Differentiation is certainly alive and well among Wall Street banks. Recent commentary suggests that you would be forgiven for thinking that the investment banking analyst class these days is faced with just two options: get fired from Goldman Sachs or get tanned at Citi.
The Goldman chat has been sparked by the bank’s revival of its usual programme of cutting its lowest-performing 5% of staff each year – something that it had suspended in the pandemic. “Hundreds” of staff getting fired is not exactly news: it’s just very Goldman.
But what is happening at Citi is a whole new ballgame. Conscious of the need to compete with the lifestyle and compensation attractions of working at a fintech (or perhaps conscious of the need to give people a reason to apply to Citi instead of any other investment bank), the firm is hoping to make itself more appealing by creating a two-year investment banking analyst programme based in… Málaga.
The lucky chosen ones – just 27 so far – will get the joy of working fewer hours for less pay, in a place considerably more relaxed than almost anywhere else in finance.