From there, applicants can look at detailed job openings and send their cover letter, resume and salary requirements to the bank’s physical address or to [email protected]. Alternately, Leumi hopefuls can fax their resumes to 917-542-2352.

OUR SURVEY SAYS A little bit of everything Potential candidates looking for a firm that offers options that extend above and beyond traditional compensation packages will probably be pleasantly surprised with Bank Leumi. In the way of company perks, the firm extends amenities such as gym reimbursements, referral services for child care and elder care, work/life lunchtime seminars and in-office preventative health screenings. And all employees get a fair shake (at least officially)—the bank doesn’t discriminate against “race, creed, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital status or sexual orientation.”

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THE BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA (SCOTIABANK) Scotia Plaza 44 King Street West Toronto, Ontario Canada M5H 1H1 Phone: (416) 866-6161 Fax: (416) 866-3750 www.Scotiabank.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

• “Supportive,” with a “strong commitment to team spirit and success” • “Amazing” diversity

Scotia Capital ScotiaMcLeod ScotiaMcLeod Direct Investing Scotia Private Client Group

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: BNS CEO & President: Richard E. Waugh 2008 Revenue: $11.88 billion 2008 Net Income: $3.14 billion No. of Employees: 62,143 No. of Offices: 2,331

CIBC RBC Capital Markets TD Bank

UPPERS

DOWNERS • “Communication” between senior and junior bankers could be improved • “A lack of overall privacy”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” link at www.Scotiabank.com

THE BUZZ


“Best of the Canadians” “Weak investment bank” “Small player” “No presence in the US”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank)

THE SCOOP Home sweet Canada The Bank of Nova Scotia (usually referred to as Scotiabank) calls Canada home, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't spread its wings to embrace the rest of the world. Founded on the northeastern Canadian island of Nova Scotia in 1832, the company moved to the big Ontario city of Toronto in 1900. Today, it holds the rank as Canada's third-largest bank, and provided a range of services—concentrating on retail, corporate and investment banking— in 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank's other services include personal savings and checking accounts, as well as lending, brokerage and trust services. The company also offers asset management (including mutual funds) and, through its Scotia Capital division, investment banking services, including underwriting, and mergers and acquisitions advising. The bank's biggest area of operations remains its homeland, Canada, where it offers banking services through a national network of about 1,000 branches, commercial and business banking centers, and four call centers.

Market expansion—at home and abroad Throughout 2008 and early 2009, Scotiabank CEO Rick Waugh continued to expand Scotiabank’s overseas reach. The bank now has outposts in Russia and Turkey, an enhanced presence in Central and Latin America, and greater stake of a major bank in Thailand. Indeed, Bloomberg reported that Waugh has spent more than C$2 billion to acquire foreign banks and lenders during his tenure. Scotiabank’s expansion was complemented by relatively strong returns in 2008. Though it sustained significant losses in the final quarter of 2008, it nevertheless posted a net income of $3.14 billion for the fiscal year.

Down South Scotiabank maintains six locations in the U.S.—Atlanta, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Houston and Portland—from which it caters to large, national and multinational corporations through its subsidiary, Scotia Capital. Scotia Capital has operated in the U.S. for more than a century, overseeing the bank's global relationships with large corporate, institutional and government clients. The subsidiary specializes in syndicated lending, corporate debt and equity underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, fixed income and institutional equities sales and trading, foreign exchange, derivatives, and precious metals products and services.

From all over With more than 60,000 employees, Scotiabank and its affiliates lay claim to about 12.5 million customers internationally, operating in more than 50 countries around the world. The firm also trades on the Toronto, New York and London Stock Exchanges. Scotiabank stands as the leading provider of financial services in the Caribbean, has the broadest Asian network of any Canadian bank, and is active in the Latin American market through subsidiaries in Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Mexico, and affiliates in Peru and Venezuela. The bank also has a long track record of community involvement. To celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2007, the bank commissioned and donated new artwork by John Hartman, a Canadian painter, to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Waugh said the donation “offered a unique way for us to create a permanent tribute to Halifax, Scotiabank's city of origin, and all of the communities in which we share a long and rich history.”

IN THE NEWS February 2009: Doubling down Scotiabank doubled its stake in Thanachart Bank, the largest auto-finance company in Thailand. Scotiabank now owns 49 percent of the company, a move that cost it $218 million, according to Bloomberg. Thanachart is the eighth-largest bank in Thailand by assets. The increased stake also granted Scotiabank an additional member on the Thai bank’s board, bringing its presence to three board members.

November 2008: Welcome aboard Scotiabank Vice Chairman Bob Brooks retired from the company after more than four decades with the bank. Jeff Heath, senior vice president and head of risk policy and capital markets, was named executive vice president and group treasurer, taking over Brooks’s treasury responsibilities. Sabi Marwah was named vice chairman and COO. He was previously vice chairman and chief administrative officer.

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November 2008: Mixed bag of 2008 Results for fiscal year 2008 (ended October 31) were down from 2007, but still quite strong. Total revenue was $11.88 billion. Net income dropped by a billion, to $3.14 billion from $4.05 billion the year before. In a statement, president and CEO Rick Waugh acknowledged that 2008 “was a difficult year ... While Canadian banks have fared better than their counterparts in other parts of the world none of us have been immune to the forces buffeting global markets,” he said. He credits geographic and business diversification for the bank’s relatively positive results. Nevertheless, the bank’s Scotia Capital business segment was hit particularly hard. The company suffered most in the first and fourth quarters of 2008, with profits of $835 million and $315 million, respectively. It posted second quarter 2008 earnings of $980 million and an impressive $1 billion in the third quarter of 2008 (compared with $1.03 billion from the same quarter a year earlier). In the fourth quarter, the bank sustained significant write-downs, which it broke down as follows: $115 million after-tax related to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, which occurred as “a result of a failed settlement and the unwinding of trades in rapidly declining equity markets” after the bankruptcy, the bank said, adding that it had submitted a bankruptcy claim for the losses. The bank also reported $370 million after-tax valuation adjustments and $265 million after tax on adjustments on collateralized debt obligations. Finally, it also lost $110 million after tax related to derivatives used for asset/liability management purposes

October 2008: A stake in Sun Life Scotiabank bought Sun Life Financial’s stake in CI Financial Income fund for C$2.3 billion. The purchase gave Scotiabank a 37.6 percent stake in CI. In a statement, Scotiabank’s CEO, Rick Waugh, said that the acquisition “demonstrates Scotiabank’s ongoing commitment to growing our wealth management business.” CI is the No. 3 mutual fund company in Canada.

July 2008: Buying E*Trade Scotiabank agreed to buy the Canadian operations of E*Trade Financial Group from the U.S.-based E*Trade for $442 million. The purchase expanded Scotiabank’s wealth management business and added 125,000 active accounts to its stable, doubling its presence in the Canadian internet-based investing. E*Trade Canada had 190 employees and C$4.7 billion in assets under administration at the time of the deal, according to Scotiabank.

June 2008: Banking on the Turks Scotiabank was granted a license to begin business in Turkey. Its office will be based in Istanbul.

May 2008: New board members The firm appointed two new board members: Indira V. Samarasekera, president and vice chancellor of the University of Alberta; and Thomas C. O’Neill, retired chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting.

May 2008: Outposts in the land of Lenin Scotiabank opened its first office in Russia. The Moscow office makes Scotiabank the only Canadian bank with “an on-the-ground presence in each of the "BRIC" (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries,” executive vice president Alberta Cefis said in a statement. The bank will use its office as an opportunity to increase trade and banking businesses in the region.

May 2008: Peruvian purchase Scotiabank bought Banco del Trabajo, the Grupo Altas Cumbres’ Peru-based bank. Banco del Trabajo is the ninth-largest commercial bank in Peru. As of December 31, 2007, it had total assets under management of $430 million and 132 points of sale. Scotiabank has maintained a presence in Peru since 1997.

April 2008: Partnering with Western Union The bank teamed up with Western Union in late 2007 to enable Scotiabank customers to wire money to Scotiabank branches around the world. The bank expanded the service to more than 1,000 branches in Canada from only 42.


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February 2008: Investing in the future The bank launched its Scotia Global Climate Change Fund. The first of its kind in Canada, the fund covers 10 economic sectors and is diversified across nine so-called climate themes, including clean fuels, clean technology and efficiency, efficient transport, environmental finance (such as carbon market infrastructure-related companies), power technology, power merchants and generation, renewable energy, sustainable living and water.

February 2008: Buying South American Scotiabank acquired Grupo Altas Cumbres’ Banco de Antigua in Guatemala and select assets of Banco de Ahorro y Credito Atlas Cumbres in the Dominican Republic. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Banco de Antigua had 47 branches and 98 “rapidito” kiosks at the time of the deal, and had 160,00 clients with $82 million in assets under management as of June 30, 2007. Banco de Ahorro y Credito had six branches and 35 kiosks, and served some 39,000 clients. As of June 30, 2007, it had $29 million in assets under management.

GETTING HIRED Watch employees testify Check out Scotiabank's fairly comprehensive employment guide on its website, www.scotiabank.com, where you can do everything from watch video interviews with current employees to peruse a list of current openings. Job seekers also have the option of searching for open positions by city, state or province, division or by performing a keyword search. Potential candidates can fill out an online application or simply submit a general resume and application. The company also provides a general HR email and snail mail address where resumes can be sent. Resumes are kept on file for six months.

Get ready to field it all During the hiring process, candidates typically face at least three interviews. One insider reports being asked questions “related to job function and how I could contribute to improving processes” in addition to “questions regarding my ability to make decisions in leadership and employee management.” And be prepared—you may be subject to a “behavioral interview” as well.

OUR SURVEY SAYS They love it Respondents seem to “love working for Scotiabank.” “Our motto is ‘one team, one goal,’ and I experience that every day,” boasts one insider. “The bank is great,” another says simply. Other contacts call the work environment at Scotiabank ”flexible,” “service-oriented,” “customer-focused,” “supportive” and say that it “provides excellent career opportunities.” Others say there's a “very strong commitment to team spirit and success,” and the firm “tries for work/life balance.” “Everyone is always busy but finds the time to help each other as the need arises, sometimes without even being asked.” It seems one way the firm attempts to achieve that balance is to “truly embrace and practice flexible and mobile work arrangements.” Though “you are expected and required to spend the necessary hours to complete your assigned tasks, regardless of the number of hours paid,” hours for most employees tend to fall somewhere within the range of 40 to 50 per week. “Sometimes after-hour demands are extensive, but in general, hours are fair," believes this insider. And while employees are not compensated by money as far as overtime goes,” they can “take the extra time off as needed.” The firm offers employees an array of perks (though they tend to “vary with location”), from an “employee share ownership plan” to “free banking within reason.” One insider says when it comes to stocks, “the bank purchases 50 cents for every $1 employees invest.” On an annual basis, the company awards its employees a set number of what it calls “flex” credits that they can use to “buy” company benefits or take as cash. The company also offers flex hours, flex days and telecommuting options.

Praise for superiors It seems as though employees (mostly) love their managers. Insiders say, “There is great respect from my superiors and the feelings are mutual,” even though “communication can be at times removed and greater presence amongst staff would go a long way.” For the most part, though, employees report being “very pleased” and say “respect, encouragement and mentoring are all alive and well.” Offers one staffer, “We are a family here, and since each of us has ups and downs, we don't take it personally. But if something is wrong, it is usually taken to management, and then it’s taken care of with delicate understanding.”

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Fancy pants While the firm's official policy on dress leans toward business casual with casual Fridays, there seems to be an insider consensus toward keeping things a little more elegant. “I am more comfortable with more formal dress,” admits one insider. Another employee agrees, noting that while “sometimes summer dress is a little more casual,” dress shouldn't swing toward overly casual. “I don't think jeans are appropriate.”

Could stand an upgrade Generally, respondents aren't delighted with the state of their office space. One says the offices are “a little noisy at times as we work in an openconcept environment,” while another complains about the office being housed in a “very old building where ventilation is difficult and fluctuates.” And one contact complains that there are no ceilings in the offices that are “right beside teller line—there's a lack of overall privacy.” The firm's training programs receive meager marks from sources as well. Scotiabank gave “no training at all when I was promoted to my current position,” reports one contact. Another adds that the bank's “formal program is a little weak,” although “informal and formal coaching is very strong."”

Receiving recognition The firm is “all-inclusive” and offers “equal opportunity to women and men,” insiders report. And those outside Scotiabank seem to agree as well. The firm was honored with the 2007 Catalyst award for their “Advancement of Women” initiative. Presented to just a few companies per year, the award singles out efforts toward developing women's careers. Scotiabank's recruitment and retention of ethnic minorities receive high marks, though employees don't seem to recall an official company policy regarding gays and lesbians. “My location is rural, and clients are conservative,” says one insider. “However, I have never felt my firm has any opinion on gays and lesbians. It's just not an issue.” Another employee working in Calgary is stunned by the diversity within the company. “The diversity in our branch alone is amazing and truly reflective of Canada as a global melting pot. We have employees from countries like Ethiopia, India, Ukraine, Denmark, Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.” And “being as diverse as our branch is, we’re always learning more about each other through social events and pot-luck lunches.”


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CALYON 1301 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212) 261-7000 Fax: (212) 459-3170 www.calyon.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

UPPER

Brokerage Commercial Banking Coverage & Investment Banking Fixed Income Markets International Private Banking Structured Finance

• Respectful culture

THE STATS

Societe Generale BNP Paribas Deutsche

DOWNER • Difficult to advance

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.calyonamericas.com/content/career_opportunities.asp

Employer Type: Subsidiary of Crédit Agricole CEO: Patrick Valroff 2008 Revenue: €6.4 billion 2008 Profit: €1.5 billion No. of Employees: 13,000 (Worldwide) No. of Offices: 6 (US)

THE BUZZ


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“Good at lending” “Small” “Strong in Europe” “Who?”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Calyon

THE SCOOP A little piece of France Headquartered in Paris, Calyon is the corporate and investment banking arm of French banking giant Crédit Agricole, a sprawling corporation with a presence in 60 countries. In the U.S., Calyon has two divisions: banking unit Calyon and Calyon Securities (USA) Inc., its full service broker-dealer. One of the top foreign banks in the U.S., Calyon operates in six divisions, including corporate banking, derivatives, debt markets, investment banking, equity products and foreign exchange. Its industry expertise includes aerospace and defense, agrifoods, automotive, energy, financial institutions, gaming, health care, homebuilding, lodging, media and communications, real estate, transportation, water and environmental and forest, paper and packaging. Calyon also maintains a European group that focuses on international deal making. Calyon was formed in 2004, when Crédit Agricole Indosuez consolidated its banking operations with the corporate and investment banking division of Crédit Lyonnais, which was promptly absorbed into Crédit Agricole.

All about the IB Investment banking at Calyon is split between a mergers and acquisitions practice and a corporate advisory practice. The M&A group advises clients and prospects of the entire Calyon Group network; the U.S. team works closely with colleagues in Paris, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Warsaw. Because of the bank’s international reach, cross-border transactions are the name of the game, and Calyon staff members are trained in international planning, due diligence, negotiation and execution. Calyon typically focuses on middle market transactions valued at $50 to $500 million, and almost all of its deals involve European buyers seeking U.S. targets (or U.S. buyers going after European targets). The corporate advisory group deals with financial strategy, working in conjunction with Calyon’s international equity, fixed income, specialized industries, financial sponsor, loan syndications and structured product and project lending teams. It also provides fairness opinions and transaction structuring advice.

IN THE NEWS January 2009: Still high ranking Despite its troubles in 2008, Calyon still found itself represented on the all-important Thomson Reuters league tables for investment banking. In completed M&A deal volume, the firm was No. 17 in the world in 2008, with 38 deals valued at $147 billion. Its rank value jumped 130 percent, catapulting Calyon from its spot of No. 34 worldwide in 2007. The firm did not fare too poorly in Europe either, and according to Thomson Reuters, Calyon ranked No. 8 in announced M&A volume in France in 2008, slipping from its ranking of No. 3 in 2007. Calyon fared better in completed French M&A volume, coming in at No. 2. The biggest deal Calyon advised on in France in 2008 was that the $75.2 billion merger between GdF and Suez. According to Thomson Reuters, Calyon advised on eight of the 20 biggest transactions in France in 2008. In overall European announced M&A volume, the firm ranked No. 22. And it ranked No. 15 in completed European M&A. In debt underwriting, the firm ranked No. 8 in euro bonds, with 112 deals valued at $36 billion.

January 2009: Some good news Calyon was named “Investment Bank of the Year for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)” by Thomson Reuters and Acquisitions Monthly for its work in the 2008 fiscal year. The bank was honored by the publication primarily for its role in the biggest-ever M&A deal in the region—the $15 billion acquisition of Orascom Industries by Lafarge. The deal boosted Calyon’s visibility in the Middle East and North Africa, giving the firm an even stronger hold on business in the region. Other deals in the Middle East and Africa in 2008 include the advisory mandate for Emirate International Investment Company for the purchase of a 3 percent stake in Vivendi, a deal that was valued at $1.6 billion. The firm also oversaw an advisory mandate for Saudi Basic Industries Corporation to purchase $1.4 billion in a Sukuk Islamic Bond. Finally, Calyon completed its biggest ever initial public offering deal outside of France in the Middle East region. The deal was for the $1.9 billion IPO of Zain KSA, a Saudi Arabian telecommunications company.

January 2009: Deals down under Calyon further expanded its global business with the opening of an office in Australia which will serve as a part of the Calyon’s Asia Pacific brokerage. On January 19, 2009, the firm’s launched its Sydney office in conjunction with a 12-month plan to build its Australian operations. The Sydney office will only house research and sales teams, deferring bigger deals to the firm’s Singapore office. Calyon’s Asian branch (CLSA) was named the No. 1 brokerage for research and sales in Asia by Asiamoney in November 2008. CLSA was also one of the first foreign brokers to be granted a remote access membership by the Australian Stock Exchange.


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November 2008: Another big deal One of the reasons for Calyon’s high rankings in the charts is that the bank has continued to executive high profile deals. Calyon acted as the lead arranger and bookrunner on the acquisition of N&W Global Vending, a Northern Italian manufacturer of food and beverage vending machines. The Italian company was bought for €470 million by a consortium made of Investcorp and Barclays Private Equity. The deal was the largest leveraged buyout in the Italian market in 2008.

September 2008: Cutting back In September 2008, the firm cut approximately 500 jobs from the Calyon unit, 250 in France and 250 elsewhere. The reorganization efforts at Calyon are expected to save Credit Agricole $425 million by the end of 2009.

May 2008: Trouble from the top Turmoil in the market caused a shake-up in Calyon’s business structure as parent company Credit Agricole was forced to write-down more than $8.5 billion in subprime losses in the first two quarters of 2008 alone. The losses forced Credit Agricole to sell €5 billion worth of assets and to cut back heavily on the operations of Calyon. Part of the reorganization will be to dramatically decrease risky deals in its capital market unit. The company will also shutter all structured credit and derivatives activities that result in “risks that may be difficult to cover during periods of instability.”

May 2008: Out with the old Another major change that the firm implemented as a result of the credit crisis was the ouster of newly elected Calyon CEO Mark Litzler. Litzler was only announced as the new CEO of Calyon in July 2007 and came under fire from the board of directors almost immediately. Litzler’s error was a failure of oversight on an authorized position at the New York subsidiary of Calyon, which resulted in the company taking a charge of €250 million. The controversy coupled with the firm’s massive losses in the subprime market resulted in Litzler’s eventually resignation in May of 2008. Litzler was replaced by Patrick Valroff, who had previously headed the bank’s consumer credit arm, Sofinco. Valroff’s credentials also include serving as an advisor to Jacques Chirac when he was prime minister. “Valroff is a confirmed manager, who is used to negotiating with corporates,” said Credit Agricole CEO Georges Pauget.

GETTING HIRED Find it all Check out full descriptions of responsibilities and qualifications necessary for positions when you visit Calyon's website. Candidates interested in working for Calyon can visit the "career opportunities" section of the site (www.calyonamericas.com), which provides a list of current job openings. Applicants can also fax their resumes to (212) 459-3182 or e-mail them to [email protected]. And if you have any additional questions, pass them on to [email protected]. Expect the interview process to be “numerous and friendly.” Once called in for an interview, candidates can expect a process that one insider says is “the easiest I have gone through.” It's “an honest process,” with questions “more directed at motivation and career ambitions rather than experience. You will typically have three meetings and, depending on your level, you will meet all the heads of desks before an offer is made.” Calyon's website also provides information about the firm's special technology co-op program. Calyon in the Americas partners with Stevens Institute of Technology and the New Jersey Institute of Technology to give current students real-world work experience. More specifically, the technology co-op program enables students “to combine classroom study with periods of paid professional employment which is directly related to their university major and career goals.” Prospective employees shouldn't feel too much pressure about picking the perfect job right off the bat. Calyon offers employees an internal transfer option which allows them to move between departments after working at the firm for at least 18 months. And for those seeking an American base but some global exposure, Calyon employees can take advantage of international assignments (when available), typically located in Calyon's Paris headquarters.

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OUR SURVEY SAYS Parlez-vous Français? Calyon's corporate culture, which is called “formal,” “kind,” “respectful” and “multicultural,” is often defined by its French connections. “Very, very French,” says one insider. Another contact reports, “Regardless of what it pretends to be, Calyon is still a very French environment. Everything is very political.” But this contact also notes the upside of the French aesthetic: “Being a French bank, the dress code is the most interesting aspect of a typical working day. All are suited with ties but it's more for the trendy than actual obligation.” The “extremely various and often casual” dress code, it turns out, is the most frequently praised aspect of Calyon's culture (along with the firm's strong marks for diversity). In general, it’s “more relaxed than in the banking industry.” For the most part, “corporate culture has really easy access to the top management.” However, there are some complaints. “[It is] difficult to understand the strategy of the firm due to the ongoing process of change of strategy. Also, there is some inflexibility in relationships between highlevel management and the rest of the staff.” Another contact says that there are “lots of politics, which seems to be their favorite game. And there are plenty of overpaid, badly performing French managers who protect each other. No drive, no innovation, no comparison with the top American investment banks.” When it comes to advancing within the firm, “opportunities for advancement do exist, but are somehow rare as the hierarchy is very flat.” And although “advancement opportunities do exist, so do stagnant positions”—that is, try your best to stand out in this evolving firm, or else you very well may be lost in the shuffle. One insider even says “it's better to be French in order to get promoted and receive recognition.”

Pretty standard For the most part, employees are happy with their compensation. Calyon bankers receive a relatively standard compensation and benefits package, including a 401(k) program, health and dental insurance, as well as tuition reimbursement for qualifying personnel. However, bonuses are “below market, except for the top happy few.” Another insider agrees, noting that while “basic salaries hit the market's average,” “bonuses are below the mark.” But employees do enjoy the company's perk package. In the past, employees have also had the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discounted price. In New York, staffers can join the Lyons Club, an employee club that entitles members to receive corporate discounts (e.g., gyms and cultural events) and participate in various activities such as ski trips and volunteering for nonprofit organizations. And “due to the firm's strong international network,” diversity is “wide, with a lot of different backgrounds in terms of cultures, education and citizenship.”


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CANACCORD ADAMS INC. 99 High Street Suite 1200 Boston, MA 02110 Phone: (617) 371-3900 Fax: (617) 371-3793 www.canaccordadams.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Corporate Services Investment Banking Research Sales & Trading

www.canaccord.com/careers

Jefferies RBC Capital Markets TD Securities Thomas Weisel Partners

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of Canaccord Capital Inc. President: Jamie Brown 2009 Revenue: C$277 million No. of Employees: 474 No. of Offices: 10

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Good research; very strong in Canada, energy and small caps” • “Who?” • “Better than you would think” • “Co-manager firm”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Canaccord Adams Inc.

THE SCOOP A new face for Canaccord Canaccord Adams is the product of a merger that took place between Canaccord Capital's Global Capital Markets Group and Adams Harkness in January 2006. In addition to research, sales and trading, the firm provides merger and acquisition advice, debt and equity underwriting, valuations and fairness opinions. It has over 450 employees, including investment banking professionals and research analysts, who cover more than 600 companies in eight focus sectors. In its latest fiscal year (ended March 31, 2009), Canaccord Adams booked C$277 million in total revenue, led 89 equity transactions of $1.5 million or more. Canaccord Capital Inc. (Canaccord Adams’ parent company) recorded revenue of C$477 million, and had $9.2 billion in assets under administration and C$393 million in assets under management at its fiscal year end. Canaccord Adams focuses primarily on the following industries: metals and mining, energy, technology, life sciences, real estate, consumer, sustainability and infrastructure. The firm works on banking and research desks in Boston, San Francisco, New York, Houston, Toronto, Vancouver, Montréal, Calgary and London. Notable clients include Rubicon Technology and Monotype Imaging. (technology); Integra Lifesciences and Luminex (health care); and Telvent and Enernoc (sustainability). The firm's parent, Canaccord Capital, is a big fish in the investment pond, with over 1,500 employees in 30 offices worldwide. Its origins were a little more humble, beginning in 1968 when its partners acquired Hemsworth Turton & Co. and renamed their firm Canarim Investment Corporation. By 1992, the firm set about embarking on a series of mergers and acquisitions to broaden its base. The strategy seemed to have worked, and by 2003, its employees, clients and transactions had tripled from the previous decade. In June 2004, Canaccord became a public company and made its $70 million (CAD) initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CCI. The company is also listed on the AIM—a market operated by the London Stock Exchange. The Adams name in the firm's name can trace its roots to the 1960s, when Weston W. Adams founded a brokerage firm called Adams, Harkness & Hill. The Adams family carried a lot of weight in the Boston area, and Weston's father, Charles, was the founder of the NHL's Boston Bruins. The family remained principal owners of the team until 1951 and maintained a presence until 1973. The company branched out into institutional research in 1967, and two years later, became Adams, Harkness & Hill. In April 2001, it expanded into Europe, opening offices in London and Paris.

Trusted advisor In 2008, the firm served as financial advisor on a number of notable M&A transactions for small- to mid-cap firms such as Harvard Bioscience, City Sports, Hargraves, Copley Controls Corp., Celoxica and LGC Wireless. The firm has also led or co-led a number of big-ticket equity transactions over the last two years, including a $472 million deal for Niko Resources Ltd., a $342 million offering for Heritage Oil Corp., a $257 million offering for Gold Wheaton, a $127 million offering for Yamana Gold, and a $103 million offering for Telvent.

Internationally Recognized Canaccord is regularly recognized for its accomplishments from outside sources. In 2007, Brendan Wood's International 2007 Equity Research Report ranked Canaccord No. 1 for institutional equity research, sales and trading, lauding the firm for its investment ideas. (Those ideas come from a variety of sources: Canaccord has relationships with more than 1,500 institutions globally, with professionals who work on deals of all sizes.) Additionally, Canaccord Adams was ranked No. 1 by the National Post, and No. 3 by the Globe and Mail for equity proceeds raised in 2007.

IN THE NEWS June 2009: Hiring a new president overseas Canaccord Adams Limited (Canaccord's U.K. business) named ex-Fox-Pitt Kelton CEO Giles Fitzpatrick its new president. Prior to FPK, Fitzpatrick worked at ABN AMRO as the firm’s head of European equities and, prior to that, as its global head of trading.

May 2009: Down again For fiscal 2009, Canaccord Capital booked C$477.7 million in total revenue, a 34.7 percent decline versus the C$731.5 million it booked a year earlier. The firm also reported a significant decrease in earnings, recording a C$1.4 million loss for fiscal 2009 versus a C$79.3 million gain for fiscal 2008 (excluding non-recurring charges not indicative of operating income). According to the firm, much of this decline was attributed to the poor market conditions and extreme market turbulence that existed through much of Canaccord’s fiscal 2009 year.


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Canaccord Adams Inc.

June 2008: Promoting (to the top) from within The firm's head of investment banking, Jamie Brown, also became its president. Brown, who continues with his investment banking duties, succeeds Kevin Dunn. Brown has been with Canaccord Adams since 1997 and will work with the heads of several departments, including U.S. institutional sales, U.S. sales trading, U.S. equity research and North American capital markets.

May 2008: Slight slip For fiscal 2008, the firm's total revenue for Canaccord Capital came in at $690.2 million, slipping slightly from the $714.1 million it posted in the previous year, pressured down by an economy that left the financial services industry badly shaken. Net income, too, was down to $29.5 million from $88.2 million the year before, primarily due to non-recurring charges booked in its retail division. Regardless, Canaccord Adams seemed to help pull its parent along financially in fiscal 2008, raking in 59 percent of the company's total revenue.

GETTING HIRED Canaccord’s careers To snag a job at Canaccord Adams, first log on to www.canaccord.com/careers, where you can search out positions that match your background and experience. Whether or not you're selected for an interview, the human resources department will keep your resume on file for six months in case the perfect position happens to come up. Job openings may include those specific to I-banking (like trading and research) as well as general fields (like MIS and accounting). The site lists some of the benefits, including medical, dental and life insurance. Canaccord Adams’ hires the majority of its U.S. investment banking analysts and associates via a fall recruiting process that includes on-campus interviews at top-tier U.S. institutions and culminating in a Super Saturday in November. Resumes are also accepted from candidates who are students at universities not being visited during the recruiting process.

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CARIS & COMPANY, INC. 853 Camino Del Mar Suite 100 Del Mar, CA 92014 Phone: (858) 704-0300 Fax: (858) 704-0320 www.cariscompany.com

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.cariscompany.com/caris_careers.php

BUSINESSES Equity Research Institutional Investors Investment Banking

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company Chairman & CEO: Darren J. Caris No. of Employees: 65 No. of Offices: 4

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Caris & Company, Inc.

THE SCOOP Coast to coast Research-oriented boutique Caris & Company was founded in 2002 by CEO Darren Caris, who got his start on Wall Street as a trader at Gruntal and Co.—in fact, he rose to become one of the firm’s top 10 producers after just two years on the job. A graduate of the University of California at San Diego, Caris headed back west in 1996 to join Torrey Pine Securities in Del Mar, serving as vice president and building the firm’s institutional sales and equity trading infrastructure. His efforts launched Torrey Pine into the national spotlight as a market maker in West Coast tech securities like Dell, Intel, Cisco and Microsoft. In 1999, Caris moved to San Diego to become a partner of the Granite Financial Group. There he led the capital markets business and was responsible for overseeing the institutional sales, equity research, retail sales, equity trading, operations and compliance divisions. Caris’s eponymous firm was launched with the idea of bringing bulge bracket-caliber research and advisory services to Southern California, although these days Caris has four offices nationwide: firm headquarters in Del Mar, plus outposts in Boston, New York and San Francisco. In true California style, CEO Caris spends his downtime surfing.

Research pros Equity research is at the heart of Caris & Company’s operations, with a focus on four industry sectors: consumer goods, health care, technology and energy. The firm’s research platform covers companies that make up more than 75 percent of the S&P 500, and the average market capitalization of its research companies is $4.5 billion. Caris is careful to avoid conflicts of interest by drawing a bright line between its coverage and its advisory, claiming that “Caris & Company is a research boutique first.” The firm’s institutional investors group serves portfolio managers and buy-side analysts, offering research sales, institutional sales trading and equity trading. Peter Newman, a former Thomas Weisel Partners principal, heads Caris’ institutional sales and trading division; the esteemed research division is directed by David S. Moskowitz, who joined in October 2008 after serving as group head of health care research at FBR Capital Markets.

Small bank, big on experience In addition to its well-respected research products, Caris offers mergers and acquisitions advisory, corporate advisory, valuations, public equity capital raising, private equity and venture capital services. Its advisory and capital services professionals cater to clients in the technology, biotechnology, health care, financial, specialty manufacturing and construction industries. According to the firm, its investment bankers average over 20 years of experience, and it shows. Over the years Caris has worked with such clients as Cardax Pharmaceuticals, Response Genetics, Nextest Systems Corporation, Omnicell Inc. and SGX Pharmaceuticals; among its most notable public equity transactions were Spansion’s $567 million IPO, Esperion’s $64 million follow-on offering and Corgentech’s $110 million IPO. And while Caris has retained its boutique size—perhaps making it an appealing target for acquisition—founder Darren Caris has yet to show any signs of selling. As he told American Banker a few years after launching his firm, “We’re too small, and we’re too young” to get swallowed up by a bigger commercial bank.

IN THE NEWS March 2009: Placing the public offering Caris served as co-placement agent for a registered public offering from PharmAthene, a biodefense firm. The company sold off about $5.5 million in common stock to institutional investors.

January 2009: New York fills up Caris kicked off 2009 by welcoming two senior executives to the fold in Manhattan. Gloria Katona, a former Lehman Brothers executive, joined Caris’ New York office as managing director of mid-Atlantic institutional equity sales. Sheilah McFadden left Credit Suisse to become vice president of midAtlantic institutional sales, also in New York.

September 2008: Health care’s head honcho Caris boosted its investment banking team with the addition of Jeff R. Swarz as senior managing director of health care investment banking. Swarz began his career as a biotech equity analyst at Goldman Sachs, later moving to Credit Suisse; throughout the late eighties and nineties, he was consistently rated one of Wall Street’s top 10 biotechnology analysts. He joined Caris’s New York office from Friedman Billings Ramsey, where he served as a managing director in the investment banking group.

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Caris & Company, Inc.

GETTING HIRED The winning combo Caris & Company is looking for a few good men and women with “the desire, drive and creativity” to step up to the plate for its clients. Under the “Caris Careers” link under “About Caris & Company” at www.cariscompany.com, applicants can peruse detailed job listings for each city the firm serves. Just make a mental note that you might not get a reply immediately (or at all)—Caris cautions that it can't guarantee a response to your submission. But one important aspect to note that will help you get a response is to “ensure that your experience level” matches the background the firm is looking for.


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CASCADIA CAPITAL LLC Columbia Center 701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2600 Seattle, WA 98104 Phone: (206) 436-2500 Fax: (206) 436-2501 www.cascadiacapital.com

UPPER • Supportive environment

DOWNER • Pay could be improved

BUSINESSES Corporate Finance Mergers & Acquisitions Strategic Advisory Services

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Email: [email protected] See “careers” at www.cascadiacapital.com

THE STATS Chairman & CEO: Michael Butler Employer Type: Private Company No. of Employees: 28 No. of Offices: 1

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Cascadia Capital LLC

THE SCOOP The new A team Current Cascadia Capital CEO Michael Butler and executive vice president Kevin Cable founded the company in 1999, in the waning days of the late1990s mergers and acquisitions boom. The fledgling boutique survived the early aughts and remained independently held; revenue in 2001 was just $5 million, but five years later, earnings had tripled. Butler, a Seattle native, had put 15 years on Wall Street with Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers. His decision to move back to the Pacific Northwest was in part a desire to get home—and in part a desire to build a top-shelf investment bank that catered to small and emerging companies. “Small business is paying for the A team and getting the B team from the big banks on Wall Street,” Butler told Fortune Small Business in 2006. “Those bankers won’t get out of bed for less than $2 million or $3 million in fees.” By offering lower fees, but the same caliber of service as the bulge bracket, Butler’s strategy has paid off. Over the years, Cascadia has had a hand in notable deals involving clients like QPass, Nighthawk Radiology Services, Dotster and Lenel International.

Going green? Cascadia’s investment banking services come in three flavors: corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic advisory services, all of which cater to mid-market and emerging grow companies in North America. Its industry focus is on the middle market, technology (including internet and new media and information technology) and sustainable industries—think alternative energy and green technology. Chairman and CEO Michael Butler heads up the firm’s sustainable industries practice, while fellow Co-Founder Kevin Cable leads the information technology group. The middle markets practice, which covers everything from retail to health care to defense, is helmed by managing directors Christian Schiller and Tom Newell and senior vice president Bryan Jaffe.

IN THE NEWS January 2009: Spotlight on clean technology Michael Butler joined Marc Cummings of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and David Benson of law firm Stoel Rives to assemble a privatesector task force, appointed by Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, to analyze the state’s preparedness for clean technology development and growth. One major issue on the table: U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed stimulus spending on renewable resources and clean tech projects. According to Butler, Washington’s biofuel, smart grid, solar and energy efficiency sectors stand to gain the most from state stimulus allowances. Butler—who’s fast becoming one of Washington State’s biggest clean tech champions—is also analyzing the state’s regulations, tax policies and infrastructure with an eye toward making clean tech-friendly improvements that would boost business in the sector. As part of his task force work, he’s reaching out to local companies like Boeing, Puget Sound Energy and Powerit, as well as trade organizations like the Washington Technology Industry, and urging their executives to provide insight that will help the state government organize its priorities.

