Investment Bank rankings

Question

We of the online forum population tend to have an extreme tendency to want to rank things, especially schools. I'm curious to see people's perceptions as to what the "best" investment banks are. I know there are a few bulge bracket banks as well as smaller boutiques, but aside from that I have no idea if there are any clear cut big 3 like there are in consulting or big 4 in accounting.

Rank the top banks based on whatever criteria you want - prestige, pay, career progression, exit opportunities, etc. etc.

Rank the top banks based on whatever criteria you want - prestige, pay, career progression, exit opportunities, etc. etc.

DrSatisfaction · Answer

i think it's fairly different depending on what area you want to specialize in. also what part of the world you're in.

overall though, i'd check the league tables. or just hop over to wallstreetoasis.com where they probably have a bunch of these rankings. however i'd take all that with a grain of salt...given the credibility of some of the posters there.

stanford2012 · Answer

I don't think the the classification is as clear as it is in accounting (big 4) or consulting (M/B/B). My subjective impression is that overall GS, MS, and JPM are currently considered the most prestigious (in this order), at least if we refer to M&A (can't really speak for the other areas in investment banking). I say currently because JPM has been one of the relative winners of the financial crisis and was previously not deemed nearly as prestigious as the other two IMO.

As the above poster said prestige will vary based on location, the area and the group you'll be working in (e.g. GS has an amazing TMT group, MS has a strong FIG group etc.)

My subjective ranking of banks for M&A in US (I assume that is where you want to work) based on prestige:

Tier 1 
GS
MS
JPM

Tier 2 
CS
Citi
UBS
BofA

Top boutiques: 
Lazard
Greenhill
Moelis
Evercore
Perella Weinberg

IHateTheGMAT · Answer

This is wrong. First, you dont have all the bulge brackets. Tier 2 should include DB and Barcap. Also, I think most would say for US M&A BAML, Barcap, and Citi are a slight tier above the other 3. JPM, MS, GS are def top 3.

Full year 2009 US M&A League Tables is a good place to start (in case you don't know, league tables are a ranking of deals the bank has done during the year(

2009 Rank
1 - Morgan Stanley
2 - Goldman 
3 - JPM
4 - Citi
5 - Barclays
6 - BAML
7 - Evercore
8 - CS
9 - UBS
10 - DB

stanford2012 · Answer

The OP asked for a personal ranking, which per se can't be right or wrong. I assume anyone interested in banking is aware of league tables so I doubt that's the point of this thread. I thought that DB and Barclays were lower in terms of prestige in the US (hence I did not list them in tier 2) but general perception of those working in the industry might very well differ, as you pointed out. My opinion is based on people I know working in this field, and based on forum discussions. I work in M&A but in Europe, not in the US.

As Dr. Satisfaction mentioned, there are are endless discussions on this topic on wallstreetoasis.com and numerous other forums, which prove that there is no general consensus.

If you want to look at league tables then I would at least consider a longer time period than one year. 2009 league tables coincided with the ranking you stated but that's really just coincidence nothing else. Let's take MS as an example. In 2008 they were only ranked nr. 5 (among other things because they didn't advise on the USD 113bn spin-off of Philipp Morris from Altria because of a conflict of interest), yet few would doubt that they are in the top 3 in the US.

IHateTheGMAT · Answer

I am talking general prestige same as you, just used 2009 league tables as backup. I don't want to get into a debate, but I do feel the need to correct something that's clearly wrong when it's on a topic where I know what I'm talking about. Anyone that says DB is not clearly above UBS in the US is crazy. Even crazier is to say that Barclays is not perceived as better than both in the US. Barclays bought the entire North American operations of Lehman and everyone knows that (in the industry). Barclays US is 95% Lehman, and Lehman has long been top 5 in the US. It's similar to how Bofa would not have been considered a legit investment bank 2 years ago, but now that they have acquired ML they are clearly top 5-6 in the US (and globally).

If you want to look at league tables back in time, that's fine. Look at the past 5-10 years and you will always see lehman (now barcap), ml (now baml) in the top 5-6. you wont see bofa or barclays. doesnt mean they arent top now. lanscape has changed. also db will be in the top 10.

If you want to look at league tables back in time, that's fine. Look at the past 5-10 years and you will always see lehman (now barcap), ml (now baml) in the top 5-6. you wont see bofa or barclays. doesnt mean they arent top now. lanscape has changed. also db will be in the top 10.

TwoThrones · Answer

Interesting rankings!

toiysam · Answer

yes, but most Lehman guys (the revenue makers) left Barclays, the same goes for ML and BofA

Investment Bank rankings

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards