Finance
Advises organisations on major deals and fundraising
An investment banker advises companies, investors and governments on large financial deals. A client might want to buy a competitor, sell part of its business, borrow money, issue new shares or join the stock market. The banker estimates what the deal could be worth and prepares evidence for decision-makers. They help both sides reach an agreement, while the client makes the final decision.
A deal brings together senior managers, possible buyers, lawyers, accountants and lenders. Each group starts with only part of the picture. The banker keeps their questions, documents and numbers in step. A polished presentation cannot rescue a figure that does not match the accounts. You may enjoy making sense of a fast-moving argument and checking the details on which it depends.
Many graduates enter through an internship followed by an analyst role. Other routes include degree apprenticeships and moves from accountancy, consulting or law. Banks recruit from many degree subjects, but expect confidence with numbers, knowledge of business and a well-informed interest in deals. New analysts learn accounting, company valuation and how to build financial models - spreadsheets that show how changing an assumption affects the result. Some later take optional professional investment exams, but no single qualification is required for every investment-banking job.
Bonus drives the band from the second year, accounting for at least half of each figure; a quiet deal cycle can reduce the middle by roughly a quarter. The later chart follows the minority who remain in banking, as most analysts leave within five years for private equity, an in-house role or a start-up. A weak year at a middle-market bank sits near the lower line, while a strong year at an elite boutique sets the upper one.
| When | Lowest 10% earn under | A typical earner | Top 10% earn over |
|---|---|---|---|
| On graduating | £55,000 | £85,000 | £130,000 |
| 1 year in | £65,000 | £105,000 | £160,000 |
| 2 years in | £75,000 | £125,000 | £200,000 |
| 3 years in | £90,000 | £160,000 | £250,000 |
| 4 years in | £105,000 | £190,000 | £300,000 |
| 5 years in | £120,000 | £220,000 | £350,000 |
| 6 years in | £135,000 | £250,000 | £400,000 |
| 7 years in | £150,000 | £280,000 | £450,000 |
| 8 years in | £165,000 | £310,000 | £500,000 |
| 9 years in | £180,000 | £340,000 | £550,000 |
| 10 years in | £195,000 | £370,000 | £600,000 |
A buyer may pay more because it can combine two offices, enter a new market quickly or sell another product to the company’s customers. A different buyer may gain none of those benefits. You learn to explain why the price could change. You use the company’s accounts, forecasts, similar businesses and recent deals instead of treating a spreadsheet as one correct answer.
A deal pulls together negotiation, funding, regulation, tax, accounting and law. The banker helps put the work in the right order. Possible buyers receive information, offers are compared, money is secured and legal conditions are met. The result is unmistakable when a deal completes. Ownership changes or new funding arrives after months of questions, revisions and negotiation.
An analyst may listen while a founder decides whether to sell or help a finance director explain a forecast. You might also learn why one buyer is trusted more than a higher-paying rival. You are not making those decisions, but preparing the evidence puts you close to them. That experience can lead into investment firms that buy companies, in-house deal teams, jobs explaining a company to its shareholders or senior finance roles.
A deadline for final offers will not move because you made evening plans. A client may also request a new calculation just before a meeting. Comments arrive from senior bankers, lawyers and several time zones, often in the wrong order. Late nights and cancelled weekends can appear with little warning. The pressure follows the deal rather than a steady weekly pattern, particularly for analysts and associates.
Junior work includes valuable analysis, but also plenty of checking. You trace numbers between a spreadsheet and a presentation, correct page layouts and send the right draft to the right person. These tasks can feel absurdly small beside the size of the deal. Yet an old profit figure or a confidential buyer’s name on the wrong page can damage trust. Careful checking remains part of the job.
A buyer may lose confidence, markets may fall, borrowing may become too expensive or a government regulator may object. The company can then stop the process. By then, the team may have built detailed spreadsheets, answered hundreds of questions and revised documents late into the night. Banks expect some deals to fail, but losing the result after doing the work can still be dispiriting.
Usually 3–4 years
Banks accept strong graduates from any discipline, although economics, finance and mathematics make the technical preparation more familiar. Recruitment runs uncomfortably far ahead of graduation. Apply for a spring programme in first year and treat the penultimate-year summer internship as the main route to an analyst offer; applications often open before the academic year settles. A longer degree or master’s is not normally needed to enter.
Usually 0–3 years’ experience
You’ll build spreadsheets that estimate company value, research businesses, prepare presentations and organise information from the client. You also check that every number agrees across the documents. At first, more experienced bankers review your work closely. Progress means understanding why an analysis is needed and becoming dependable when several drafts are changing at once.
Usually 3–6 years’ experience
You’ll turn a senior banker’s instructions into a workable plan for the analyst team. You review spreadsheets and presentations, coordinate advisers and run parts of client meetings. The role shifts from producing every page to taking responsibility for a larger part of the deal. Some associates are promoted analysts; others join after a postgraduate business degree or relevant professional experience.
