If you want to make yourself an idea of what an entry-level banker in a finance group does, try and imagine yourself in this imaginary typical day.
7 am Get up, take a shower, wear a suit, have your breakfast and get to work.
8 am Group meeting with interns, analysts and all the rest of the team up to the Managing Directors. The VPs and Executive Directors discuss new and current deals together with any issues. The group discusses the markets, what to encourage clients to do, which practices avoiding.
8:30 am Start responding to emails about deals. As an Analyst, you’d be handling about 5-10 deals at any one point in time in a group like high grade syndicated loans. Answer your clients’ email questions like “Please send me the info memo” or “Confirm the following pricing tables for the loan for X client”.
9:30 am Client calls and client meetings. You would be usually meeting your clients in order to discuss where you are on the syndicate, what needs to be done next, to negotiate or finalise which banks are “leading” the transaction, what fees those banks get to charge and which interest the client will have to pay. The morning is usually quite fast paced, you’ll have to be talking with clients on the phone, meeting them in person, and also trying to make some powerpoints and models.
12 pm Lunchtime break finally, but usually at your desk while trying to get that powerpoint deck with new pricing tiers, or those comps model for a client, done.
1 pm Calls and meetings again. Your VP drops by your desk and asks you to start putting together the funds flow model for a deal that’s about to close, that should show what banks stepped in to continue the transaction, what their new levels of commitment are, which fees got paid to whom, and how much in fees your bank gets at the end of the day. It takes a couple of hours at least for it to be done correctly because it takes quite a long time to get the right data.
4 pm. At this time, usually meetings and calls begin to calm down a bit and you finally have a bit of time to spend on the powerpoint pitch for a new client you had on your to-do list, on the quick comps model update on your general comps sheet; on a 50+ info memo of which you actually write 15 pages, but proofread the whole thing, and to read the couple credit agreements for current deals, so you’ll know what it is about, when your client calls you about them.
6 pm You order dinner online to have it delivered to your office, then you’ll usually feel too tired and asleep from having it dinner to want to get any more work done for any the remaining time…
8:30 pm The office is finally quiet and you can now get done, without anybody throwing any additional work at you, that list of 20 things you didn’t get done this morning including a 30 page powerpoint deck, some research for your VP about a space he’s not too familiar with, some kind of financial model, and proofreading of the legal docs in your deal.
What does this typical day in an entry-level investment banker’s life look like? Is yours any similar or different? Let us know in the comments on our Social Media Channels!
