If you’re a summer analyst (intern) in an investment bank, you may be wondering what your chances of converting your internship into an offer of a full time graduate job are. As we’ve said before, banks typically try to convert anything from 66% to 100% of their interns into full time hires, although this varies from bank-to-bank and business to business.
So which businesses in which banks are most likely to make offers to their interns this summer? Based upon banks’ recent public statements and performance, we’d suggest you might want to be doing a banking internship here…
1. Goldman Sachs: M&A
Goldman Sachs’ M&A business looks like a good place to be this year. The bank is in need of manpower after implementing restrictions on working hours for its most junior staff. It also needs to make the most of its M&A business as fixed income sales and trading revenues fall, and claims to be benefiting from a 124% increase in the M&A pipeline (see below). It helps too that M&A banks were up 41% in the first three months of 2014 compared to the same period one year before.
2. Deutsche Bank: Anything in Birmingham, fixed income in the U.S.
OK, so you might not want to be based at Deutsche Bank’s office in the UK’s second city (Birmingham) but you should at least be fairly guaranteed of receiving a job offer if you are there.
Deutsche is on a big push to build its Birmingham office up. As we revealed earlier this week, the German bank has been hiring large numbers of graduates into its low cost offices, like Birmingham and Jacksonville in the U.S.. It has plans to open a 270-seat equities trading floor in the city sometime soon. Birmingham is a growth market for Deutsche Bank and interns are likely to be rewarded with offers a result.
Away from Birmingham, Deutsche’s U.S. fixed income sales and trading business also looks like a good place to be as an intern this year. Deutsche is in the process of building up its fixed income business, especially in the U.S.
3. JPMorgan: Electronic equities trading and M&A
Like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan is in need of extra junior M&A bankers. After imposing restrictions on junior bankers’ working hours (giving them one full weekend off per month), it promised to hire extra staff. At one point, JPMorgan even seemed to open applications to its European investment banking traineeships a second time. If you’re working in M&A there this summer, we think you should have a good chance of getting an offer.
Separately, JPMorgan is committed to building its cash equities business. As we reportedly earlier this year, the U.S. bank falls behind in cash equities despite being number one or two in most other areas. The bank is particularly committed to improving its electronic trading franchise. This, therefore, looks like an especially good place to be.
4. Credit Suisse: Anything in equities, equity underwriting or M&A
Finally, Credit Suisse has also laid its cards down. In a strategic presentation last month, the Swiss bank said it will be focusing on the areas its strong in. These were defined in the chart below. We suggest that this is where you want to be working as an intern at Credit Suisse this summer.
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