Ranking Investment Banks in Canada

My buddy actually knows...he'd be willing to help you...but you'd have to pm me with your email. He's gone thru the gamut.

I'm looking forward to the replies, so I can get a good laugh during (hopefully) my last all nighter this year. Basically, it comes down to what you want to work on. There are not as many big companies in Canada, so there really is not the same type of mega deals there. There will be a couple per year, in which you will likely see 3-4 of the Canadian banks, and 1-2 of the internationals having a hand either on the buyside or sell side. RBC and CIBC are usually at the top of the league tables, but BMO, TD, and Scotia are all fine places and will present you with more or less similar deal flow and exit opportunities. The big banks are fundamentally different from the BB of the US, in that they do not exclusively work on bigger deals. You will more often be pitching to get in on a $15 million secondary as you will be on a $200 mil M&A. Just the nature of the beast. GS/MS/Merrill, etc all have offices in TO and Calgary, mostly coverage and some execution of mining/oil deals. Most will not touch non-mega deals outside of oil/mining, or on a deal for a sub of one of their larger American clients. Merrill is the biggest of the international players in Canada, not to say they are the best. With regards to boutiques and independents, Genuity is definitely the one big name when it comes to m&a (i.e. the one independent shop where you may have a shot at working on a serious couple hundred million m&a transaction), but GMP, canaccord, etc. all have their place within the system, and there is solid deal flow, especially within corporate finance/capital markets. Beyond this, there are literally 20-25 places that have solid deal flow, and where you will get paid well, just very hard to get the positions (desjardins, blackmont, research cap, capital canada, etc.) Most of these places literally do not recruit at all on campus, so unless you have spent some time in the industry, you likely really have no idea what the landscape of Canadian IB looks like.

yuntsucks said everything I was going to, but more coherently. The only thing I can add really is that CIBC is relatively weak in CapMkts/S&T and probably below TD/tied with Scotia in that regard.

You can PM me if you need more info -- I'm not all knowing but I spent two summers working for one of the Big 5.

You need to watch out for some of the foreign banks in Canada. A lot of them don't have the capacity to put through a deal so you'll just be doing pitches all day every day. For example, I met an outgoing analyst at MS who had only worked on one live deal during his time there. A lot of the real work gets sourced back to NYC.

This being said, I've spoken to a lot of people in foreign offices in Canada and there are 3 that actually have the resources to put deals through themselves. CS and UBS were two and I forget the third sorry!

Anyone have any info on Macquarie's Toronto office?

macquarie is a combination of their legacy office and orion. Office does a mix of principal investments and m&a. Macquarie owns the 407 toll road, a casino in vancouver (was an income trust), leisureworld,and were rumoured to look at teranet.

In Canada, 90% of the deals are mining or oil & gas (ok except recent bank financings).

RBC, CIBC, BMO, TD and SC will get you the most deal flow. International / US banks are mostly pitching (although some execute - office dependent) and rarely get a deal. They mostly chase the elephants - and occasionally get them (note DB's recent participation in Suncor deal).

Boutiques get quite a bit of deal flow too (except it looked like most were going to go under last year). Macquarie and GMP are tops for boutiques.

Of note is that over the past few years compensation has been significantly higher in Canada. I would say lowest bucket analyst in class of a canadian bank would be making more than highest bucket at american bank on average.

re:compensation-bases are about the same (a bit more for some of the intl firms), but the bonuses are not like yung_gekko stated. For intl firms, you are paid out of the same bonus pool, and if anything you will be adjusted down if you make a higher salary due to ancient FX rates. For the big 5, there really is not a full range of buckets, as the analyst class can range from 5-15 people depending on which year and bank.

I have been off of Bay St. for a couple of years already, but what I said is the way it has historically been.

Hey guys, sorry for reviving this thread again but since there are a bunch of Canadian bankers here I figured it might be the best place to ask my question.

So basically, I am facing a pretty serious dilemma. I have spent the past 2 years on my undergrad at the Schulich School of Business and I currently received my offer from the Ivey school of business HBA (undergrad) program.

In summation I just wanted to ask you guys if you think I should transfer or not? In terms of recruitment of course. I am pretty confident that I want to work in Finance and hopefully in New York. I feel that joining Ivey would improve my chances of achieving that.

Any advice would be oh so helpful

Also if you guys think there is any sort of difference between the programs, please feel free to mention so

The difference between Ivey vs Schulich is night and day dude.

If you want anything in finance, Ivey is the place to be in Canada. On top of that, if you want to get into the US, again, Ivey will open the most doors for you (from what I've seen). Accept the offer, study hard, network a bit, and you'll get a banking job out of school.

Wish I had gone there actually, would have made my life so much easier. Plus, would have loved to make the jump down to Cali (where Ivey has a pretty good presence).

Good luck.

how hard is it to make such a jump from toronto to the US? to banks steer clear of Canadian students because of visa issues? what is the immigration process like?

imo, in Canada the BBs you want to be at are the on'es who can put deals through: CS, UBS, and BAML. The pay ranges for globals vary substantially (and are typically higher than that of Canadian banks). GS/MS have presence there but often just tag along for the ride...