How Does Investment Banking Work
An investment bank, or an investment banking division of a bank, works like an intermediary between different parties at the primary and secondary levels of service.
At the primary level, it mediates corporate financing and business take-overs between corporates and institutional investors. Corporates which accept financing from investors then issue bonds or shares with the exchange facilitated by the investment bank.
At the secondary level, the bank then helps to facilitate the trade of securities with fund managers who either want to buy or sell these securities. This is also when the investment bank provides equity and credit research to institutional clients.
Who Are Investment Banking Clients
Clients of an investment bank can be from any part of the world. They are not individuals but are often organisations belonging to these categories:
Investment banks work with governments to raise money, trade securities, and buy or sell corporations.
Private and public companies work with investment banks to go public or raise additional capital via debt issuance, grow their businesses, make acquisitions, sell business units, as well as obtain research from these banks, including general corporate finance advice.
Institutional investors, including private equity firms, manage other peoples money. Investment banks provide research to institutional investors and help them trade securities.
They also help private equity firms acquire portfolio companies and exit those positions by either selling to a strategic buyer or via an IPO.
Shift To Private Banking And Market Reemergence: 2010present
In August 2010, UBS launched a new advertising campaign featuring the slogan: “We will not rest” and signed a global sponsorship agreement with Formula 1. On 26 October 2010, UBS announced that its private bank recorded net new funds of CHF 900 million during the third quarter, compared to an outflow of CHF 5.5 billion in second quarter. UBS’s third quarter net profit of US$1.65 billion beat analyst estimates, continuing a string of profitability. After the elimination of almost 5,000 jobs, UBS announced on 23 August 2011 that it was further cutting another 3,500 positions in order to “improve operating efficiency” and save CHF 1.5 to CHF 2 billion a year. 45 percent of the job cuts would come from the investment banking unit, which continued to post dismal figures since the 2008 financial crisis, while the rest would come from the wealth management and asset management divisions. The firm has seen profits fall due to the rise of the Swiss franc.
In April 2021, UBS reported a $774 million loss from the collapse of US investment fund Archegos Capital Management.
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Reasons An Investment Banking Background Can Help A Wealth Management Career
by Simon Smiles 13 April 2016
In Wall Street parlance, investment banking is the sell-side of finance, while wealth management is part of the buy-side. Investment banking culture is frequently seen as higher-pressure creating and selling services for full-time financial professionals. Wealth management is typically viewed as more relaxed advising private, often non-professional investors who frequently make decisions over a longer timeframe.
However, my own career shift at UBS from the research department at UBS investment bank to the chief investment office at UBS Wealth Management has proven that these differences are not nearly as pronounced as they may seem.
Here are three reasons why I think having worked in investment banking can pay dividends when it comes to a wealth management career.
Moving From Asset Management Into Ib / Pe
I just finished my first year as an analyst at an institutional Asset Management firm in New York. I’m on the front desk side, where I work in commercial mortgage-backed securities portfolio management.I graduated a year ago from a top ten school with an Economics major . I wear a lot of different hats at my job. I’ve traded CMBS, assisted with new issue syndication for ABS, written macros to streamline various processes, looked at credit quality in new issue CMBS. I really like the people I work with, and I’m definitely learning valuable skills, but I have two main concerns. First, I don’t think I’m particularly suited to a career in markets. It requires the ability to read quickly, absorbing massive amounts of information and synthesizing it–in short, a large working memory–and that information shortly becomes irrelevant once the market reacts. I’ve always been more of a problem solver I enjoy the continuity of process-driven work . Second, we had rotations our first week on the job, and I was placed with the structured finance desk. This is also a concern because issuance parts of this market–namely, RMBS and CMBS–has largely died out since the glory days of 03-07 . In short, I’m worried that I’m learning structured finance-specific skills that will be irrelevant in a few years.
Sorry for rambling, but the point of my post is this question:
What do you think?
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Why Is Wealth Management Looked Down Upon
Why is wealth management/financial advising looked down by most people on Wall Street? It’s one of the highest revenue generators for the banks. I understand it’s a glorified sales position when starting out but after you’ve built your book, you pretty much have full control of your clients assets on how they should be invested.
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building a book is very difficult now a days unless you have family willing to invest with you so you can built a track record. yes in the long run, the upside is there, but only for a select few
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Guys I know who went to Raymond James, Schwab, Merrill, etc. from college are fucking miserable.
