Thanks. If you want to do public equities investing, you should try to move to sell-side research or a good industry group. M&A and LevFin can also work, but coming from Structured Finance, it’s usually better to go to something more directly related to the public markets.

I am not set on my long-term ambitions, but some things that I would like to try out after structured finance (in an ideal world) are sell-side research, M&A, a sector coverage team, and leveraged finance, culminating in seeking an unstructured recruiting path into a buy-side research/equity analyst role at a hedge fund. I chose to pursue structured finance because I want to become well-versed in debt at this early stage in my career and with cash flow modeling, but I feel like my true, long-term passions lie more with investing in public equities.

To that end, what path would you recommend I seek?

Path #2 is probably best, followed by Path #1, followed by #3. It’s always easier to move around internally at a bank than to join from an outside firm, and LevFin at a CRA is probably a bit more relevant for LevFin at a bank than a Big 4 / other valuation role is for LevFin.

Which of the following paths would be the easiest to make a lateral move to IB?

1. Work in Structured Finance as a credit rating analyst, move to the Lev Fin team in a CRA, then trying to win a role in Lev Fin team in IB
2. Work in Equity Research at a boutique, move to Equity Research at an IB, then trying to switch to M&A or Lev Fin team in IB
3. Work in Equity Research at a boutique, move to Valuation team at Big 4 or professional services firm, then trying to switch to M&A or Lev Fin team in IB

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

It depends on your goals. If you want to work in Structured Finance in the long term, stay in Structured Finance at the CRA. If your goal is to get into PE eventually, move into more of a generalist role, such as LevFin at the CRA and then LevFin at a bank. You are probably not going to move directly from any SF role into PE, so if you want more of a generalist option, you should transfer early.

I’ve just accepted an offer for S&P credit rating analyst. I networked with a guy from SF so mentioned in my interview that I want to start on SF credit rating. Since I have back office Ops experience in mortgages I’m sure they’ll place me there. Just wondering if you think I should request to move to Leveraged finance CRA then lateral to a bank lev fin and then maybe PE, or you think staying in CRA SF is a good way to build niche skills that will make banking recruiting easier in their SF teams?

I do not know offhand, but as with most specialized groups, you can usually move around to other teams within IB if you do so early on (within the first 2-3 years of joining). The longer you wait, the more you’ll be “stuck” in Structured Finance (or any other specialized group). It’s rare to move directly from SF to something like mega-fund PE, but people do often switch from other teams into standard IB industry groups and then into PE from there. Yes, FIG or LevFin would be good options.

Thank you for this article and many others which have been helpful!
I was wondering if you had any knowledge on the ease or if structurers in an IB can rotate from the securitised products groups to other teams more closely related to traditional IB so that it leads to exit opps such as those leading to KKR, Carlyle – type buy side firms.

Would a possible lateral be FIG or perhaps something like Leverage Finance?

Many thanks

Yes, but it’s probably a better pathway into RE lending or debt funds since Structured Finance also deals with debt.

Quick question: I have an offer in Germany for structured finance real estate in a commercial bank. Do you think it would be a feasible stepping stone to REPE?