Financial Institutions Groups (FIG) 101: Got Book Value?

If you want to be a bit different from all the other bankers out there, financial institutions coverage just might be for you:

• Valuation is completely different.
• You need to understand the finer points of accounting and spot small details.
• No one else outside of FIG understands what’s going on.
• And hey, you might even learn how to cause a financial crisis or two.

As an added bonus, you’ll be busy regardless of whether we’re in a recession (banks consolidate to cut costs) or an expansion (banks consolidate to expand and new banks go public).

You just need to wrap your head around all the tricky concepts first and crack the FIG success code.

Read on for all of that and more – including how you can optimize your chances of getting placed in FIG, the most common deal types, how valuation differs, and whether or not you can ever get non-FIG exit opportunities.

Breaking Into FIG

Apparel, Appliances, and Advisory: What You Do in the Consumer Retail Group at an Investment Bank

Whenever the economy sinks and consumer confidence falls, pundits come out of the forest and start talking about consumer spending and just how much the damage will be.

You might think that only matters if you happen to own your own jewelry, appliance, or sporting goods store – or you’re looking for discounts at any of those.

But it’s also bound to be on your mind if you work in the consumer retail group at an investment bank and you advise companies on M&A deals and financing activities.

While the consumer group may not exactly be the most counter-cyclical place to weather a recession in, there are plenty of other benefits – including getting to work with companies that make products you use every day.

In this interview, our interviewee will go into all of those benefits, plus:

• How most consumer retail groups are set up at banks.
• What deal types are most common.
• How to set yourself apart in recruiting – from valuing retail companies to discussing industry trends.
• The banks with the biggest presence in consumer retail.

Structured Finance: Debt Raising Made Easy, or Financial Weapon of Mass Destruction?

Last time around, there was some controversy over whether or not Structured Finance was evil.

“Evil,” of course, meaning that it caused the financial crisis.

This time around, our interviewee addresses that question and responds to even more of my passive-aggressive interviewing techniques – plus a whole lot more.

Here’s what you’ll learn in part 2 of our series on Structured Finance (Part 1 – Recruiting if you missed it):

• What an average day in the life of a Structured Finance analyst is like.
• How modeling is different in Structured Finance (bottling remains much the same).
• How much you get paid and what exit opportunities you get.
• Why you shouldn’t blame Structured Finance groups for the financial crisis… or at least, not everyone in Structured Finance.