The only prerequisite to PWM is graying hair.
BTbanker:
Guys I know who went to Raymond James, Schwab, Merrill, etc. from college are fucking miserable.
The only prerequisite to PWM is graying hair.
HAHA
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people i know in PWM dont like finance. they like the name of their firm, their pay cheque and the lifestyle…..
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PWM has nothing to do with finance. You’re not managing a portfolio, you’re not doing analysis, etc. You’re taking clients to lunch/sporting events and hoping they don’t take their money elsewhere.
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pplstuff:PWM has nothing to do with finance. You’re not managing a portfolio, you’re not doing analysis, etc. You’re taking clients to lunch/sporting events and hoping they don’t take their money elsewhere.
Thats pretty wrong. You just described a salesman on a sell side desk
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Which One To Choose
Both careers are lucrative, prestigious and selective. Receiving an offer in either field means you have done something right. Which career is a better fit between the two comes down to your skill set and priorities. Professionals who are more aggressive, have great persuasive skills and live for their jobs tend to do better in investment banking. Those who are more cerebral, quantitatively inclined, affable but not natural-born salespeople and prioritize a healthy work-life balance are probably better off as asset managers.
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Difference #: Relationship Continuity
In investment banking you may have relationships, at the most senior levels, with CEOs for decades, sure. However, by in large you’re doing one-off transactions with clients or dealing with them once every few years.
In wealth management, your clients will be with you for decades and you’ll be speaking to them at a minimum once every quarter, but likely even more.
Unlike in investment banking, you will not be doing something for them and then forgetting about them shortly thereafter. Depending on your personality the continual interaction with the same cohort of people may be a positive or a negative in your view.
The Dynamics Of Raising Capital When Starting A Firm
Michael: And so, I want to actually dig a little bit further into some of those because I think, to the extent advisors are aware of investment banks, I think we tend to think of this in the context of M& A, in particular. And you noted a couple of other things there that just are out there, but we don’t necessarily talk about as much.
So, capital raising for firms in the early stage talk to us a little bit about what that looks like. Like, what size firm does that? Where do you get capital? How does that mechanism work? I think most of us are sort of used to, you run it until you run it, and then you sell it when you sell it. What’s capital raising in the context of an advisory business?
Elizabeth: So, for a startup firm, you’re really looking for seed capital. It could be from an angel investor community, it could be venture capitalists invariably, you’re looking to find somebody who can help you. You obviously have more than, hopefully, a business plan. You have the early-stage business that really needs capital to continue to grow.
But the first way you can do it is obviously, to bootstrap your own business. You put your own personal wealth in it. I would say, even today, so we started in the ’90s on our journey, Michael, and now we’re here in 2020, there’s even crowdsourcing and crowdfunding campaign means. There are loans that you could look for. And there’s always the friends and family network.
Michael: I’ll accept it. I’ll accept it.
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Private Banking Vs Wealth Management: An Overview
Private banking and wealth management are terms that overlap. However, the financial services offered through private banking and through wealth management differ slightly.
Wealth management is a broader category that involves dealing with the optimization of a client’s portfolio, taking into account their aversion to, or comfort with, risk, and investing financial assets according to their plans and goals. Wealth management can be practiced on a portfolio of any size, though, as the name implies, it is geared toward the well-off.
Private banking, by comparison, typically refers to an envelope solution for high-net-worth individuals wherein a public or private financial institution employs staff members to offer high-net-worth clients personalized care and management of their finances.
Our Investment Banking Capabilities
Sell-Side Advisory
- Our services include advising on appropriate exit strategies, preparing company information, identifying and contacting qualified buyers, assisting in negotiations, and providing other transaction support.
- We have access to and long-term relationships with a broad network of strategic and financial purchasers.
- We have earned a reputation for delivering high value to clients, and a significant proportion of our business comes from mergers and acquisition client referrals.
Buy-Side Advisory
- We assist companies with buy-side transactions by prospecting and evaluating strategic targets and handling all aspects of an acquisition to ensure a smooth transaction.
- Our industry knowledge and network enable us to add uncommon value.
- We take a precise approach to finding companies that add strategic value for our clients.
Merger Advisory
- We provide a unique, third-party perspective to the valuation of businesses and strategic fit to ensure that shareholder value is maximized.
Strategic Advice
- We provide advice to corporations regarding business strategy and capital budgeting.
- Our services include, but are not limited to: Industry insight, CFO-level budgeting and analysis, strategic planning, and capital markets consulting.
