Comments on: How to Answer the “Why Our Bank?” Question in Investment Banking Interviews, Assessment Centers, and More

By: M&I - Brian

M&I - Brian — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 18:54:34 +0000

In reply to MK. Yes

By: MK

MK — Sat, 23 Jan 2021 15:59:33 +0000

Hi Brian

Thanks for this. I have an interview coming up for a FI FX Sales Associate role at a Swiss bank. I currently work at a UK bank, doing the same role. In terms of why the Swiss bank, do you think the below three reasons suffice (are not too vague):

-Want to learn at a faster pace and working in smaller team will help do that as you have more direct responsibility to cover existing accounts and build relationships with new ones
-I’d like to step out of my comfort zone and do something more challenging in a new environment. The fact that the clients are multifaceted on your team means you can be more entrepreneurial and take ownership of a broad range of accounts where you see growth potential.
-Cross selling capabilities: bank is active in commodities and has a large presence in EM. I’d like to broaden my horizons outside of FX and cross selling the business will provide exposure to different asset classes to expand my knowledge.

By: M&I - Brian

M&I - Brian — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 01:48:11 +0000

In reply to Daniel Wilson-Omordia. You can't talk about specific deals. The best you can do is talk about specific types of funds or strategies the firm as a whole uses, or recent innovations that set it apart from other AM firms. Or, go back to the firm's history and talk about how it changed the industry... with TRP, for example, you could talk about how they were one of the earliest AM firms to start investing in private tech startups.

By: Daniel Wilson-Omordia

Daniel Wilson-Omordia — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 17:54:56 +0000

Any idea how to answer this for firms in AM? Everywhere from BlackRock to T Rowe Price? Is there an equivalent to the IBD “deals” you can get here? Especially when you might not know what team you’re applying to from the get-go.

By: M&I - Brian

M&I - Brian — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 12:10:38 +0000

In reply to Joe. Ideally you will be able to get Capital IQ access from someone else (many universities and business schools also offer it to students). If not, you will have to do Google searches or look up specific, recent deals and see if you can find the banks attached to them (sometimes the official press releases state this).

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 09:10:11 +0000

In reply to M&I - Brian. Where is the best place to find deals the bank has recently been involved in? As I'm struggling to find a website that contains that information.

By: M&I - Brian

M&I - Brian — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 13:54:42 +0000

In reply to Joe. The approach is the same, talk about anyone you've met at the bank, recent deals, recent initiatives you've read about in the news, it could be literally anything. The point of this question is to assess whether or not you can do 5 minutes of online research.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 14:28:26 +0000

Hi Brian,
I’m currently completing my A-levels and I’m from London. I am going to apply for a work experience program run by JP Morgan, suited to 14-18 year olds and one of the questions on the application is “Why would you like to complete work experience at JP Morgan?”, with a 4000 character limit. How would you recommend answering this question, as the character limit is quite large? Should I just discuss more deals in greater detail the firm has advised on?
Thanks.

By: M&I - Brian

M&I - Brian — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 01:25:40 +0000

In reply to Peter. Yes

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 19:45:31 +0000

Should we mention the name of people we met at a different office than the one we are applying for? (i.e: mention someone from the SF office when applying for the NY or london office)