A Day in the life of an investment banking: learn what a banker does throughout the day.
Submitted from a Street of Walls Contributor:
8:30am: Wake up and immediately check Blackberry. Generally, there will be three or four emails from MD/Director/VP who have reviewed a version of the materials sent out the night before. After reading emails and responding (if appropriate) shower and head into office.
9:15am: Arrive at office, get coffee and breakfast from cafeteria in building
9:30am: Talk to other analysts about the craziness that happened the night before with the complications with deal team members or production
9:40am: Check outlook to see any new emails that have come in.
10:00am: Start turning comments that were made by Director and Vice President. Generally, it will be rewording text, asking questions about how the model is running or assumptions, adding or changing potential acquisition targets
12:00pm: Jump on a call for a live deal that is going on. These calls will mainly be senior bankers from the industry group and the respective product groups debating about how to show particular items to the client, timing of events and discussing potential problems that may arise and how to appropriately handle them
1:00pm: Grab lunch with other analysts. One learns quickly that the analysts always stick together. Whether it is getting coffee, lunch, a snack or strolling around outside, analysts generally refuse to welcome associates and VPs into these events
2:00pm: Send updated presentation to associate for him/her to review before sending to VP. The associate will go through it for about 30-45 minutes and will ALWAYS come back with unnecessary “nits” and changes. Associates, especially first years out of business school, need to feel as if they are contributing as much as possible to the deal team. MDs and Directors know that analysts do the bulk of the work, so associates try to put their two cents in to add value.
3:30pm: Finish associates comments and send to VP. VP will come back with minor changes and the book will be sent to the MD/Director for review.
4:15pm: Go back to working on the live deal. After the call, MDs have requested to see new analysis run or significant changes to the model. Analysts and Associates meet with VP to discuss how to best handle the changes and move forward
5:30pm: Everything seems to be running smoothly until another account or a new staffing comes up. Analyst had originally thought he could hit the gym for an hour at 7:00pm and hopefully leave the office by 10:30/11pm. Now, his night has turned for the worse. Analysts will always complain for about 5 minutes about their new staffing / new work that has arrived until approaching the deal team about what needs to be done.
5:45pm: Meet with deal team to see what needs to be done. Vice President says that the work will not be that bad, but the Associate and Analyst both know that it will be a late night. Vice President goes over the book for about 25-30 minutes and then asks for a draft to be sent to him later tonight and a printout left on his chair for the morning.
6:30pm: Before starting on the new staffing, analysts order seamless web for dinner.
7:00pm: Finish up the work from the live deal before tackling the new staffing for the entire night.
8:00pm: Start new staffing. Generally blast out to other analysts and associates for work that had been previously done in the sector to see if there is any work that can be used again.
11:00pm: Send first draft of book to associate for review. Associate spends about an hour reviewing materials and comes back with changes to make.
12:00am: Get markup from associate. Spend about 2 hours turning comments and adjusting book. Print copy and leave on VP’s chair.
2:00am: Take cab home and quickly go to sleep.
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