September 2008: More advising Advisory assignments kept coming in the final months of the year, including Zynchros’s sale to SXC Health, IT direct marketing reseller Zones Inc.’s sale to its own CEO and water jet machine manufacturer Flow International Corp.’s acquisition of rival Omax Corp. Cascadia also worked on biodiesel producer Imperium Renewables’ September 2008 recapitalization, and helped Seattle-based materials company EnerG2 close an $8.5 million round of Series A financing in November. The round was led by Kirkland, Wash.-based OVP Venture Partners and California’s Firelake Capital Management.

August 2008: Go west, young bankers In an interview with Xconomy Seattle, Michael Butler revealed that Cascadia’s biggest challenge is one of geography. “Out here you have to educate people about what an investment bank does,” he explained. “Back east, everyone knows. We’re a facilitator of taking capital and getting it to companies.” The perks of a Seattle HQ? Some critical distance from what Butler calls “the group-think” and “day-to-day noise” of Wall Street. Still, recruiting top talent from the hordes of MBAs headed for New York is another concern. Cascadia’s executives keep tabs on rising bankers in San Francisco and New York, watching for any who have roots or family connections in the Pacific Northwest and launching recruiting efforts accordingly. In Butler’s words, “It’s all about the people.”


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Cascadia Capital LLC

June 2008: Staying busy A flurry of deals wrapped up the summer of 2008 for Cascadia, as it advised Aculight on its acquisition by Lockheed Martin, Schwab Corp. on its Acquisition by Sentry and Shelfari on its acquisition by Amazon.com.

GETTING HIRED Everyone's opinion counts Cascadia finds new hires by recruiting regionally near its Pacific Northwest headquarters, but sources say its overall presence on school campuses is "limited." One insider notes that the firm also looks to alumni of current employees' alma maters as well as "experienced hires." Resumes can be submitted directly to Cascadia via e-mail; the address is [email protected]. For most candidates, the interview process includes "three rounds," the first of which might be a brief "phone screen" for those who live at a distance from Seattle. Next comes on-site Q&As with "senior personnel," followed by interviews with a "broad" sampling of staff-and this round means some extreme meeting and greeting. One insider recalls a "full day of interviews with senior management," and another says he met with "almost everyone" in the office. Yet another candidate says he endured a "total of eight interviews." Cascadia introduces potential employees to as many people as possible for one simple reason: the firm "must have consensus" about a candidate before an offer is extended. Interview questions, say insiders, typically "revolve around fit," "attitude," "interest" in the firm, "schooling," "previous work experience" and "personal interests." Cascadia also offers internships, which insiders call "very important" to have on your resume.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Social creatures For the most part, the Cascadia team is “very sociable,” “collegial,” “supportive” and “respectful.” And the atmosphere is an “intellectually challenging” one. Its “entrepreneurial and somewhat loose” culture—”typical of a small firm”—allows newbies to take responsibility early on in their careers. Sources say they rarely get tangled in the kinds of red tape that can bog down a bigger company—there are “relatively few” bureaucratic “processes and procedures” with which to contend. And though the firm is “focused” and “results-oriented,” it's a “team-based” workplace and insiders describe themselves as a “close-knit group.” In keeping with the firm's collegial environment, managers at Cascadia routinely get high marks for their management expertise and treatment of junior staff.

Off the Street Some Seattle-based Cascadians grumble about their pay, which tends to be slightly below New York scale; on the other hand, those who love the Pacific Northwest cite their office location as a major plus. Perks at the firm include “stock ownership,” "”ull payment of medical insurance costs” and “shared distributions from equity received from certain mandates.” The pay may not be in line with New York-based investment banks, but then again, neither are the hours. Insiders at Cascadia say their hours top out at 70 per week, on average, and some add that there's “ample flexibility” in terms of scheduling. There's “no face time” at the firm, declares a senior vice president. Most employees work at least one weekend a month, but overall they're happily aware of the fact that their schedules are more bearable than those on Wall Street. When it comes to preparing new hires, say current employees, “training is on the job”—and the firm's official training processes could use some tightening up. Diversity is another area that respondents feel deserves improvement. Cascadia “needs to hire more” women and ethnic minorities, admits one executive, “but opportunities have been limited.”

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COMERICA BANK Comerica Bank Tower 1717 Main St. Dallas, TX 75201 www.comerica.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

UPPER

Business Banking Retail Banking Wealth & Investment Managementl

• Flexible working time

THE STATS

• Recent cuts make advancing difficult

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: CMA (NYSE) Chairman, President & CEO: Ralph W. Babb Jr. 2008 Revenue: $1.82 billion 2008 Net Income: $196 million No. of Employees: 10,186 No. of Offices: 520

Bank of America Citi

DOWNER

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “career center” section of www.comerica.com

THE BUZZ


“Strong in Midwest” “Unsophisticated” “Lending” “Struggling”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Comerica Bank

THE SCOOP Leaving Motor City behind Comerica’s history begins in Detroit, where the Detroit Savings Fund Institute opened its doors in 1849, with the goal of extending banking services to the city’s laborers. Six customers deposited a total of $41 on its first day of businesses, but by 1870, the company held significantly more: $1 million in assets, thanks in large part to the emerging auto industry and a growing worker class. In 1956, Detroit Savings Fund merged with three other regional banks to form Detroit Bank & Trust, which reorganized under a holding company following regulatory changes in 1973. The Comerica name debuted in 1982, marking a period of expansion that brought the bank to major markets in Florida, Illinois and Texas. Additional mergers (with Texas’ Grand Bancshares, Plaza Commerce Bancorp and InBancshares in California and Manufacturers National Corporation) grew the company in size and in reach. By 2004 Comerica offered nationwide banking to its customers. As the auto industry faltered in 2007, Comerica began relocating its headquarters to Dallas. The transition is taking place in stages, but is expected to be complete by early 2010.

The Comerica three-step Comerica operates through three segments: wealth and institutional management, retail banking and business banking. The wealth and institutional management business includes institutional and personal trust services, the Comerica Securities brokerage, private banking, investment account management, retirement services and insurance. The retail bank offers the usual range of services, including consumer lending, mortgages, deposits and small business banking. Middle-market companies and large corporations turn to Comerica’s business bank, which provides cash management, credit, international trade finance, loan syndication, leasing, corporate finance and capital markets products services.

And subsidiaries, too Comerica Inc. is comprised of Comerica Bank and its subsidiaries. These include Comerica Insurance Services; Comerica Securities; Comerica Leasing Services; Comerica West Inc., which provides banking services to businesses in the Western U.S.; Wilson, Kemp & Associates, which provides investment account management; World Asset Management Inc.; and W.Y. Campbell & Company, an investment bank specializing in middle market M&A advisory services.

California, here we come Comerica’s growth in 2008 was heaviest in California: the bank opened 14 new banking centers in the state, 10 of which were in Southern California. These included four new offices in Los Angeles and three in the San Diego area. Executive vice president Betty Rengifo Tucker, who oversees Comerica’s retail operations in the Western U.S., said that she was particularly interested in targeting “concentrations of thriving small businesses, such as the business districts in Koreatown in Los Angeles, or in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego.” The Golden State was the recipient of Comerica’s charity in 2008 as well. In November, the bank made a $20,000 grant to Lincoln Elementary School in Oakland, which enabled the school to reopen after-school enrichment programs that had been the victim of city budget cuts.

IN THE NEWS March 2009: More cuts Executives made another 570 job cuts within the first quarter of 2009. The workforce reductions are expected to save at least $35 million annually. Comerica has also pledged to freeze 2009 salaries for the top 20 percent of its workforce, and is looking for ways to streamline operations and contain costs by using technology. Despite the worsening economic climate, Comerica opened 28 new banking centers in 2008, but it’s planning to put the brakes on growth in 2009.

January 2009: Taking precautions Comerica made yet another move to secure its capital, cutting its dividend from 33 cents per share to 5 cents per share. The cut should preserve approximately $170 million in capital reserves. As CEO Ralph W. Babb Jr. explained, “Even though we expect credit quality in 2009 to remain consistent with 2008, prudence dictates we retain capital in this uncertain economic environment.” Before the cut, Highline Financial had ranked Comerica as the country’s holding company with the sixth-highest dividend payouts.

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December 2008: Cuts, freezes, confidence As the economic downturn of 2008 took its toll, Dallas-based Comerica made a series of moves to shore up its position. The bank slashed 5 percent of its workforce over the course of 2008. “Mounting job losses and an economy headed deeper into recession have dampened business and consumer confidence,” said chairman and CEO Ralph W. Babb Jr. in a statement. Babb also revealed that nonperforming loans and loan charge-offs doubled for Comerica during 2008, with significant losses tied to residential development loans in California.

December 2008: A bright spot Despite the tumultuous year, Comerica had some good news to report. As of December 31, 2008, total assets stood at $67.5 billion, and its Tier 1 capital ratio is estimated at 10.7 percent. Average loans grew 6 percent nationwide in 2008, with the biggest loan growth in Texas (14 percent). Of Comerica’s three business divisions, its retail bank suffered the most in the fourth quarter of 2008, reporting a $34 million net loss. The wealth and institutional management group reported $13 million in net income for the quarter, and the business bank led the way with $54 million in net income.

October 2008: Signing up for help As the federal government unrolled plans to stabilize the financial sector, Comerica announced that it had received approval from the U.S. Treasury Department to participate in Treasury’s capital purchase program, to the tune of $2.25 billion. Two months later Comerica said it would continue to participate in the temporary liquidity guarantee program, which provides its customers with a full guarantee, without any dollar limitation, on funds held in all of Comerica’s noninterest-bearing accounts through the end of 2009. The program, which was designed to restore liquidity to the national banking system, also provides FDIC guarantee on newly issued senior unsecured debt until the debt matures, or June 30, 2012, whichever is earliest. One potential hitch: Comerica’s 1998 agreement to pay $66 million over 30 years for naming rights to the Detroit Tigers stadium is now under scrutiny, as some lawmakers say that banks receiving federal assistance shouldn’t spend such large sums on branding rights.

GETTING HIRED Blaze your own path—or tread Comerica's Peruse the “career center” link at www.comerica.com and conduct your own search for jobs across the country—or check out Comerica's list of “featured jobs,” which draw from a listing of all available positions. Though one insider finds that “candidates with several years of experience are hired very easily and entry level is very difficult,” another banker maintains that “qualified candidates are subject to internal promotions, which make it somewhat more difficult to be hired as an external candidate.” Another source notes, “The company has an internal credit program and hires from within," but "also looks to find experienced personnel from other banks.” Once the firm expresses interest, expect “a number of phone interviews” prior to a flesh-and-blood one. After they call you in, you may go through “up to four interviews" or even "a half-day of meetings at the home office.” And anticipate facing questions involving “career goals,” “specific accomplishments” and assorted job-related scenarios. One insider who went through two round of interviews says he was “hired the same day” as his second-round Q&A. “My skills and work history were all they were looking for,” he adds. In general, the firm is “very strong at developing talent,” so if you’re interested in a position with the company, be sure to put your best foot forward. “Impress interviewers by having a knowledge of the company and read information on the Comerica website,” suggests one insider.

OUR SURVEY SAYS One of a kind The company has a “very unique corporate culture,” but it’s one that also tends to “vary from market to market.” In California, for example, the culture is “fast-paced, results- and customer-driven” with a “stress placed on taking creative and performance-related risks.” Generally, though the firm has a “conservative” culture with a “high focus on regulations and customer retention,” it also boasts “great people to work with.” When it comes to compensation, Comerica receives mixed reviews. One insider complains “my bonus is just a little over $5,000” and another says that the firm's stock option program—which is only available to senior officers—is “not very generous.” And while the company “does provide some perks,” it's also “pretty tight” when it comes to expenses, insiders say. New employees receive “two weeks of vacation,” “six sick days per year” and “three personal days.”


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All about respect Insiders report being “treated with a good deal of respect” by managers. “Managers are very open and supportive,” says one source. “They want you to succeed.” A colleague in corporate finance agrees: “There is respect for all within our group from all levels of management."” Yet another says, “Executive management works hard to know as many people in the organization as possible and understand their roles and contributions to our success.” Although one naysayer believes, “Management is not supportive of getting the best out of their employees,” at the end of the day, most respondents describe Comerica as having an “open-door policy.” Working “many different hours” is pretty common within Comerica. Still, hours typically number around 40 to 50 per week, and some respondents report setting their own hours. But some Comerica insiders say that the firm's emphasis on “productivity and cost containment” can translate to heavy workloads and long hours. “With the focus on cost containment, we have an environment that requires long hours, skipped lunches and occasional weekend days to keep up,” says one source, who reports working 50 to 60 hours a week. A different contact doesn't find the workload so demanding, not saying, “I have flexible work hours and am measured on production more than on number of hours in the office.” The source adds, “Time can be taken during normal business hours to participate in volunteer work.” Another source says, “I’ve found the company to be very flexible with employees, working with hours and scheduling to individual needs as long as the customer is taken care of and the job gets done. This all depends on what field you are in, of course.” Other sources report schedules hovering between 40 and 50 hours a week. In general, weekend work is not uncommon, with employees logging in hours on a Saturday or Sunday about once a month.

Follow the gang Dress tends to be “casual always” with the exception of client contact, but specific departments also have their own dress codes. A vice president in the firm's asset management group describes the dress code as “formal always,” while her colleague in corporate finance reports “casual always, except for client contact.” Another contact says, “We do business professional, which is a step up from business casual.” Generally, attire is “business casual overall," although “some offices prefer to be more formal than not.”

Good opportunities As for training, Comerica's programs and “educational opportunities are better than at most other firms in this market."” And although “sometimes it feels like too much,” it's generally “a great benefit to the personal and professional development of those who take advantage of the events.” One contact notes that there's a “three-week training course in Detroit,” and in the corporate finance group, “Comerica has begun an internal training program to help further careers.” On the other hand, an insider finds that “one general training course for one or two days per year hardly makes for a well-trained staff.” On the whole, Comerica “really tries to take care of everyone through training, special groups, outside activities and volunteer programs.”

Up the ladder? When it comes to moving up the ladder, “you can advance with the company if you have the proper background, but it is hard now that the company has made a number of cuts lately,” reports one insider. This “makes it harder than it once was to move up” within the company. Another enthuses that “the opportunities that Comerica Bank provides for advancement is great!” She adds that “email notices are sent out informing all employees of opportunities, prior to them being published elsewhere” and “positions of all different levels, departments, and locations are included.”

Committed to maintaining? Comerica is “very committed to diversity,” asserts one insider. But other sources are mixed as to whether Comerica effectively recruits and retains a diverse workforce. According to insiders, the firm possesses “a largely female workforce, with largely male senior management. There's been some improvement by hiring more senior female managers from outside the company, but there's an overall lack of mentoring of current female employees to bring them up the ranks.” However, another contact observes, “The two top department heads for the company are women, and there are several women in management roles.” In terms of ethnic diversity, one insider from the corporate finance division describes the group as “very diverse with several different ethnic backgrounds represented.” Another source reports that Comerica “takes very seriously the need to be diversified at all levels of the company.” However, a colleague disagrees, saying, “In California, our employee pool does not match the diversity of the state, particularly with regard to Hispanics.”

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DUFF & PHELPS CORPORATION 55 East 52nd Street, Floor 31 New York, NY 10055 Phone: (212) 871-2000 www.duffandphelps.com

BUSINESSES Dispute Investment Banking Legal Management Consulting Tax Transaction Advisory Valuation

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: DUF (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: Noah Gottdiener 2008 Revenue: $381.5 million 2008 Net Income: $36 million No. of Employees: 1,236 No. of Offices: 25

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #3 – Offices #8 – Business Outlook #8 – Hours #15 – Compensation #15 – Green Initiatives #15 – Overall Satisfaction #15 – Selectivity Diversity #15 – Best for Diversity #15 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #15 – Diversity With Respect To Women

KEY COMPETITORS Alix Partners Alvarez & Marsal Deloitte Ernst & Young FTI Consulting Houlihan Lokey Huron Consulting Group KPMG Navigant Consulting Zolfo Cooper

UPPERS • “Laid-back culture” • “Senior-level attention” • “Hours are relatively good for investment banking”

DOWNERS

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying

• “Slightly less brand recognition” than some rivals • “Below-market pay” • “Bureaucratic review format”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.duffandphelps.jobs

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Duff & Phelps Corporation

• • • •

“Very friendly” “Heard bankers were jumping ship” “Partnership with Chanin has improved its profile” “Are they a law firm?”

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THE SCOOP Beyond research Headquartered in New York, Duff & Phelps is an independent provider of financial advisory and investment banking services worldwide. It focuses on offering advice in the areas of valuation, transactions, financial restructuring, dispute and taxation. It has industry expertise in consumer products, energy and mining, financial services, industrial products, real estate and technology, information, communications and entertainment Duff & Phelps began in 1932 as an investment research services company with a niche focus on the utilities industry. Over the years, the firm diversified into other financial services, including investment management, investment banking and credit rating. It also added expertise in other industries. In 1994, Duff & Phelps sold its credit rating business, and in 2005, it acquired Standard & Poor's Corporate Value Consulting business. In 2006, it acquired specialty investment bank Chanin Capital Partners, LLC and in 2007, it formed a strategic alliance with Tokyo-based Shinsei Bank, Ltd. Under the terms of the alliance, Shinsei took a 10 percent stake in Duff & Phelps; in exchange, it offers its Asian clients a range of valuation services through Duff & Phelps. The year 2008 was one of expansion for Duff & Phelps. The firm made three strategic acquisitions, broadening its business structure in a variety of different industries. Today, Duff & Phelps offers valuation, investment banking, transaction advisory, dispute, legal management consulting and tax services. Investment banking services are provided by Duff & Phelps Securities LLC, the firm’s registered broker-dealer. Duff & Phelps has 25 offices worldwide, and it employs 1,200 people.

IN THE NEWS May 2009: Slightly down but looking good For the first quarter of 2009, Duff & Phelps booked $89.3 million in revenue and $7 million in net income, slight falls versus the respective $93.2 million and $9.1 million it booked for the previous year’s first quarter. Despite the declines, Duff & Phelps management was pleased with the results, given the tough economic environment. Chairman and CEO Noah Gottdiener noted in an earnings release that “counter- and non-cyclical businesses” such as restructuring, dispute consulting and portfolio valuation “experienced meaningful growth,” adding that the firm is “well positioned to take advantage of an M&A recovery while continuing to benefit from the longer-term trends in [its] other businesses.”

May 2009: Big offer Duff & Phelps raised $97.5 million through a public offering of its common stock. Goldman Sachs acted as lead underwriter on the deal in which 7sevenmillion shares were priced at $14.75 per share. The capital raised will be uses to repay debt and redeem shares in subsidiary Duff & Phelps Acquisitions LLC.

December 2008: The winning spirit World Finance named Duff & Phelps the Best Transfer Pricing Team of the year. The award was made even more prestigious because of the fact that it was determined by the votes of more than 40,000 industry decision-makers who are also readers of World Finance. The title came on the heels of several accolades that Duff & Phelps received in 2008. The other awards included a nomination for Best Newcomer in the Americas by the International Tax Review and the inclusion of the leaders of Duff & Phelps' Transfer Pricing practice in the Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading Transfer Pricing Advisors.

December 2008: Fairness opinion play According to Thomson Reuters, Duff & Phelps ranked as the third largest fairness opinion advisor in the category of transactions involving a U.S.-based acquisition targets in 2008. The firm came in behind big players J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs, and in front of fellow boutiques such as Houlihan Lokey. Duff & Phelps booked 45 deals for the year. It also ranked 13th on the tables for deals involving a non-U.S.-based target, with 49 total deals in that category. The bank also showed up on Thomson Reuter's charts for M&A transactions. Duff & Phelps placed No. 3 in the category of announced M&A deals with values of under $50 million. The firm worked on 35 deals in this category with a total value of $261.8 million. In the category of announced deals under $500 million, Duff & Phelps placed No. 11, with 44 deals that had a total value of $2.8 billion.


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September 2008: Earnings on track Some might say that Duff & Phelps October 2007 initial public offering was ill-timed considering the subsequent turmoil that hit many banks as a result of the subprime crisis. However, despite the volatility in the market, the bank's earnings have remained relatively stable. As of September 30, 2008, Duff & Phelps was on track to increase its earnings for a fiscal year that was decidedly difficult for banks. The bank booked revenue of $96.3 million for the third quarter, an increase of 14.8 percent over its revenue from 2007. For the nine months ending in September 30, 2008, the firm reported revenue of $287.3 million, an increase of 15.6 percent compared with the previous year.

August 2008: Acquisition time Duff & Phelps made two major acquisitions. It bought Kane Reece Associates, which provides valuation, management and technical consulting services. Based out of Westfield, New Jersey, Kane Reece caters to the entertainment, media, and communications industry, serving “blue chip” clients in nearby New York City. Duff & Phelps also acquired the Lumin Expert Group, which specializes in intellectual property dispute support and expert testimony. After the acquisition, Lumin's employees in Houston, Texas, were merged with the Duff & Phelps Dispute and Legal Management Consulting business.

July 2008: Forming an alliance Duff & Phelps substantially expanded its presence international by entering into an alliance with World Tax Service, a global association consisting of 16 member firms worldwide and an “extensive network” of cooperating firms. At the same time that it unveiled its alliance with World Tax Service, Duff & Phelps also announced that it would be acquiring the organization's American alliance member, World Tax Service US. (WTS-US). Like Duff & Phelps, WTS-US is headquartered in New York City. Its services include international and domestic corporate tax structuring, M&A tax advisory, investment fund structuring and institutional investor representation, and related tax compliance services. WTS-US now operates as Duff & Phelps, WTS and is part of the firm's Financial Advisory division. WTS-US employees David Neuenhau and Francis Heverson serve as co-leaders of the office.

June 2008: Expanding in Asia Duff & Phelps entered the Chinese market, establishing a presence in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing. The firm said it will start its operations in the country by providing financial reporting and tax valuation, merger and acquisition due diligence, and alternative investments portfolio valuation services.

April 2008: Buying Dubinsky Duff & Phelps bought the Maryland-based Dubinsky & Company, which specializes in financial consulting, dispute and litigation support, fraud and forensic accounting, valuation and expert services.

GETTING HIRED All schools welcome Duff & Phelps is “typically very selective, but not as selective as bulge bracket firms,” sources say. However, selectivity is driven by the fact that there are fewer positions available in at any given time. That means the firm will “interview hundreds of candidates per year for a handful of jobs.” Duff & Phelps recruits for its investment banking segment from key schools near New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. While some new hires hail from “the Ivy League,” insiders say, “Traditionally many hires have come from Big 10 schools,” with an emphasis on Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan. In recent years, as the New York and Los Angeles offices have increased their campus hiring, more hires have come from Northeast schools like NYU and Cornell, and West Coast schools like USC. The firm also sends representatives to a select number of career fairs and events around the country; candidates are also sourced “on the Web” via the firm’s careers page.

Technical skills count Expect two or three interview rounds before receiving an offer. Most preliminary interviews take place “on campus” or “over the phone,” though some experienced hires may simply participate in “two rounds of interviews at the office.” In some cases, there may be a “third round over the phone with a managing director.” A current associate says the final in-office round “consisted of five interviews, two with managing directors, two with vice presidents and one with an associate.” This isn’t uncommon: while on site, candidates end up meeting “almost everyone in the office,” from junior staff to senior management.

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Though candidates are initially hired into specific groups (which shapes the interview process, to some extent), sources say there is some room for future movement. “I was hired into the financial advisory services group and later moved to M&A,” a contact reports. Interview questions are “extremely technical,” says one analyst, requiring “a thorough understanding of valuation and corporate finance.” Another contact recalls queries ranging “from conceptual valuation topics to specific formulas and ‘what-if’ questions.”

Here, there or anywhere Many Duff & Phelps insiders say they’re unaware of the firm’s internship program, which reveals something about its importance in hiring. To set the record straight: eight- to 12-week summer internships are available, but according to the firm, “The number of openings available depends on market demands.” Participation in the firm’s intern program is “not very important to gain employment,” says one vice president, though another adds that it is “extremely important to have some financial internship”—it just doesn’t have to be at Duff & Phelps.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Done and done Investment banking sources say Duff & Phelps runs “a lean organization” with a “get-it-done” philosophy. This “goal-oriented,” “results-driven” culture can be “intimidating at first,” but those who thrive in that setting say it’s “fantastic, and allows for leeway in personal life.” “Once you have established your work ethic, you can leave early and work from home, or choose to work on the weekends rather than stay late if deadlines allow,” one banker elaborates. But insiders are quick to note that “professional” doesn’t mean uptight or unfriendly. “I came in from an office at another company that was stiff, intense and cold,” a lateral hire says. “The balance of D&P's culture was like a breath of fresh air.” In general, the firm “is very flexible,” but “work must get done accurately and in a timely fashion.” If there’s one complaint at Duff & Phelps, it’s that the firm needs to “increase compensation” for the majority of its employees.

Raises, please Middling marks on pay come from insiders who say their compensation is “below the level it should be.” Benefits include “three weeks of vacation, and meals and transportation home are reimbursable when working overtime.” Employees may also receive “stock options and restricted stock grants,” but “incremental special perks, like fitness clubs and golf memberships, have largely been eliminated.” Some new hires also report receiving “no signing bonus,” but chalk that up to “a reflection of the current financial crisis.”

Great experience “During this financial meltdown I have gotten the opportunity to work on deals that have put me at the center of the financial world,” says one M&A insider who calls himself “very pleased” with the firm and the department. “The technical rigor that I have come accustomed to has enhanced my general knowledge base and attention to detail.” A recent corporate finance hire sounds a similar note, saying, “I have worked on very prestigious projects in my short time with the firm.” Another corporate finance insider notes that the department “pays well” relative to other groups, but wishes he “was able to foster a better relationship with some of our MDs.”

Meet your BlackBerry “Although we spend a lot of hours in the office, the time is used efficiently,” say sources, and thanks to current technology, “work can be performed from most anywhere.” (The downside: “We are expected to be available and accessible by Blackberry at all times.”) As a result, many people end up working from home at night or on the weekends—one M&A insider estimates that in addition to office time, there’s “an extra 10 to 20 hours per week” of off-site time. Though hours may be slightly less than at bigger banks, they can change on short notice. “My hours have ranged from 70-hour workweeks to 50hour weeks based on specific projects and the overall capacity of the office,” one analyst says. Another source reckons “It's a solid 60-hour workweek on average. Sometimes it's much more, and sometimes it's a bit less.” And thanks (or no thanks) to the recession, “this past year wasn't nearly as hectic as the prior year in terms of hours worked,” says a corporate finance insider. “However, things can get very busy very quickly, so it’s often difficult to make plans on evenings, holidays and weekends.”


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FBR CAPITAL MARKETS 1001 19th St. North Arlington, VA 22209 Phone: (703) 312-9500 Fax: (703) 312-9501 www.fbrcapitalmarkets.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

UPPERS

Asset Management FBR Mutual Funds Institutional Brokerage Investment Banking Managed Funds Merchant Banking Private Wealth Research

• “Very collegial and fun relative to other investment banks” • “Senior managers and peers care about your quality of life outside the office”

THE STATS

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: FBCM (Nasdaq) Chairman & CEO: Richard J. Hendrix 2008 Revenue: $194.37 million 2008 Net Income: -$194.73 million No. of Employees: 580 No. of Offices: 9

Cowen and Company Fox-Pitt Kelton Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

DOWNERS • “Can definitely improve on the diversity issue” • “Bankers are paid well below Wall Street averages”

See “working at FBR” under at www. fbrcapitalmarkets.com

THE BUZZ


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“Strong middle-market firm” “Okay in FIG” “Respected specialist” “Who?”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition FBR Capital Markets

THE SCOOP Changes afoot In 2008, FBR Capital Markets benefitted—big-time—from the demise of Bear Stearns. It hired a number of industry veterans, expanded its San Francisco practice and initiated trading on the London Stock Exchange. On the downside, it also posted losses for three quarters straight and enacted several rounds of job cuts. Aside from its own challenges, FBR Capital Markets must also face its parent company’s instability. FBR Group’s 2008 returns were so disappointing— it posted a $169 million net after-tax loss in the third quarter alone—that FBR Capital Markets’ former CEO Eric F. Billings announced that the FBR Group was exploring the possibility of putting itself, or its subsidiaries, up for sale.

Top bookrunner Based in Arlington, Va., FBR Capital Markets Corporation offers a full range of investment banking, institutional trading and asset management services. In addition to headquarters in the Washington, D.C.-metropolitan area, the firm has U.S. offices in Boston, Dallas, Houston, Irvine, New York and San Francisco. International outposts are maintained in Sydney and London. At its inception, FBR Capital Markets set out to deliver research on a select group of industries. The firm has since expanded its capabilities, and today concentrates on eight industries: consumer, diversified industrials, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, health care, insurance, real estate, and technology, media and telecommunications. FBR Capital Markets complements its advisory, sales and trading offerings with an equity research team that covers more than 570 companies. FBR Capital Markets is a subsidiary of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group (FBR Group), a real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests for the benefit of its shareholders in mortgages and mortgage-related securities as well as in a merchant banking portfolio of equities and other long-term assets. The firm was founded in 1989 with an initial investment of $1 million and fewer than 20 employees. But it grew fast, reaching $1 billion in gross revenue only 15 years after opening its doors.

I-banking gets its own identity In 2005, FBR Group made the decision to separate its investment banking business—its longtime star performer—from the rest of the company. Things became official in June 2007 when the IPO of FBR Capital Markets Corporation went through, creating two separate public companies. The firm began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the symbol FBCM on June 8, 2007. FBR Group remains the majority owner of FBR Capital Markets.

IN THE NEWS June 2009: Top pickers Forbes presented seven FBR analysts with its Blue Chip Analyst Awards, among them Paul Miller (No. 1 earnings estimator in thrifts and mortgage finance), Alex Rygiel (No. 1 stock picker in construction and engineering) and Matthew Snowling (No. 1 earnings estimator in hotels and leisure).

April 2009: Still rough sailing FBR Capital Markets brought in $49.9 million in revenue in the first quarter compared with $104.08 million in the first quarter of 2008. The firm also posted a net loss for the first quarter of $16.17 million compared with a net loss of $10.17 million for the previous year’s first quarter. In a statement, president and CEO Richard J. Hendrix said, “The equity capital markets environment remained extraordinarily challenging in the first quarter, and we expect this could continue to be the case throughout 2009.”

February 2009: Seen better days For full-year 2008, FBR Capital Markets posted $194.37 million in revenue, down from the $484.9 million it posted for 2007. The firm also posted a net loss of $194.73 million for full-year 2008, compared with net income of $5.24 million in 2007. The company cited severance costs, net investment losses and stock compensation expenses as reasons for the sharp declines.


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December 2008: So long, and thanks for all the fish The Washington Post reported that Eric F. Billings was leaving his post as CEO of FBR Capital Markets. Billings remains chairman, however, and will also retain his post within the FBR Group. Richard J. Hendrix, president of FBR Capital Markets, was named his successor effective January 2009. Billings, the Post reported, was the last of the FBR founders to retire. “I'm 56 years old, and it's a young man's game,” Billings told the paper.

December 2008: Wave after wave In December 2008, The Washington Post reported that FBR Capital Markets FBR was laying off some 70 employees—just over 10 percent of its workforce. “Going forward we will continue to be operating in a market that is not only unprecedented in the extent and severity of its dislocation, but where the rules of the road and a large part of the competitive landscape have changed, and are continuing to change,” then-CEO Eric F. Billings told the Post. Previously, in summer 2008, the Post reported that FBR Capital Markets slashed about 100 jobs, decreasing firm headcount to 650 from 758.

November 2008: Another hire The firm hired Trey Whipple from Morgan Stanley as managing director for its convertible securities team.

October 2008: Heading up investment banking The firm named Kurt Oehlberg, Sharon Weinstein and Christopher Weyers managing directors for its investment banking group. Oehlberg previously worked for Rothschild, Weinstein for Wachovia Securities and Weyers for Fortis Securities.

August 2008: Bear’s loss is FBR’s gain FBR Capital Markets fortified itself with a spate of senior-level hires. In August, it hired John D. La Voie and Brian F. Thom from J.P. Morgan as managing directors for the financial sponsors, and energy and natural resources groups, respectively. Also, Bear Stearns alum Jorge Solares-Parkhurts was named managing director within the financial institutions team.

June 2008: London and San Francisco-area expansion FBR announced that beginning in June 2008, its international subsidiary, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey International, would begin trading on Euronext and the London Stock Exchange. That announcement was accompanied by the hiring of Blaine Mooney from Deutsche Bank, who was named FBR’s senior vice president and head of European trading within the institutional equity trading group.

June 2008: Bringing ‘em back from Bear The firm initiated trading of convertible and equity-linked securities. For that effort, launched in June, it brought in a large number of former Bear employees: Michael Lloyd, Paul Rosica, Robert Meringolo and Thomas Suigiura, who were senior managing directors; John Wright, a former managing director; and Ronald K. Schulhof, an associate director. FBR also added Adam Wachter from Morgan Stanley and KBC Financial Products’ Charles Ng to the convertible trading roster. Lloyd and Rosica direct the group. The firm also benefitted in 2008 from Bear’s demise by hiring Jon M. Jensen, a former Bear senior managing director, and Michael Derby, former Bear managing director, for its institutional brokerage. But the feather in FBR’s cap was the hiring of Daniel W. Blood, former Bear Stearns senior managing director who was named FBR’s Head of Debt Capital Markets.

June 2008: Amazing analysts Bloomberg named Paul Miller, group head of financial services research, and Rehan Rashid, group head of energy research, to the No. 1 and No. 10 spots, respectively, on its ranking of more than 3,000 analysts.

May 2008: Many lights in the darkness In spite of the poor returns and layoffs dogging FBR in 2008, Forbes named its analyst Adrienne Tennant, who focuses on the non-food retailers and wholesalers sector, No. 11 among all security analysts, on account of her stock-picking over the past three years. She was also ranked No. 1 in her industry sector.

April 2008: One big deal FBR Capital Markets was named lead placement agent and financial advisor for Thornburg Mortgage’s $135 billion private placement.

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March 2008: Executive sea change FBR Capital Markets named Bradley Wright executive vice president and CFO. Wright was also appointed to the firm’s executive committee. Like many other hires in 2008, he joined from Bear Stearns, where he had been senior managing director in charge of finance for private client services.

March 2008: On the peak The firm acquired East Peak Advisors, a San Francisco-based investment bank. As part of the deal, East Peak founder Daid DeRuff was named senior managing director and head of technology, media and telecom investment banking for FBR Capital Markets. He was joined by other members of East Peak, including his co-founder, Brewer Stone, Kurtis Fechtmeyer, M. Christina Laskowski, Scott Stewart, and Noel Torres, who were named to DeRuff’s technology, media & telecom team.

GETTING HIRED The right stuff With the right expertise, personality and inside connections, getting interviewed at FBR seems like a relatively easy task. However, one source notes that “FBR has more candidates than job openings, so competition for positions is fairly stiff,” which makes it even more difficult to get hired into a satellite office such as the New York outpost. Given the small size of FBR, the firm is able to be more selective than its Wall Street counterparts, who typically hire dozens of new analysts each year, making it very hard for qualified applicants to gain employment within the investment banking group. At FBR, the firm typically “looks for very ambitious and hungry candidates. A top school is important but not essential.” Insiders say the interviewing/hiring process is less competitive than competitors. However, as FBR continues to work on its branding strategy to improve the stature of its name, “the prospective applicant pool seems to be more competitive and impressive.”

