Finally, your “story” is important just like it is in any finance interview – you better have a good reason for saying that you want to be in public finance rather than corporate finance. A: Most boutiques in this sector want someone with at least 6 months to 1 year of experience. Your email address will not be published. Hah, good example. Great article, I noticed that Goldman Sachs is the only firm that puts their PSI group under their investment banking industry groups. I am currently a part time MBA student that will graduate at the end of this year. I’ve been reading your site since sophomore year of high school and now that I’m a sophomore in college, I really appreciate this post, since my academic studies are in city planning and business. I worked at that bank for a while, but they wanted me to transfer to another office due to some changes at the top and I didn’t want to move far away. Thanks! We are committed to participating in the communities we serve. His firm wasn’t hiring, but he gave me a bunch of referrals and put me in touch with a boutique bank that specialized in public finance. Other than that, the same strategies apply: ask for informational interviews, be super persistent, and always try to get an internship first even if you’re at the MBA-level or you have more experience. Experience. With our local expertise and distribution strength, we’ll help your community meet its financing needs. I am a sophomore at a top school with experience in government bond financing. I’d imagine there’s fair amount of technical questions in project finance interviews. We guarantee 100% privacy. 2021 Summer Intern - Investment Banking - Public Finance. Please refer to our full privacy policy. At boutiques it’s simpler because public finance-focused firms tend to do public finance and not much else. What's more, we take the time to guide you through the process of putting it together. Also, as we’ll see in Part 2 of this interview, these entities use different accounting methods and might have different sets of financial statements for each fund (“fund accounting”) rather than the single set that a for-profit company would have. I was staring at a reader email from back when I started M&I, and I had no clue what he was asking about. Do investment banking recruiters or the M&I team think project finance career is worth it/good?If i have experience in project finance , like raising money for projects,studying capital structure,valuation, is it close to IB/Corporate finance? This can potentially be a way to get into public finance. Q: OK, thanks for that overview. * Source Global Market Outlook 2021 In addition, we provide M&A advisory services, valuation services, and capital sourcing, amongst others. As it turns out, quite a few readers – because the emails and questions kept coming. One unique topic you could receive questions on in interviews: public vs. private sector questions. So you mentioned above some different points that you might want to know about for public finance interviews – where can you find more information on going market rates and recent issuances? In some countries/regions, it might be combined with DCM. Investment Banking & Capital Markets We have global expertise in market analysis and in advisory and capital-raising services for corporations, institutions and governments. So they’re not much different from normal IB interviews – you just need to know more about what you do in public finance and how the industry works before you go in. Whether you work with issuers or investors, you will have the opportunity to learn and make meaningful contributions. A: You’ll have to wait for Part 2 for that one. I came from a complete non-target school, and broke in by aggressively cold-calling boutique banks and other local firms – eventually I converted a trial internship into a full-time position. By consulting firms, are you referring to “Financial Advisors” like PFM or PRAG? Issuers pretty much always have competitive processes where they ask for RFPs (Requests for Proposals) from us and they decide based on who has the best RFP and who can offer the best rates. For the sanitation services example, you might argue that since many local governments are facing budget shortfalls and declining revenue, it makes sense to contract out the services; privatization might also improve their efficiency and result in better quality of service due to the competition between providers. Because our public finance teams are experts in their sectors, we are able to effectively serve your organization and provide in-depth analysis of your market. If I get an internship there, would it be relatively easy to transfer into a more classic investment banking group since its already an industry group or would it still be hard to break into classic ibd? It’s tough without an internship, but you can sometimes move from other credit-related roles into Public Finance (and it’s often easier to win credit roles than equity roles on both the sell-side and buy-side). Stephens Inc. I had a good friend who worked in public finance, so I sent my resume to him even though I didn’t know much about the industry at the time. Apply on company website. Instead, we work with you to find financing that fits your needs. Morgan Stanley puts it under “Sales & Trading” for some inexplicable reason, so there isn’t much consistency among banks. Infrastructure modeling: highly unlikely. Island Capital