20/21 4 key points to get into Investment Banking Industry
1️⃣ Drastic Drop on Middle & Back Office Openings: In consequence of the unfavourable market conditions, especially when there is an urgent need for them to cut cost, investment banks have decided to stop increasing the number headcounts of the non-profit generating teams.
Specific Example:
🔺Different from last year, Morgan Stanley has closed down its Finance and Operations’ openings
🔺Barclays has Trade Capture openings for Sales and Trading Support the year before last, but not this year
🔺In contrary to last year, JPM has stopped openings for Risk department this year
🔺Deutsche Bank has halted its Finance and Compliance openings this year, but they did have openings for these last year
Impact on you: Unfortunately, students whose profiles are not well developed yet and would like to enhance their working experience by applying to the Middle & Back Office might have a rough time this year.
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2️⃣ More and more Technological Knowledge Requirement (including Coding) on Sales & Trading:
Taking Bank of America as an example, candidates who have applied for the S&T department are required to complete a Coding Test😱, implying that they will only be admitting candidates who know how to code
Impact on you: Despite your Bachelor Degree, if you would like to get into the S&T department, it is essential for you to know how to code. So start learning today!
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3️⃣ The Most Stable Divisions of Investment Banking - Private Banking and Asset Management:
For the investment banks who had PB and AM openings last year, they are continuing their openings this year, suggesting that it is completely possible for banks to expand the headcounts for these two divisions’ openings.
Allegedly, UBS, Deutsche Bank, JPM and HSBC might even expand the number of headcounts for Private Bank’s openings!
Impact on you: If you don’t have much preference on what to apply for Front Office, why not try applying for PM/AM?
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4️⃣ Advantage if you are local students:
HKCareers has recognized the fact that only HK citizens or candidates who have VISA can apply to JPM’s Middle & Back Office and most of the divisions in HSBC!! As these specific conditions are only listed out this year, reducing the competition with candidates around the world, intimating that you might have a higher chance of getting in.
Impact on you: However, please keep in mind that not all divisions have the same requirements, some divisions like IBD might be looking for Non-Local Students in general.
We help university students like you to get into Investment Banking, Banking, Property/ Conglomerate and Advisory/ Consulting. Follow us on Instagram (ig: hkcareers) to know insider tips about grad job/ internship hunting. Visit hkcareers.hk to know more about the result-based career coaching program.
