Bank Guides

Know the bank before you walk in.

A scouting report on the bulge brackets, the elite boutiques and the middle market. History, leadership, live share price and market cap, where it ranks in the M&A, DCM and ECM league tables, the IPOs and deals it has actually worked on, and the exact questions candidates report being asked when they interview there.

That is three of the four tiers. Regional guides are still to be written; the article covers what those firms are in the meantime.

Bulge Bracket

8 banks

The global full-service banks that do the biggest deals across every product and region.

Goldman SachsThe most prestigious name on the Street.$935.45▲1.3%Account

Morgan StanleyAdvisory pedigree meets a wealth management machine.$196.31▼0.0%Account

JPMorganThe fortress balance sheet that also wins the deals.$343.06▲1.3%Account

Bank of AmericaMain Street scale powering a top tier corporate bank.$56.70▲1.2%Account

CitiThe world's most global bank, mid turnaround.$134.28▲1.6%Account

BarclaysBritain's global bank with real Wall Street teeth.$24.81▲1.6%Account

Deutsche BankEurope's flagship bank, back on stable ground.$36.57▲2.7%Account

UBSThe world's largest wealth manager, now with Credit Suisse folded in.$49.67▲2.5%Account

Elite Boutiques

8 banks

Advisory-only firms that punch far above their size on the marquee M&A and restructuring mandates.

Centerview PartnersBoutique M&A with bulge-bracket mandates and top-of-Street pay.PrivateAccount

EvercoreThe independent advisory heavyweight.$262.91▲2.3%Account

LazardTwo centuries of advisory pedigree, plus a top asset manager.$36.72▲1.7%Account

Moelis & CompanyKen Moelis's global advisory challenger.$58.74▲1.9%Account

PJT PartnersRestructuring's heavyweight, plus Park Hill fund advisory.$151.77▲1.7%Account

Perella Weinberg PartnersAdvisory craftsmanship from Wall Street veterans.$14.47▲4.8%Account

Greenhill (Mizuho)The original pure advisory boutique, now Mizuho's M&A arm.PrivateAccount

Allen & CompanyThe secretive media and tech dealmaker behind Sun Valley.PrivateAccount

Middle Market

12 banks

The banks that own the deals below the mega-cap line: sponsor-driven M&A in the hundreds of millions, plus the small and mid-cap IPOs the bulge bracket will not lead. Fewer headlines, far more deals, and the analyst runs more of each one.

JefferiesThe one that outgrew the tier.$47.68▲3.1%Account

Houlihan LokeyMore M&A deals than anyone, by a distance.$129.07▲1.2%Account

Piper SandlerThe bank that banks the banks.$72.34▲1.8%Account

Lincoln InternationalMid-market M&A, run as one global partnership.PrivateAccount

Robert W. BairdEmployee-owned, and it shows in the retention.PrivateAccount

William BlairChicago growth-company house, partner-owned.PrivateAccount

Raymond JamesA wealth manager with a real investment bank inside it.$159.87▲0.7%Account

StifelThirty years of buying the pieces.$70.35▲0.6%Account

Harris WilliamsOne product, done more than almost anyone.PrivateAccount

Leerink PartnersHealthcare only, and nothing else at all.PrivateAccount

TD CowenA research-led boutique inside a Canadian bank.PrivateAccount

StephensFamily-owned in Little Rock since 1933.PrivateAccount

Share price and market cap update through the trading day; league tables are refreshed each quarter.

Information here about banks, deadlines, events and the recruiting process is gathered from public sources and from students. None of it is verified fact, and it can be out of date. Confirm anything you plan to act on with the firm itself.