Meshing with the gang At this firm, not only do you need industry expertise, but the “right” personality will get you farther than anything else. At FBR, hiring teams are known for their focus on “people fit.” “Once prerequisite skill sets are determined, FBR will then focus on how well candidates will mesh with the group.” Insiders advise that making an effort to get to know the firm and its culture, and talking frequently to current employees will help your chances of getting hired. Campus recruiting is a big aspect of the hiring process at the firm. FBR typically reaches out to a younger crowd for its analyst class, often heavily recruiting at local area universities and those in the South, including Georgetown, Duke and UVA. FBR has “a rich pool of candidates locally because of the top-notch MBA programs nearby, but the firm also recruits at various schools across the country.” The firm also host events, such as informal dinners the night before “Super Saturday” interviews, to help acquaint recent graduates with younger employees.

Be prepared Typical candidates will have anywhere from four to 12 interviews, and meet with several members of specific groups at all levels of the organization. It is a tremendous perk that candidates are given the opportunity to meet the entire management. Accordingly, candidates need to be prepared going into the interview to handle all different personality types, and be able to answer behavioral- and industry-related questions, such as “Do you understand rigors of investment banking? How would you value a company? Are you aware of the long hours? And why do you want to work for FBR rather than a Goldman or Morgan Stanley?”

Inside connections Having the right contacts will also make it easier to land an interview at FBR. As one insider dutifully notes, “Outside of family and friendship connections, it's tough to get hired here.” Heavy emphasis is placed on recruiting employees through referrals so knowing someone on the inside will help you get farther. Additionally, insiders who previously interned with the firm prior to full-time employment have a better chance of getting hired. FBR is usually more willing to hire one of its own interns over someone with internship experience outside the firm, because interns are typically assigned the work of a first-year analyst—”models, briefs, morning notes, assisting with stock picking”—and not just on “coffee duties.” Several insiders note that their “performance as an intern was the determining factor in receiving an offer.”


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OUR SURVEY SAYS Once you're in, you're in Although it is competitive to get into FBR's investment banking division, once you're in, you'll be able to enjoy the benefits of a better work/life balance than those of your peers at other large firms. One insider says, "Overall, I really enjoy working at FBR. I don't feel like I work at a banker factory, and that makes a big difference.” The firm's friendly atmosphere is present from the moment candidates arrive on FBR turf, as one contact says his “interviewing group was very friendly.” The culture at the firm is relaxed, and as one insider notes, “it is very collegial and fun relative to other investment banks.” Others note that the culture is informal and geared toward those younger in age. “The firm's culture is entrepreneurial and the organizational structure is relatively flat. In general, I would characterize the environment as team-oriented,” notes one insider. FBR has casual Fridays and regular employee outings. “Everyone is generally happy to be working at FBR. The mentality seems to be work hard and play harder. Unlike New York banks, people at FBR have lives outside of work.” “People are not pigeonholed into doing only certain tasks,” notes an inside contact. “Responsibility is given when earned. Senior managers and peers care about your quality of life outside the office. Everyone understands the nature of investment banking, but also allows everyone to enjoy nonwork life and have fun as much fun as possible." One drawback is the lack of diversity. Although the firm is accessible to qualified candidates of all background, the firm is not very diverse currently. “It's still a growing firm and so it can definitely improve on the diversity issue and attract people from different backgrounds.” Several insiders wish that the firm would do more to “establish specific programs to recruit and retain women, ethnic minorities, and gay and lesbian candidates at all levels of the organization.” Another source says the firm needs more “mentoring programs, specifically to recruit, train and socialize women.”

Running the show Management is held in high regard by insiders, even from the initial interview. One contact says, “The personality match with your superiors is key. Instances where it clashes can make life tough, especially given the hours you work, but this is where the candidate's impression from the interview is important.” Upon arrival, first-year analysts are treated particularly well by management. “FBR doesn't have the typical Wall Street culture of making the first-year analysts' life hell,” notes an insider. The flat management structure also makes for a supportive environment at FBR at all levels of the organization. “I feel respected for my talents, recognized for my contributions and rewarded appropriately for the job I do,” says one insider. The management team further supports the firm's culture by ensuring their employees do their job, but also have adequate play time. “Your superiors are always happy to get you out of the office when the day's work is done and will generally encourage you to leave early if the previous night was especially late,” notes an insider. According to another contact, “My direct senior manager and head of the group are the reason I do this job.”

A dime for your time Most employees typically put in 50 to 60 hours a week, which is not typical for competitor firms. However, it does vary by department. “You have a life while getting paid a decent amount of money. There are face times, but it's not as bad as at other banks. You can leave if you have an occasion, such as an appointment.” Accordingly, the firm offers the flexibility to work from home when necessary. One insider notes he “generally spends about nine to 10 hours in the office and works at home later in the evening when necessary.” Another contact, in research, says, “Time demand is driven by senior analysts and sectors covered.” Another perk is an employee's “ability to leave freely and not have to wait for the person above you to leave first.” Additionally, most employees typically don't work weekends, with the exception of a day here or there. “Weekend work is common but not expected. You'll know when you have to come in and you won't be alone. It is generally only required when something needs to be finished by Monday morning, and will rarely be both [weekend] days.” Despite high overall employee job satisfaction, FBR is not known for shelling out the big bucks for salaries. One source notes, “The compensation structure needs to be reevaluated. The bankers are paid well below Wall Street averages.” Another source notes, “With most of the company based outside of New York, total compensation tends to be at a slight discount to the Street, at least in the investment bank.” FBR does try to make up for its lack of pay by offering a comprehensive benefits package, an employee referral bonus, a free gym at its headquarters, free breakfast and lunch, and a new 401(k) matching program. The firm also has a strong charitable culture, allowing employees to contribute to the charity of their choice each year, with the firm matching contributions up to $300, and matching employee volunteer hours with cash contributions up to the same $300 rate.

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FIFTH THIRD BANCORP Fifth Third Center 38 Fountain Square Plaza Cincinnati, OH 45263 Phone: (800) 972-3030 www.53.com

KEY COMPETITORS LaSalle Bank U.S. Bancorp

UPPER BUSINESSES

• “Superior” benefits

Branch Banking Commercial Banking Consumer Lending Investment Advisors

DOWNER

THE STATS

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: FITB (Nasdaq) Chairman, President, & CEO: Kevin T. Kabat 2008 Revenue: $6.5 billion 2008 Net Income: -$2.2 billion No. of Employees: 22,000+ No. of Offices: 1,300+

• “Internal advancement is slow”

See “careers” section of www.53.com

THE BUZZ


“Midwest-focused” “Troubled” “Regional consumer bank” “Who?”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Fifth Third Bancorp

THE SCOOP Midwest contender Fifth Third Bancorp began its existence in 1858 as the Bank of the Ohio Valley. In 1871, the Bank of the Ohio Valley was acquired by the Third National Bank, and in 1908, the combined company decided to merge with The Fifth National Bank, creating the Fifth Third National Bank of Cincinnati. The name was subsequently changed to its current form. Today, Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. As of June 2009, it had $116 billion in assets, and operated through had 16 affiliate companies and 1,306 full-service banking centers in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: commercial banking, branch banking, consumer lending and investment advisors. Fifth Third also has a 49 percent interest in Fifth Third Processing Solutions, LLC. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of June 30, 2009, has $180 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $24 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third's common stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Global Select Market under the symbol "FITB."

Losing Cincinnati Cincinnati Financial Corporation, once Fifth Third's largest shareholder, has been slowly selling off its stock for the past few years as Fifth Third's profits have declined. Its first major move came in October 2007, when it sold 5.5 million shares of its Fifth Third stock. The divestiture continued in July 2008, when Cincinnati Financial sold an additional 35 million shares. The July stock sale was in reaction to Cincinnati Financial's displeasure with the announcement that Fifth Third would be cutting its dividend from 44 cents per quarter to 15 cents per quarter. The final blow came in January 2009, when Cincinnati Financial announced that it was selling its remaining 12 million shares of Fifth Third when the bank announced that it would be forced to cut its dividend once again—this time to a penny per quarter.

Legal troubles As if its financial troubles weren't enough, Fifth Third Bank also ran into some legal troubles in 2008 in the form of two lawsuits. The first was filed by the law offices of Brodsky & Smith of behalf of U.S. citizens who purchased the common stock of the bank during the period of October 19, 2007 and June 17, 2008. Brodsky & Smith allege that the “defendants violated federal securities laws by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market, thereby artificially inflating the price of FITB.” In November 2008, the bank was named in a lawsuit brought against 19 different defendants including Wachovia, Wells Fargo, and Deutsche Bank, in which LML Patent Corp. alleged an infringement of U.S. Patent No. RE40220. The patent for which LML is suing relates to electronic check processing methods and systems.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: TARP repayment on hold for now Fifth Third Bancorp returned to profit in the second quarter after selling a majority stake in its credit card processing business. The bank posted a net income of $856 million, or $1.15 a share. In the same quarter a year-earlier, the Cincinnati bank lost $202 million. During the quarter Fifth Third completed the sale of a 51 percent share in Fifth Third Processing Solutions business to Advent International. CFO Ross Kari said the bank will wait until the economy improves until it repays cash from the government.

June 2009: Making its quota Fifth Third Bancorp exchanged 60.1 million common shares and $229.8 million in cash for $696.2 million of depositary shares. The firm said that the exchange, combined with a $1 billion common stock offering, has surpassed the $1.1 billion common-equity increase the government said it needed after its stress test earlier in 2009. Fifth Third also said that it anticipates that its joint venture with Advent International will close within the second quarter 2009. The venture is expected to produce an added $1.2 billion in Tier 1 common equity for Fifth Third.

May 2009: Refinancing nearly $2 billion Eight weeks after Fifth Third Mortgage Company, a subsidiary of Fifth Third Bank, announced its intention to participate in the government's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Program (HASP), customers have been refinancing at a record pace. Since the program began, Fifth Third

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Mortgage Company has worked with more than 11,000 homeowners to refinance more than $1.95 billion in loans, refinancing more Freddie Mac loans than any other lender in the country.

April 2009: Tough quarter For the first quarter of 2009, Fifth Third brought in $781 million in revenue, down from the $826 million it posted in the first quarter of 2008. The company also posted a net loss of $26 million for the quarter compared with net income of $286 million for the previous year’s first quarter. Explaining the results, CEO Kevin Kabat said “net interest income and margin were lower in the first quarter, as expected, and bottomed out in January reflecting the effect of lower market rates on asset yields, which reprice more rapidly than our liabilities.”

March 2009: Majority sale Fifth Third agreed to sell a 51 percent share in its processing division to private equity firm Advent International. Through the creation of a new joint venture, Fifth Third will keep 49 percent interest in the new firm, called Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC. Advent, meanwhile, will give Fifth Third $561 million, a move that Fifth Third says will significantly boost its balance sheet. Despite receiving $3.45 billion in federal funds, Fifth Third has continued to reach for additional capital.

March 2009: Going Mobile Fifth Third Bank launched its mobile banking service, Fifth Third Mobile Banking, which allows customers to use their mobile phones to view account balances as well as pending and posted transactions. It also allows customers to transfer funds, and find Fifth Third ATMs and branch locations. Those who enroll can sign up to receive text alerts regarding balance levels and statement availability, among other services.

January 2009: Silver lining among the loss The bank reported a net loss of $2.2 billion for the year which was “driven primarily by goodwill impairment, credit actions, higher credit costs and market valuation adjustments.” The earnings report included a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $965 million, loan losses of $800 million, and a $729 million provision for excess loan losses. There was some good news for the bank—payments processing revenue and deposit service revenue were up 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively, while corporate banking revenue grew 14 percent. The bad results continue a five-year downward spiral for Fifth Third, which has lost over 96 percent of its stock value since 2004.

December 2008: Piece of the pie Fifth Third Bancorp announced that it had completed the sale of approximately $3.4 billion in preferred shares to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The sale was part of the government's Treasury Capital Purchase Program, which a division of the government's larger Troubled Asset Relief Program, designed to provide a stronger capital foundation for financial firms, and to increase credit availability to consumers and businesses. The agreement was that 136,000 shares of Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock were sold with a 10-year warrant to purchase up to 43 million shares of common stock at an exercise price of $11.72.

November 2008: Rotating CFOs Fifth Third recently filled the open position of chief financial officer with Ross J. Kari, a highly experienced executive who previously served as the CFO of Safeco Corporation in Seattle. Kevin Kabat, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the firm, named Kari to the position on November 12, 2008. He replaced Dan Poston, who had served as interim CFO since the departure of Chris Marshall in May 2008. Marshall's resignation came after a tenure lasting less than two years. The position of CFO has been one which has historically been lacking in longevity at Fifth Third. Before Marshall, the previous CFO, R. Mark Graf served in the spot for less than a year before he became the “fall guy” for the company's troubles at the time and was let go. With broad experience in the financial industry, including positions with Wells Fargo, KKR, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Kari may fare better in the position.

November 2008: Free bird Fifth Third announced that it would be acquiring all the deposits of Freedom Bank in Bradenton, Florida, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Freedom Bank was declared insolvent by the FDIC on October 31st and shortly afterwards, the FDIC-approved the assumption of its deposits by Fifth Third Bank. At the time of its bankruptcy, Freedom Bank had $250 million in deposits.


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June 2008: Up and coming down south Fifth Third moved to increase its presence in the southeast U.S. with its purchase of First Charter Corp., a North Carolina-based regional bank. The $1.1 billion deal added 59 retail banks in North Carolina and Georgia to Fifth Third's southeast presence.

GETTING HIRED Learning the ropes Training is a big priority at Fifth Third, as the company runs several training programs for new hires, including associate programs in finance, commercial banking, investment advising, retail banking (focusing on branch operations, customer service and office managers), operations and IT. For GPA and background requirements, as well as open job postings, see the career section of the firm's website (www.53.com). Candidates also can submit resumes through that site. "We are very selective about the talent we hire," notes a source inside the company. Other sources say the firm is about average when it comes to selectivity. As far as the interview process goes, be sure to do your homework. “Interestingly enough, I was not asked very many questions when I interviewed for the bank—rather, I was given the opportunity to ask all the questions I could.” (One insider even says “I didn't know enough then to ask the right questions.”) Another contact relates a surprising scenario and says that in one of his interviews, “the vice president in the affiliate warned me about the sink-or-swim mentality of the bank, and advised me to be careful before accepting an offer.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Fluid but not quite laid-back While the bank is an "extremely fluid" and a “very goal-driven” environment to work in, it also can be “confusing.” On the plus side, “it is good if you are of an entrepreneurial mindset and have great people skills, because you can for the most part decide your own direction, work how you want to work and come up with your own unique style of doing business.” But then again, “the lack of structure can be maddening sometimes.” “There is not usually any accepted process or procedure for getting something done,” explains one insider. “If one exists, it is not documented well or at all and many of the key players do not know how to do it correctly.” Because of this, networking is key. “The only way to get something accomplished is to build internal relationships with competent people and then leverage those relationships." Maybe because of this (or in spite of it) “internal advancement is slow,” and “the bank tends to place new hires from other organizations in better positions than they were at their organization rather than promote internally.” “For that reason, it's always good to keep your resume on the market,” one insider advises. But in the meantime, be prepared to dress to the nines. The dress code “is strict and conservative banking style, with few casual days.”

Lots of benefits The firm offers “superior” benefits, such as “dependent day care FSAs,” “401(k) matching,” “electronic filing of out-of-pocket expenses,” “stock options” and “profit sharing.” Compensation receives average ratings from employees—”pay is good, not great or poor.” But this factor may hinge largely on your negotiation skills. “If you negotiate well, you can get top dollar, believe it or not,” confesses one insider. “Some people get paid way more than what they would get at one of the Fortune 500.” Hours, meanwhile, get high marks, as sources report working anywhere from “40 to 50 hours a week” to “50 to 60,” but not much more. “The hours are great," reports one happy insider. But it's also "good to not be the last to arrive and first to leave.” As for managers, one insider says, “I've been lucky to work for someone who is not only a good manager but is a good person.” “At Fifth Third, the manager makes all the difference,” adds one insider. “If you are making a decision on whether to work for the bank, make sure you know who you are working for.” In terms of work/life balance, you can generally “set your own schedule and as long as you're making your goals.” Plus, most sources report “rarely” having to work on the weekends, and vacation time tends to be generous, with the option to buy even more time annually.

Working its way up In terms of diversity, the company is “great at the lower levels, but at the upper levels it is more typical of a Midwestern good-old boys' club.” Mostly, however, diversity with respect to women and minorities gets decent marks from contacts. Another source says that the firm “is very focused on diversity,” but a different contact feels that “the firm doesn't take diversity very seriously.”

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FIRST HORIZON NATIONAL CORPORATION 165 Madison Avenue Memphis, TN 38103 Phone: (901) 523-4444 Fax: (901) 523-4030 www.fhnc.com

KEY COMPETITORS Regions Financial SunTrust

UPPER BUSINESSES Banking Business Banking Capital Markets Investing, Insuring & Planning Loans & Lending

THE STATS

• “Very supportive team culture”

DOWNER • “Limited” resources

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” section of www.fhnc.com

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: FHN (NYSE) President & CEO: Bryan Jordan 2008 Revenue: $2.3 billion 2008 Net Income: -$192 million No. of Employees: 6,000 No. of Offices: 200 bank locations, 14 capital markets locations

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Decent regional bank” • “Never heard of them”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition First Horizon National Corporation

THE SCOOP What’s on the horizon First Horizon National Corporation is a national corporation that includes FTN Financial, its capital markets division and one of the nation's top underwriters of U.S. government agency securities; and First Tennessee Bank, which offer retail and commercial banking services. Historically, First Horizon's regional banking segment has produced the bulk of its revenue followed by mortgage banking, capital markets and the corporate unit. First Horizon has been on AARP's list of Best Employers for Workers Over 50 every year since 2003, and Working Mother's 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers list since 1995.

Est. Memphis, 1864 First Horizon can trace its roots back to 1864, when the Civil War brought Memphis, Tenn., under military control, virtually ceasing trade in the city and moving business to a standstill. Local resident Frank S. Davis believed the answer to his hometown's woes could be found in the National Banking Act, which had been passed the year before. This law created a system of national banks chartered and supervised by the federal government, and Davis was determined to bring a bank to Memphis. The institution he founded, the First National Bank of Memphis, was his city's first national bank and the predecessor of today's First Horizon National Corporation. Davis' bank survived the rocky rebuilding of Memphis, as well as two yellow fever epidemics and two world wars. By 1967, it was the largest bank in the mid-South. It was reorganized in 1971 as a multi-bank holding company and renamed First Tennessee National Corporation. When the company expanded into Virginia in 2003, it named its branches First Horizon, and in 2004 the company was officially renamed First Horizon National Company to reflect its reach across the U.S. Today, First Horizon remains a major player in its native Tennessee and the South, but its growth has taken its offices into more than 40 states and around the country.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: Not meeting expectations First Horizon posted a $123.2 million loss for the second quarter 2009 compared with the $19.1 million loss it booked for the same period a year earlier. Revenue also took a hit, dropping 23 percent to $491.4 million—a lower figure than the $566 million analysts had expected. While the company’s loan-loss provisions decreased 13 percent to $260 million from the previous quarter, they also increased 18 percent from the year-ago date.

February 2009: Powering your dreams In the midst of very dire economic times, First Horizon National Corporation rolled out a new tagline with a distinctly positive tone. The bank's subsidiary First Tennessee Bank promises that it will be “Powering Your Dreams” in 2009, a not-so-subtle indication that the bank is up and running to make loans, kick-start the economy, and make people's dreams come true. The positive new slogan is a shift in message for the beleaguered bank, which sold more than 230 retail and wholesale offices to MetLife Bank in the third quarter of 2008. The sale effectively ended the firm's national mortgage franchise. However, the new attitude may have something to do with the company's “back to basics” strategy, in which First Horizon plans to focus on Tennessee and the surrounding region as its main avenue of business.

February 2009: No more perks Executives at First Horizon National Corporation will no longer be living the high life. The bank has made a series of budget cuts designed to pinch pennies in a tense economic environment. In 2008, the bank sold its corporate jet and closed an executive dining room in its Memphis office. It also stopped reimbursing its management-level employees for country club dues, a policy which was designed to help high level employees mix with customers on the golf course. Dave Miller, director of investor relations for First Horizon, told TradingMarkets.com in 2009 that “if you were to combine some of these initiatives ... we'll probably save a couple of million dollars a year, all told.”

January 2009: Mortgage servicing sacrifice In an attempt to further minimize its exposure to risky investments, First Tennessee Bank sold its mortgage servicing rights related to $14 billion of mortgage loans owned or securitized by others (including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and serviced by FHN. The agreement, which was signed on January 28, 2009, reduced First Tennessee's outstanding balance of first lien lows to approximately $48 billion.

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January 2009: At a loss For two consecutive years, First Horizon National Corporation has failed to book a net income for its year-end earnings statement. The bad news is that its loss in 2008 was slightly more than its loss in 2007, an indication that things might get worse before they get better. The company logged a net loss of $192 million for the year in 2008, compared with a net loss of $170.1 million in 2007. Still, the bank is making progress in isolated areas of business. In its capital markets division, the company booked income of $74.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, putting at least one column solidly in the black. The company credits the Federal Reserve's rate reductions with boosting business in its fixed income sales. The earnings report also showed that total average deposits remained flat through the year, while consolidated net interest margins declined to 2.96 percent due to deposit competition. Average shareholders' equity were and return on average assets were negative 7.28 percent and negative .56 percent, respectively.

November 2008: Filling the role The firm announced that it would be filling Bryan Jordan's spot with William C. (B.J.) Losch, who previously had served as the senior vice president and chief financial officer for the general bank at Wachovia Corporation. Losch, 38 years old, officially took on the position on January 1, 2009. Jordan became president and CEO.

November 2008: Be accountable Though First Horizon National was making program cuts long before anyone had ever heard the term “TARP,” its inclusion in the government's Capital Purchase Program will ensure that the company will have to be extra careful in how it allots its funds in the future. The bank received $866 million in funds from the government through a preferred stock purchase with the Treasury Department in November 2008 as a part of the first round of government stimulus. At the time of the capital sale, First Horizon assured the public that it would use its injection of the money to make much needed loans in the Tennessee region. “Our participation in the Treasury Department's Capital Purchase Program further strengthens our already solid capital base and gives the company a great deal of flexibility to support our customers and our communities in this uncertain economy,” said CEO Bryan Jordan.

August 2008: Insider takes over There was a shake-up in the top brass of First Horizon's investment banking division, FTN Financial when its president, Mark Medford, resigned. Medford left the company in order to take a position as CEO of Vining Sparks, a Memphis-based investment firm. He was replaced by Frank Gusmus, who originally was appointed to the position as the interim president, but was given the permanent position in October. Gusmus is a firm insider, having worked at FTN Financial for more than 25 years.

July 2008: Executive musical chairs First Horizon CEO Jerry Baker announced that he would be retiring as chief executive but staying on as vice chairman until his official exit in December 2008. Baker was replaced by Bryan Jordan, who had been serving as chief financial officer since 2007.

GETTING HIRED Step inside In addition to its online application process (www.fhncareers.com), First Horizon tends to get employees from “the competition and by word of mouth.” Candidates interested in the company need to do some digging—as one source points out, “They do not advertise this gold mine.” The firm recruits “across the country” and hires “mostly experienced people.” Specifically, it's after “professional, genuine, respectable individuals.” Insiders report that First Horizon is relatively choosy when it comes to bringing in new employees. As one source puts it, “Because we have a reputation as one of the nation's best employers, we can be selective in our hiring.” One insider calls the interview process comprehensive. The first step is an "”nitial phone screening,” followed by an “online application and resume review.” Next, candidates sometimes have “two face-to-face interviews,” the second of which is normally with “a department head.” One respondent reports having “three interviews: with a district manager, operations manager and regional president.” Another contact says he had “a single round of interviews where I met with the team lead for the area I would be working, his manager, and the department head—each one individually.” An internal candidate says he went through “a couple of informal interviews, due to the fact I already knew and had worked with the hiring manager.” Another recalls meeting with a “president and vice president.” Interview questions vary, but are designed to gauge a candidate's personality as much as financial knowledge. Some examples include: “Who is your biggest fan and why?” and “How does that person describe you?” Recruiters at First Horizon tend to move quickly. One source says the timeline for hiring is "approximately two to three weeks.” One way for candidates to get their feet


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in the door is through an internship. Some are paid, while others are for college credit. In general, internships give students a better idea of what it's like to work for First Horizon. One former intern reports, “The internship helped me understand how I could fit in here.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS A solid reputation There's “teamwork and communications” at play at First Horizon. Almost across the board, insiders say the firm lives up to its reputation and backs up its advertised “employees first” culture. And “the first thing to know about FHNC is that ethics is serious business. There has always been a deeply held code of doing things the right way.” One insider raves that his co-workers are “good people to work with,” and calls the firm a “solid company. It's professional and genuine.” Another agrees that there is a “very supportive team culture. The personnel here are all about your personal success and development.” Others call it "conservative" but add that it has its own “regional flair.”

Taking care of employees In terms of perks, the firm offers a “matching 401(k),” “stock options,” “flex dollars,” “cell phone discount” and a “meal allowance while traveling.” It's a good thing insiders give the firm high marks for its perks, because hours can be long, with “pressure being fairly intense” and weekend work happening “more than once a month.” And given the time spent in the office, it's probably a good thing that the dress code is fairly lax in some locations, which allow business casual and casual Fridays without client contact. While one source calls the level of staffing “poor” and the resources "limited," most insiders have only positive remarks about the firm's culture. And one contact who's been with the company since 2001 says, “I have been trained in many departments and I have been given all the training and tools I need.” Then again, not all are happy with the current training system—one insider complains that the “focus is too much on compliance” and “not enough on education.” One thing the firm does put a focus on, however, is charity. “There is a $2,000 pool per employee that FHNC will use as matching gift for 50 percent of any donations to charitable organizations,” one insider reports. Plus, the tech division “yearly collects enough money to grant one—or two, sometimes—wishes to a Make-A-Wish child. We host a party for the child we are granting the wish for where they find out they are getting their wish granted.”

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FOCUS 1133 20th Street, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: (202) 785-9404 Fax: (202) 785-9413 www.focusbankers.com

KEY COMPETITORS Harris Bankcorp Jefferies Raymond James Financial

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT BUSINESSES

Email: [email protected]

Corporate Development Consulting Corporate Finance Mergers & Acquisitions Strategic Advisory Services Strategic Partnering & Alliances Structured & Project Finance Wealth Transition Advisory Services

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company CEO: Doug Rogers No. of Employees: 60 No. of Offices: 4

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition FOCUS

THE SCOOP Middle market managers FOCUS is a national investment bank that was established in 1982 to serve middle management businesses with revenue between $5 million and $300 million. The firm is based in Washington, D.C., and has additional offices in Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles. FOCUS cites its “systematic, open, and proven transaction process” as the distinguishing factor that makes it unique in the clustered investment banking field. With longevity comes knowledge, and FOCUS’s 27 years in business proves that it has enough experience to weather any market. FOCUS’ catchphrase—“Seasoned, Systematic, Successful”—is service marked and appears virtually everywhere on its homepage. The firm backs up the latter part of the phrase by only taking transactions in which it feels has at least a 75 percent change of success. As for the “seasoned” portion of the FOCUS catchphrase, there is evidence that demonstrates that the company can back that up with fact. FOCUS wants to position itself as the No. 1 company for middle market deals and has recruited veterans of the business. The firm boasts that all of its partners have “significant C-level experience.” The managing partners at FOCUS are known to be more hands-on, meaning that they will personally manage all M&A deals. FOCUS’s services include mergers and acquisitions, strategic advisory, corporate finance including debt and equity financing, strategic partnering and alliances, corporate development consulting, wealth transition advisory and corporate valuation. The company works with buy- and sell-side corporate clients, private equity groups, holding companies, and early stage venture capital firms in a wide range of financial sectors, encompassing everything from aerospace technology to systems integration.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Active in IT FOCUS advised Allin Corporation’s Microsoft IT consulting and solutions division in its sale to Dell. The acquisition involved Allin’s business units located in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and San Jose and Walnut Creek, Calif. Approximately 100 Allin employees joined Dell’s expanding services business. Additionally, FOCUS advised on Global Software Corporation’s sale to Harris Computer Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Constellation Software that provides financial management and computer information systems software solutions.

February 2009: First deals of the year The aerospace sector was central in of one of FOCUS' first completed deals of the year—the sale of Aerospace Products, S.E. (APSE) to Acorn Growth Companies and Cherokee National Businesses. FOCUS represented APSE in the transaction. APSE is a parts supplier which services aerospace companies in coordination with U.S. government maintenance requirements. Acorn CEO John Davis credited FOCUS with helping the deal go through, saying, “John Slater of FOCUS was instrumental in helping the parties work through a number of difficult issues, while preserving the positive personal relationships with the management team which were critical to the company’s ongoing success post closing.” FOCUS also completed another government, aerospace, and defense deal when it advised Newtek International on its merger with Zantech IT Services. Newtek is an IT services firm which provides software engineering services to federal defense and civilian customers. It was acquired by Zantech IT services, a newly formed information technology services firm which is looking to expand its customer base through acquisition.

January 2009: Into the atmosphere FOCUS started off 2009 by focusing extended efforts into one of its most active sectors—government, aerospace and defense. On January 5th, the firm announced that it would be starting a formal government, aerospace, and defense group which would put additional resources into the sector. The group will be led by Manan Shah and based out of the mid-Atlantic region. FOCUS's new division is a “natural outgrowth” of an already successful business in this sector which has included merger and acquisition services as well as capital formation services. The firm will also beef up its research and marketing efforts directed toward government, aerospace and defense, as a result of the new group.

July 2008: Branching out into additional industry segments The firm decided to beef up its research and marketing efforts directed toward government, aerospace, and defense. But it wasn’t the only industryfocused team the company formed. The firm announced it would be focusing a team of specialized investment bankers in the following industry segments: education, energy, digital and Internet media, and information technology.

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition FOCUS

May 2008: More advising FOCUS advised Avialec International as it was acquired by KAPCO/VALTEC. The company also helped to secure financing in the form of Series A Participating Preferred Stock to the software solutions company Agentek.

April 2008: Advising and learning FOCUS also advised VERTEX Solutions when Adayana acquired VERTEX, a developer of learning systems.

March 2008: Still growing There were additions and promotions made throughout FOCUS' five national offices in 2008, demonstrating a stable amount of growth even in a troubled economy. The company beefed up its Chicago office with seven new senior advisors. Also in March, industry veterans W. Robert Gold and Walter Nielson were tapped to lead the growing Chicago office as co-managers. The firm also made selected new hires in the firm's Atlanta, Los Angeles, and San Francisco offices.

February 2008: Assisting in India FOCUS completed a successful cross border deal as the representative of India-based Pradot Technologies. Pradot acquired St. Louis-based GroupOne Healthsource in a deal that it says “reinforced the trend of foreign buyers buying U.S. Companies through 'Dual Shore' strategy.”

GETTING HIRED Worth a try If you want to join the FOCUS team, prospective applicants probably should first grasp the notion that there’s no clear path to employment with the firm. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give it a shot. Within the firm’s “contact us” section on its website at www.focusbankers.com, you can either try charming the firm by emailing it directly at [email protected]—or you can try pasting in your resume and cover letter within its online contact form (hey, you never know). Alternately, you can snail mail your resume to 1133 20th Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20036.


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FOX-PITT KELTON COCHRAN CARONIA WALLER (USA) LLC 420 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor New York, NY 10018 Phone: (212) 687-1105 Fax: (212) 599-2723 www.fpk.com

KEY COMPETITORS FBR Capital Markets Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT BUSINESSES Advisory Equity Capital Markets Investment Banking Private Equity Research Sales Sales Trading & Market Making

Graduate recruitment: [email protected] Experienced hires recruitment: [email protected] www.fpk.com/x/careers.html

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company CEO: Giles Fitzpatrick No. of Employees: 160 No. of Offices: 7

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller (USA) LLC

THE SCOOP Big names, big deals Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller (FPK) is an investment bank specializing in providing services to financial institutions, and in 2008, the firm had a banner year. From acting as co-manager for Visa's $19.7 billion IPO to advising Bank of America on its historic acquisition of Merrill Lynch, FPK went very quickly from being a virtual unknown to becoming an integral part of some of the biggest deals of the decade. FPK runs a well-informed ship, with over 60 analysts tracking over 200 bank stocks in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The firm also houses a team of 10 emerging capital professionals who deal in all aspects of ECM, including executing IPOs, rights issues, secondaries, block trades, buy-backs and dribble programs. On the advisory side of things, FPK offers traditional M&A, derivative structures, fairness opinions, financing and strategy. The firm also has an independent private equity vehicle, called FPK Capital, which was launched in fall 2006.

More than a mouthful FPK has been a European institution on the financial scene since its inception in 1971, when Oliver Fox-Pitt and Robin Kelton launched the firm from London. The company gradually added services and expanded in key North America locations, including Hartford, Conn., and New York, N.Y. In 1999, the firm was big enough to catch the attention of Switzerland’s reinsurance giant Swiss Re. Under the guidance of Swiss Re, Fox-Pitt opened offices in Boston and Hong Kong, and sold its investment management arm, Eldon, to Hiscox Investment Management. In 2006, Fox-Pitt Kelton’s management team and financier J.C. Flowers & Company bought the company back from Swiss Re. On September 4, 2007, the newly independent Fox-Pitt Kelton completed its merger with its Chicago-based rival Cochran Caronia Waller. Cochran Caronia Waller, also a boutique investment bank, focused on the property-casualty, life and health industries. The firm's higher ups now share power in the combined entity, with former CCW executives George Cochran and Len Caronia acting as co-chairman, and Fox-Pitt Kelton CEO Giles Fitzpatrick staying on as chief executive of the new company. Business was booming for Fox-Pitt's capital raising team in 2008. The firm was involved in some of the biggest deals of the year, including acting as co-manager on Visa's mega-IPO, which raised $19.7 billion on its offering of 406 million shares. The firm also worked as underwriter, advisor, or manager on the following deals—Natixis €3.7 billion rights issues in September; the $810 billion follow-on offering of MSCI in July; the ₤12.2 billion rights issue of the Royal Bank of Scotland; a $7.5 billion follow-on offering for a pre-bailed out AIG; and a €5.5 billion rights issue for Société Générale.

IN THE NEWS May 2009: Research analyst recognition FPK research analysts Matthew Howlett and Matthew Carletti ranked second and third in StarMine’s 2009 annual list of top U.S. analysts. Additionally, Roger Smith and Al Savastano both received the Forbes’ Blue Chip Analyst Award for their work with the firm.

September 2008: Bargaining for the big boys FPK gained worldwide recognition in 2008 by advising on what was easily one of the biggest deals of all time—Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch. Along with J.P. Flowers and Bank of America Securities, FPK served as co-advisor to Bank of America on the more than $50 billion all-stock transaction. The combination of the two banks created a powerhouse that ranked as the largest brokerage in the world with more than $2.5 trillion in assets. The Bank of America deal was headed up by John Roddy, the recently hired head of the firm's North American Depository Institutions Advisory business and John Waller, the firm's president. Waller recently told The Deal about the in-house dynamics going on at the time of the deal. “You had the sense that this was historic, but you needed to stay focused,” he said. “None of us knew where it would end up. We just knew we would be in a dramatically different place.”

July 2008: Here comes Roddy Jon Roddy was hired to head up its North American Depository Institutions Advisory business. Roddy, who is now based out of the firm's New York office, was also given the title of managing director. His experience comes from over 10 years at many of the marquee name investment banks such as Lehman Brothers and Citigroup. Roddy became a powerful asset for the firm, when he served as an active member of the team overseeing the historic deal between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller (USA) LLC

July 2008: Like a rocket As a result of the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch deal, FPK rocketed up the Thomson Reuters league tables for 2008. The bank logged an amazing gain in its activity in category of announced M&A advisory deals in the Americas, shooting it up from 157th place in 2007 to 19th place in 2008. The firm's total deal value for the category was $53.5 billion for its nine deals. The increase represents an astounding 5,410 percent increase in deal value from the firm's $972 million the previous year. The firm also saw a meteoric rise up the Japanese M&A advisory charts, as a result of its advisory on the acquisition of U.S. property and casualty insurer Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corporation by Japanese insurer Tokio Marine Holdings. Though the deal was FPK's only deal in the region, its value of $4.6 billion vaulted it to 20th place on the charts for announced Japanese M&A Advisory deals. In 2007, FPK's total business in Japan was valued at just $883.6 million and the firm was ranked 30th in Japan.