Usually 6–10 years’ experience
You’ll manage the deal from day to day and anticipate what the client or buyer will ask. You also turn broad instructions into clear tasks for the team. A vice president may organise the buyer’s detailed checks, negotiate the timetable with lawyers or settle disagreements about value. Understanding the technical work is expected. The harder test is stopping a small issue from becoming a surprise for the client.
Usually 10–15 years’ experience
You’ll lead important client relationships, help win new assignments and take responsibility for major negotiations. Some directors become specialists in one industry, learning its likely buyers, typical prices and required approvals. Others specialise in buying and selling companies or in raising money through borrowing or shares. Winning work now matters alongside completing it well.
Usually 15+ years’ experience
A managing director is expected to win major assignments by earning a client’s trust over many years. A chair, founder or finance director may call them before a possible deal is public. You’ll decide which opportunities the bank should pursue, bring together the right senior advisers and take responsibility for income, professional conduct and reputation. There are fewer late-night spreadsheet edits, but more relationships that may never produce a deal.
Helps you understand markets and how interest rates, competition, rewards and pressures affect companies. You’ll still need to learn how to read company accounts in detail. You must also turn a broad argument into figures that can be checked line by line.
Provides a direct foundation in company accounts, valuation and ways of raising money. You must still learn to question the story behind the figures. Knowing a valuation formula does not tell you whether management’s forecast is believable or why one buyer could sensibly pay more than another.
Helps you understand company strategy, organisations and the language used by clients. Graduates may need more practice with accounting and large spreadsheets. A convincing reason for doing a deal must agree with the figures, so the story and the numbers have to support each other.
Make large spreadsheets and quantities of information less intimidating. Deals replace textbook facts with forecasts argued over by buyers and sellers. Graduates therefore need to learn which business assumptions matter, because extra decimal places do not make a doubtful forecast more reliable.
Develop close reading, research and the ability to build a clear argument from untidy material. These graduates may understand institutions and language particularly well, useful when a contract, regulator or founder’s priorities shape the deal. Accounting, valuation and linked financial figures are usually their weaker ground and must become both accurate and fast.
Languages, computing and combined subjects form the remaining share. Languages help when evidence and relationships cross borders; computing supports work with information and technology companies. Numerical confidence must sit beside that unusual contribution, along with an understanding of why companies buy, sell or raise money.
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08:15 – 10:00Reset the deal team
You are advising an industrial group that is selling the part of its company that makes packaging. Final offers are due on Friday. One possible buyer has spotted a pension promise that was not shown clearly in the accounts. This is money the company must pay to former and current employees in future. Today’s priority changes: you must work out how that promise could affect the buyer’s offer and the amount the seller would receive.
10:00 – 12:00Rework the price estimate
You compare management’s forecast with the company’s past profits and test three possible costs for the pension promise. The arithmetic is straightforward. Deciding which future payments a buyer will count requires help from the company’s accountants. You keep the uncertain figure clearly labelled rather than hiding it inside a formula.
12:00 – 13:00Prepare the client
You turn the analysis into two pages for the finance director. The associate removes an impressive-looking best case because no buyer is likely to accept its assumptions. Together you show a range supported by evidence and explain why buyers may reduce their offers.
13:00 – 13:20Lunch
Desk sushi.
13:20 – 14:30Answer management questions
On a call, the finance director argues that the pension promise sits outside the company’s normal business and should not affect the price. You explain why buyers may still treat it like debt. The accountants must confirm the legal rules and likely payments because the spreadsheet shows the disagreement but cannot settle it.
14:30 – 16:15Share enough, but not too much
A buyer asks for details about individual employees to investigate the pension issue. You work with the lawyers to provide totals instead, protecting personal information while giving buyers enough evidence to judge the cost. You put the answer in the secure online deal room and make sure every remaining buyer receives the same financial information.
16:15 – 18:30Compare the offers
The vice president asks for a table showing how much money the seller would actually receive from each offer. You adjust each starting figure for debt, pension costs, other promised payments and conditions attached by the buyer. The highest-looking offer may not be the best one if it leaves more risk with the client.
18:30 – 20:15Revise the board paper
New advice from the pension specialist supports the middle estimate. You update the figures, explain the change in plain English and check every chart. The director wants to keep every buyer in the process. However, their next offers must state exactly how they treat the pension promise.
20:15 – 22:30Survive the final review
A managing director returns the paper with comments before tomorrow morning’s board call. You and the associate divide the changes. One suggested edit conflicts with the latest accounts, so you explain why it cannot stay. After each revision, you check the price range again. At 22:30, the vice president approves the paper. The board now has a small number of clear choices to make in the morning.
+28 hours compared with the average UK job