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Total Wealth Planning Can Make All The Difference To Your Future
Total Wealth Planning is the foundation of everything we do for you. It provides a strategic understanding of the steps to take to envision the future with clarity, peace of mind, and certainty.
Through Enriched Thinking, your personally tailored Total Wealth Plan can include:
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Investment management and financial advice, and
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Wealth planning from Scotia Wealth Management specialists who possess deep knowledge, insights and expertise across a range of financial disciplines:- Customized Private Banking and borrowing solutions – Estate and trust services – Insurance solutions – Business and family advisory services.
Consider your customized Total Wealth Plan as the roadmap to your future addressing your immediate individual needs and those of your family, your goals and income protection needs for tomorrow as well as your future aspirations.
This dynamic, cohesive wealth management service platform brings all of our specialists, strategies and tools togetherwith your goals at the centre, from simple to complex to structure, enhance, protect, and transfer your assets as effectively as possible. Its simply the future of wealth management.
Relationship Managers And Investment Professionals
The job of providing these services is typically split between relationship managers and investment professionals. The job of the relationship manager is to know the client. The job of the investment professional is to know the investments that are considered by, and for, the client.
It is the relationship manager who is primarily responsible for meeting the client’s needs and wishes, and who most often meets directly with the client, although investment professionals are frequently included in regular, scheduled client meetings.
In the case of ultra high net worth clients, there may be an entire team of people assigned to a client’s account, but there is still usually a single relationship manager assigned to oversee the account and to serve as the firm’s primary representative.
The division of labor between the two aspects of wealth management can be seen as somewhat resembling the two aspects of relationship management and project execution that exist in investment banking.
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How To Calculate Whether A Business Is Getting A Good Roi
Michael: So, can you give us maybe some examples of structures you see that get set up that the firms are very proud of, and then when you get in there wearing your investment banking valuation hat are looking at and saying, “Oh no, no, this is not as profitable as you think it is, or this isn’t profitable at all. Let me deconstruct your business and show you why.” Are there common practices that you find that turn out to be more problematic than most firms realize?
Elizabeth: Often, they want to provide financial planning for free. There is a cost to that, and maybe you can minimize that cost and maybe you’re doing it upfront. Maybe you’re doing it annually. That is often the way somebody starts the relationship. But sometimes a client may come in on the investment management side and you want to throw that in for free. There are a number of firms that are now doing tax planning and prep. Again, the tax prep side of the equation is not a high marginal contributor. So, some firms that we’d seen actually were giving away that service. And again, it was a drain on the margin, and maybe it was a volume business at two points in time, in the year, sort of heading into April, and then towards October, still giving away that business as part of the holistic package, if you’re not charging fully or at least building up to the full fee became problematic.
Michael: Not to be confused with Mercer Advisors who’s an advisory firm in this space.
Elizabeth: Exactly.
Difference #: How Analytical It Is
Most wealth management roles – even at a large private wealth manager like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley – will require a high level understanding of the markets, but not necessarily be overly analytical.
In contrast, investment banking won’t involve many high level discussions of markets at the analyst or even associate level. Instead, you’ll be doing highly analytical work building out DCF models and putting together pitch books.
As you get more senior in investment banking, the role becomes one much more predicated on sales . However, at the junior level your interpersonal capacities are more likely to atrophy than increase.
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Am I Eligible And How Do I Apply
Internship Experience UK: Investment Banking & Asset Management is open to every student and recent graduate . All you need to take part is a Bright Network membership which is completely free and you can sign up when you start your application. To apply, simply click the button below and fill in an application form it takes about 10 minutes to complete. You don’t need previous experience to complete the experience – just a passion for the sector.
The application deadline was 29th June at 11:59pm.
Difference #: Career Stability
Career stability is almost inverted between investment banking and wealth management.
As a general rule, in investment banking you will almost certainly not be laid off until you hit the vice president level, because you’re more or less a worker bee until that point . While most people don’t want to stay in investment banking that long, so do end up leaving, it’s their choice. They could certainly stay in their investment bank or lateral to a different one if they were inclined to do so.
However, as you get to the VP / MD stage that’s when people begin to be shown the door in investment banking. This leads many people, usually in their thirties, to need to reinvent themselves in some fashion after spending a decade or more in investment banking.
It is very rare to see those who have been in wealth management for a decade or more leave the industry unless they just want to do something entirely different.
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