June 2008: Strategic hires FPK brought on a few new employees in 2008 to help boost up its services in its strategic advisory and capital raising departments. The first was the additional of Isolde O'Hanlon. O'Hanlon was appointed as managing director of the firm's U.S. Advisory Group. She comes to the firm with more than 20 years of experience at firms such as JP Morgan Securities.

GETTING HIRED Ticking all the boxes According to the firm, if you’re a recent graduate, to apply to FPK you’ll need “an outstanding academic record and degree or equivalent from a leading university,” as well as “solid analytical and quantitative skills.” You’ll also need “an interest in IT and a working knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the Internet.” The company also wants candidates with proficiency in English and another language, together with relevant work experience. On the firm’s career website (“careers” at www.fpk.com) you can find email addresses for available jobs in the U.S., Europe and Asia to which you can send your resume and cover letter.

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JMP SECURITIES LLC 600 Montgomery Street Suite 1100 San Francisco, CA 94111 Phone: (415) 835-8900 Fax: (415) 835-8910 www.jmpsecurities.com

BUSINESSES Investment Banking Research Sales & Trading

KEY COMPETITORS Cowen and Company FBR Capital Markets Jefferies Piper Jaffray & Co. Thomas Weisel Partners

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” under “about JMP Securities” at www.jmpsecurities.com

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of JMP Group Inc. Chairman & CEO, JMP Group: Joseph A. Jolson 2008 Revenue: $76.59 million* 2008 Net Income: -$10.65 million* No. of Employees: 219 No. of Offices: 4 *JMP Group Inc.

THE BUZZ


“Strong in technology” “Small” “A lot of clean tech, tech and health care deals” “Never heard of them”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition JMP Securities LLC

THE SCOOP Parent goes public JMP Securities is one of two subsidiaries operated by JMP Group Inc. (the other is Harvest Capital Strategies). Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based JMP Group spent many years insisting it wouldn’t follow other boutiques down the IPO road, but in February 2007, it filed to go public. Its own JMP Securities, as well as Merrill Lynch and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, were signed on as joint book runners, and in May 2007, eight million shares were priced at $11 each. Although many boutique banks met with resistance when their IPOs launched, analysts had a rosier outlook for JMP, citing its diverse lines of business and strong earnings potential. Business at JMP Securities is divided between investment banking, equity research, and institutional equity sales and trading. Its industry focus falls on six sectors: business services, consumer, financial services, health care, real estate and technology. Clients include public and private companies. The firm’s headquarters are in San Francisco, with branch offices in New York, Chicago and Boston.

Belief in boutiques Joseph A. Jolson, Carter D. Mack and Gerald L. Tuttle Jr. founded JMP Group in 1999 and opened JMP Securities at the start of 2000. The trio had previously worked together at Montgomery Securities, which was purchased in 1997 by NationsBank Corp. and became Banc of America Securities following NationsBank’s acquisition of Bank of America the next year. Following the sale of Montgomery, Jolson, Mack and Tuttle decided to jump ship and create their own investment bank. They didn't like watching top-quality independent research boutiques get swallowed up by big commercial banks and figured that the best solution was to create their own firm. Instead of trying to compete for business with bulge bracket banks focused on large corporate clients, the trio pledged to serve small and mid-sized companies, which were becoming increasingly ignored by Wall Street conglomerates. To get the firm off the ground, CEO Jolson employed some unusual business practices. In the early years, he capped all base salaries—including his own—at $100,000. He also encouraged multitasking: He personally covered several specialty finance companies for JMP Securities' research arm, while simultaneously getting JMP Asset Management (now Harvest Capital Strategies) running. In 2002, he attracted former Montgomery Securities partner Craig R. Johnson to help build the firm’s equities business. And, indeed, JMP grew by leaps and bounds, nearly tripling headcount to more than 200 in the ensuing six years. JMP also made an early decision to avoid focusing solely on emerging growth opportunities. In contrast to many of its competitors, the firm organized its research department to cover “old economy” sectors like financial services in addition to more cutting-edge industries like high technology. Today, Jolson remains CEO of JMP Group and Johnson serves as its president; both men attend to the operation of Harvest Capital Strategies and its assetgathering strategy. Co-founder Mack and Mark L. Lehmann serve as co-presidents of JMP Securities; Mack directs investment banking, and Lehmann oversees equities.

Plenty of deals JMP underwrote equity offerings for a number of firms in 2008, most recently serving as co-lead manager of Hatteras Financial Corporation’s $180 million follow-on offering in December. JMP also acted as a co-manager on stock offerings for Chimera Investment Corporation ($284.6 million), SuccessFactors ($104.2 million), CapitalSource ($379.5 million), MFA Mortgage Investments ($319.7 million in May and $265.9 million in January), KKR Financial Holdings ($408.8 million), Capstead Mortgage Corporation ($133.3 million) and Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation ($143.9 million), among others. The firm co-managed IPOs for Rackspace Hosting ($187.5 million), American Capital Agency Corp. ($200 million) and Hatteras Financial Corp. ($276 million). And on the private placement front in 2008, JMP was the sole placement agent for Americrest Homes ($56.7 million) and Celleration ($30.0 million). JMP also acted as sole placement agent for New York Mortgage Trust’s $60.0 million PIPE (private investment in private equity). Additionally, the firm advised Mirius Bio Corporation on its $128.9 million September 2008 sale to Roche, HealthCare Pharmacy on its July 2008 sale to Remedi SeniorCare, 90Degree Software on its March 2008 sale to Microsoft and Hands on Video Relay Services on its $138 million January 2008 sale to GoAmerica.

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition JMP Securities LLC

IN THE NEWS July 2009: Expanding convertibles JMP added four senior professionals in its convertible securities sales and trading operation, expanding the units’ capabilities.

January 2009: Big cheeses JMP hired Alex Gauna, Peter Martin and Allan Rimland as managing directors. Gauna, a research analyst, focuses on the semiconductor industry; he joined JMP from UBS. Martin, also a research analyst, joined from Matthes Capital, a hedge fund; he will focus on the health care services and health care real estate industries. Rimland joined from Wachovia Capital Markets and was named co-head of JMP’s health care services investment banking practice.

November 2008: You can sell them short Following the ban on short-selling put in place by the Securities and Exchange Commission, JMP Securities requested to be removed from the list of firms illegal to short.

May 2008: Doing the research JMP Securities prides itself on its research, which it calls the backbone of its company. To that end it holds an annual research conference, and its analysts regularly turn up on industry best-of lists. In 2008, Forbes honored Kristine Koerber, William Marks and James Wilson, JMP researchers named among the top stock pickers covering their respective industries.

GETTING HIRED Meet the challenge At www.jmpsecurities.com under the “careers” link, prospective job candidates can read about JMP's mission. JMP says it's looking for extremely motivated people who can thrive in the firm's “challenging, dynamic environment" and who will mesh with its senior executives. JMP lays out its standards on its company website: “Every JMP employee is encouraged to take initiative and exceed expectations.” The California-based JMP does some regional recruiting, scouting schools like the University of California-Berkeley's Haas School of Business, UCLA's Anderson School of Management, Stanford University, Claremont College and Pomona College. In more recent years, it has also looked further afield at campuses such as Georgetown's McDonough School of Business, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and Notre Dame. Candidates who can't find a JMP recruiter on their campus are advised to submit a cover letter and resume directly to the firm ([email protected]). Materials should not be sent by regular mail, and phone calls are strictly verboten. Most important of all, an emailed resume should be sent correctly: the first word of the subject line must be “Resume,” or the email will not be opened.


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KEYCORP 127 Public Square Cleveland, OH 44114 Phone: (216) 689-6300 www.key.com

BUSINESSES Consumer Banking Corporate & Investment Banking Investment Management Services Technology

KEY COMPETITORS FBR Capital Markets Fox-Pitt Kelton Sandler O’Neill + Partners Bank of America Citizens Bank U.S. Bancorp

UPPERS • “There is truly a team spirit here” • “Very diverse”

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: KEY (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: Henry L. Meyer III 2008 Revenue: $3.8 billion 2008 Net Income: -$1.5 billion No. of Employees: 17,697 No. of Offices: 980

DOWNERS • “A little too corporate” • “Unable to compete with New York or middle-market firms”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.key.com/careers

THE BUZZ


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“Strong in research and middle market” “Weaker regional bank” “Up and coming” “Stodgy”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition KeyCorp

THE SCOOP Loyal to Cleveland Cleveland’s KeyCorp has a long history with the city, as it counts among its predecessors the Society for Savings of Cleveland, which was established in 1849. In modern times, the Society for Savings became the Society Corp. of Cleveland, which merged with Albany’s Key Bank in 1994 to form KeyCorp. Its most recent boost was the $575 million acquisition of Union State Bank Holding Company in January 2008, which added $3 billion in assets and a number of New York branches to Key’s holdings. As of December 31, 2008, Key reported $105 billion in assets, and in addition to a network of 1,478 ATMs Key has just over 980 full service branches in 14 states, with approximately 17,600 employees. On the 2009 Fortune 500 list, Cleveland’s hometown bank came in at No. 382. Business falls into four, well, key groups: consumer banking, which is the nation’s 10th-largest home equity lender; corporate and investment banking; investment management services, which provides a range of asset management, capital markets and investment banking services; and technology, which provides e-banking services to Key’s network of ATMs, branches and websites. In fact, Key was the first nationwide bank to link branch, ATM, phone and online banking transactions to provide instant account information to customers.

Inside the businesses Key Consumer Banking calls itself a “community-focused retail bank,” and to that end, it works in 26 geographic districts nationwide. Individuals and small businesses turn to Key’s retail division for mortgage and home equity loans, education loans, deposit accounts and other traditional banking services. Investment management services are carried out through two subsidiaries, Victory Capital Management (which operates in Cleveland, Cincinnati and New York City, managing the Victory family of mutual funds); and KeyBanc Capital Markets, which provides institutional investors, financial institutions and middle-market corporate clients with capital raising services, strategic advice and customized financial solutions. Last but not least, the corporate and investment banking division provides specialized financing and services through a handful of internal groups. KeyBank Real Estate Capital, as the name implies, provides construction and interim loans, equity and long-term mortgages for most property types nationwide. This group is made up of 450 professionals in 25 offices; on an average year, they finance about $6 billion of commercial real estate. Cash and treasury services are provided by the Key Global Treasury Management Group, which works with international partners and cutting-edge tech systems to help companies control their cash flows and functions. Key Equipment Finance works with everyone from small businesses to large corporations to provide equipment leasing solutions; it also manages an equipment portfolio of approximately $12.6 billion.

IN THE NEWS January 2009: In the red For the fourth quarter of 2008, KeyCorp posted a net loss of $524 million on revenue of $1.05 billion, compared to earnings of $25 million on revenue of $1.24 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. According to the bank, the change in its fortunes had two explanations: first, it was forced to add $594 million to its loan loss reserves because of the tanking economy; and second, an annual review required the bank to restate its balance sheet value, which resulted in an after-tax charge of $420 million. Revenue for the full year 2008 was $3.8 billion, compared to $5 billion the year before, and the loss for the year totaled $1.5 billion (compared to earnings of $919 million in 2007).

January 2009: Shuffle, shuffle As part of its cost-trimming moves, KeyCorp consolidated its Northwest Ohio and Michigan regional districts into one business unit, containing 71 branch offices and 500 employees. James Hoffman, president of the Northwest Ohio region, was tapped to lead the new unit. (According to a press release, Michigan president William Koehler was off to Cleveland to work on “a new corporate initiative.”) On the West Coast, Key shuttered a call center in Tacoma, Wash., eliminating 200 jobs there. However, the bank said 140 of those jobs would be added to its remaining call centers in Cleveland and Buffalo, N.Y., with each center getting 70 new workers.


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December 2008: JPMorgan’s loss is KeyCorp’s gain Former J. P. Morgan chief financial officer Peter Hancock joined forces with Key, becoming vice chair and head of the Key National Banking organization (the umbrella for Key’s corporate finance, capital markets, asset management, investment banking, commercial real estate, cash and risk management services, lease finance and consumer finance businesses).

October 2008: Keep it flowing Key received $2.5 billion under the U.S. Treasury’s troubled asset relief program (TARP), lifting its capital ratio from 12.31 percent to 14.59 percent. It also agreed to lower its prime lending rate from 4.5 percent to 4 percent, and assured worried consumers that despite the frozen credit markets, it was still lending: $5.7 billion in fourth quarter 2008 alone, mostly loans to individuals and small and mid-sized businesses, bringing the bank’s total loan portfolio to $77 billion. KeyCorp Chairman and CEO Henry Meyer had stern words for those who accused banks of dragging their heels in the loan market. “We make money by lending money,” he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “To say we’re not lending would be putting up a ‘for sale’ sign. To not lend money would be crazy.”

September 2008: Key players Citigroup veteran Hugh Donlon joined Key as president of its Northeast region, which includes operations in Maine, Vermont, New York and Florida. Donlon had previously spent 23 years at Citi, rising to become managing director of its U.S. business banking group and leading Citi’s branch expansion program in New Jersey. Based in Key’s Albany, N.Y., office, Donlon will report to KeyCorp vice chair Beth Mooney.

June 2008: Dividend slash In order to fortify its balance sheet, KeyCorp cut its dividend by 50 percent and revealed plans to raise $1.5 billion in fresh capital. Following the announcement, KeyCorp’s stock price fell 24 percent to its lowest level in 17 years.

May 2008: Not immune KeyCorp did not have much exposure to the collateralized debt obligations and mortgage-backed securities that decimated larger national and international banks, but it did have a hefty portfolio of commercial property and construction loans. The credit crisis and slowdown in the real estate market meant serious losses in these loan holdings; Key announced that its uncollectible debts may be 1.3 percent of average total loans—or even more.

GETTING HIRED Bringing 'em in KeyCorp gets leads on employees from recruiters, but it also has a more official means of reeling in potential candidates. KeyCorp conducts four formal college recruiting programs. The analyst program, within the corporate/investment banking division, includes training on financial analysis and rotations in various lines of business, such as portfolio management, global treasury management and commercial banking. Analyst candidates should have a degree in finance or accounting, a 3.3 GPA, relevant internships, strong communication, analytical and interpersonal skills, and knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The finance management associate program focuses on the treasury, finance/planning and forecasting groups, with associates rotating through these departments. Candidates should have a strong background in finance or accounting, relevant internship experience, and strong communication, analytical and interpersonal skills. The corporate and investment banking analyst program focuses on the areas of real estate capital, global treasury management, fixed income, bank capital markets, commercial banking, syndicated finance, equity capital markets, equipment finance and portfolio management. It requires a BA or BS degree in accounting or finance with a minimum GPA of 3.3, strong analytical skills and relevant work or internship experience.

Prepare yourself Once you're in, the first round of questions asked may consist of your “educational background,” “work experience” and “all-around personality.” One interviewee says “you must ask a great deal of your own questions.” During the second interview, expect “more of a focus on seeing if your personality will mix well with the others working there.” If they like what they see (and hear), you'll have a drug test and then "attend two weeks of training.” “The first week of training was standing in another branch for a full week and just watching what everyone was doing,” says one contact. “The second week consisted of computer training and becoming comfortable with the system,” he adds, although “I ended up learning most of what I knew on the job.”

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OUR SURVEY SAYS A bad twist? It seems as though the firm has taken a bit of a turn for the worst lately in terms of the company culture. KeyCorp “is a Cleveland-centric bank,” says one insider. “If you live in Cleveland, you'll love this place—but if you have worked at other firms, you'll hate it.” The investment banking unit is “topheavy, has mediocre relationships and is unable to compete with New York or middle market firms.” Employees also confide that Key “is only able to work with small companies in struggling industries. Their lending teams have poor judgment and are currently stuck with a loan portfolio that will sink the bank.” One insider recommends that potential employees “stay away until the stench goes away.” On one hand, some sources enjoy working at KeyCorp. “This is the best job I've ever had,” enthuses one contact. “It's a great job and a great corporation,” says another. “Key has always been good to its employees,’ adds one insider. “Its philosophy is 'employees are customers, too,' and should be treated well.” Though one respondent calls Key “entrepreneurial,” another says it is “a little too corporate, but the benefits far outweigh the boring banker image.” A few respondents note the accountability standards at the bank, saying there's an expectation of “high performance—always looking for continuous improvement.” Agrees another, “The main thing is what did you do today to increase revenue.” Indeed, some insiders have strong feelings regarding some of the firm's practices. "There is no overtime pay for working Saturdays,” says one. “You are required to take off equivalent time, excluding overtime.” “My branch required employees to be involved with the community which consists of Chamber of Commerce meetings once a month from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., which were required, but completely unpaid—either monetarily or with equivalent time off.” And “you are also required to cover any other branch that is short within a 50 mile radius.”

Depends on who you ask In terms of benefits, the firm offers “good insurance,” “401(k),” “stock options,” “a stock purchase plan,” “great vacation and holiday pay” and “even a pension plan.” And they're “reasonable about reimbursement”—although they're “not a culture to allow pricey expense reporting.” Insiders are generally satisfied with their paychecks, with one source noting that “compensation is directly related to profits earned for the bank, so basically you eat what you kill.” In terms of hours worked in the office, one employee says, “If there is a crisis, you will be expected to give up your lunch hour without pay and overtime is not paid you are given time off.” Although weekly hours “depend on the position,” usually management is “reasonable about flexibility of hours.” Typically, employees work 40 to 60 hours per week, though not in the standard 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. setup. Many employees do put in some time outside of the office. Says one source, “I'm a sales rep and am able to work from home.” Another comments, “I frequently take work home with me, which creates on average an additional five hours of work per week.” And an education finance consultant reports, "I travel a great deal, but it is worth it by allowing me to have a home office."

Professional all around Management types who seek to wreak havoc with underlings don't have a prayer at the firm. “Managers who are abusive will not last long at Key,” warns one insider. “Generally, employees are treated well.” Others say that although managers are “smart,” “organized” and “reasonable,” there's “not much vision or creativity.” There isn't much room for creativity when it comes to the dress code, either, since employees are expected to abide by the ”formal always” rules. “Sometimes it varies by manager, but most will want formal dress,” says one insider. “I'm in the Midwest, and it's a bank. Enough said.” Offices, which mostly consist of a “small cubicle environment,” get mediocre marks from employees. Though “spaces are all reasonable and comfortable,” they're “not exactly first class.”

From all walks of life However, insiders are mostly impressed with the company on the diversity front, calling KeyCorp “very diverse.” “It appears that they do not discriminate on race, age, sexual orientation, etc.” Says one contact, “Some departments are more diverse; my department is heavily Caucasian.” Generally, sources tell us the firm “would probably want more diversity.” But KeyCorp also has employee-led diversity councils and an executive-run board of inclusion. The purpose of the board is to help recruit and retain a diverse workforce. Furthermore, Key partners with various organizations, including the National Black MBA Association, the National Society of Hispanic MBAs and INROADS to help with minority recruiting. Despite Key's efforts, one source still thinks that minorities at Key face a “glass ceiling.” On the other hand, insiders report that “much of upper management is female” and “there are numerous women in very high positions.” “Diversity is very important and valued by the management team,” according to one source. “They invest in diversity initiatives and take it very seriously.”


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LEERINK SWANN LLC 1 Federal St., 37th Floor Boston, MA 02110 Phone: (617) 248-1601; (800) 808-7525 Fax: (617) 918-4900 www.leerink.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

leerink.com/careers.aspx

Canaccord Adams

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Equity Research Institutional Sales & Trading Investment Banking Private & Corporate Client Services Strategic Advisory Services

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company CEO: Jeffrey A. (Jeff) Leerink No. of Employees: 200 No. of Offices: 3

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Good health care shop” • “Never heard of them”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Leerink Swann LLC

THE SCOOP Healthy business Beantown’s Leerink Swann is a specialist boutique that focuses exclusively on the health care industry. The firm was founded by now-CEO Jeff Leerink in 1995; by 1999, it had landed a spot on Inc. magazine’s America’s 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies list. Today, Leerink has offices in Boston, New York and San Francisco; its service lines include equity research, private and corporate client services, institutional sales and trading, strategic advisory and investment banking. Leerink’s investment banking professionals offer services related to mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, private placements and private investments in public equity (PIPE) offerings. Backing the firm’s health care expertise is its MEDACorp network, a brain trust of more than 25,000 physicians, researchers and other health care experts in North America, Europe and Asia. Leerink professionals work closely with MEDACorp members—who are paid consulting fees for their services—to advise the firm’s clients. The network is pitched as an opportunity for members to network with clients’ senior executives and health care industry insiders who have the capability to support clinical trials and other research efforts. To crack down on conflicts of interest—and to maintain its standards for consulting—Leerink regularly audits network members, and denies membership to employees of publicly traded companies and government employees.

Providing it all Leerink Swann Strategic Advisors provides a range of advisory services, working in close collaboration with the firm’s investment banking group; these services include portfolio management and product search processes, like identifying licensing opportunities; corporate strategy development; product and therapeutic area strategy for clinical development, marketing and positioning; and M&A-driven growth and transaction strategies.

A single stake Leerink has been privately held since its inception, but in 2007, it sold a $35 million minority stake to Los Angeles-based private equity firm Lovell Minnick and fellow i-banking boutique March Group. Representatives from both investing firms now sit on Leerink’s board of directors. CEO Jeff Leerink said at the time that the capital would fund expansion efforts, though as of early 2009 the firm has yet to open any additional offices.

IN THE NEWS February 2009: Offerings and advice Leerink was retained by Princeton, N.J., pharmaceutical development company Pharmasset Inc. to serve as sole placement agent for a $455 million registered direct offering of 4.678 million shares.

January 2009: Morgan Stanley’s loss is Leerink’s gain There’s a new executive in the investment banking group at Leerink: William Reiland joined as managing director. In this role, Reiland will be responsible for overseeing originating, structuring and marketing royalty monetizations, as well as mezzanine financings and private equity transactions. Reiland, a 15-year veteran of Morgan Stanley, had most recently worked as managing director of Morgan Stanley’s $3 billion internal private equity investment group. Over the course of his career he’s advised on approximately 70 health care financing transactions worth a collective $25 billion. Reiland reports to David Ogens, senior managing director and head of the investment banking division. Ogens joined in 2005 after a lengthy career at Goldman Sachs.

December 2008: Tops, again For the second year in a row, Leerink took the No. 1 spot in Institutional Investor’s All-America Institutional Sales Team Healthcare Survey of chief investment officers, portfolio managers, buy-side analysts, research directors and other investment professionals. Leerink’s sales team also came in No. 2 in the biotechnology survey category, and the firm’s no stranger to Institutional Investor kudos—for the past seven years it’s been dubbed Best of the Boutiques in multiple health care categories.

December 2008: Advising and placement agent United Therapeutics turned to Leerink for advisory services in conjunction with its $150 million licensing of Tadalafil (better known as Cialis) to Lilly. Leerink took a role as sole placement agent for Momenta Pharmaceuticals $25 million registered direct offering, and served as sole agent for Helicos BioSciences’ $19 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) offering.


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Leerink Swann LLC

October 2008: Strategy shapes up Michael Jenkins, formerly a partner with New York advisory firm Trinsum, was appointed senior managing director and head of Leerink Swann Strategic Advisors. At Trinsum (which was formed by the merger of management consultancy Marakon and financial advisory firm Integrated Finance Limited), Jenkins spent 15 years advising clients in the health care and financial services sectors on issues like strategy development and execution, organizational effectiveness, acquisition evaluation and integration. CEO Jeff Leerink said Jenkins would be integral to plans for building out the strategic advisory practice; his new career came just in time, as Trinsum went belly-up in January 2009.

September 2008: In the deal zone Leerink served as exclusive financial advisor to Cellzome Inc. on its deal to license kinase technology to pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline. Leerink also advised VisiGen on its $75 million sale to Invitrogen Corp.

July 2008: Follow that star Leerink has been advising Seattle’s Northstar Neuroscience, a medical device company that develops therapeutic treatments for neurological injuries and diseases. Northstar received an unsolicited takeover bid from San Diego-based Tang Capital; Leerink was called upon to advise on a defense and to help Northstar evaluate strategic alternatives.

GETTING HIRED Passionate about health care? At www.leerink.com, applicants can search job listings that span a number of divisions. According to the firm, it’s looking for employees with “backgrounds in and passions for medical, scientific and/or business disciplines.” To land a spot as an investment banking associate, candidates should also have “prior experience as a financial analyst in investment banking,” an MBA degree “with outstanding academic credentials,” and “strong financial modeling and analytical skills.” It also doesn’t hurt to be “personable,” “highly motivated,” “energetic” and “capable of managing multiple tasks within a short window of time.” If you don’t think the firm is currently listing your perfect job, Leerink still encourages those who are “passionate about the health care industry” to contact them anyway at [email protected].

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LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC 25 Gresham Street London, EC2V 7HN United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7626 1500 www.lloydsbankinggroup.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Insurance Retail Wealth & International Wholesale

See “our people” at www.lloydsbankinggroup.com

Barclays HSBC Royal Bank of Scotland

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: LYG (NYSE) CEO: Eric Daniels 2008 Revenue: £9.872 billion 2008 Net Income: £807 million* No. of Employees: 140,000 (approx.) No. of Offices: 2,000+ *Statutory profit before tax for Lloyds TSB

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Old school” • “Not a well known North American presence

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Lloyds Banking Group PLC

THE SCOOP Dropping the TSB London-based Lloyds Banking Group operates through four main business units: retail, wholesale, insurance, and wealth and international. Its retail division caters to an estimated 30 million personal customers, operating through brand names such as Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland. The wholesale unit mainly operates through Bank of Scotland in Scotland, and Lloyds TSB in England and Wales, while insurance does business mainly under Scottish Widows. Wealth and international has three main subdivisions: private banking, asset management and international banking; the unit operates under several brand names in more than 36 countries worldwide. Formerly known as Lloyds TSB, Lloyds Banking Group was formed in January 2009 after Lloyds TSB acquired mortgage giant HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland). The previous incarnation of Lloyds was also created from a huge merger. In 1995, Lloyds Bank and TSB Group combined to form Lloyds TSB, then the second-biggest U.K. bank by market cap (after HSBC). Of course, Lloyds can trace its history much further back—it was established as the private bank of Taylors & Lloyds in Birmingham in 1765. Over the next 200 years, the bank grew through mergers and organic expansion to become one of the biggest banks in the U.K. The history of the savings bank movement (where the TSB came from) goes back to 1810 when the Revd Henry Duncan founded the world’s first selfsupporting savings bank in Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire. The savings banks remained local organizations until the 1970s when the banks amalgamated into regional institutions. TSB Group plc was formed in 1986 following flotation on the Stock Exchange. In 1999, four years after Lloyds TSB was created, all TSB and Lloyds Bank branches in England and Wales were rebranded with the identity of the new entity (Lloyds TSB). A year later, the bank paid £7 billion pounds to acquire Scottish Widows, an Edinburgh-based mutual life-assurance company, further strengthening Lloyds TSB’s grip in the U.K. market. Also in 2000, Lloyds TSB established its asset finance division after its £627 million pound purchase of Chartered Trust from Standard Chartered Bank. Lloyds TSB sold its credit card business Goldfish to Morgan Stanley in 2005 for £1 billion pounds and sold its Abbey Life insurance business to German banking giant Deutsche Bank for a cash consideration of £977 million in 2007. Lloyds also made headway in the U.K. banking market when it became the first among its peers to offer Sharia-compliant business accounts. In September 2008, only two days after the infamous fall of Lehman Brothers, it was revealed that Britain’s Lloyds TSB was in takeover talks with HBOS plc; investors became weary of HBOS’s funding capability after the Lehman collapse, sending the U.K.’s largest mortgage lender’s shares plunging. Two months later, the acquisition and participation in the U.K. government’s recapitalization scheme were both agreed upon by Lloyds Banking Group’s shareholders (HBOS shareholders approved of the takeover a few weeks later). The acquisition was officially completed on January 16, 2009, at which point Lloyds TSB changed its name to Lloyds Banking Group.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: A new chairman, and friend of the government Lloyds Banking Group named Winfried F. W. Bischoff, a former chairman of Citigroup and adviser to the British government, to succeed Victor Blank as chairman as of September 15, 2009. Bischoff recently co-chaired a panel that released a report favoring “broad-based banking models.”

May 2009: Permission to claw back Lloyds Banking Group unveiled an executive package that lets the bank claw back a bonus if it decides that the executive did not meet the performance on which the bonus was established. The new remuneration package is made up of one-third salary, one-third annual incentive and one-third longterm incentive. According to Lloyds, the annual incentive award is deferred over three years and subject to claw back if the conditions under which the award is given are not found to be sustainable. And the LTIP (long-term incentive plan) is given in shares over the course of three years. Previously, executive directors had announced that they would not take a bonus for 2008 performance, and base salaries for 2009 were frozen at 2008 levels.

May 2009: Cuts across the board Unite, the union, speculated that Lloyds Banking Group had plans in place to cut 985 jobs throughout the firm. Lloyds Banking Group did not confirm the cuts, but Unite said the layoffs were the result of a company-wide discussion regarding cost-cutting steps in the wake of Lloyds’ acquisition of HBOS. Unite said the layoffs would occur across the company’s banking division, but the timing and location of cuts were not revealed. According to Lloyds, it remains committed to communicating any changes to impacted colleagues and their Union representatives first.

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May 2009: Stepping down Lloyds Banking Group Chairman Victor Blank said he would resign by the firm’s annual general meeting in 2010, a decision that came as the bank faced a tough financial situation after purchasing HBOS in late 2008. Senior Independent Director Lord Alexander Leitch was named as deputy chairman, and the firm began to search for a successor to Blank.

April 2009: Cuts from Clerical Lloyds Banking Group announced that it will combine its Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical divisions, resulting in 305 redundancies in its sales and support teams. Ultimately, Lloyds Banking Group is planning to shutter its Clerical brand, a division the firm acquired when it took over owner HBOS. Lloyds Banking Group announced that under the merger, pension products would be supplied by Scottish Widows, and other onshore and offshore investment products would be offered by Clerical Medical.

March 2009: How to make a lot of money really fast According to press reports, the Lloyds Banking Group was considering putting some of its insurance businesses up for sale. Lloyds had already announced plans to cut costs by £1.5 billion pounds per annum by the end of 2011 (£200 million of which reportedly would result from combining the life insurance and investment businesses of Lloyds TSB and HBOS). Some analysts said it wouldn’t be surprising if Lloyds sold off at least one of its life insurance businesses to repay the government and decrease its shareholding.

March 2009: Scheming Lloyds Banking Group announced that it intended to participate in the U.K. government’s Asset Protection Scheme (APS), an agreement subject to approval by the firm’s shareholders. The proposed scheme, under the terms announced in March 2009, involved the government insuring approximately £260 billion of Lloyds (and HBOS’) higher-risk assets to strengthen Lloyds’ capital position. It also involves Lloyds issuing the government class B shares that will ultimately convert into ordinary shares, increasing the government’s holding in Lloyds to over 60 percent. The announcement followed the release of HBOS posting a £10.8 billion loss for 2008. Lloyds shareholders will be asked to vote on participation in APS, but the final detail of how the scheme will work was still under discussion as of August 2009.

March 2009: More Tier 1 Lloyds announced that it had invited all holders of certain Tier 2 securities to exchange them for senior notes. The exchange of notes would enable Lloyds Banking Group to strengthen its capital base through the creation of additional tier 1 capital. The move was not an out of the ordinary one— the Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS AG had recently offered their bondholders similar deals.

March 2009: Payback time Lloyds announced its intention to replace the £4 billion of HM Treasury preference shares through a placing and compensatory open offer. Lloyds Shareholders were offered the opportunity to participate in the Placing, pro rata to their shareholding, at an offer price of 38.43 pence per share, with HM Treasury underwriting the rump. Following the subscription period, 87 percent of the shares were taken up by ordinary shareholders, with the remaining 13 percent placed on the open market, meaning that the government’s stake in Lloyds remained unchanged at 43.4 per cent. The successful placing also meant that the dividend blocker of the HM Treasury preference shares was removed, allowing Lloyds’ board to recommence dividend payments when market conditions and Lloyds’ financial performance improves.

January 2009: No. 1 gay-friendly firm Lloyds was ranked the No. 1 employer in the U.K. for lesbian, gay and bisexuals by the campaign group Stonewall, which annually ranks the 100 best firms for GLBT people. Lloyds placed first out of a total of 317 businesses surveyed in the latest rankings.

October 2008: The credit crunch At perhaps the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Lloyds announced its intended participation in the government’s recapitalisation scheme, raising a total of £17 billion (Lloyds TSB took £5.5billion, HBOS £11.5 billion). As a result of the recapitalisation and Lloyds’ subsequent placing and open offer to ordinary shareholders and the market, Her Majesty’s Treasury became the owner of 43.4 per cent of Lloyds’ ordinary share capital and £4 billion of its preference shares. Lloyds Banking Group redeemed the £4 billion of preference shares in June 2009 following a placing and compensatory open offer.


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GETTING HIRED Top of its class Lloyds actively recruits new hires from some of the largest and most prestigious universities in the U.K., including Cambridge, Bath, Edinburgh and Durham. Insiders agree it is easier to land a job at Lloyds Banking Group after having a summer internship, but it is far from required, as many current graduates and employees did not complete one. However, those that did join as an intern spoke highly of the experience. One contact says his internship involved working on the management of private banking client’s portfolios, commenting that the work was diverse. The experience, he adds, “certainly helped me in getting back into the organisation, as I knew how the bank operated.” While some insiders maintain that Lloyds is not an overly selective firm, the company say it has an extremely robust selection process that includes a full day at an assessment center. Sources say the interview and selection process is relatively comprehensive, and potential hires are subject to psychometric testing and competency based interviewing. A contact describes his hiring experience as a “very straightforward process.” “There will usually only be one interview for internal candidates,” says another insider. “The number of interviews for external candidates depends on the grade of the appointment.” There are a number of ways to land one of the vacancies that Lloyds has open for graduates. Applications are taken online from September for graduates, industrial placements and interns.

So many options There are a number of different training programs, including a graduate leadership program, a summer vacation internship program and a 12-month industrial placement programme. In the graduate leadership program, you will spend two years developing your technical expertise, leadership and management skills in selected assignments. The program, recently revised, now has a greater emphasis on senior support, giving participants access to a senior manager and a dedicated graduate development specialist. Your career journey will include formal training, one-on-one reviews and placements where you can employ your management capabilities. Some of the placements also include study towards a professional qualification. The specific streams of the program are general management, finance, corporate markets, human resources and IT. Doing well during the 10-week, paid summer internship could see you fast-tracked to the leadership program when you graduate. These programs tend to begin in June, but check the firm’s website for specific dates. The year-long industrial placement program is for those in the penultimate year of college. The program will give you excellent exposure to real work and responsibility in all Lloyds Banking Group’s major business functions. Applications can be filled out online by clicking any of the “apply now” links on the Lloyds Banking Group career pages and completing the online application. Applications for 2010 programs will begin in September 2009, although candidates were able to register their interest from in June. Deadlines for programs vary, so make sure you carefully research the application dates for the program you are applying to.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Think of England On the company culture front, Lloyds “is a very, very English bank—or so it would like to be perceived as such.” Because of this, “it is very, very slow to adapt to change—one proof that it still does not have an investment banking arm.” The company’s employees “behave like wannabe bankers,” says one source. “For example, they will use glorified terms to describe simple situations, but at the end will not have any substance in whatever they were presenting.” Despite the somewhat uneven culture, Lloyds does look poised to endure. “Lloyds survived the collateralized debt obligation backslash only because it did not have the infrastructure and capability to generate more of this product,” explains one contact. In this regard, “Lloyds is a very, very quaint English retail bank in essence, and you go there to work only if you want a career in retail or wholesale banking.”