Advisors, Inc. is a investment banking firm based in Palm Beach, Florida and Nassau, Bahamas. Many firms do both, so his point was just to watch out what you’re applying for because you may not know what you’re getting into. Finally, you should be aware of any recent legislation or policies that have caused demand or pricing for muni bonds to rise or fall. Filter by. I’ve been looking for a way to incorporate both of those tracks into a career and this is really relevant to me. The national average salary for a Public Finance Investment Banking Analyst is $86,643 in United States. Since I had a year of generalist investment banking experience by that point, I was a much better candidate and felt more confident applying to all types of banks. Coming up soon! And good luck finding insiders who can tell you what it’s like working there. location to see Public Finance Investment Banking salaries in your area. Morgan Stanley puts it under “Sales & Trading” for some inexplicable reason, Senior bankers still spend time on relationship development with companies, make sure you know what “tax-equivalent yield” means and how to compare muni bonds with corporate bonds, Here’s a good example of an official statement for a bond offering from New York City, analytical, teamwork, and burn-the-midnight-oil qualities, Part 1 – Public Finance Interviews and Recruiting, Part 2 – Public Finance Careers, Lifestyle, Deals, Pay, and Exit Opportunities. Thanks! Do you have any advice or recommend any of your courses to properly prepare to achieve my goal. Salary estimates are based on 4,225 salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by Public Finance Investment Banking employees. I recently interviewed for an internship (3/28) and I thought it went pretty well. Thanks! Apply to Investment Banking Analyst, Financial Analyst, Investment Analyst and more! Do the same employees, on different deals of course, serve on the financial advisory side and the underwriting side in smaller banks? Here are your shiny prizes for reading this one: Q: Why don’t you start off by telling us how you got into the industry? What is public finance?”. News & Insights. As for why I took this offer without interviewing around more extensively: I was speaking with a few other firms, but I thought it was a good offer and didn’t want to risk losing it by waiting too long. And since our issuers are tax-exempt, make sure you know what “tax-equivalent yield” means and how to compare muni bonds with corporate bonds. There are a lot of “advisory” firms that do fee-based consulting work for government and tax-exempt clients rather than underwriting; it’s similar work, but you don’t get paid as much and it’s technically not even investment banking. This depends on the situation too. Regional Leaders. I think it is.Will future IB recruiters look down upon such experience , no offence but sometimes Brians comments give me this feeling, I don’t think recruiters will look “down” on such experience. Members of the Public Finance team in the Corporate & Investment Bank get direct exposure to a fascinating and immensely important area of finance. Wait for 3-4 days for their response. Our public finance professionals specialize in state and local government, derivatives, education, healthcare, hospitality and senior living. Q: Wait, how is that difficult? Awesome article Brian. I am not 100% sure but I wouldn’t say so; it really depends on the bank and the interviewer. You can use the same resume template(s) that we have elsewhere on the site, even for public finance. Best Regards. A: We specialize in advising and underwriting for tax-exempt entities – state and local governments, publicly-owned infrastructure and utilities companies, non-profits and educational institutions, and even non-profit hospitals (though the hospitals are more on the healthcare investment banking side). Please refer to our full. Seasoned bankers, quantitative expertise and strong distribution fuel Loop Capital's flagship business. Q: I’m skeptical of what you just said, because I’ve heard reports of people getting more “unique” / technical questions in public finance interviews. 3 senior underwriter of negotiated long-term transactions nationwide. It’s most similar to a debt capital markets group because we’re still underwriting bonds… only for different types of clients. Just a brief email works. Public Finance Investment Banking & Commercial Banking. Most analysts here come in with at least 1 year of experience, unless they interned here previously and converted that into a full-time offer. Discover How To Break Into Investment Banking, Hedge Funds or Private Equity. It really depends on the deals you’ve been exposed to and your pitch. Morgan's Public Finance Group is responsible for providing investment banking solutions for the complex financing needs of the firm's public sector clients throughout the Country. Representing local and regional banks, as well as major Wall Street investment banks, our services span due diligence, document preparation, negotiation and regulatory compliance. PNC combines the size, scale and capabilities of a large national commercial and investment bank with the values and community focus of a Main Street bank. This is great stuff, thanks guys! Another big part of the job is add-on work for the initial proposal and creating follow-up presentations. It sounds quite confusing. 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