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M&T BANK One M&T Plaza Buffalo, NY 14203 Phone: (716) 842-4200 Fax: (716) 842-4374 www.mtb.com

KEY COMPETITORS HSBC PNC Financial

UPPERS BUSINESSES Business Banking Commercial Lending Consumer Lending Investment Group Residential Mortgage Retail Banking

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: MTB (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: Robert G. Wilmers 2008 Revenue: $2.9 billion 2008 Net Income: $556 million No. of Employees: 14,500 No. of Offices: 800

• “Very flexible in terms of work hours” • “Tremendous focus on efficiency”

DOWNERS • “Work is needed” for retaining minorities • "Slow to adopt new technologies"

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT www.mtb.com/employment

THE BUZZ


“Decent regional bank” “Behind in technology” “Local reach and commitment” “Who?”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition M&T Bank

THE SCOOP Buffalo’s best M&T Bank has been headquartered in Buffalo, N.Y., since 1856 when the Manufacturers and Traders Bank opened for business. Today, M&T trades on the New York Stock Exchange under its own name and symbol, MTB, which represents its holding company’s current title—M&T Bank Corporation. From its base in Buffalo, M&T has extended its reach through New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. With 800 branches, more than 1,800 ATMs and approximately $70 billion in assets as of June 30, 2009, M&T has become one of the top regional banks in the U.S. M&T offers commercial and retail banking services to individuals, businesses, institutions and governments agencies, and also provides mortgage banking, investment advisory, securities trading, mutual fund sales, brokerage services, asset management, leasing, trust services, community development loans and reinsurance. The company’s philanthropic activities are carried out through the M&T Charitable Foundation.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: Another profitable quarter After completing its acquisition of Baltimore-based Provident Bankshares (M&T’s third-largest acquisition ever) and paying $33 million in special FDIC assessments, M&T Bank Corp. posted a profit for the second quarter of 2009. Even so, M&T’s profit dropped 75 percent versus the same period a year earlier to $40.5 million. Revenue also decreased, falling 68 percent to $51.2 million from the previous year’s same quarter.

January 2009: Hanging tough M&T Bank's results for fiscal 2008 were considerably better than many of its competitors, which were hit hard by the turmoil in the markets crisis. The firm logged a net income of $556 million for the year, down from $654 million in 2007. Net income in the fourth quarter actually increased to $102 million from $65 million during the same period in 2007. Rene Jones, the firm's CFO, said that M&T benefited from a “flight to quality by depositors,” resulting in deposit growth 6 percent for the year (2008 over 2007). Despite the market's credit problems, the bank also experienced a growth of 15 percent in commercial loans and commercial real estate loans during 2008.

December 2008: Play ball? M&T Bank found itself in the midst of controversy regarding the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) when the Congress called out banks that had spent money in order to lend their names to big name sports stadiums. M&T Bank has been the sponsor of the playing field of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens for six years. Other banks which were criticized included Citibank, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, PNC Financial Services Group and Wells Fargo. In a February 2008 interview with Bloomberg.com, Dennis Kucinich, chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, criticized banks that used their TARP money for anything other than lending. He said, “If you are in trouble financially, you don’t worry about putting your name on a baseball stadium. It’s that simple.”

December 2008: Moving into Maryland M&T Bank Corporation expanded its regional reach by acquiring the Maryland-based bank Provident Bankshares Corporation. The acquisition was completed via a stock-for-stock transaction worth approximately $274 million. As a result of the merger, M&T gained Provident's $6.4 billion in assets as well as 143 additional branches and 198 ATMs in the Maryland and Virginia region. The bank also took on $4.3 billion of loans from Provident's loan portfolio and $4.6 billion in deposits, giving M&T the second largest deposit share in Maryland and tripling its presence in Virginia.

November 2008: Taking TARP? A Time magazine article featuring M&T’s logo pointed out that industry analysts feared that if some banks weren’t approved to receive capital under the U.S. government’s TARP program, consumers might “flee the banks, taking deposits and forcing the firms to liquidate or be sold.” The article (“Banks Left Out of TARP Bailout Could Face Extinction”) also pointed out that M&T was making money and “probably” one of the banks that “may not need assistance,” but added that “the consensus is that the TARP program is a good deal, so any firm that decides to opt out may raise concerns among investors and customers.” Ultimately, M&T accepted $600 million under TARP.

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August 2008: Bonds, municipal bonds M&T added 15 municipal bond specialists from the company Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc. to its investment banking group in Baltimore.

July 2008: Northern exposure Though M&T bank is often known as a regional bank, it became an international entity in 2008 when it opened its first non-domestic office. The company announced plans to open a commercial banking office in Ontario to further expand its business beyond the border. M&T Bank hopes to take advantage of the U.S.-Canadian trade relationship, as roughly 30 percent of all of the two countries' trades cross the border in the Buffalo region. John McLeod will be the principal officer for the Canadian office.

July 2008: Bulking up in Baltimore Before M&T Bank acquired Provident, it made a smaller acquisition in the Baltimore area. M&T Securities acquired Peremel & Company, a brokerage business formerly owned by PNC Investments. Peremel had assets of more than $700 million and approximately 6,000 clients at the time of the acquisition. Peremel's employees were added to the team already in place in M&T Securities' Baltimore office.

April 2008: A teachable moment Through its community reinvestment program, M&T participates in the revitalization of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods within its footprint. The program is regulated by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which Congress passed in 1977 to encourage banks to play an active role in local development. M&T provides strategic direction and technical assistance to the communities in which it works, and also provides access to loan products and grants. Since 1982, M&T has earned the Federal Reserve Bank’s highest rating on each of its periodic CRA exams. Employees from the company showed their commitment to the community by taking part in the American Bankers Association Education Foundation's “National Teach Children to Save Day.” M&T deployed employees to 19 schools in three different states in order to participate in the educational program.

GETTING HIRED Plenty of opportunities Recruiters at M&T “look for fit more than anything else,” according to insiders. “The firm is fairly” (or “moderately”) selective for most positions, with the exception of its executive associate program, which is described as “very selective.” M&T seeks candidates at a number of schools, including University of Virginia, University of Maryland, Duke, Harvard, University of Michigan, University at Buffalo, University of Rochester, Georgetown, University of Chicago, Cornell, Penn and Carnegie Mellon. “If your educational background is from a top-tier undergrad school or one of the recruited MBA programs, and your work experience shows loyalty to one employer with substantial experience, the process runs smoothly,” a source says. Adds another, “If you make it out of the initial on-campus interview process, they do a good job of giving you opportunities to interview with multiple groups in multiple locations.”

Do you fit? Don't expect many brainteasers during the M&T recruiting process. "Once you've made it to the interview, there appears to be an understanding that you can do or learn the job," an employee explains. “The interviews were more for personality and fit." Most candidates will go through "a minimum of two rounds of interviews, and typically three or more.” For students, the process begins with "an initial screening interview done on campus where a high-level executive from the bank interviews you." Those who pass that round move on to a second round "in the business area of your choice" for on-site interviews. “On location, you will interview with a minimum of three people from your area of interest,” says a source. “If you choose two potential areas of interest to interview with, you could potentially have three to eight interviews the whole day.” Executive associate applicants may have as many as “12 interviews with various levels of vice presidents within their area of interest,” plus HR. It's “a fairly intimate application process” that focuses heavily on “fit and situational questions.” Each round of interviews involves meeting “the most senior level people in the target division,” with questions like “tell me about a time when you led a team,” “where do you see yourself in five years?” and “describe your background.” Candidates should also “know M&T.” Interviewers might ask recruits to “tell [them] a little bit more about the company.”


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One good option A summer internship at M&T can be a “great opportunity to help secure a full-time position,” insiders say, “but it is not a detriment if you do not intern with the company.” The "summer program is selective,” and “summer employees who do well have first choice of open positions.” But there are “more full-time opportunities than summer internship opportunities, so there's room for many additional hires.” Another source breaks down the numbers: “There are typically 10 to 12 summer executive associates and 25 full-time hires annually.” Still, a former intern says, “there is no better way to determine mutual fit than to work somewhere for 10 or 12 weeks before making a full-time commitment.” Another agrees, saying, “It allows you to better assess M&T and vice versa. You are a known entity so that will give you much more visibility and access in the hiring process.” A current insider who interned recently notes, ”got paid roughly $18,000 for 10 weeks of work or so. The internship was in Buffalo, so those wages were much better than one would get in New York City on a relative basis.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Sense of pride The M&T culture is “collegial, with a strong sense of pride in the company.” Respondents call their bank “very down-to-earth,” even “old-school” and “pragmatic, with tremendous focus on efficiency.” The corporate headquarters “takes on the almost-Midwestern personality that is prevalent in Buffalo.” In other words, this can mean a “conservative and traditional" feel, though “people are generally pretty nice,” especially at company headquarters. “Other locations have more fragmented cultures,” a source reports. Another describes the bank as being distinctly divided between “Western New York and the Mid-Atlantic.” M&T's middle-of-the-road size is a benefit for some. “I like the size of the company,” one insider explains. “I felt it was big but not too big, and that I would have a lot of responsibility and visibility right away.” The firm is "data-driven,” and “analysis is important to all decisions.” The result is “lots of committees—very few decisions are made by a single executive.” The conservative business model is “slow to adopt new technologies” and “cautious” when it comes to capital spending. Many insiders wish M&T was willing to “invest in better technology to lessen the administrative and sometimes very manual burdens on employees.” Others say that “management should do a better job of explaining how officer promotions work, outlining the key objectives an employee needs to meet in order to move to the next level.”

Lots of access Unlike some larger firms, M&T offers “great visibility to senior management.” One source says, “I'm on a first-name basis with two of the three top executives at the bank, and have excellent access and relationship with the head of the investment banking division.” “I work very closely with one of the executive VPs,” says another contact. “Despite a wide difference in tenure and rank, I am treated like an equal. My input is requested and listened to.” However, some extraneous layers of bureaucracy can mean that it's “tough for managers to get things done.” If there are any complaints about management, it's that there can be “generational differences-management sticks to tried-and-true ways.” M&T's training doesn't get very high marks: "Once you are done with the orientation process, additional training is few and far between,” an insider complains. “It is tough to learn in a vacuum.” Another says that “openness to training would be useful.”

Fair and flexible M&T's corporate culture “places a priority on getting the job done but is very flexible in terms of work hours,” sources say. “People stay late to finish important projects, but late nights are not the norm,” an insider adds, although some people use evening hours “to entertain clients or network.” A senior associate says, “On a relative basis, compared to peers on the Street, the working hours at M&T are fantastic, with no 'face time' requirements." Most employees report averaging 40 to 50 hours a week—”at times more, but generally hours are very manageable.” There's a lot of flexibility to work from home on the weekends," notes one insider. Overall, “work/life balance does not seem to be a problem.” Company perks include a “mortgage discount,” “banking services discounts and discounts at major retailers.” There's also an employee stock purchase program, though one source notes that M&T's stock “isn't doing so well" lately. Several locations provide “new mothers nursing facilities” and “gyms,” and some sources report a “generous signing bonus and relocation allowance.” The executive associate program carries its own benefits. One source explains, “Upon promotion to assistant vice president, those who come in via the EA program usually receive stock options.” As for base pay, insiders say that “MBA pay is high by M&T standards but not high for MBAs.”

Lagging behind Cutting-edge isn't the phrase insiders use to describe M&T's physical infrastructure. “Systems are older, more antiquated,” and the décor is classic “bland cubicles,” sources say. “M&T doesn't like to invest in depreciating assets, so office equipment can be dated,” another source agrees. Besides furniture woes, many M&Ters wish the firm had better tech. “I think we're behind our peers in technology investment, both internal and customer-

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facing systems,” one source opines. “I'm not saying we should 'open our wallets,' but I think there's room for improvement here.” As for the dress code, "relationship managers usually dress formally. If you're in other parts of the bank, business casual is the norm. No jeans allowed, though."

Suggested improvements M&T's “intentions are good” when it comes to diversity, but “work is needed on retention” of minority employees. “The bank has recently started a women's networking group for MBA hires to increase advancement of women, which is a good start,” one contact says. Oftentimes “MBAs are given a same-sex mentor. I think there are opportunities for women, but at the same time, much of the upper levels are comprised of white men.” Another source thinks M&T could improve matters by “increasing recruitment efforts” at prestigious national conferences like “the National Hispanic MBA Association and the National Black MBA Association.”


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MCGLADREY CAPITAL MARKETS LLC 575 Anton Boulevard, 11th Floor Costa Mesa, CA 92626 Phone: (714) 327-8800 Fax: (714) 327-8850 www.mcgladreycm.com

BUSINESSES Capital Raising Divestitures Fairness Opinions Mergers & Acquisitions Recapitalizations Restructurings

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of a Public Company President: Hector J. Cuellar No. of Employees: 90 No. of Offices: 4

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KEY COMPETITORS Houlihan Lokey Jefferies RBC Capital Markets William Blair

UPPERS • "Close-knit" crew • “Great management support”

DOWNERS • “No formal training program” • “It's like a frat house—boys only”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” under “about us” at www.mcgladreycm.com


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition McGladrey Capital Markets LLC

THE SCOOP By any other name RSM EquiCo officially became McGladrey Capital Markets on September 29, 2008. The investment bank's name change was the culmination of a four year transformation period during which president Hector J. Cuellar worked to develop RSM EquiCo into an internationally recognized force in the world of investment banking. Cuellar said that the bank also “recognized the need to develop industry specialization, expand beyond our exclusive focus on sell-side mergers and acquisitions” and that the changes have been successful beyond expectations. “The evolution of our business has been so impactful we felt a name change was in order,” Cuellar concluded. The name change also represents a closer relationship with the bank's parent company RSM McGladrey, Inc., which is a member firm of RSM International and a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of tax giant H&R Block. McGladrey Capital Markets is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., with additional offices in Chicago, Boston and London.

Sectors and deals McGladrey Capital Markets caters to privately-owned mid-market businesses and mid-cap public companies, offering services like M&A and divestiture advisory, capital raising, fairness opinions, recapitalizations and restructurings. The firm is a registered broker-dealer and provides global investment banking services with an emphasis on the North American middle market. Business at McGladrey Capital Markets covers a number of industries, including aerospace and defense, basic industries, business services, chemical, energy services, engineering, construction and building materials, food and beverage, global financial services, government services, health care, recreation and leisure, rubber and plastics, technology, and media, entertainment and gaming.

Boost in private equity Nearly 46 percent of McGladrey's deals involve private equity firms. That's why the company has a devoted private equity focus team which deals exclusively with the firm's PE clients. The attention to the industry paid off in 2008. In its year-end report, McGladrey reported that it had increased its private equity group clients fourfold.

IN THE NEWS January 2009: Key negotiations McGladrey kicked off 2009 with a deal in the aerospace and aviation sectors it led negotiations and acted as financial advisor to Helicomb, a military aircraft manufacturer that was acquired by Synchronous Aerospace.

January 2009: Keeping on chart for success McGladrey continued its ascent up the league tables in 2008, despite market circumstances that caused a 30.4 decline overall in worldwide M&A advisory for the year. The firm was ranked No. 14 in U.S. M&A deal volume, according to FactSet Mergerstat's charts, and finished second for deals under $250 million. The firm performed especially well in consumer products, chemicals, and plastics and advanced materials, ranking first in each category for deals under $250 million. Overall, the firm completed 45 deals worth a total of $1.51 billion.

December 2008: Cooking up a deal The firm worked on a deal between its client Tom Cat Bakery, a New York City bread maker acquired by Ancor Capital Partners and Merit Capital Partners. McGladrey also acted as exclusive financial advisor to the Japanese company Saiden Chemical Industry, acquired by the Canadian firm Halltech Inc.

July 2008: Aviation actions McGladrey Capital Markets stepped into government affairs to address problems in the aerospace and airline industry. Hector Cuellar, president of McGladrey, spoke publicly about the problems in the airline industry for the first time at the Farnborough International Airshow in England. Cuellar called U.S. officials, saying “Government action is long overdue. Congress must act promptly to prevent further industry deterioration and the corresponding deleterious effects on the nation.” Cuellar has good reason to be interested in the affairs of the airline industry. The sector provides significant income for the company and Cuellar himself has been involved in several aviation reorganizations. He also has been an expert witness in the bankruptcy proceedings of marquee names such as


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MarkAir and United Airlines. He suggested a government intervention which would re-write regulation laws regarding pricing structure, labor policies, and bankruptcy laws in order to save the failing industry.

June 2008: Engineering a sale McGladrey advised Numet Engineering on its sale to ODIM Inc., a transaction valued at approximately $21 million. The company led the negotiations and acted as advisor to DesignPac on their sale to 1-800-FLOWERS.COM for $38.25 million.

May 2008: Pumping it out McGladrey initiated a $150 million purchase of oil pump manufacturer Concentric to Haldex AB. In addition to leading the negotiations, the firm also acted as Haldex’s advisor.

May 2008: Restructuring business McGladrey expanded its business by adding a restructuring division to its investment banking team. The bank seeks to take advantage of a struggling economy by offering expert advice to middle-market firms that have underperforming assets or are in financial straits. McGladrey's new team promised to “work with both debtors and creditors to develop tailored solutions suitable for virtually any financial or operating situation.” The new practice will be managed by Jay Sherwood. Sherwood said that restructuring is a perfect offering for the company at this time as “capital market shifts and economic turbulence can challenge even the best run companies.”

February 2008: Latino leadership Hector Cuellar earned accolades from Latino Leaders magazine in 2008 when he was named one of the Top 25 Latinos in Finance. The list tracks the accomplishments of Latinos the business world and includes top executives at businesses such as Bank of America and CalPERS. Cuellar's leadership has been impressive over his four years as president of McGladrey Capital Markets. During his tenure as president, the company has completed more than 150 M&A transactions, tripled its average deal size, and nearly doubled its number of cross-border transactions.

GETTING HIRED Be prepared to show your stuff McGladrey Capital Markets looks for “individuals with investment banking or other financial services experience.” The firm can be “very picky regarding experience within the industry,” requiring people to have “essential experience in accounting, market research and sales.” Also, “it's big on cultural fit.” Although it can “help to know someone on the inside," some still “fight tooth and nail to get a foot in the door.” According to one insider, “McGladrey looks for slightly different skill sets in the junior staff than most bulge brackets. Hard skills like modeling are less emphasized, while the ability to interact with clients and buyers seems to be more important.” On the VP level, McGladrey looks for “people who can both execute and originate.” The firm looks for "proven producers for senior level positions and motivated individuals at the junior level.” Since McGladrey’s headquarters are in Southern California, “two big alma maters are USC and UCLA.” But your school colors don't matter much, since the firm “does not recruit on campus.” RSM hires “primarily through references, headhunters and internet job postings.” The firm also places “ads in the newspaper” and on online job boards. McGladrey counts on “other investment banks” and ”Internal references” for talent.

Meeting the team The interview process varies by position. Many candidates receive "numerous callbacks" and will meet with a variety of people from “analysts all the way up to the president.” One contact recalls three rounds of interviews: “one informal one with the head of my office, another one with the head of the firm and a half-day interview with three different people.” The firm has "a team approach to hiring,” with candidates typically “rotating among about seven or eight people.” Each meeting is "roughly an hour.” To “build consensus,” sometimes the firm will introduce the candidate to “up to 10 people.” Interviews with senior management tend to be "relationship-based." Some say questions are “all over the place in regards to fit and industry specific topics.” Candidates with no prior banking experience are “not asked anything too detailed.” Many are asked about “educational and work background,” as well as "current events in financial markets and M&A.” All interviews seek to assess “both on personality and technical knowledge.”

Ad hoc internships McGladrey offers internships, but “on an unofficial basis.” The program is essentially “ad hoc hiring based on who someone may know at the firm.” The roles are often filled by “children of top executives.” For this reason, participation is “not critical, but it certainly helps with future employment.” Interns “prepare presentations and marketing documents, and potential lists of targets.” It can be an “important opportunity to gain real-life experience

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in this environment.” A contact says, “An internship helps you get hired full time only if you go into it knowing modeling and financial analysis, research and Excel. It's not a good training ground for those unfamiliar with finance.” Some feel the program offers “no advantage over non-intern applicants.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Down a notch in intensity McGladrey is an “entrepreneurial” firm with “open-door policies” and “Wall Street-level professionalism.” The “boutique environment” is one in which analysts “take on a variety of projects spanning several different industries.” They also “engage with C-level executives at great companies.” The firm is "small enough to where an individual can make a difference.” McGladrey’s “close-knit” crew "supports each other to drive towards goals.” At this "collegial" firm, “there is a solid work/life balance," and "quality, consistency and diligence are very important.” There is a “lack of obvious silos,” and much “openness throughout the ranks.” Though there is “not quite the intensity of large bulge bracket firms,” bankers are still “competitive.” Advancement is “very meritocracy-based,” and there is “a high degree of responsibility placed on junior and midlevel staff.” In fact, “senior leadership encourages voicing differences in opinion, and encourages employees to actively manage their own careers by making offers to supervisors regarding advancement.” At times, “success is harder earned than it should be,” but the consensus is that McGladrey is an “easygoing firm compared to the rest of investment banking,” which creates a "very positive working environment.” Some say it can feel "very top heavy.”

Not cutting it Although “compensation is meritocracy,” most McGladrey insiders are not happy with their pay packages. “Pay is subpar compared to other banks.” Most feel as though the “pay needs to be improved in order to keep and attract quality talent.” Bonuses are “tied to deal fees once you are expected to help generate fee income.” This can be "quite discouraging” if your deals don't close, because it feels as though there is a “disconnect between bonus and effort.” A contact says, "The comp structure at the associate level does not work. It seems unfair to link compensation to deals closed when the associate has less direct impact on whether a deal closes than the VP running things.” Bottom line: “If you want to get rich and retire at 35, this isn't the place to do it.” Besides not being thrilled about the bonus structure, McGladrey employees “aren't offered much” in the way of perks. There is a “less than enticing” employee stock purchase program through which employees get a 10 percent discount on the parent company's stock. The firm offers “discounts at local gyms” and has a “free gym in the building.” Meals can be ordered after 7 p.m. on your company card, and bankers can take advantage of “garage parking” and “education reimbursement.”

Flexible, if you earn it Some McGladrey bankers “work long hours,” but most agree that they are “not as bad as at bulge bracket firms.” Hours fluctuate “based on how many deals you have on your plate,” but typically, “people leave around 6 or 7 p.m.,” which is “very early by investment banking standards.” There is a “reasonable amount of pressure to produce," but there is “absolutely no pressure for face time,” and “the firm is pretty accommodating if you need to take off early here and there.” What's more, bankers rarely come into the office on weekends, although coming in “does score you points with any senior bankers who happen to come in over the weekend.” “Most weekends are spent doing some type of work from home,” because McGladrey offers employees that “flexibility.” In fact, there is “no real need to even stay too late during the week if you bring your laptop home.” This kind of flexibility is granted on the assumption that "the work gets done.” A contact says, “If you want to take advantage of your flexible schedule, you must deliver quality and on-time work.”

Most managers score high McGladrey “tries hard to grow its young bankers.” As such, the firm's "senior leadership listens and tries to do the right thing.” Junior bankers enjoy "excellent management support and mentorship.” A contact says, "Coming from a larger firm, it's nice having constant interactions with my managers. I feel like I can go to them with any questions at any time.” And “VPs and MDs are very respectful and mindful of your workload.” There are, of course, exceptions. “Some managers are arrogant know-it-alls who merely want you to do their bidding,” yet others “value outside opinion and try to give you input on deals.” Sometimes there is “favoritism,” and “some people are held to a much higher level of accountability than others.” But overall, although “managers can be demanding,” they are “open for questions and available to help,” and most subordinates enjoy “excellent collaboration” with their superiors.

Fend for yourself McGladrey has “no formal training program,” which is why the firm tends to “stay away from folks directly out of undergrad.” One source says, “Since there is no class of analysts and associates that start at the firm, we don't really have a focused and coherent training program. It's really more learnas-you-go.” The firm does offer “ad hoc training sessions on various topics,” but most insiders say, “Training is not a strongpoint of the firm.” This


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makes it “pretty tough to be successful without prior experience.” Especially since “no one goes out of their way to make sure you know what you need.” Training is “becoming more formalized,” although it's “still rudimentary” and “nothing that actually helps you learn M&A.”

Comfy about sums it up McGladrey's offices are “not uncomfortable, but definitely not luxurious.” They “could use some enhancements.” Insiders say it'd be nice if the facilities were “less suburban-like,” with “more art and upgraded hardware.” Bankers work from "pretty standard cubes" in the firm's “modern offices” in Southern California. The typical dress code at McGladrey is "suits minus ties.” On “Fridays and "short days preceding holidays,” some people wear jeans or “short sleeve polos.” The rule of thumb is to "dress professionally when the time or situation calls for it,” which normally means "suits for clients.” Things are sometimes “a little more formal in the Costa Mesa headquarters.”

The skinny on diversity McGladrey gets mixed marks on diversity. Although “the firm is trying” when it comes to improving the number of female employees, McGladrey is a “typical male-dominant environment.” Others say, “The percentage of women in the firm reflects the ratio of women who want to focus their careers on investment banking." McGladrey has "a handful of female employees,” and "several in high places.” There is "no bias or discrimination toward women, only toward those who do not have or want to acquire what it takes to succeed in a challenging environment.” When it comes to ethnic minorities, the firm “does not discriminate.” There is “lots of ethnic diversity.” You can find “employees of all ethnicities” at McGladrey. “It is definitely not all white men working here,” although an insider points out, “There are lots of Republicans.” That doesn't seem to scare away gay and lesbian employees. The firm has numerous homosexuals,” and insiders say, “It's never been a problem for them or any of their colleagues.” A contact adds, “The overwhelming amount of people who work here would not care about a person's sexual preferences, and if they did, they wouldn't show it at work."

Running the gamut “For what I make, the hours are not too bad,” admits one senior analyst, adding, “On average, I'm out of here by 7 p.m. or so and I do not have to typically come in on weekends. As long as they stay this way, I'm fine.” Another insider says “It could be worse in terms of hours.” Many insiders report working anywhere from 40 to 70 hours a week. One contact who says he is “on the road most of the time,” working “60 hours a week voluntarily,” adds, “I enjoy this.” Plus, there's “not a whole lot of face time needed in my office. If you get your work done in a timely manner and it is of good quality, you aren't expected to be in the office until late in the evening every day.” But there's usually an ebb and flow—”work hours vary depending on the need of the projects being worked on.”

Mismatched management? The “great management support is very much appreciated,” says one insider. Another says “we have experienced managers that have been there and know how difficult the job is.” But again, insiders report a wide variety of experiences within the firm. Some say there is “no respect from managers” and also “management through intimidation.” It may just be a pattern of unevenness. “Some vice presidents and managing directors are great to work with, while others are terrible,” says one contact.

Time for a cleanup “Small cubes” in offices that are “under construction” may be the least of the firm's problems. One contact working in the Chicago office says “the building is nice” but “the office is a dump that's way too crowded.” But it's not all bad—one source working in Southern California says the offices were “just remodeled” and are “very professional” in a “great location.”

Change of clothes The firm's dress code has undergone a few changes lately—it “used to be formal always” before changing sometime in 2006 to business casual dress (with casual Fridays). Although contact with clients requires kicking up the apparel choices a notch or two, “most of the companies are very small” and “suits are rarely required.” On casual Fridays, “Dockers and golf shirts” are a perfectly acceptable choice of attire.

Be your own teacher In regards to training, insiders describe McGladrey's philosophy as “pretty much learn on the job” and “sink or swim.” “There is no formal training program,” grumbles one source. But the firm also has a tendency to “hire mostly trained people” One insider who reports getting some initial training calls it “good” but adds, “I'd like to see other areas covered in training,” even though “time restraints may not allow it.”

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Could aim for more McGladrey's diversity with respect to women is “very good,” but even though “there are successful women here,” it could be substantially better. One female insider paints a blunt picture of the culture: “It's like a frat house—boys only—unless you are super pretty or willing to flash a bit of flesh.” In terms of ethnic diversity, “There are successful minorities here,” says one insider. Others say the firm “seems quite diverse” and “the door is open to qualified prospects.” Still, the firm could improve their methods for tracking down diverse candidates, insiders say. “The opportunity to attract and retain women and minorities could be accomplished better by targeting specific vertical recruiting methods geared towards locating women with strong personalities and higher educated minorities,” one insider says. The firm's reception of gays and lesbians receives high marks as well. Although several insiders say they do not know who is gay within the firm, one respondent notes, “It's never been an issue.”


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PNC FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP, INC. One PNC Plaza 249 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222-2707 Phone: (412) 762-2000 Fax: (412) 762-7829 www.pnc.com

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America TD Bank Wells Fargo

UPPERS BUSINESSES Asset Management Corporate & Institutional Banking PNC Global Investment Servicing Retail Banking

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: PNC (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: James E. Rohr 2008 Revenue: $7.1 billion 2008 Net Income: $882 million No. of Employees: 59,595 No. of Offices: 2,700

• “Collegial environment” • "People are friendly”

DOWNERS • Some managers "don't want to delegate or offer feedback” • Offices "need a little updating"

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” under “About PNC” section of www.pnc.com

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Strong super-regional” • “Past its prime” • “Addresses the consumers needs; constantly evolving and advancing” • “Stodgy bank”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.

THE SCOOP Strong as steel The Pittsburgh Trust & Savings Company was founded in 1852, making it that city’s oldest bank. After a century of growth and mergers, PT&S was known as the Pittsburgh National Bank and played an important role in the growth of Pittsburgh industry. In 1982, Pennsylvania rewrote its banking laws to permit statewide banking; Pittsburgh National joined with Provident National in what was, at the time, the biggest bank merger in U.S. history. The convenience of the two entities’ shared initials made naming easy, giving birth to PNC Financial Corporation. Four years later, the bank stepped outside state borders, merging with Kentucky-based Citizens Fidelity. In the 1990s, PNC spread across its home state and advanced into Ohio, Kentucky and New Jersey. A number of strategic acquisitions brought PNC’s business to Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia. In 2005, it added Harris Williams, a leading middle-market M&A advisor, as a wholly owned PNC subsidiary. Harris Williams, named Middle Market Investment Bank of the Year by Investment Dealer’s Digest in January 2008, operates from its own offices in Richmond, Va.; Boston; San Francisco; Philadelphia; and Minneapolis. In 2008, PNC acquired rival bank National City Corp for $5.2 billion.

Weathering the storm PNC Financial Services suffered setbacks in 2008 but seemed ultimately to emerge ahead of its rivals. The bank received $7.6 billion in government assistance, which it used in part to buy rival National City Corporation—a purchase that further enhanced PNC’s geographic reach and capital base. The firm did shed jobs in 2008 and early 2009, to reduce redundancies as a result of its acquisition of National City and as a result of losses sustained during the fourth quarter of 2008. But, unlike so many other financial institutions, the Pittsburgh-based powerhouse wound up 2008 in the black. By the end of 2008, PNC held assets of $291 billion with total deposits of $193 billion. Its retail banking division serves over 6 million individual and small business clients. Also included in retail banking is a wealth management group. The PNC corporate and institutional banking division includes asset-based lending, real estate lending and financing, credit, treasury management and capital markets products and services aimed at the middle market. Its PNC Global Investment Servicing division (formerly known as PFPC) oversees $2.3 trillion in total assets and provides processing, technology and business solutions to the global investment industry. PNC’s asset management division is handled by its 34 percent stake in BlackRock, one of America’s largest publicly traded investment management firms with $1.31 trillion in managed assets.

Well regarded in many circles Since 2004, PNC has been named one of Training Magazine’s Top 100 Companies for Employee Training. In 2007, the bank also was ranked among Fortune’s Most Admired Companies and made the BusinessWeek 50. DiversityInc included PNC on its 2008 list of 25 Noteworthy Companies, while Working Mother has included PNC on its list of 100 Best Companies for working mothers every year since 2003. In 2008, BusinessWeek called it one of the Best Places to Launch a Career, while Fortune named it among its Most Admired Companies. Finally, in 2008 CRO magazine ranked it at No. 37 among the 100 Best Corporate Citizens—and third-best among all banks.

The green giant PNC has been called “the green giant” in the banking world—since 1997, it has built 40 environmentally friendly buildings, all in accordance with U.S. Green Building Council standards, more than any other bank. All new PNC branches are built to green standards, which are based on site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. PNC reaps savings from environmentally friendly construction, thanks to more efficient lighting systems, heating units and windows. In addition to saving on electricity, gas and water costs, PNC says that employees who work in green offices are more productive and less likely to leave the bank for another job. For its commitment to green buildings, the Allegheny Group of the Sierra Club awarded it an Exemplary Corporate Citizen Award in 2007.

IN THE NEWS May 2009: Raising capital PNC Financial Services said it raised $600 million of common equity by selling off 15 million common shares. The lender was told by the U.S. government that it needed to raise the capital after undergoing a mandatory financial “stress test.” PNC confirmed the sale just a few weeks after it said that it planned for a stock market offering. Along with PNC, nine other U.S. banks were told by the government that they needed to raise a collective $74.6 billion in capital.


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February 2009: Fallout from disappointment Following disappointing results from the fourth quarter of 2008, PNC announced it would slash 5,800 jobs, the Los Angeles Times reported. About 500 of these will come from 61 branches in Western Pennsylvania, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Layoffs should be completed by 2011.

February 2009: Mixed results For 2008, PNC reported net income of $882 million, down from $1.47 billion a year earlier. The company was quick to point out that, if not for the cost of acquiring National City Corporation, net income would have been $1.3 billion. Spread over the year, those results reflect uneven returns. In the first quarter the firm posted $377 million in net income, down about $80 million from the same period a year earlier. Its high point came in the second quarter, with net income of $505 million—an improvement on the $377 million it posted during the same period in 2007. In the third quarter of 2008 it earned $248 million, returns that were off by some $159 million from the third quarter a year earlier. But the real sting came in the fourth quarter of 2008, when the firm posted a net loss of $248 million, compared with net income of $178 million from the same period a year earlier.

December 2008: A government injection PNC Financial Bank benefitted from the sale of $7.6 billion of stocks and warrants to the U.S. Treasury. In a statement, the bank acknowledged that its $5.2 billion purchase of rival National City Corporation would not have been possible without government funds. But The New York Times spun the sale in a different light; Treasury officials “prodded” the bank into acquiring National City, the paper said.

December 2008: New president at investment servicing unit Nancy B. Wolcott was named president of PNC Global Investment Servicing. Wolcott was previously executive vice president and COO of global investment servicing.

December 2008: Boon vs. boondoggle PNC Financial’s acquisition of the Cleveland-based National City Corporation officially closed on New Year’s Eve 2008. According to The New York Times, National City “has long been a traditional lender in slow-growing states like Ohio and Michigan, and undertook a disastrous adventure into Florida near the height of the housing market.” The bank was the first of its kind to reopen in Cleveland following the Great Depression. It was hit especially hard by losses stemming from subprime mortgages; according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, it lost $6 billion in 2007. The New York Times reported that, prior to its acquisition, National City had sought government bailout money; the government rejected its application. As part of the deal, PNC said that it will begin converting National City branches in the second half of 2009. National City stock was also removed from the New York Stock Exchange. Finally, National City chairman, president and CEO Peter E. Raskind was named PNC vice chairman; one director of National City joined the PNC board. The sale cost PNC $5.2 billion, something of a deal; the deal, priced at $2.23 per share, was nearly 19 percent below National City stock’s closing price. As such, the Times called the acquisition a “take-under.” Indeed, some within the industry wondered at the sale. “In our opinion, NCC was in essence forced into finding an acquirer at a panic price,” Kevin St. Pierre, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, told Reuters. He called the deal a “boon” for PNC shareholders and a “boondoggle” for NCC shareholders. Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz said, “It is possible there was a change in management’s outlook or a push from the government, though we have no confirmation of either scenario.”

October 2008: Imminent cuts About 4,000 National City jobs were cut following the announcement of the acquisition of the firm, the Times said, speculating that “overlap between National City and PNC could mean the elimination of thousands more.” The acquisition brought PNC’s core deposit base to $180 billion, making it the fifth-largest U.S. bank by deposits. “At a time when core funding is key, we see our deposit strength as an important success factor,” said CEO James E. Rohr. The purchase also makes PNC fourth among U.S. banks in number of branches. J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and Sandler O’Neill + Partners served as financial advisers to PNC, while Goldman Sachs was financial adviser to National City.

June 2008: We didn’t go to Harvard PNC Financial Services was one of a number of financial institutions—among them JPMorgan Chase and SunTrust—to cut back loans to less-selective four-year colleges, for-profit educational institutions and community colleges. The trend does not bode well for “the nation’s neediest students,” said

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The New York Times. “The difficulty borrowing may deter them from attending school or prompt them to take a semester off. When they get student loans, they will wind up with less attractive terms and may run a greater risk of default if they have to switch lenders in the middle of their college years,” the Times said.

February 2008: Taking it to the Poles PNC Financial Services’ affiliate PFPC (now known as PNC Global Investment Servicing) opened an office in Wroclaw, Poland. The office complements PFPC’s expansion into the European investment industry; it already has offices in Dublin, Navan and Wexford, Ireland, and in Luxembourg.

GETTING HIRED Get close Some insiders think Pittsburgh-based PNC “can't be as selective as a firm in New York"”simply because of its location. Others think the firm is “very selective,” and a corporate finance analyst believes “some lines of business are more difficult to be hired into than others.” “Selectivity is fairly high,” says another source, “although you can set yourself apart by building close relationships with the recruiters.” Candidates who “graduate from a well-known school” in PNC's footprint are said to have an advantage. Recruiting takes place on a number of campuses, including University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown and Hampton. “The firm goes as far west as Notre Dame and maybe the University of Michigan,” adds an insider. “It goes as far south as Atlanta.”

Screening them out PNC's booths at campus career fairs “serve as a screening process,” and “follow-up interviews are conducted on campus.” Second-round interviews are held at PNC's headquarters in Pittsburgh. “PNC will take care of your housing and transportation arrangements,” an analyst says. “I was driven in a private car from the airport to the hotel, put up in a luxurious hotel, and was driven to the airport after my interviews ended around 4 p.m. on the following day,” recalls one respondent. On the interview front, “the mood of the interview depends on the personality of the manager.” But there are a few consistencies in the process— expect at least “four interviews” that may take place with “human resources” and managers from different departments. For one investment banking analyst, the process lasted “four or five hours.” “I met with all my current team members,” he says, “and the questions were mostly behavioral.” Specifically, PNC is looking for evidence of “leadership and teamwork,” as well as “times you have succeeded, how you responded to a failure, a time when you took initiative and most importantly, a time when your integrity was tested.” They may also ask “about your flexibility in relation to the type of work environment and work to be done, such as mundane tasks or projects.” One respondent recalls that “the only interview question that I can and will always remember is ‘what would I like written on my tombstone?’” And watch out for this last one, warns a credit analyst. “Do not talk about a time when you wanted to a cheat on a test or told on someone who cheated, that's not what they're looking for. They want to know how you will respond, even under pressure, to make sure your personal ethics are not easily thrown away.” After completing the interview process, most candidates "can expect to be contacted within a month regarding the decision.” Though, this isn’t always the case. One insider recalls that his “first interview was an exploratory one—one year from my actual hire date.” He explains, “When an opening appropriate for my level became available, I was interviewed by the hiring manager and received an offer within a week.”

Enter the pipeline Internships at PNC mean “real work with real deadlines,” plus related “networking opportunities” with employees and executives. A former intern in Pittsburgh adds, “We also fielded one of the fiercest kickball teams in the city.” “The internship experience exceeded all of my expectations,” a current analyst says. “The work I did was primarily research and analytics, in combination with systems testing and report writing. The internship proved extremely helpful in getting hired full time. My current job is an extension of my intern responsibilities.” Agrees another analyst, “I found it easier to get hired in my particular position because my resume was floating around.” In fact, some say the internship program “is designed to be a direct pipeline into the organization.” In addition to cash, former interns report receiving “free housing as well.” Many appreciate the weekly firmwide intern activities designed “to build camaraderie and learn more about other areas of the bank.” PNC also works with “other local companies” to arrange “after-work functions with interns all over Pittsburgh.” Throughout the firm, PNC interns' work involves “various projects" that “range in difficulty”—but never “mindless busy work.” Several people who took part in the internship program during college say they returned to campus as seniors with a job offer already in hand.


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OUR SURVEY SAYS Ask and you shall receive It’s a “collegial environment” over at PNC. “When I began at the company, I asked a lot of questions and not once was there any hesitation or reluctance to help me exceed,” explains one analyst. The culture is one of “open communication,” insiders say. Others say PNC's ”corporate culture is very conservative,” though insiders generally say that “people are very nice and welcoming.” “The company operates from a core set of values, and every employee is evaluated on how well they live the values,” notes one PNC insider. Indeed, there's “a focus on producing exceptional work,” but employees still “have fun.” The firm's emphasis on "teamwork and community" means cordial relationships with "peers, managers, and even the security at the front desk." “I would characterize our culture as very un-bureaucratic,” an analyst says. “Just about everyone's door is always open.” “It's a low-stress environment,” another source agrees. Most find that PNC is “a great learning experience" because “people are friendly and always willing to answer questions and help with problems that may arise.” Despite the “hardworking” atmosphere, “most employees are laid-back.” And “every employee has a voice and is encouraged to get involved.” Diversity at the firm is supported by members of an employee resource group “who meet and offer their suggestions to the CEO.” One woman says that “at least some of their recommendations are implemented” annually. Others say that there are “a lot of women in managerial, senior or executive positions throughout the bank,” and one source points out that PNC “provides benefits for domestic partners.” However, in terms of ethnic minorities, a few respondents say that the firm "doesn't seem to be very diverse.” A PNC veteran says there's “a lack of effective diversity strategies.” Another insider believes the firm could make a better investment in “building long-term relationships with smaller organizations that target minority and women's groups.”

A sweet balance One source speaks for many when he says, “I'm happy with my job but would like an increase in salary.” While compensation woes are common, respondents do enjoy perks like a “top-notch 401(k) plan” with a 100 percent match (up to 6 percent of salary), “discounted bank products,” “company stock at discount” and a “pension plan.” PNC also "supports volunteering—employees are provided up to 40 paid hours of volunteer time each year for volunteer activities at child care centers related to PNC Grow up Great, the company's signature cause,” and allows employees to set aside a portion of their pretax earnings for “transportation and health care” costs. The firm also offers “discounted pricing on several services and retail products.” The bank also “provides tuition reimbursement on a per semester basis.” The “work/life balance at PNC is very good,” with sources saying they work a maximum of 50 to 60 hours a week. “People typically work from 8 a.m. or 8:30 a.m. to about 5:30 p.m.,” a corporate finance insider offers. “Even high-level management seems to keep within a 40 to 60 hour workweek.” Even in investment banking, one analyst puts his hours at 50 to 60 per week-and the only regular weekend work is “a few hours to straighten things out for the week” on Sundays. Of course, the load can “depend on deadlines and workflow,” but at PNC the emphasis is "on work completion and not time spent at the office.” Another contact notes, “I have a little discretion as to when I want to come in. I can come in a half-hour early, take a short lunch and leave early.” On a typical day, “your boss expects you to leave at 5 p.m.”

Dress appropriately PNC's offices “need a little updating,” say insiders. There are “cubicles everywhere”—or, as one Pittsburgh-based respondent puts it, “bland cubicles and bad chairs.” Space is "limited," and one woman says the firm can be “stingy with small and silly, yet very frustrating, things like making color copies or buying office supplies." She adds, “I know several departments that guard the key to the supply closet. When this happen, and the CEO is getting tremendous bonuses, it is very frustrating for employees.” At least there's some comfort to be found in the PNC dress code, which has its own in-house term: “business appropriate.” “This really just means you dress depending on the situation,” an insider explains. “The standard dress is business casual, but if you are on a client meeting then you may need to adjust accordingly. Know your calendar and you will be fine.” The business appropriate code tends to be “more formal for client facing roles” in general, and whenever “vendors or suppliers are present.” For men, typical daily wear involves “slacks and an Oxford shirt or golf shirt,” and for client meetings, it's “suits or sport coats.”

Big praise for the big shots Management is rated highly by sources, who describe bosses with glowing positives like “exceptional” and “awesome.” “Everyone has been extremely helpful with my transition from school to work,” says a corporate finance rookie. “I have yet to see a manager treat any subordinate here in a way that is at all disrespectful or uncomfortable,” a woman remarks. While there may be a few managers who "don't want to delegate or offer feedback," the majority are “excellent” and willing to provide junior employees with “great assignments” and “challenging work.” They also maintain “very good relationships” within the firm's “fun and productive environment.” “The management team tries to promote teamwork," says one respondent. "Company executives instruct people to address them by their first names.”

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PNC's training, too, is “topnotch” and “highly regarded in the industry.” “The firm really puts emphasis on training its young employees,” sources say, with programs of varying lengths depending on the position. Some initial training programs involve “8 a.m. to 5 p.m. classroom-type courses taught by experienced professionals or hired consultants.” There are also “numerous and extensive” ongoing training classes, and one underwriter says he takes part in at least “two to four trainings a year, each lasting one to three days.” Other continuing education options include “monthly brown-bag lunches that cover a wide range of topics.” Climbing the corporate ladder within the firm is also strongly encouraged—but you'll need to work for it. “Opportunities for advancement are high but are dependent upon your eagerness to learn,” admits one insider. Plus, “seniority is not key for advancement.”

What the future holds As for the company’s immediate financial outlook, “we don't look for quick fixes to affect long-term strategy,” asserts one insider. Because of this, PNC has “weathered the current financial storm and has a bright outlook as they look to expand in areas that their competition isn’t covering.”


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STEPHENS INC. 111 Center Street Little Rock, AR 72201 Phone: (501) 377-2000 Fax: (501) 377-2666 www.stephens.com

BUSINESSES Capital Management Institutional Sales & Trading Insurance Investment Banking Private Equity Public Finance Research Wealth Management

KEY COMPETITORS Houlihan Lokey Jefferies Morgan Keegan William Blair

UPPER • “Stephens takes care of its employees”

DOWNER • “Somewhat good ole boy” culture

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT THE STATS

See “careers” at www.stephens.com

Employer Type: Private Company Chairman, President & CEO: Warren A. Stephens No. of Employees: 980+ No. of Offices: 28

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Decent research” • “Never heard of them”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Stephens Inc.

THE SCOOP Finance whizzes Little Rock, Ark.-based Stephens Inc. operates through eight main units: investment banking, public finance, private equity, research, capital management, insurance, wealth management, and institutional sales and trading. Stephens’ investment banking team focuses on small- and middle-market mergers and acquisitions advisory. Its industry expertise includes aerospace and defense, building products and construction services, business services, consumer and retail, financial services, health care and life sciences, information technology, power and energy solutions, telecommunications and media, and transportation and logistics. Stephens has been active in public finance since its beginning in 1933. Its financing efforts typically involve governments, schools, utilities, housing authorities, not-for-profit organizations, industrial development and health care organizations. Though certain aspects of Stephens' business may have slowed in 2008, its private equity division continued to make investments in new companies. The company took four new companies into its portfolio in 2008. The companies came from a variety of different industries and locations. The investments included Highmark School Development, a facilities provider for new and existing charter schools, Megtec Systems, a manufacturer of industrial and environmental control equipment, and TAS Commercial Concrete, a Houston-based concrete services firm. The firm also added Marketplace Events, a developer of consumer home shows, to its portfolio in 2008. Marketplace showed its commitment to growth in 2008 by securing a three year partnership with Ty Pennington, the popular and high-profile host of Extreme Makeover Home edition. The firm’s award-winning equity research division covers about 300 stocks in the aerospace and defense, consumer, financial services, health care, industrial, IT, technology and transportation sectors. Its analysts have been honored in Institutional Investor’s All-American Research poll and The Wall Street Journal’s annual Best on the Street ranking. Stephens Capital Management (SCM) has been a registered investment advisor since 1982, and currently supervises portfolios of equity and fixedincome assets worth over $3 billion. Through Stephens Insurance, the firm provides personal and business insurance solutions. The firm also offers wealth management (including a full-service private client group), and institutional sales and trading.

Private matters As the Wall Street investment banks collapsed in 2008, boutique outfit Stephens’ business held steady from its perch in Arkansas. Executive vice president Brad Eichler credits the firm's continued success to its status as a family-owned private bank. In July 2008, Eichler told Investment Dealers’ Digest that although “the markets have been inhospitable to many investment banks ... as a focused, independent privately owned firm, Stephens has been fortunate not to have to struggle with these challenges.” Regardless of its private status, Stephens has been at least nominally affected by the market slowdown. With big deals slowing due to the credit crisis, Stephens was missing from Thomson Reuter’s ranking of the top-25 M&A dealmakers by volume. A year earlier, Stephens placed 24th in announced M&A volume, thanks to its advisory on big deals like Apax Partner's $1.8 billion acquisition of HUB International.

Family values In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, W.R. (Witt) Stephens formed a firm to buy up cheap Arkansas bonds. Stephens paid 10 cents on the dollar for the devalued bonds, held them until the state’s economy came back to life a few years later, and sold them at a handsome profit. Witt’s brother Jack joined the family business in 1946 and served as CEO from 1956 to 1986. He also joined Witt in investment ventures through a family holding company now known as SF Holding Corp. Upon his retirement, Jack handed the reins to his son Warren A. Stephens, who has remained at the helm since then. Jack Stephens died in 2005, triggering a reorganization within the family. Witt, Jr. and Elizabeth Stephens Campbell sold their interest in Stephens Inc., the investment bank, to their cousin Warren (who now holds 100 percent of its stock).

Latin American flair Stephens conducts in Latin American business through Stephens Cori Capital Advisors, which provides services including mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raising, family-owned company strategic advisory, restructuring, private equity advisory and independent valuations. The company has significant reach into the Latino and Hispanic American business communities, having completed more than $4 billion in M&A transactions and raised $2 billion in capital since its inception.


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IN THE NEWS August 2009: Ahead of the opposition Despite an economy that’s left many of its competitors penniless, Stephens Inc. is poised to stay ahead of the game. A Forbes profile of the company revealed that it’s leveraged 2-to-1 as opposed to many of its rivals’ 30-to-1 ratio and has more than 50 percent of its assets in government securities. The proof of the bank’s prowess can be seen in the growth of its staff. Within the year past year, Stephens increased the number of its investment bankers from 84 to 100, and seeks to increase its retail brokers from 100 to 200. Additionally, the firm opened a Houston office and is considering the purchase of a bank and a trust business.

May 2009: Gaining energy Stephens hired six investment professionals from Energy Capital Solution of Dallas and Houston, creating an energy investment banking group.

April 2009: Learning to tread lightly Stephens Inc. takes the direct opposite tactic of many fast-moving investment banks, adhering instead to its basic tenet: “The goal is to be in business the next day.” In a profile of the company, The Wall Street Journal reported that president Warren Stephens is proud to stick to the mantra as a “legitimate goal”—especially in the face of the crumbling investment banking front.

March 2009: Taking from Jefferies Stephens hired Kenneth Wasik away from Jefferies & Co., where he worked as head of the investment bank’s consumer products group. As a managing director in Stephens corporate finance department, Wasik will focus on origination, underwriting and M&A advisory in the consumer industry.

November 2008: Hiring Herber Stephens hired Jennifer Herber, formerly an executive director in the consumer retail group at JPMorgan Chase and a director in M&A at Peter J. Solomon Company. Herber joined Stephens as a managing director in its corporate finance department. She’ll be based in New York, and will focus on underwriting and M&A deals in the specialty retail and consumer sectors.

July 2008: Investing in the Southwest While other firms cut back in 2008, Stephens continued to add employees to its investment banking division. The firm added seven new positions in its Dallas office in an effort to strengthen its Southwestern presence. COO Curt Bradbury said that the firm “remains committed to increasing resources and hiring high-quality bankers.” The new hires all came from Bluffview Capital, a fellow Dallas-based investment bank. Jennifer Bishop and Phyllis Riggins were named as managing directors of the media investment banking group while Kerry North was appointed as the managing director in the M&A group. The new employees bring the headcount in the Dallas office to 26. Michael Stuart, one of the new hires in the Dallas office, is leading the company's restarted real estate investment banking platform, which will help arrange public and private capital and offer advisory services on mergers and acquisitions, private equity placements and debt and equity capital formation. The bank hopes to seize upon the current market environment in order to drum business in its reborn real estate platform. Brad Eichler, executive vice president and co-head of investment banking, said, “Now is an opportune time to commit to this practice.”

GETTING HIRED Bring the energy Candidates that will turn the heads of the firm's recruiters tend to be “high-energy individuals who have strong interpersonal, accounting and finance skills,” according to Stephens. The general “careers” section of Stephens' website provides an online inquiry form directed to the company's human resources department, and indicates that candidates can contact the company directly at its Little Rock address or at [email protected]. The interview process seems to be on par with the banking world. According to one insider, “First-round interviews are held on campus with an associate.” The contact adds, “After passing that round, I was invited to a Super Saturday at the headquarters.” Expect a nice reception on interview weekend. One source reports that “Friday night involved a five-course dinner in the board room on the top floor [of the firm's headquarters] with an open bar, and mingling with the senior vice presidents and managing directors.” Dinner was followed by a social gathering “to mingle with everyone else in the department, including employees from other offices in different cities.”

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The Saturday interviews “started at 8 a.m.,” offers one contact, “and there were eight of them, with people ranging in rank from associate to MD to the head of the department.” The source adds that the firm is “mainly after personality and fit, but a few simple finance questions were asked.” Another contact reports that the firm “won't ask you anything too finance-y,” but it “might ask questions like 'How do you run a DCF?' and 'How do you value a company?'” Another question candidates might get is “Why do you want to live in Little Rock?”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Southern flavor Stephens harbors a culture that's “definitely Southern.” And it may have quite a lot to do with the fact that “most employees come from the South,” so you should "be prepared for the culture if you are not from around there." And the culture also “emphasizes a generalist approach—analysts are expected to work on a wide variety of assignments, rather than being forced into a particular industry and product.” Employee morale is quite high at Stephens, and it “being the largest full-service investment bank headquartered in the South as well as family owned” only helps to boost this morale. “Stephens takes care of its employees,” says one insider. “Even under bad market conditions, Stephens pays its employees extremely well—more than I would have expected after talking to my friends on Wall Street.” Explains another contact, “If you enjoy doing things outdoors, being in Little Rock puts you within 20 minutes of hiking, biking, water sports, hunting—you name it.” And because “Little Rock is much cheaper than New York,” boasts one insider, it's feasible to get an "extremely nice and large apartment for $1,000 a month that that would cost $3,000 to $4,000 in New York City.” However, one former insider calls Stephens' culture “somewhat good ole boy,” explaining that “some people were hired because they were smart, while others were hired because their fathers were golfing buddies at Augusta with the higher-ups.” The contact concedes, though, that “the corporate culture fosters learning at all costs.” Stephens also fosters loyalty, say insiders. “By looking to promote junior bankers from within,” observes a source, “they have an extremely loyal employee base. It's not uncommon for bankers to have come to Stephens right out of college and stay there until they retire, after having made millions.”

Keep the formalities The hours at Stephens are fairly typical for investment banking; first-year analysts “can expect to work between 70 and 100 hours per week,” says an insider, “with the average non-holiday workweek to be about 80 hours, including weekends. As for diversity at Stephens, it could use improving, say respondents. (Though, according to Stephens, it employs over 100 minorities.) The dress code is “business formal, but you get used to it after a while.” But this means wearing formal attire “every day until 8 p.m., excluding the weekends.” “Business casual on Fridays is observed in the summers between Memorial Day and Labor Day,” notes a banker, adding, “If traveling to a client who is business casual, you are allowed to be business casual as well."

Staying power Sources praise some of the perks the firm provides, and one source points out a major perk that not many investment banks can claim to have these days, saying, “Since the bank is owned by Warren Stephens, it can readily survive bad times without mass layoffs.”


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STIFEL FINANCIAL CORP. 501 N. Broadway St. Louis, MO 63102 Phone: (314) 342-2000 Fax: (314) 342-2097 www.stifel.com

KEY COMPETITORS FBR Capital Markets Raymond James Financial

UPPERS BUSINESSES Banking Capital Markets Private Client

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: SF (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: Ronald J. Kruszewski 2008 Revenue: $888.85 million 2008 Net Income: $55.5 million No. of Employees: 4,153 No. of Offices: 250

• "Extremely professional and collegial" • "Business casual dress code"

DOWNER • "There aren't a lot of women around” • Occasional 60- to 70-hour workweek

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT Follow the careers link at www.stifel.com

THE BUZZ


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“Experts, sophisticated” “Lower tier” “Decent research” “Regional investment bank”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Stifel Financial Corp.

THE SCOOP A steady powerhouse Stifel Financial offers securities-related financial services through its wholly owned operating subsidiaries: Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated; Stifel Nicolaus Limited; Century Securities Associates, Inc.; and Stifel Bank & Trust (formerly FirstService Bank). Through these subsidiaries, Stifel provides brokerage, trading, investment banking, advisory services and other financial services to customers in the U.S and Europe. Its business is divided into three units: banking, private client and capital markets (equity and fixed income sales and trading, investment banking and research). Investment banking is handled by Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (Stifel Nicolaus), which was founded in 1890 and is one of the largest middle-market investment banks in the U.S. As of mid-2009, Stifel Financial had about 4,000 employees, including 1,500 financial advisors managing more than $60 billion in client assets. It’s also home to one of the nation’s largest domestic equity research programs, with over 700 companies under coverage. Although the firm’s headquarters are in St. Louis, its capital markets efforts are based in Baltimore.

A great ‘08 If 2008 was the year of the bust, Stifel Nicolaus never got the memo. Instead, the St. Louis-based firm opened more than a dozen new offices, acquired another financial advisory for its docket, and racked up accolades and revenue. During the year, the firm opened 14 new private client offices throughout the U.S. Three of the firm’s new outposts—Phoenix, Ariz.; Seattle, Wash.; and Medford, Ore.—represented the firm’s first forays into those states. Stifel also opened offices in Brevard, N.C.; Florence, S.C.; Frontenac, Mo.; Harwich, Mass.; Memphis, Tenn.; Oconomowoc, Wis.; Ramsey, N.J..; and Springfield, Ill. Additionally, it doubled its number of offices in California with openings in Lincoln Hills, Monterey, Oxnard and Westlake Village. In StarMine’s 2008 U.S. rankings, Stifel’s equity research group landed the No. 1 spots in stock picking and earnings estimate accuracy. In the Financial Times/StarMine’s 2008 survey, published in May, Stifel analysts won 14 awards and ranked eight among more than 235 companies. Most important, the company posted steady, positive returns, with quarterly revenue that consistently hovered around $200 million.

Plenty of M&A Stifel recently worked on a number of significant deals, including advising Iowa Telecom on its $82 million purchase of Sherburne Tele Systems, Syms Corp. on its $65 million acquisition of Filene’s Basement, Valley National Bancorp on its $167 million purchase of Greater Community Bancorp, Dorel Industries on its $190 million purchase of Cannondale Bicycle Corp. and MTC technologies on its $450 million sale to BAE Systems. The firm also co-managed several common stock deals, including the $65.3 million offering for Hersha Hospitality Trust, the $156.2 million offering for BioMed Realty Trust Inc. and the $276 million offering for Hatteras Financial.

IN THE NEWS March 2009: Acquiring branches from UBS Stifel agreed to acquire up to 55 branches from the UBS Wealth Management Americas branch network. The 55 offices are located in 24 states throughout the U.S., and employ approximately 320 financial advisors, who have approximately $15 billion in assets under management.

January 2009: Buying Butler Stifel closed on its $12 million acquisition of Butler Wick & Company, a financial advisory firm with 175 employees spread across 23 offices in three states. Butler Wick was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio.

September 2008: Issuing shares Stifel issued 1.2 million common shares of its stock, one million of which were offered by Stifel, with the remainder offered by the Western and Southern Life Insurance Company.


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Stifel Financial Corp.

July 2008: The feather in its cap Stifel acted as exclusive M&A advisor to Boston-based Bunker Hill Capital upon the sale of Specialty Coating Systems, an Indianapolis-based company, to private investment firm Berwind Corp. The $200 million deal closed in mid-July 2008, after only a few weeks, according to The Deal magazine. That same month, the magazine named the transaction a private equity “deal of the year.”

July 2008: Going public in Michigan Stifel opened a new office for its public finance group in East Lansing, Mich. For that effort, it poached four Wachovia Securities bankers: Brenda L. Voutyras, named senior vice president; Robert P. Regan, first vice president; Annette M. Schoenheider, vice president; and Gregory J. Baracy, Jr., associate.

June 2008: Energy gathering Stifel added a nine-banker energy team whose senior hires—Patrick Keeley, Chris Shebby, Kerry McKeon and Julien Smythe—came from the energy and natural resources group at FBR Capital Markets. The new hires are a boon for Stifel; while at FBR, these four bankers completed 87 transactions worth more than $18 billion.

March 2008: Public stock offerings Following a shelf registration with the SEC, the firm issued 2.2 million shares of common stock, 1.6 million of which were offered by BankAtlantic Bancorp, and 300,000 were offered by the Western and Southern Life Insurance Company. Stifel itself issued 300,000 more. The shares were priced at $40 apiece.

February 2007: Ryan Beck on board Stifel closed a deal with BankAtlantic Bancorp to buy one of its wholly owned subsidiaries, Ryan Beck Holdings. Through its principal subsidiary, Ryan Beck & Co., the New Jersey-based Ryan Beck provided financial advice to individuals, institutions and corporate clients. Its private client group included approximately 400 financial advisors (most of them located in the mid-Atlantic region), and over $19 billion in client assets. Under the terms of the transaction, Ryan Beck’s 1,000-plus employees and 40 offices operated as a Stifel subsidiary and were integrated into Stifel Nicolaus over the course of 2007. The combination of Ryan Beck and Stifel’s private client group brought together Ryan Beck’s 395 financial advisors with Stifel’s 564 advisors. At the close of the acquisition, Ryan Beck chairman and CEO Ben A. Plotkin was invited to join the Stifel board of directors.

GETTING HIRED A laid-back team In terms of company culture, Stifel is “a meritocracy that is relatively laissez-faire.” Insiders also call the atmosphere at Stifel Nicolaus “extremely professional and collegial” and “team-oriented.” “For the most part, everyone gets along and tries to help the firm succeed as a whole.” One even goes so far to call the firm "by far the best company that I have ever worked for.” Compensation and perks receive positive feedback as well. One insider calls the stock in the company offered to employees a “good upside.” Sources also revel in a “business casual dress code” with casual Fridays. “We usually also go casual between Memorial Day and Labor Day,” says one insider.

Expect to stay busy Though hours are “reasonable,” many employees arrive early or stay late, insiders say. There are also “busy periods like earnings season, where you're in the office much longer each day than the rest of the time.” One insider puts his hours at “60 to 70” per week and says he comes in “about once a month” on weekends. When it comes to Stifel's gender diversity, one insider admits "there aren't a lot of women around, but I don't think our firm is opposed to the idea." Ethnic diversity could also be improved. “We have some diversity in our office, but not a lot,” says another insider, who adds, “Still, I think we are very open to hiring qualified diverse individuals.”

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SUNTRUST BANKS, INC. 303 Peachtree Street NE Atlanta, GA 30308 Phone: (404) 588-7711 www.suntrust.com

BUSINESSES Commercial Banking Corporate & Investment Banking Mortgage Retail Banking Wealth & Investment Management

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: STI (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: James M. Wells III 2008 Revenue: $9.21 billion 2008 Net Income: $746.9 million No. of Employees: 32,323 No. of Offices: 1,694

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #6 – Hours #10 – Training #10 – Treatment by Managers #11 – Business Outlook #11 – Green Initiatives #13 – Best to Work For #14 – Culture #14 – Overall Satisfaction #15 – Offices Diversity #8 – Diversity With Respect To Women #14 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities #14 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians #14 – Best for Diversity

KEY COMPETITORS Bank of America BB&T Citi Regions Wells Fargo

UPPERS • “Great location” • “The people are fun” • “Banker’s hours”

DOWNERS • “Pay is low compared to other banks” • “Bureaucratic red tape” • “Technology is outdated”

THE BUZZ


“Stable” “Stodgy” “Competitor” “Regional”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT suntrust.com/careers

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition SunTrust Banks, Inc.

THE SCOOP Deep in the heart of Georgia Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks, Inc., a holding company for more than 50 geographically focused banking units, operates under a decentralized management structure whereby local managers are responsible for business generation and community involvement. SunTrust is one of the nation's largest banking organizations, with $179.1 billion in assets as of March 2009. SunTrust offers consumer banking, commercial leasing, mortgage banking, credit-related insurance, asset management, brokerage and investment banking services to consumer, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. Through its network of companies, SunTrust has a significant presence in the southeastern U.S., with more than 1,700 branches primarily in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C. SunTrust’s investment banking arm, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, launched in 1894 as the Robinson-Humphrey Company. In 2001, impressed with its investment banking record, SunTrust acquired the firm. And in 2007, SunTrust integrated its corporate banking, investment banking and capital markets units, packaging them as SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Today, the unit offers capital raising, strategic advisory, risk management, investments, and treasury and payments services.

IN THE NEWS July 2009: The recession continues SunTrust booked a $164.4 million for the second quarter 2009, a significant slide versus the $530 million in net income the firm booked for the same period a year earlier. Chairman and CEO James M. Wells said in a news release, "Clearly, recession-related costs continue to impact our results.”

June 2009: Raising equity SunTrust completed an offering of 124.2 million shares of its common stock, raising a total of $1.56 billion. The move came after the U.S. government requested TARP-participating banks to raise equity.

April 2009: Two in a row SunTrust Banks posted a loss of $875.4 million for the first quarter 2009. It was the bank’s second consecutive quarterly loss, and a big plunge from the $281.6 million profit the firm posted in first quarter 2008. However, revenue for the quarter increased, coming in at $2.24 billion compared with $2.06 billion in the same period in 2008. Higher mortgage lending and an increase in deposits helped the firm’s income statement.

March 2009: Extending credit through the storm As part of its relief package from the government, SunTrust increased its efforts to prevent foreclosure for more than 18,000 clients. Those changes include longer-term repayment schedules, credit counseling, and modifications to mortgages, among other things. And though many banks were criticized for cutting loans during the credit freeze, SunTrust announced that it had increased outstanding loans by 4.5 percent, or $5.4 billion, during 2008.

January 2009: Down in the fourth SunTrust took a nosedive in the fourth quarter of 2008, hurt by non-performing loans and mortgage-related losses stemming from declining interest rates. Its stock price dropped 65 percent in that quarter, and management slashed shareholder dividends to 10 cents a share. The firm lost a total of $379.2 million during the quarter. The fourth quarter also included $582 million in write-offs of non-performing loans. Overall net income available to common shareholders in 2008 was $746.9 million, down from $1.6 billion a year earlier. But its 2008 total revenue was still strong, at $9.21 billion. “The fact that SunTrust is not alone in paying the price of a deteriorating economy on our business and our clients does not make today's results any less painful to report,” said CEO James Wells in a news release.

January 2009: Gift from Uncle Sam, part two SunTrust Banks received more relief from the U.S. government’s TARP program, taking another $1.5 billion.

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December 2008: A new president for a new era Among moves announced is the appointment of William H. Rogers as president of SunTrust Banks, a post previously held by CEO James Wells. Rogers was previously corporate executive vice president in charge of the bank’s wholesale, mortgage, and wealth and investment management businesses.

November 2008: Gift from Uncle Sam SunTrust Banks received a $3.5 billion boost from the U.S. government under its TARP program.

November 2008: Bold moves on poor returns In response to its poor results, the bank cut dividends twice in six months: first in November, to 54 from 77 cents a share, and then in January 2009, following fourth-quarter results, to 10 from 54 cents a share. Those cuts represent an 87 percent decrease from the 77 cents per share it paid at the beginning of 2008. The bank also announced that it wouldn’t give any raises for its 4,000 managers in 2009, with the exception of “modest promotional increases where significant new responsibility was added,” it said in a statement. Moreover, on account of disappointing results in 2008, no bonuses were paid out in 2009.

August 2008: Acquiring deposits SunTrust acquired $225 million in FDIC-insured deposits from now-defunct First Priority Bank of Bradenton, Florida. SunTrust took on banking services for First Priority’s 4,000 customers and said it would try to find positions within its organization for the bank’s 50 employees. First Priority was the eighth bank to fail in 2008, according to The New York Times.

May 2008: Weak, but stronger than many SunTrust completed its acquisition of GB&T Bancshares, which brought another $1.5 billion in deposits to its coffers, and added 17 banking offices in North and Central Georgia to its stable of branches.

April 2008: Disappointing results The bank announced that its net income for the first quarter had decreased to $283.6 million from the $513.9 million it earned in the previous year. It recovered in the second quarter, reporting net income of $535.3 million. That number, however, is due in part to the sale of 10 million of its shares of Coca-Cola. It also shed its exposure to high-risk securities in the second quarter, lowering its exposure to less than $800 million. In the third quarter of 2008, the company reported net income of $307.3 million, down from $412.6 million during the same period a year earlier.

GETTING HIRED Selectively varied Selectivity “depends on what line of business” you apply to. A portfolio manager believes “commercial lending/real estate is more selective than many of the other lines of business.” Insiders say that the investment banking division, which is relatively small compared to other SunTrust units, is also “highly selective.” And given the economic environment, sources say overall hiring is growing more competitive. “In the current market, it’s very difficult to get hired at our firm,” warns one contact. Another notes that the “recruiting trips” and “number of offers” extended have both been reduced. “Only top talent is being considered.” Nevertheless, connections could help you land an offer.

Hiring from the SunTrust belt The bank, whose “strong Southern culture” is reflected in its recruiting, searches for new blood at “top-tier colleges in the southeast.” The firm visits schools such as UNC Chapel Hill, UVA, Wake Forest, University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Emory, Clemson and Vanderbilt. According to one insider, “The bank doesn't really bother at any Ivies, top liberal arts schools or other schools that excel at squash.” On-campus recruitment is quite competitive, with SunTrust receiving “massive amounts of resumes.” Sources say SunTrust management works hard to select applicants who are qualified and whose personalities “mesh with the atmosphere of the department” for which they are being hired. If chosen, applicants can expect a multi-step interview process that may include a phone screen, on-campus interviews and a “Super Day” held in Atlanta. Number of interviews and interview length vary depending upon position. One employee recalls “a two-day process that consisted of socials, information sessions and various rounds of interviews, both one-on-ones and many-on-ones.” Another contact remembers an on-campus interview


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“with two directors,” followed by an on-site interview “in six different rooms.” One analyst’s final round consisted of a trip to the Atlanta headquarters “with approximately 30 other candidates” competing for seven positions. Over two days, he endured 12 interviews lasting a half-hour each. Interview questions vary, from those that “aim to look at how a person thinks through a problem” to how perspective hires “interact with others.” Some questions are “very broad,” but sources say to be ready for “detailed, finance-oriented,” “technical” and “job-focused” inquiries. Insiders say interviewers in the final round each look “for a different skill set and quality.”

Let the SunTrust shine in Although an internship “definitely opens the door to a full-time opportunity,” employees say that “it’s also possible to get hired without” having completed one. “Interns who are viewed favorably” are offered full-time positions, but a source points out that “no one hired into my program had participated in an internship at SunTrust”, so it’s not a requirement to get the job. Nevertheless, in an increasingly competitive environment, internships at SunTrust may become that much more important to landing a job. “Our bank has slashed new hires by an estimated 60 percent,” says one insider. “Interns who did well” have “the best chance of getting hired. The experience provides “significant exposure to one’s future team.” What’s more, the program is a good preview of life as a full timer. One analyst recalls, “I analyzed financial statements, learned the business behind currency risk management and supported superior associates.” Another analyst says, “As an intern, I did the exact same work as what I do now as a full-time employee.” Indeed, there’s not much photocopying and coffee making as a SunTrust intern, but there is plenty of “real work.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS A conservative, Southern team In general, employees agree that the SunTrust firm culture is “conservative,” though culture varies greatly “depending on region”—some have a “great” atmosphere while others are “lacking.” A “Southern culture mentality” still exists in many regions, and the Atlanta headquarters “definitely has a Southern vibe.” Though the environment can be “maddeningly conservative at times,” it’s also “very polite and helpful.” In other words, “none of my co-workers would ever throw me under the bus,” says one employee. That sentiment is echoed by a member of the commercial lending group who says that the firm is “very respectful” and has a “non-cutthroat banking atmosphere yet to be matched at almost any other banking institution.” Corporate culture is also described as “welcoming, understanding, hardworking and efficient”—“a good mixture of competition and team work.” At SunTrust, “there is a strong feeling that you learn by performing,” explains a source, “and there are countless people who will bend over backwards to help you learn what needs to be done.” According to one portfolio manager, “Everyone is very diplomatic but upfront with each other, and you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy work and get to know the employees you work with.” Those who call the corporate culture “intense and demanding” say it’s tempered by “respect.” A member of the real estate lending group calls the firm “very career development-oriented,” while another happy insider says, “We have the support of management, and the ability to express our ideas.” Yet, given the present economic situation, some insiders say they’re feeling the heat. “There are lots of policies and procedures to follow,” notes an insider. “Things have definitely tightened with the failing economy.”

Managers and subordinates: shoulder to shoulder SunTrust analysts work in “a good environment with desks in the same bullpen.” Partly, that may be due to the high level of respect and openness that employees feel from their superiors. “Senior management is very accessible,” says one source; “all my managers are fair and helpful,” says another. According to one contact, “management's attitude towards analysts is extremely good, better than I would have expected.” That respect extends beyond the trading floor: respondents point out that they are “treated very well on a personal and professional level” and that “most people through the entire bank” are “very understanding of circumstances and work load.” An analyst in leveraged finance recalls that supervisors “were very supportive of my decision to apply to school and actually care about me as a person.” Managers are “very understanding whenever I need to prioritize their work below other stuff.” Perhaps that’s because managers work “in the midst of everyone else on the trading floor.” They get to know subordinates by “speak[ing] every day,” holding “weekly update meetings,” and attending “happy hours after work.” Respect between all members of the bank translates into opportunities to learn on the job, with “senior bankers” who “act as mentors, often working hand in hand with junior personnel.” And the firm’s relatively small size “allows direct access to managing directors when completing projects, a major benefit.” However, one contact observes that although senior managers “have good intentions and want to get to know everyone who works under them, it is not rare that” they “may not know the names of all subordinates.” And respect might not necessarily add up to “appropriate attention or acknowledgement.” An employee in sales says that it “varies manager to manager. Some are great, others are not.” Another contact admits that “some managers I worked with initially are jerks, but the two guys I’m dedicated to covering are really awesome guys.”

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“Supervisors are extremely supporting and willing to help anytime,” say employees, but don’t act as though they know it all. According to one analyst in credit risk management, “my views are taken into consideration on projects of all scale.” An n employee in commercial lending agrees, acknowledging the “high level of respect among managers and subordinates” and an overall “desire for collaboration and openness.” Indeed, managers make the effort to “speak with you as an equal,” says one insider, “regardless of the differences between rank.”

Working 9 to 5 (or 8 to 6, or 7 to 3 …) Like culture, hours at SunTrust vary from group to group. In general, those on the commercial side of the bank work between 40 and 50 hours per week, while those on the investment banking side work between 60 and 70. “There is flexibility around work hours with the ability to arrive late or leave early when necessary,” says a commercial banking source. “I think the general guideline is that we work the hours necessary to meet and exceed our goals.” An investment banking analyst, meanwhile, “normally work about 11 hours a day” and takes a “45 minute to an hour lunch break.” As for weekend work, commercial employees “rarely” see the inside of the office on Saturdays and Sundays, while investment banking sources say they “often” work weekends. As for what “often” means, some say they work weekends once or twice a month “when large projects come up.” “But luckily, you can anticipate when those will be and plan ahead.” Also luckily, “face time is not the yard-stick by which an employee is evaluated.” Hours in trading are different from both commercial and investment banking. On the trading floor, hours are “market-driven” (you work mainly when the market’s open). Also in trading, there’s “no overtime” and “no [working on] weekends.” In sales, one source who works about 65 hours per week says, “Between assisting clients, booking trades, and additional projects and presentations, there’s no downtime.” Another salesperson, who works slightly fewer hours per week, notes that despite 12-hour days, “I never have to come into the office on the weekend, and my superiors are very understanding when I need to take time off.”

Three weeks of vacation, plus all bank holidays Compensation leaves something to be desired, with yearly and signing bonuses “slightly below industry average.” One insider points out that living expenses in Atlanta are “much lower” than elsewhere, particularly New York City, “and should be taken into account.” As of early 2009, compensation has also been affected by the economic environment, with reductions of “50 to 65 percent at the analyst level.” The firm may also award a quarterly incentive bonus, “depending on position in company and performance.” On average, employees in commercial and real estate lending take home less than their colleagues in portfolio or asset management and corporate finance. The firm provides health and dental benefits, “significant reimbursements during the associate training program,” and matches employees’ 401(k) plans (up to 5 percent per year). Fifteen days of paid vacation “plus all bank holidays” is pretty much the norm; one source notes that “there is no strict tracking of vacation time,” while another says that “vacation time is relatively reasonable.” One contact adds that “with approval and a passing grade, many financial tests and certificates are reimbursed,” and notes that the firm provides “mileage reimbursements.” Holiday parties, happy hours, free food and drink around the office, and a car service (when working late nights) may also be provided. Although the bulk of SunTrust’s employees do not have student loans, most that do say they spend between 1 and 10 percent of their take-home pay on them.

“Extremely useful and easy to get” In terms of training, incoming analysts can expect a formal program that lasts from four weeks to six months. Though most employees are pleased with their training, some caution that the web-based aspect of the program is “clumsy and not very effective.” The firm brings in “doctorate level teachers for crash courses in accounting, corporate finance and modeling.” Depending on your background, training might be “monotonous” and “repetitive.” One commercial banking source who holds an MBA says that though training “was great,” “it was focused on non-business majors.” He adds, “I was not challenged at all in the course work, though it was great to gain additional certificates. Other classmates with business degrees from decent schools also felt they were not challenged. I often found myself tutoring non business majors.” After the formal training period is over, “training on the job is extremely useful and easy to get,” “as most people are open to helping you learn things that you didn’t learn in school.” Additionally, “the close proximity of people on the trading floor—and the helpful attitudes of colleagues—makes it easy to learn the trade quickly.” Insiders say that this on-the-job mentorship—“there are countless people who will bend over backwards to help you learn what needs to be done”—promotes a “team mentality.”

As spacious as spacious gets, for a trading floor The physical environment at SunTrust’s Baltimore office is “nothing special.” An insider in the Baltimore office derides the furniture as “drab” and says that “open space could be cleaned out or less cluttered.” “As spacious as spacious gets on a trading floor” is how one trader in Atlanta describes his surroundings, adding that “décor is rather plain but views of downtown are rather nice.” One insider in Sarasota complains of “old branches, bad furniture” and says that “everything looks outdated.” But an Atlanta-based sales employee’s office has “great views and all the systems needed to conduct business”; a member of that office’s corporate finance team works “in an open area similar to a trading desk.” “As an entry-level employee,” says one analyst in the Atlanta office, “I was pleasantly surprised to be given an office.” In


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Ft. Lauderdale, “the offices are older. The building is in good repair, but there is no luxury.” A portfolio manager in Greenville, S.C. praises the “excellent office environment, as far as setup and people.”

How green is SunTrust? The firm’s commitment to green initiatives is lukewarm, according to insiders, who cite “power saving” and paper conservation among other “small measures” that have “been a focus over the last year.” Another analyst adds, “All printing has been set to automatically print double sided,” which “actually has a large effect due to the amount of paper we go through each day.” And on the individual level, “employees habitually turn off office lights when leaving for the day.” According to one source in the Ft. Lauderdale office, “AC is not run on the weekends in my office,” and “the Bank is moving toward electronic filing systems and archives to save on paper. Scanners have been set up in almost all locations.” Employees are willing to make sacrifices to make their workplaces more green, by going without disposable plates, napkins and silverware, and reducing lighting when there is sufficient sunlight. They also say they’d be more than fine with turning down the heat and the AC during off-peak hours, like nights and weekends.

No one’s rocking Gucci As for dress, that depends on the department. Most regions have casual Fridays, but expect business casual the rest of the week, meaning you’ll be wearing “slacks and a nice shirt” or a “shirt and tie.” Business formal (a suit) is expected for “client contact,” while “‘back office’ employees” tend to dress “more casual.” Says one source, “Senior bankers wear suits and ties, but no one is really rocking Hermes or Gucci.”

Hanging in there Given the present economic situation, SunTrust has implemented a number of measures to cut costs. Most significant, employees say, the firm has downsized its workforce and reduced the number of on-site office perks, such as free coffee, meals, happy hours, and other events—which has “affected employee morale.” To a lesser extent, the bank has cut back on business travel, and has scaled back holiday celebrations in 2008 and early 2009. To save jobs at SunTrust, some employees say that they’re willing to work extra hours or give up the company’s 401(k) matching benefit, but few would part with vacation days. Indeed, employees are hoping it won’t come to that. “The company is definitely invested in each of its employees,” says an insider, and “really tries to retain” everyone it can. And although “banking is an industry in disarray,” the firm “is generally conservative and has been weathering well.” Some employees point out that the firm has increased lending to make itself more competitive in the present environment. “The company has taken the opportunity to expand as other companies reduce lending and struggle to maintain client relationships,” says an analyst. One insider says that “as far as banks go, I think our business outlook is good, but I'm not sure if any bank is in a great position right now.” Others are more conservative, calling the firm’s business outlook “neutral to good, relative to many other firms in our industry.” But an employee in commercial lending says, “SunTrust is a strong bank given the economy. The problem is that marketing is not getting the message out to people about what we have to offer. We are a regional bank that might be left behind in the future as many other larger banks will eventually move us out of the market by giving better services and having better technology. Technology has been a significant problem internally and externally as customers and peers complain about it compared to other banks.” SunTrust is a “20th century bank in a 21st century world,” believes another. One member of the commercial lending group expresses similar worries, observing that “our bank is being victimized by the conduct of the bigger, national banks. Stock price is undervalued, and we are far better capitalized than most other regional and even national banks on a ratio level.” But another contact thinks that SunTrust is well-positioned to compete with other firms: “The fall of traditional Wall Street players has allowed us to step up to the table with companies that may not have otherwise given us consideration,” he says. “We are able to use our balance sheet which is a huge advantage in the current economic climate. The firm is trying to use this situation to get in with new clients.”

The lowdown on diversity SunTrust gets above-average marks for diversity with respect to women. Many sources say the firm “does not treat women any differently than men in the workplace,” noting that “there are several women in upper-management.” Others, though, while acknowledging that “the firm does not discriminate against women,” say “it still seems to be a man's world” and add that “the majority of management is male.” Other employees say that “the firm is very open to hiring women,” but note that investment banking and the trading floor are both “male-dominated.” One female analyst says that “SunTrust has made me feel very comfortable” and employees are “very respectful.” “Women are seen directly as equals in our company,” says another insider, adding that one “of the heads of the corporate and investment banking group is a woman.” Overall, according to SunTrust, 68 percent of its employees are female. Although the bank “makes an effort to recruit at historically black universities,” and “respects and hires from diverse pools,” others say that “the corporate and investment world is primarily Caucasian.” “There is very little racial diversity at our office,” agrees one contact.

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When it comes to GLBT diversity, SunTrust maintains a “neutral stance,” and treats homosexual employees “with the same respect and consideration as others.” It is also “a large and active sponsor of gay pride events.” Although some sources say they “don't know of any gays or lesbians” who work at SunTrust, one contact says, “There are some openly homosexual people here. These employees are treated with the same respect and consideration as others, and are not ostracized in any way.”


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SUSQUEHANNA INTERNATIONAL GROUP, LLP (SIG) 401 City Avenue Suite 220 Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 Phone: (610) 617-2600 www.sig.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

UPPER

Institutional Sales Investment Banking Market Making Private Equity Research Trading

• “Entrepreneurial spirit”

THE STATS

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Employer Type: Private Company Managing Director: Jeffrey Yass No. of Employees: 1,500+ No. of Offices: 15 offices (North America, Asia Pacific & Europe)

Citadel Goldman Sachs Interactive Brokers Group LLC

DOWNER • "Not the place it was in the high-flying days of the tech boom"

See “working here” at www.sig.com

THE BUZZ


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“Great trading platform” “OK research” “Unique, hard-charging” “Chop shop”


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG)

THE SCOOP Services for all Founded 20 years ago, Susquehanna International Group offers investment banking services and provides execution services for Nasdaq and listed stocks, ETFs, ADRs, options and program trading through its institutional brokerage affiliate, Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP (SFG). The investment banking team is made up of mostly corporate finance and equity capital markets (ECM) professionals. Corporate clients are provided with differentiated banking services, including public equity, mergers and acquisitions advisory services, private placements, PIPEs, registered direct offerings and financial advisory services. SFG also offers equity research to institutional investment managers and prides itself on providing independent analysis. And in 2006, SIG created a new private equity platform consisting of multiple strategies.

Sticking around The firm prides itself on its low turnover rate, lack of pigeonholed job descriptions and absence of “corporate constraints,” but it’s recognized for even more. Best known for its impressive trading capabilities, the Susquehanna International Group of companies (SIG) offers investment banking, research, institutional brokerage and market making services to institutional and corporate clients. The firm is a member of numerous local, national and international stock exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and all of the U.S. option exchanges. SIG is headquartered outside of Philadelphia and, in addition to its domestic presence, has offices in Europe, Asia and Australia. A December 2007 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer focused on the diversity of businesses in the region and noted that SIG is one of the area’s “highly specialized firms.”

Traditional meets modern What distinguishes the firm's investment banking services from competitors is the way SFG integrates traditional banking services with SIG's extensive trading operations in equities, ETFs and derivatives. SIG has extensive algorithmic trading capabilities, and trades over 80 million shares on a daily basis. SIG handles roughly one out of every seven stock options traded in the world. The firm is also a market maker for more than 3,000 Nasdaq stocks. SIG is also one of the biggest U.S. option market makers and a specialist in more index options than any other market maker. The firm is a big player in other securities areas as well, including ADRs, international securities, exchange traded funds (ETFs), OTC equity, currency and fixedincome derivatives.

Card sharks In the high stakes world of investment banking, everything is a gamble. The founders and senior traders at SIG take this philosophy very seriously, integrating poker playing into the fabric of the firm's social culture. In addition to its famous internal poker tournaments, SIG has also used poker as a way to recruit employees in the past. The firm held three “Texas Hold 'Em” throughout 2008 in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The events were open to clients and employees. One of SIG's most famous employees is Bill Chen, a World Series of Poker star, who works in its quantitative trading department.

IN THE NEWS June 2009: Two more faces in research Susquehanna hired two experienced research analysts: Charles Minervino, who recently worked for Goldman Sachs and was a finalist in The Wall Street Journal’s annual Best of the Street survey of the industry’s top analysts; and Jonathan Casteleyn, who most recently worked for Wachovia Capital Markets and previously worked for Banc of America Securities. Earlier in the year, the firm hired another research star, picking up Jeffrey Fidacaro, a former vice president and senior IT hardware analyst at Merrill Lynch.

July 2008: Teaming up with Goldman Susquehanna Growth Equity, LLLP and Goldman Sachs teamed up to invest in Derivix, a provider of institutional strength options pricing and analytics solutions. The firms provided Series A funding for Derivix that will be used to allow the company to continue product innovation, expand its sales team and acquire new customers. Vincenzo La Ruffa, vice president of SGE said, “Derivix’s commitment to remaining broker-neutral while delivering unparalleled tools and support is a true testament to the company’s focus. We were very impressed from the start with the rich front end and powerful pricing model driving Derivix’s platform, as well as the company, its products and its team.”


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April 2008: Progress in private equity Susquehanna International Group's private equity subsidiary made gains when one of its portfolio companies made a significant acquisition. HMP Communications Holdings acquired Princeton Media Associates, a medical education company which focuses on providing the latest information for healthcare professionals. HMP Communications CEO Paul Mackler said that “this is a truly transformational acquisition” and explained that the merger will bring HMP Communication's education subsidiary North American Center for Continuing Medical Education (NACCME) into the business of managed care through PMA's Managed Care-First Report brand. SIG Growth Equity Fund was a co-investor with Alta Communications in the acquisition.

April 2008: Beefing up research SIG added two experienced members to its research team in an effort to expand its equity research division. Former employee Malindi Davies rejoined the equity research team to cover online retailing and internet stocks. The firm also hired Ding Ding, a Chinese native who previously served as the senior biotech analyst at the Maxim Group. Ding brought her knowledge of the region as well as her extensive experience to her position with the Chinese Equities Research team. Like many of SIG's hires, Ding has several advanced degrees, including a PhD in pharmacology and neuroscience from SUNY and an MBA in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

GETTING HIRED Polish your personality Get a sense for SIG's ideal traits in a candidate (such as "the ability to work well under pressure,” using “critical and nonlinear reasoning” and being able to communicate “effectively with other team members") by checking out the firm's “working here” section at www.sig.com, where the company also posts a full recruiting schedule. SIG recruits at a number of top schools including the Ivies, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Caltech and others. For students not enrolled at these schools, the company accepts online applications. Prospective employees of all levels (graduates and experienced hires) can also use the web site to search for jobs by location, experience level, employment category, department and keyword. Postings include a job summary and list of qualifications.

Get focused No need to worry about not finding a position that will match your skills—SIG makes sure to list several “areas of focus" within the “working here” section of its website. The firm offers career paths in three primary areas—trading, technology and research—as well as in administration, accounting, and human resources and recruiting. Assistant traders start off their tenure with SIG through the formal trader training program, which is "widely recognized for its comprehensive curriculum." The training begins with a two-week orientation during which students attend classes in options theory, risk management, behavioral economics, decision science and game theory. Following this initial phase, trainees take after-work sessions while gaining practical experience for approximately a year to 18 months. After this apprenticeship, trainees are invited to a final 10-week course that combines theory with application. The focus on education isn't limited to initial training at SIG. According to the firm, “Education is of paramount importance at SIG.” Indeed, the company has an entire department devoted to education, staffed with “experienced senior traders who devote their full attention to educating and training.” Susquehanna also invites top academics to conduct seminars on topics such as derivative valuation, probability and game theory. Employees can supplement classroom training with out-of-class studying in the library or online interactive instruction. Furthermore, staff members are encouraged to take advantage of the experience of their peers through the firm's mentoring program.

Rise to the occasion While the firm admits it “spares no effort in pursuing candidates who meet our job requirements,” you'll have to survive the interviews first. “The interview process is one of the most rigorous on the Street,” says one contact. “You will be grilled, and each round of questions gets progressively harder and harder.” Insiders say that the interview process at SIG usually lasts two or three rounds. Current students can expect an initial 30-minute, on-campus interview, while others may have a series of phone interviews before final rounds. While one source says the firm asks “lots of personality and 'Why do you want to be a trader?' type questions,” another advises, "Just know probability.” Also be aware that "the focus is largely placed on gambling, as it is central to the SIG trading philosophy." Overall, it seems that as the rounds progress, the interviews become increasingly quantitative. For example, one contact who interviewed for an assistant trader position reported an “initial round over the phone with a member of the recruiting team” where he was “asked about general information from [his] resume and then some basic probability questions.” The second round was another phone interview with a recruiter, but it was a “much more quantitative round” and the source's final round “included much more math.” That interview involved members of the recruiting team and a managing director. Throughout the experience, the candidate found SIG to be “more concerned with skill set than experience in industry or

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grades,” and he “ended up accepting their offer because I was challenged by everyone I met and liked the emphasis on education and in-house training.”

Know when to hold 'em In October of 2007, SIG's university recruiting department held its annual poker invitational tournament for potential job candidates in order to get a firsthand look at their critical thinking abilities through their betting habits. Participants were applicants for SIG's development programs in business and technology, and quite a few of the day's invitees secured job offers. The free 10-hour tournament paid the top finisher $25,000 in cash, $15,000 for second, and $10,000 for third.

Summer work Interested candidates can also try their luck as interns. In the summer of 2007, SIG rolled out a new, more formalized program, hiring 60 interns across many business and technology areas. The 11-week program combines practical work experience, workshops, classroom training and social events, providing students entering their final year (or term) a thorough introduction to the organization. As part of the new program, SIG introduced a full spring semester on-campus campaign focused on interviewing for the summer spots. SIG has a history of including co-ops as part of its recruiting strategy, and recently begun adding more schools to its roster. Many full-time hires began as co-ops, including the heads of some of the most high-profile desks and areas within the firm.

OUR SURVEY SAYS Mostly satisfied The firm's culture, for the most part, receives high marks from insiders. SIG's web site describes the firm's culture as “a flat corporate structure, absent of hierarchies.” A recruiter in the firm's Bala Cynwyd headquarters echoes this characterization, saying the firm has "as few levels of management as are necessary to run a business efficiently.” As a consequence, the source finds the structure at SIG fosters “open communication and accessibility.” In addition, says the contact, “Merit-based advancement and an entrepreneurial spirit allow for creativity and success in terms of responsibility assumed at a very young age.” SIG also claims to maintain a work environment that “allows employees to excel without being bogged down by red tape, job descriptions or other 'corporate' constraints. This unrestrained atmosphere has attracted some of the smartest, most competitive and creative people to our doors.” And according to the firm, those people stay at SIG, as “turnover is very low.” But there are views from both sides—one insider admits the company is “not the place it was in the high-flying days of the tech boom.” Dress at the firm is “casual” and one source who went in for an interview remembers, “The environment was so laid-back and casual, I had no idea the interviewer was a managing director until he left the room and someone told me. He was wearing jeans and a plaid shirt.”

Get the education “There is great opportunity for learning,” reports one contact. SIG has an education department that makes sure traders, tech support staff and analysts keep abreast of the latest developments in their field. Senior traders take the lead in educating the staff, supplemented by professors brought in to teach seminars on derivative valuation, financial engineering or game theory. Assistant traders are also enrolled in a two-week orientation on complex financial frameworks, after which they attend after-work sessions on similar topics, culminating in a 10-week course at Susquehanna headquarters.


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TD SECURITIES 31 West 52nd Street New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212) 827-7000 Fax: (212) 827-7248 TD Bank Tower 66 Wellington Street W Toronto, Ontario M5K 1A2 Canada Phone: (416) 982-6160 Fax: (416) 307-0338 www.tdsecurities.com

BUSINESSES Debt Capital Markets Foreign Exchange & Money Markets Institutional Equities Investment Banking

RANKING RECAP Quality of Life #6 – Offices #7 – Green Initiatives #10 – Business Outlook #12 – Culture #12 – Hours #13 – Compensation #13 – Overall Satisfaction #14 – Best to Work For #14 – Treatment by Managers #15 – Training Diversity #5 – Diversity With Respect To Women #7 – Best for Diversity #8 – Diversity With Respect To Gays and Lesbians #10 – Diversity With Respect To Ethnic Minorities

KEY COMPETITORS THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of TD Bank Financial Group Chairman, CEO & President: Robert E. Dorrance 2008 Revenue: $14.37 billion* 2008 Net Income : $3.81 billion* No. of Employees: 2,700+ No. of Offices: 14

Bank of America • BMO Capital Markets • CIBC • Citigroup • J.P. Morgan • RBC Capital Markets • Scotiabank • Wells Fargo

UPPERS • “A lot of responsibility as an analyst” • “Slightly better hours” than competitors

*TD Bank Financial Group

DOWNERS • “Limited (but growing) reputation in the U.S.” • “Lack of mentoring”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

THE BUZZ


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“Strong, good talent” “Average Canadian commercial bank” “Solid Canadian bank” “Small player”

Lauren Todaro Recruitment Specialist, USA TD Securities (USA) LLC 31 West 52nd Street New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212) 827-7000 Email: [email protected] www.tdsecurities.com/careers


The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition TD Securities

THE SCOOP One of the biggest With its feet planted firmly on Canadian soil and its headquarters in Toronto, TD Securities is the wholesale banking arm of TD Bank Financial Group (TDBFG), the second largest bank in Canada. TDBFG is comprised of Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries. TD Securities has offices in 13 cities, including Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, New York, Chicago, Houston, Mexico City, London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney. TD Securities is best known in Canada, where it regularly enjoys critical acclaim and annual showings on the country’s investment banking league tables. Key business lines include investment banking, equities, and rates and FX. Through these lines, the firm offers a host of specialized services, including securities underwriting, sales and trading, equity research, M&A advisory, foreign exchange and real estate advisory. The firm works closely with TD Bank and its brokerage subsidiary, TD Waterhouse. TD Bank's other subsidiaries include TD Canada Trust (retail banking), TD Commercial Banking, TD Asset Management and TD Banknorth. TD Banknorth and TD Ameritrade were formed in 2005, and perhaps among the more significant acquisitions that helped the firm better penetrate the U.S. market. In 2008, TD Banknorth merged with New Jersey’s Commerce Bank to form TD Bank NA, giving TD an increasing presence in the States; it also opened 59 new retail locations throughout North America during the year. By market capitalization, TD Bank ranked as the seventh-largest North American bank in 2008, and as of January 31, 2009, it had C$585 billion in assets.

Providing it all As part of TD Bank's wholesale banking segment, TD Securities provides investment banking products and services to corporate and government clients throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. Services include bond and equity analysis, mergers and acquisitions support, risk management, capital raising and foreign exchange. The firm's investment bankers deliver these offerings out of particular industry groups, including communications and media, diversified industries, financial institutions, oil and gas, technology, and utilities and power. The institutional equities group (known as TD Newcrest) delivers equity research in addition to underwriting, sales and trading, and distribution. The firm also has a debt capital markets team that trades and sells various fixed income products and derivatives. The bank's foreign exchange group is a major player in the Canadian derivatives market. But the firm’s presence in the rest of the world is changing—in December 2008, the firm delisted TD stock from the Tokyo Stock Exchange on account of low turnover.

IN THE NEWS January 2009: Sayonara and so long TD Securities announced the closure of its Tokyo office (17 people worked in the office). At the same time, in another attempt to cut costs, the firm announced that it would move some of its sales and trading operations to Singapore from Sydney. Some 70 people staff the firm’s Sydney office.

January 2009: Hopping securities In 2008, according to The Australian, the firm was the second-largest seller of so-called kangaroo bonds—securities sold by foreign companies that are listed in Australian dollars. Nevertheless, the company will centralize its debt capital markets, sales and trading operations in Singapore.

December 2008: Solid performance TD Securities’ parent firm, TD Bank Financial Group, performed well in 2008, considering the economic climate. Unlike many other major financial institutions, it did not suffer exposures to the subprime mortgage market. In fact, by the end of 2008, it was only one of seven banks listed on the New York Stock Exchange to receive an AAA rating from Moody’s.

December 2008: Putting it on the tables On its 2008 M&A league tables, Thomson Reuters ranked TD Securities No. 17 for any Americas completed deals, with 23 deals worth $40.5 billion, and No. 20 in U.S. completed deals, with 9 deals worth $26.2 billion. But the firm showed most strongly in its home market. It ranked No. 2 in any Canadian completed M&A deals, beating out J.P. Morgan, BMO Capital Markets and CIBC World Markets, among others. The firm did not do as well for any Canadian announced deals, however; Thomson Reuters gave TD Securities a ranking of No. 15 on that list, a nine-point drop from its No. 6 ranking in 2007. TD Securities was not ranked in the top 25 in announced U.S. or Americas deals.


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December 2008: Coulda been huge TD Securities advised the consortium of financial firms that were slated to buy BCE, the firm that owns Bell Canada, a $50 billion deal that would have been the largest leveraged buyout in history. If it had been executed, the deal would have garnered some $61.2 million in fees for TD Securities and co-advisors Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, RBS and Morgan Stanley. According to The New York Times, the buyout fell apart largely on account of KPMG’s finding that BCE would be insolvent if the transaction went through.

July 2008: “Who we are and how we operate” The firm announced that it would take a fine of C$96 million stemming from improperly priced derivatives in its London office. In a statement, TD Securities said, “This situation is associated with the activities of an individual who is no longer with the company.” Clark, president and CEO of TD Bank Financial Group, expressed disappointment and regret. The company added that it is cooperating fully with regulatory authorities. "It's got to be disappointing for management at TD because they have prided themselves on having not had these issues, where many of their peers have had absolutely devastating related issues," Brad Smith of Blackmont Capital told The Toronto Star. Indeed, the resulting after-tax loss stemming from the debacle represented less than 2 percent of the bank’s 2008 adjusted earnings. But “this incident simply does not reflect who we are and how we operate,” Clark said in the company’s annual review. In what seems a related move, John Gisborne, vice chairman of TD Securities’ credit products group, quit in July 2008. Gisborne had been with the firm for a decade. In a statement, the company said that Gisborne left on account of “personal reasons.” But The Globe & Mail pointed out that it was a trader on Gisborne’s London team who had mispriced the securities. Gisborne’s departure, the paper contended, can be interpreted thus: TD Securities is “making a point of holding its people accountable for what happens on their watch.”

April 2008: Keeping busy TD Securities co-led, with Cormark Securities, the sale of shares of Sprott Asset Management, a Toronto-based hedge fund that made its public debut. And with Genuity Capital Markets, it acted as underwriter to raise C$400 million for Vitera, formerly known as Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.

GETTING HIRED A smaller target “I didn't attend a target university, so it was a bit more difficult to land an interview,” says a source. “TD has narrowed its target schools, so anyone attending other schools will find that it is difficult to get a foot in the door.” Unsurprisingly, insiders say TD Securities is “big on recruiting student at Canadian universities,” especially McGill, Western Ontario and Waterloo, as well as Ivey (Western Ontario’s business school), Laurier and the University of Toronto. “Depending on the undergraduate institution, the level of selectivity varies, with preference given to those from Ivy, core or Canadian schools,” an employee elaborates. In the U.S., frequently-visited schools include NYU, Boston College, Cornell, Columbia and George Washington. Although recruiting involves a “typical investment banking screening process,” with consideration given to “academic standing and school attended as well as extracurricular activities,” employees say that “it has become increasingly competitive and difficult over the last three years to receive an offer.” Aside from TD’s high standards, positions are also “limited because analyst-to-associates are pretty common.”

Calculated questions “New employees are hired into specific groups, so candidates normally interview with most, if not all, of the current team members.” The process starts with “one round of interviews on campus.” This means a conversation “with a director,” recalls a current insider. “It was a partial fit interview and a partial technical interview. I was asked to value a company.” Next there’s “Super Day” at TD headquarters (Toronto for Canadian applicants, New York for Americans). There, candidates meet “people from various departments,” ranging from “associates to managing directors, with one or two HR interviews.” Expect anywhere from four to six interviews, most lasting “half an hour.” For those doing their final round in New York, warns a source, “It's important to communicate that TD is the place for you, given all the options in New York City. Also, it helps to have a quantitative background, because a surprise calculation might come your way.” Across the board, candidates can expect “standard finance questions” like “How do you value a company?” Adds an associate, “One question I specifically remember is ‘If you start up a company and use $1 to buy a machine with $1 of debt, how does that flow through your financial statements?’” Another source says that during the Super Saturday, “directors ask finance- and accounting-related questions such as how to value a company, how to adjust for accounting principles and how to calculate EBITDA. The HR employee asked about my resume and volunteer experiences.”

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Internship optional “As of late, summer internships have been very common as TD has instituted a more formal recruiting effort,” says a source. But while others agree the internship is “an excellent route to a full-time position,” it’s “not mandatory.” “Summer interns usually get a job offer” but “not always,” so depending on the firm’s hiring needs and the intern’s performance, it may be “an advantage to anyone who can get an internship.” A former intern reports that “pay was in line with investment banking summer positions at other firms.” As for the work itself, that ran the gamut “from one-time projects to supervised transaction work, as needs dictated.”

OUR SURVEY SAYS Pretty friendly, eh? Call it the Canadian influence: TD insiders say their culture “promotes teamwork and is pretty relaxed,” not to mention “less cutthroat than [that at] other Wall Street firms.” “You are encouraged to express your views and opinions, and your colleagues will listen and respect you,” elaborates a source in New York. Of course, there is some competition, “but in a healthy way,” and even though it’s not dog-eat-dog, it does “help to differentiate yourself in some way” if you want to gain responsibility. At TD, says one insider, “You are given enough rope to either just get by or to hang yourself. In other words, if you are willing to step up to the plate and work extremely hard, your chances of working on good deals and being promoted are good. If you want to just get by, you will likely end up being the analyst constantly staffed on mundane research projects and comp assignments.” If there’s a downside, it’s that the culture can feel “disorganized,” with a “somewhat confused strategy.” “Communication is something to be improved upon,” reveals one insider. “One day we are seeking one type of business, and then a different one the next. This constantly changing strategy makes it difficult to focus our efforts. Also, at times there is very little follow-up given with regard to our efforts, be it a pitch, comp set, etc. We finalize an assignment and then hear nothing back.” Another source points out that some of the internal uncertainties are likely caused by “the market and the Commerce acquisition,” but at least some responsibility rests with “upper management and a lack of communication.”

The size of the sea Sounding a similar note, a leveraged finance insider says his department needs to “increase communication and be more careful when interviewing for our team. Also, you don't need to promote someone just because they have been around long enough. They need to develop leadership skills from within.” The source adds, “Unlike other groups, leveraged finance puts too much emphasis on technical skills, and not enough on fit.” At least, says another analyst in the leveraged finance department, “I received a small raise this past winter, which was not given to analysts of other groups at TD.” That’s echoed by a risk management analyst, whose base salary also increased in 2008—“which was exciting, given the market.” “The economic downturn has limited opportunities,” admits a source in corporate finance. “But we're still working hard every day to find new ideas for our clients.” However, regardless of the department, TD bankers know their firm’s strength—and its weakness: they’re “big fish in Canada, small fish in the U.S.”

Surrounded by brainpower “New analysts and associates attend modeling classes upon starting,” says an insider. “We also received classes to prepare for the series 7 and 63.” While sources give good marks to their “initial six-week training session,” some wish for “more opportunities for advanced, job-specific training and continuing education.” Luckily the “best training at TD is on-the-job training,” and “smart colleagues and managers help” with that. Relationships between managers and subordinates “really depend on your managing direct and superiors,” though one associate declares, “You get treated with respect no matter what your level of experience. Senior bankers take their time to teach and advise, and they will listen to original ideas and thoughts.” Mileage may vary, however. “I have never been disrespected by my supervisors,” one source says. “They appreciate my work and my contributions to the desk. Though, some senior guys can be a bit difficult.” While some say interactions with managers come easy enough, others suggest the open-door policy is less realistic “than what anyone would lead you to believe.” However, relationships among those on the same level, especially “among junior bankers,” are said to be “very collegial.”

A bit below Street With respect to salaries, the firm “pays what the Street pays.” But “bonuses are definitely below-market for the U.S.” and “more in line with what Canadian banks pay in Canada.” Plus, in 2008, “bonuses were down 35 to 40 percent, for obvious reasons.”


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There is good news. One contact says, “I do think life is much better at TD versus other banks.” Another remarks, “As an associate, I get four weeks of paid vacation, which is more than some people I know,” and “people actually want you to take it.” “Standard benefits” include “free dinner [a $20 allowance] and a car home when you stay late,” as well as a “good health plan,” “discounted gym memberships, 401(k) with matching and pre-tax spending accounts for transit.” The bank may also provide “education assistance” for those completing their MBAs. And “certain high-performing employees get taken care of appropriately” at bonus time.

Humane society Hours “are very decent, about 60 to 65 per week, unless you’re on a deal.” If so, expect “80-plus hours, easy.” Insiders say, “Hours are long when they need to be but are generally humane, allowing employees to balance work with family and other interests.” And while many do work weekends, it’s “voluntary” and often related to “some catch-up reading.” Many contacts say the recession has changed the weight of their workload. “Our hours range significantly. We spend many of the long nights researching new business ideas or developments in the industry,” says a leveraged finance source. “We probably spend about 80 percent of our time pitching, and putting together and updating comps. But much of this is because of the recession and general lack of trust in the loan market.” “Hours have been impacted by the economic slowdown,” another source agrees. “In 2006, I worked an average of 70 to 80 hours per week. Now I work about 50 to 60.”

Looking spiffy Most TD insiders give their offices the thumbs up, citing “recent upgrades” that have “improved the space significantly.” Even the trading floor “was remodeled recently,” they say. The dress code is “business casual” most days, which means “suit without tie every day except Fridays,” when “pants and a button down shirt” may suffice. Some groups “have casual Fridays,” which might include the option of “wearing jeans if you donate to a predetermined company cause.” Of course, it’s “suit with tie always when interacting with clients.” Environmental programs have been rolled out “throughout the bank” after management “sought recommendations from employees to improve its green initiatives.” The firm is now committed to “encouraging recycling, double-sided printing, trying not to print everything and the use of mugs or water bottles instead of paper cups.”

Sold on diversity “Strong efforts in recruiting and hiring have resulted in good balance among new hires,” say sources, who add that “diversity is one of TD’s strongest selling points.” This means the bank gets high marks for its openness to GLBT employees, ethnic minorities and women. In practice, diversity varies from location to location, and employees know there’s still progress to be made. “Women are well represented at lower and mid levels of management,” reports a contact. “However, there are very few women promoted above the managing director level.” At least in New York, there are signs of change. “A good number of senior positions in the NYC office are held by women.”

TD strides forward Although budgets for bonuses, travel and office parties were curbed in 2008, most employees say there have been no drastic cost-cutting measures at TD—and only “moderate layoffs.” As a result, people are feeling confident. “TD has high morale due to evading the credit crisis,” explains an insider. “The bank has always been conservative and is growing selectively. Our increased presence in the U.S. looks very promising.” Another adds, “We're well capitalized, have excellent retail banking and have no need for any sort of bailout.” Of course, notes a banker, “We're not immune to economic conditions, but we seem to be less exposed than some of our competitors. Our relatively strong financial position, coupled with continued expansion into the U.S, retail and commercial banking space, offers some real opportunities to grow our investment banking platform.” Having “stayed away from all the damage,” says a contact, TD remains in a good place. Unlike so many others, “We’re still open for business.”

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THINKEQUITY LLC 600 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94111-2702 Phone: (415) 249-2900 www.thinkequity.com

BUSINESSES Institutional Brokerage Investment Banking Research ThinkWealth Management

THE STATS Employer Type: Subsidiary of Panmure Gordon & Co. Chairman & CEO: Greg Wright No. of Employees: 180 No. of Offices: 6

KEY COMPETITORS Burrill & Company Canaccord Adams FBR Capital Markets

UPPER • “Merit-based” rewards for employees

DOWNER • Has become “stagnant and corporate”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “careers” at www.thinkequity.com

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition ThinkEquity LLC

THE SCOOP Sticking to its guns When he launched ThinkEquity in 2001, Michael Moe intended to create a bold firm devoted to finding companies with massive growth potential. Moe stepped down as CEO in 2008, but the firm still appears to be adhering to its founding principles, recently launching a new health care team, for example, even though investment banks are leaving the biotech sector in droves on account of liquidity concerns.

Five arms for growth ThinkEquity has its sights set on five main sectors that it believes are the most primed for growth: health care and life sciences; technology (specifically software and semiconductors), media and Internet; consumer and business services; and greentech and emerging technologies. Each sector is broken down into subcategories that further narrow the focus of what ThinkEquity considers “up and coming.” ThinkEquity works with clients ranging from institutional investors, corporate clients, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and financial sponsors. Its services include targeted research, investment banking, wealth management and asset management. In March 2007, ThinkEquity became a wholly owned subsidiary of London stockbrokerage Panmure Gordon & Co.

Flying high-net-worth Extending its mission statement to focus on growth sectors, ThinkEquity has branched out its business to include one of the fastest growing and most profitable areas of business available today: managing the finances of high-net-worth clients. The wealth management portion of ThinkEquity called ThinkWealth caters exclusively to high-net-worth families, partnerships and nonprofit organizations. ThinkWealth was launched in 2004 and covers a wide range of services, including asset allocation, portfolio construction, investment advisory services, consolidated reporting, equity and fixed income trading, cash management, and hedging and monetization of concentrated equity positions. One special quality that ThinkEquity offers its high-net-worth clients is a peer-to-peer networking forum called Visible Path. Visible Path is a relationship capital management platform that helps ThinkEquity’s partners, staff, close advisors and VIP clients to network with each other under the veil of virtual privacy.

Transatlantic merger ThinkEquity went from being a boutique start-up to an international multi-service operation when it was purchased by Panmure Gordon Company in March 2007. Panmure was attracted to ThinkEquity’s meteoric growth over the six years it had been in business, including its revenue jump from $12.2 million in 2002 to $64 million in 2006. The buying price for the U.S. firm was $62.3 million, plus $27 million for the assumption and repayment of debt and liabilities. The merger provided a powerful partner for ThinkEquity. Panmure Gordon was established in 1876 and is one of the oldest stockbrokers in London. As of the time of the merger, it had a capitalization of £116 million ($229 million) and was the stockbroker to approximately 85 companies. In the U.S., the company will be known as ThinkEquity, a Panmure Gordon company, and will assume the name of Panmure Gordon in the U.K. and Europe.

IN THE NEWS May 2009: Table management ThinkEquity and Stifel Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated co-managed online reservation provider OpenTable Inc.’s initial public offering. The IPO of three million shares of common stock were priced at $20 per share. In total, 1.57 million shares were being offered by OpenTable, and 1.43 million shares were offered by selling stockholders. The offering’s bookrunning manager was Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and the IPO’s senior co-manager was Allen & Company LLC.

January 2009: With risk comes reward? ThinkEquity is forming a new health care team composed of analysts and bankers in order to take advantage of the frothy biotechnology sector, Reuters reported. ThinkEquity’s timing is certainly bold. As a result of market swings, the bulk of investment banks have left the biotech sector behind. For example, in November 2008, Susquehanna Financial Group fired 30 people, including its health care analysts. Moreover, of the 400 public biotech companies in the U.S., about three-quarters of them “have less than one year of cash, and 120 of those have less than six months of cash,” life-science bank Burill & Company told Reuters.

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition ThinkEquity LLC

November 2008: A few staff changes here and there Bill Foley returned to ThinkEquity’s parent firm Panmure Gordon. Foley heads distribution of the firm’s U.K. research to U.S. accounts. The company also hired a new analyst covering the semiconductor industry: Vijay Rakesh.

October 2008: Getting Wright ThinkEquity announced it had hired Greg Wright as its new CEO. He was previously the firm’s managing partner and COO. Prior to joining ThinkEquity, Wright was managing director of Merrill Lynch, where he helped to build its European corporate finance group. At the same time, Deborah Quazzo, president and co-founder of ThinkEquity’s U.S. business, resigned “to pursue other interests.” These shakeups followed on the heels of Michael Moe, chairman of ThinkEquity, announcing his resignation in September 2008 “to pursue other interests and to spend more time with his family,” according to the firm.

June 2008: More advising ThinkEquity led the placement on 2.5 million shares of the Harris & Harris Group nanotechnology investment company. ThinkEquity also advised RuleBurst, a Sydney, Australia-based policy modeling software company, on its sale to Oracle Corporation.

April 2008: The age of computers ThinkEquity advised AppStream, a provider of desktop applications, on its acquisition by Symantec Corporation. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. It also advised IncuBoity Software, a privately held company, on its sale to Rockwell Automation.

GETTING HIRED Think it over The firm’s “careers” section of its website is rather sparse. Other than touting itself as “one of the fastest growing full service investment banks in the United States,” and telling prospective hires that it strives “to cultivate an environment in which creativity, excellence and integrity are not just ideals, but the simple truths that characterize everything we do,” the firm provides this address to which you can send a resume: [email protected].

OUR SURVEY SAYS A different direction? As far as the company culture goes, ThinkEquity may be heading down a different path than it was previously. The firm “used to be very entrepreneurial and reward its employees based on merit,” but times have since changed, insiders say. “With the recent loss of leadership, it has become very stagnant and corporate,” one contact admits.


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UNION BANK, N.A. 400 California Street San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: (415) 765-0400 Fax: (415) 765-2220 www.unionbank.com

KEY COMPETITORS

BUSINESSES

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Commercial Financial Services Personal Banking Small Business Banking Wealth Management

www.unionbank.com/careers

Bank of America Citi Wells Fargo

THE STATS Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: UB (NYSE) President & CEO: Masaaki Tanaka 2008 Revenue: $2.8 billion 2008 Net Income: $268.89 million No. of Employees: 9,820 No. of Offices: 336

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Solid regional” • “Who?”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Union Bank, N.A.

THE SCOOP Golden State giant Union Bank works in the consumer, small business, middle market, real estate, corporate, correspondent and trade finance markets, and also provides investment and financial management, trust services, private banking, insurance and global custody services. Its industry focus is concentrated mainly on the communications, media, entertainment, energy, public utilities and retail sectors. There are four major business lines at Union Bank. Personal banking offers checking, savings, home equity, retirement planning, online banking and estate planning to retail customers. The wealth management division provides investments, brokerage, trust administration, business services and insurance. Small business services include cash management, business financing, merchant card services and Internet banking—Union Bank also provides specialized small business services to nonprofit organizations and companies owned by women and minorities. Finally, the commercial financial services division provides business insurance, employee benefits, international trade and foreign exchange services, cash management and loans, and financing for mergers, acquisitions and other business operations.

The long and winding road Follow a maze of Japanese and Californian mergers to arrive at what is known as Union Bank, whose roots date back to 1864, when the Bank of California—the first incorporated commercial bank in the West—opened for business. Across the Pacific, in 1880, the Yokohama Specie Bank was created in Japan. Many decades later, in 1953, it renamed itself Bank of Tokyo and launched a San Francisco subsidiary called the Bank of Tokyo California (BOTC). Five years later, a Los Angeles-based bank called Union Bank & Trust Company shortened its name to Union Bank, which created a one-bank holding company called Union Bancorp in 1967. Meanwhile, BOTC grew beyond San Francisco in 1975 when it acquired Southern California First National Bank of San Diego and renamed it California First. In 1984, the Bank of California became a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi Bank Ltd., and in 1988, Union Bancorp was purchased by California First (but kept the Union Bank name). In 1996, the Bank of California and Union Bank combined their businesses under the Union Bank of California name. Union Bank became the new holding company’s primary subsidiary, and Union Bank of California Corporation (often referred to UnionBanCal) listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999. That same year, Mitsubishi Bank and the Bank of Tokyo held a merger of their own, forming Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTM). In 2006, BTM merged with UFJ Bank, becoming the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Mitsubishi Financial Group completed its purchase of the remaining 33.6 percent of Union Bank of California in November 2008. A month later, the firm shortended its name to, simply, Union Bank.

IN THE NEWS April 2009: Looking up The bank reported total revenue of $737 million for first quarter 2009, a 12 percent increase compared with the same period in 2008. Net interest income, meanwhile, saw a 21 percent boost. The firm cited a $3.1 billion increase in interest bearing deposits one of the reasons for the positive numbers.

February 2009: Down and up Within full-year 2008, net income came in at $269 million—a 55 percent drop that the firm attributed partially to credit losses. Total revenue for the year, meanwhile, increased 12 percent to $2.8 billion, which the company credited to an increase in loans and interest-bearing deposits.

January 2009: Tanaka on board Union Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Masaaku Tanaka joined the Financial Services Roundtable’s board of directors. Tanaka is the first Japanese executive to serve on the Washington, D.C.-based organization, which represents 100 of the biggest financial services companies in the U.S.

December 2008: Name change The Union Bank of California dropped its long term moniker in 2008 in exchange for a more succinct title—just plain old Union Bank. The change may have been a result of the acquisition of the company by Mitsubishi Financial Services, and also of Mitsubishi's plans to expand the company's operations. CEO Masaaki Tanaka said, “While we have had a three-state charter—California, Oregon and Washington—for more than 100 years, we also have offices in several major U.S. and international markets where we’ve been expanding our footprint in commercial real estate, energy and utilities lending, and commercial banking.” The change went into effect December 18, 2008.


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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Union Bank, N.A.

November 2008: Property of Mitsubishi As of November 4, 2008, Union Bank of California became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFC Financial Corporation. The bank purchased the remaining 33.6 percent of the bank for $3.5 billion in a deal that was approved by 98 percent of the UnionBanCal shareholders. Union Bank's new parent company showed that it had a vested interest in expanding its banking operations in the U.S. by purchasing a 21 percent stake in the former investment bank Morgan Stanley in September 2008. As of November 2008, UnionBanCal Corporation had assets of $62.6 billion, making it one of the top 25 banks in the U.S.

November 2008: See ya, CBS Union Bank found itself embattled in a lawsuit with CBS after a money snafu resulted in $72.3 million in disputed funds. The $72.3 million was sent directly to CBS after it requested the withdrawal of funds from Reserve Primary, a mutual fund which suffered huge losses in 2008. Reserve Primary “broke the buck”, dropping below $1 due to losses related to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. The fund issued a redemption receipt to CBS, which Union Bank disputes as “an advance” which should have gone to the bank instead of to the broadcaster.

September 2008: Appealing to the wine crowd Union Bank opened an office in Napa Valley in order to make a specific appeal to the wine industry services. The products and services offered to customers of Napa Valley include loans and other credit products, which will help growers, wineries, suppliers and distributors afford equipment purchases, acquisitions, and import and export activities. The office is managed by James A. Barrett, who joined Union Bank in May 2008 as a member of a four-person team focused on the wine industry.

July 2008: New chairman Kyoto Omori took the chairman reins of UnionBanCal and Union Bank, N.A. Former chairman Norimichi Kanari served only one year as chairman before stepping down from the position. Omori, the deputy president of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group will serve as a non-resident chairman. “Kyota's global banking experience and knowledge will be invaluable to our board of directors and our executive management team,” said CEO Masaaki Tanaka. No explanation was given for why Kanari was stepping down. Tanaka said, “We have been fortunate to have Norimichi Kanari serve in a number of capacities for both BTMU and UnionBanCal Corporation over the years.”

GETTING HIRED The standard process On the bank’s “careers” section of its website (www.unionbank.com), candidates can search through the hundreds of available positions listed in the "find a job" section, read the extensive descriptions (that include all information you would ever need about your potential new job) and apply online by emailing their resume directly to the firm. If the firm is interested in pursuing your application, you will be contacted by a corporate staffing recruiter to set up an interview. College students are also invited to apply for summer internships, and the firm operates an extensive college recruitment effort seeking qualified and competent entry-level candidates. There are lots of reasons to work for Union Bank. For one, the firm "values continuous learning," and backs up that statement with "comprehensive training and development programs" aimed at cultivating a highly competent employee base. Also, the benefit package is quite comprehensive, encompassing medical, dental/vision, life and accident insurance, disability, employee assistance (counseling, legal assistance, etc.) and several free banking services. The firm also offers a competitive retirement plan, including a 401(k) plan in which employees participate immediately upon joining the firm, and other optional benefits such as supplemental life insurance for dependents and the ability to "buy" additional vacation time. Lastly, the firm values a diverse workforce and has been praised by Fortune magazine as one of "America's 50 Best Companies for Diversity."

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WEBSTER FINANCIAL CORPORATION Webster Plaza WFD730 Waterbury, CT 06702 Phone: (800) 325-2424 www.websteronline.com

UPPERS

BUSINESSES

DOWNERS

Commercial Banking Consumer Finance Retail Banking Wealth & Investment Services

• “Minorities appear to be lacking” • “Not much training”

THE STATS

Follow the "work for us" link at websteronline.com

• “The work is pretty intellectually stimulating” • "Respectful" management

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT

Employer Type: Public Company Ticker Symbol: WBS (NYSE) Chairman & CEO: James “Jim” C. Smith 2008 Revenue: $505.79 million 2008 Net Income: -$321 million No. of Employees: 2,900 No. of Offices: 177 (Worldwide)

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Tiny player” • “Never heard of them”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition Webster Financial Corporation

THE SCOOP Yankee banking Webster Financial Corporation is the holding company for Connecticut-based Webster Bank, the largest independent bank headquartered in New England. Webster’s four lines of business are retail banking, commercial banking, consumer finance, and wealth and investment services. Webster was founded in 1935 by Harold Webster Smith, then just 24 years old. Smith borrowed from his relatives to open First Federal Savings of Waterbury, a lending institution dedicated to providing home loans at low rates to Connecticut citizens. It soon focused on expanding its commercial business, and in the process grew beyond Connecticut. Today, the Webster footprint extends to the suburbs of Boston, through southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and into New York. The bank offered its first shares to the public in 1986. First Federal was renamed Webster Bank in honor of its founder in 1995. Ten years later, in March 2005, Webster acquired the Wisconsin-based State Bank of Howards Grove, which it now operates under the name HSA Bank. In October 2006, Webster closed its stock-for-stock acquisition of Connecticut savings bank NewMil Bancorp, in a deal valued at $172.5 million.

How Webster works Retail banking has historically been Webster’s biggest line of business. This segment serves about 400,000 consumer households and 60,000 small business customers in New England and New York; its distribution network includes 484 ATM locations, 181 banking offices and online banking services. Retail also includes HSA Bank and home equity loans, mortgage lending and investment products offered through Webster Investment Services. The consumer finance division provides first mortgages, home equity loans and direct installment lending programs through Webster Bank and its wholly-owned subsidiary, People’s Mortgage Corporation (PMC). Wealth and investment services are two business units operating as one division. Webster Financial Advisors (WFA) targets high-net-worth individuals, nonprofits and business clients. Webster Investment Services (WIS), a registered investment advisor, offers securities, brokerage and advisory services.

IN THE NEWS June 2009: Cut down Standard & Poor’s cut Webster’s credit rating—along with 17 other banks’—mostly due to recession-related worries. Webster’s rating was lowered to BBB- from BBB, and the rating of its main subsidiary, Webster Bank N.A., fell to BBB/A-2 from BBB+/A-2. S&P also listed its outlooks for both as “negative.” With the cut, Webster’s rating fell to where it was in January 2006.

June 2009: A new offer In an attempt to shore up capital, Webster Financial announced a trust preferred securities exchange offer and issued a ratio for its new offer. The firm said that for each $1,000 liquidation amount of trust preferred, 82.0755 shares will be issued. Barclays Capital and J.P. Morgan Securities acted as Webster’s financial advisors for the offer.

January 2009: Tough times Though Webster Financial still boasts $17.5 billion in assets, it suffered crushing losses in 2008 that will haunt its balance sheet for a long time to come. The firm booked a net loss of $321 million for fiscal 2008, compared with the previous year's net gain of $96.7 million. Its woes included a $4.2 million charge related to job cuts, write-downs of $263.2 million on non-performing assets and a loss $4.2 million on sales of securities. Webster Financial's stock also lost nearly 85 percent of its value during 2008. As a result of its poor performance in 2008, the firm cut its dividend from $.30 per share to $.01 per share.

January 2009: Cutting back The firm announced that it would be eliminating 200 jobs, mostly in the state of Connecticut. Approximately 100 people will be laid off from the bank, while the remaining 100 jobs will be phased out through attrition and the elimination of certain positions. The 2009 job cuts are an extension of a plan the company launched in 2008 called the “OneWebster” initiative. The bank completed a companywide review of business practices that set a goal to save $40 million in costs. The plan went into effect in June 2008 and was expected to be fully implemented within 24 months. The initial round of cutbacks included 240 job cuts in the second two quarters 2008. The OneWebster initiative was

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executed by a team of 200 current Webster employees who analyzed the company, and made recommendations as to how to streamline operations and improve responsiveness.

November 2008: Modifying foreclosures In a response to public outcry, Webster Bank announced that it would be suspending home foreclosures for 90 days. The bank also announced that it would expand its mortgage assistance program, in an attempt to help customers restructure their loans and avoid foreclosure. Customers applying for Webster Bank's mortgage assistance programs must fulfill several criteria before receiving aid. They must occupy the mortgaged home as their primary residence and provide evidence that they will be able to sustain a restructured payment plan.

November 2008: Needing more funds Webster was forced to seek more capital as credit conditions deteriorated over the course of 2008. Webster took $400 million in the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) with a firm promise to the communities that it would use the money for its intended purpose— lending. Webster CEO Jim Smith went on record at a meeting of the MetroHartford Alliance, promising the state of Connecticut that “every dollar of that $400 million will get out into the communities." Smith's comments on the TARP money were partly in response to comments made by U.S. Representative Barney Frank, who criticized banks that were using the funds for purposes other than its intended aim. Frank said, “Any use of these funds for any purpose other than lending—for bonuses, for severance pay, for dividends, for acquisitions of other institutions, etc.— is a violation of the terms of the act.” Smith's comments at the MetroHartford Alliance were a slight revision of statements he had made to industry analysts in November promising that he “absolutely” planned to spend some of the money on acquisitions.

July 2008: Shedding services In order to offset its losses, Webster Financial Corporation was forced to sell off its risk services division. Webster Risk Services was sold to PMA Capital for $5.9 million in cash. Earlier in the year, Webster Financial Corporation announced that it would be selling its insurance division, Webster Insurance to USI Holdings Corporation. At the time of the sale, Webster Insurance was one of the largest middle-market insurance brokerage firms in New England specializing in commercial property & casual and employee benefits insurance. The sale involved the execution of a joint marketing agreement between Webster and USI that would provide “expanded products and services to their respective clients.”

June 2008: Finding funds The company offered 225,000 shares of preferred stock in order to raise funds to further shore up capital. The offering was received well, with proceeds totaling $250 million. CEO James Smith said, “The successful public sale of capital reflects the confidence investors place in Webster's balance sheet strength and growth potential.”

April 2008: No more COO Webster announced that William Bromage, its president and chief operating officer since 2000, would retire in June 2008. Instead of replacing Bromage, the company will eliminate the position of president and COO altogether, explaining that as Webster “narrows its strategic focus,” the position is no longer necessary.

GETTING HIRED Best foot forward Being presentable and articulate may be the key to getting hired at Webster. "As long as you have the skills and demeanor, getting hired here is not difficult," admits one insider. And once you're in, the firm, like many regional banks, is known as an employee-friendly place to work. Webster's careers web site notes its "Six Commitments" to employees, which include building financial security, professional growth, the ability to contribute and be recognized, a healthy lifestyle environment, the opportunity to support the local community, and an overall great working environment. In terms of professional growth, the company offers internal training programs specific to different positions and lines of business, and partners with external providers. The firm also uses several methods to bring in the candidates such as "talking with colleagues from other institutions" and using "recruiting firms."


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Go to the top For college students, Webster offers both full-time positions and internships, with internships usually leading to regular employment for top performers. Although the company considers applicants from all fields of study, it typically recruits students in one of four majors: finance/accounting, marketing, computer science and liberal arts. For each concentration, the firm provides a list of departments that match up with the particular skill set and knowledge base. For example, according to Webster, a good fit for a marketing major might be product management, retail banking or, of course, marketing. The company participates in campus recruiting through career fairs, open houses and online job postings. It provides a simple application page through the career site. The firm allows potential candidates to search for jobs online by location, and to read extensive descriptions, qualifications and responsibilities of each of the various positions that are currently available. The firm's interview process usually starts with an on-campus interview; second-round interviews are granted to those individuals who appear to be a good fit for the culture and needs of the bank. On-site interviews are the final step in the process, and often include contact with members of Webster's leadership. By the time one contact was extended an offer, he had spoken with a "hiring manager, treasurer, HR manager and team member."

OUR SURVEY SAYS All clear In the realm of Webster culture, there's "fairly open communication with management," and it's "not too hierarchical." One insider enthuses that "the work is pretty intellectually stimulating and keeps me busy." Others laud the "employee stock purchase plan" (under which employees receive a 15 percent discounted rate), "a five percent match on 401(k)" and "a strong Health Savings Account medical plan." And there aren't too many complaints when it comes to pay. "I get compensated relatively well." Hours get positive feedback from employees, too. Working "45 to 55 hours per week" is the norm, and there's "no billing pressure." Even though one insider admits to several instances of working on weekends and "late into the night," he adds that it's "not a common occurrence." Notes another, "Right now, I work about one weekend a month, but that’s not the norm. Usually it’s only a couple of times per year."

The enjoyable and the not-so-enjoyable Management is "excellent, treats subordinates "very well" and is "respectful" when it comes to the needs of employees. One employee calls his manager a "very good teacher who is enjoyable to work for." Still, "they can be demanding at times," admits another contact. Office space could stand to be a little snazzier, insiders say. "Office decor is pretty plain and uninspiring," grumbles one staffer. The firm "needs to create a more appealing atmosphere." "The corporate headquarters offices are old and in need a serious refurbishing." Some insiders say this affects all aspects of the firm: "If you want Webster to be a first-class institution, the appearance needs to reflect that, so employees will be proud of their office space. It will promote more loyalty and production."

Put away the cummerbund The dress code is "business casual," meaning "slacks or khakis and a dress shirt," but "no tie" is required. And though employees "are not allowed to wear jeans or shorts"—"except for client contact"—it's still a laid-back place. Unfortunately, Webster might be a little too laid-back when it comes to training. One insider admits simply, "There's not much training offered in my area."

A level playing field? In the diversity sphere, the firm may be wise to concentrate more on the big picture, some insiders say. "While there may be diversity in the branches, the corporate areas do not appear to have much minority diversity." Though one insider notes, "I don't believe they discriminate in hiring," the company "doesn't really seek out a diverse workforce, either." Women within the firm may be slightly better off than minorities, however. Sources tell us that, "There are a decent amount of women in positions”—”women are respected, and promoted based on skills and experience"—”but minorities appear to be lacking." Adds another insider, " To boost diversity, "Webster should look more into MBA programs for minority applicants to fill more corporate positions," one contact suggests.

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WR HAMBRECHT + CO 539 Bryant Street, Suite 100 San Francisco, CA 94107 Phone: (415) 551-8600 Fax: (415) 551-8686 www.wrhambrecht.com

UPPER • “Relaxed,” “easygoing” culture • “My ideas are integral to the projects we work on"

DOWNER BUSINESSES Asset Management Capital Markets Investment Banking Research

• “Currently understaffed” • “Managers get their work done by intimidation”

EMPLOYMENT CONTACT See “employment” under “about us” at ww.wrhambrecht.com

THE STATS Employer Type: Private Company Chairman & CEO: William R. Hambrecht No. of Employees: 125 No. of Offices: 4

THE BUZZ

What insiders at other firms are saying • “Regional investment bank” • “Auction IPOS” • “Never heard of them”

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The Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2010 Edition WR Hambrecht + Co

THE SCOOP The Open source Headquartered in high-tech heaven San Francisco, WR Hambrecht + Co. uses technology and online auction process to give its clients access to financial markets. The firm’s proprietary OpenIPO auction, patterned after Dutch auctions, is designed to level the playing field in IPOs by allowing individuals and institutional investors alike to place online bids for shares. In the end, the auction determines the price that everyone pays. Another Hambrecht technology, OpenBook, takes a similar approach to corporate bonds, providing transparent, real-time price information. OpenFollowOn is the logical next step, giving investors interactive bidding and real-time pricing for follow-on equity offerings. Founded in 1998 by William R. Hambrecht, WR Hambrecht + Co. operates on the principle that online technology is the easiest way to create open, fair markets. By allowing investors and market forces to price IPOs, the argument goes, a true “market price” can be found—with less behind-thescenes dealing by investment bankers. The firm serves the technology, health care, financial services, consumer/retail and telecommunications sectors. It provides a full range of underwriting, advisory, equity research, sales and trading, brokerage and private equity offerings online and off. In addition to its San Francisco headquarters, Hambrecht has offices in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. The firm was created after William Hambrecht retired from Hambrecht & Quist, which he co-founded in 1968. It is backed by American Century, Crimson Ventures, epartners, Fidelity Ventures, Novell, and Park Avenue Equity Capital Partners, LP.

Disrupting the peace The public relations department at WR Hambrecht & Co. has given the company a strange slogan: “A disruptive investment firm for people who think for themselves.” The word “disruptive” here refers not to a group of young hooligans throwing stones, but to a theory of economics posited by Harvard Business professor Clay Christensen. Christensen asserts in his books, The Innovators Dilemma and The Innovators Solution, that disruption in the market can be a powerful force for growth. He goes on to explain that “disruptors” can make waves by targeting new, ignored or over-served clients, creating an entirely new market. Christensen points to companies such as Kodak, Sears, Sony and McDonald's as examples to back up his theory. WR Hambrecht & Co. puts itself in the category of “disruptive” companies due to its pioneering of the OpenIPO auction platform. The company hosts a forum called “The Disruption Forum,” in which the ideas of Bill Hambrecht and Clay Christensen are discussed and elaborated upon by “people who think for themselves.”

Nothing ventured, nothing gained In the area of venture capital, WR Hambrecht & Co. focuses its investments on emerging technology. In its 10-year history, the company has invested over $100 million in 63 companies including Giganet, greatfood.com, Stonyfield Farm, Tom's of Maine and Ravenswood. The firm currently has venture capital investments in 11 companies, including The Active Network, Aristotle, Collabnet, Europebyair.com, MontaVista Software, Vizu, Niman Ranch, TeraOp, Trivium and Turin Networks.

Shrugging off doomsday The market's precipitous fall in September 2008 was just one more harbinger of bad times ahead for companies like WR Hambrecht & Co. Even more troubling than the collapse of large investment banks, however, was the absence of venture-backed companies going public in the second quarter 2008. The market saw no initial public offerings for the quarter for the first time since 1978. Despite the dire data and the National Venture Capital Association's warning of a “capital markets crisis”, Hambrecht is taking the news in stride. In September 2008, CEO William Hambrecht was quoted on Inc.com as saying, “This is going to work itself out on its own.” Hambrecht also rejected the suggestion of revising Sarbanes-Oxley as a way to encourage IPOs. He predicts that venture capital companies will eventually be forced to begin launching IPOs again in order to pay off investors. “There's going to be tremendous pressure in the coming years to liquefy venture portfolios,” Hambrecht concluded.

Friends in high places For many years, William “Bill” Hambrecht has enjoyed dinners and family get-togethers with his friend Nancy—California Representative Nancy Pelosi, that is. When Pelosi, a Democrat, was sworn in as the first female Speaker of the House in 2007, the San Francisco Chronicle noted that her contacts in the close-knit San Francisco business community suddenly had a very important friend in Washington. Bill Hambrecht—who helped take Apple, Adobe, Netscape and Amazon public in the 1990s when he ran Hambrecht & Quist—has been described as one of the most powerful links between Silicon Valley and the Democratic Party. Besides being a major political donor, Hambrecht has been invited to speak at White House conferences on the new economy.

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IN THE NEWS May 2009: Getting “disruptive” A New York Times profile of WR Hambrecht + Co. founder William R. Hambrecht showcased the firm’s innovation over the years. Hambrecht expressed surprise at the fact that an auction for OpenIPO “works better on the bigger deals,” adding that “as the market gets more efficient working its way down,” WR Hambrecht “will get more efficient doing smaller auctions.” Hambrecht also noted that “Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley aren’t interested in $50 million and $100 million deals anymore. They want to keep the half-a-billion and billion-dollar deals that make them money.” IPOs aren’t the only game WR Hambrecht is working to master. Hambrecht also co-founded and helped give financial backing to the United Football League, which will compete with the National Football League. Hambrecht told the Times he sees the UFL “as a tremendous opportunity to be very disruptive in the media market.”

August 2008: Giving it a try Despite the optimism of its CEO, WR Hambrecht & Co. experienced the enormity of the market's failures in 2008 when it acted as co-manager of an IPO that launched well under expectations. When Rackspace Hosting, Inc., went public on the New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street insiders hoped that it would fetch a price of $17 per share. However, the company's offering fell far short, finishing the day at approximately $10 per share. The IPO raised $187 million in a modified Dutch auction, but failed to stimulate excitement for a new wave of tech stocks going public.

GETTING HIRED Roll over, competition W.R. Hambrecht + Co.'s homepage employs the image of none other than pioneer of rock 'n' roll Chuck Berry to drive home its point across about being a different kind of firm ("if disruption were a musician, it would be Chuck Berry," the site asserts). So if you're "disruptive," as the site asks, check out the firm's current openings. In each listing, the firm posts the responsibilities and skills necessary to succeed, and even lists "attitude/work ethic" qualifications the successful candidate will need to meet.

As selective as they want to be There's a few ways to get into the firm, but knowing someone who's already there certainly helps matters. WR Hambrecht + Co "has grown more selective in recent years," but the firm "does not rule out applicants based on college like some firms do." Moreover, one source says, "We do not recruit on many campuses," explaining that any campus recruiting is centered on the alma maters of the firm's current employees. Even so, one source cites "most Ivies as well as Stanford and UC Berkeley" as typical schools at which the firm recruits. Still, she does admit, "We also receive and consider many incoming resumes from other schools." Other insiders say the firm goes to Penn, Harvard, Dartmouth, MIT, Georgetown and NYU, among others, to find employees. With respect to what the firm is looking for in a candidate, a junior banker explains that "culture is the biggest obstacle for a candidate. You need to fit in and work well with the people."

Round after round Generally, candidates can expect two to three rounds of interviews. One source indicates that junior bankers handle the first round of on-campus interviews ("It's usually a phone screen for laterals for the first round"), which are followed by meetings with five to 10 senior bankers for the "intense" second and final round. Still, one analyst in the corporate finance department characterizes the hiring process as "very decentralized," with "each office typically [handling] its own hiring." The contact adds, "If a managing director in New York needs more junior support, he will often handle the search himself with the help of his junior bankers." Another veteran employee in the firm notes that, not surprisingly, having "contacts in the company helps to a great extent" in landing a job.

OUR SURVEY SAYS The West Coast lifestyle According to an insider who's been with the firm for several years, the firm's culture is "very entrepreneurial and easygoing, as we're focused on technology and based in San Francisco." He adds that while "a lot is expected," "face time isn't a requirement for success." Additionally, he stresses that "people are given lots of responsibility quickly and more if they do well with it." The view from the rank and file is a little less optimistic. "The


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culture is far more relaxed than at major banks," notes an analyst, "but that is changing as the firm grows." The source adds, "The firm is currently understaffed, especially at the junior level, which can make hours miserable at times." Another insider notes that the firm's West Coast technology foundation allows for "a less formal setting than bulge brackets given that everyone is more laid-back and easygoing." He adds that analysts get "great exposure," and they "participate in a lot of client meetings, get a lot of responsibility and have direct interaction with senior management." The consensus was that the "hours and lifestyle" are "pretty desirable for an investment banking position," although one analyst notes that while she normally works until 7 p.m., "on bad weeks, I consistently stay until 2 a.m."

Cool on training, but plenty perky Training could be better, say insiders. "We really need some work in this [area]," says a source out of New York. "Right now there's no time and no resources to train new employees. It's a listen-in-and-figure-it-out-as-you-go situation here." An insider in San Francisco explains that the firm has "a two-week training program for analysts, and a one-week training program for summer interns. After that, most of the training is on the job, since you'll have to learn the style and resources of particular industry verticals or product groups." One contact says the training is improving. "The training program has been greatly enhanced," he explains, "but was relatively low key until lately." The firm offers the same perks as the largest investment banks on the Street, such as meal allowances and free transportation if working late, a 401(k) plan, and discounts on movie tickets and other entertainment events. In addition, the firm "has season tickets to the 49ers and the [San Francisco] Giants, which are shared regularly with members of the investment banking team." One employee brags that he "got tickets to one post-season Giants game, and three games in the regular season." He adds, "And these are third row seats right next to the third-base line."

Managers get mixed reviews Sources have varying opinions about management. "I have no problem talking to my superiors," says one analyst. "They're very open to our suggestions." Another analyst has even stronger things to say: "I'm treated really well. If I have a lot of work, managers help me out so I won't end up staying too late." Even when this analyst does stay late, he gets help. "I've pulled all-nighters with MDs in the firm." He adds that his direct superior is "great, and really honest, personable, direct and understanding." But not everyone feels this way. "The management style is 'shoot from the hip,'" explains one source. Another contact thinks, "Managers get their work done by intimidation and not motivation." Despite the varying opinions, insiders seem to agree that "there's a strong culture of mutual respect here," and several stress that the small size of the firm is an incredible advantage. One young banker says, "I'm the only first-year analyst working in my sector and that makes me a serious asset to my team. I love the fact that I have ownership of my sector and that my ideas are integral to the projects we work on."

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About the Editor Derek Loosvelt has a BS in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in creative writing from The New School. He is a writer and editor, and has worked for Brill’s Content and Inside.com. Previously, he worked in investment banking at CIBC and Duff & Phelps.

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Vault Guide

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