Investment Banking

• Every member belongs to a live project led by a project manager. The team meets weekly, in person, to review the business analysis and financial model, challenge the conclusions and set the next steps.
• Projects can cover a new opportunity for the department's portfolio, a review of an existing position, an external mandate with a private-equity fund or an article for the TIC Journal.
• Alongside project work, members follow markets, major transactions and trends that could affect the companies under review. Training in valuation, M&A, financial analysis and corporate finance runs throughout the semester.

• Equity Research Reports on listed companies and M&A Deal Reports on specific transactions.
• Financial models supporting every thesis through DCF, market multiples or an LBO, depending on the mandate.
• Presentations defended before external partners, articles for the TIC Journal and ongoing monitoring of the department's portfolio.

Your first months combine training with a guided study project. Working with more experienced members, you learn the business and industry, analyse the financial statements and build a valuation before presenting the thesis. Nobody joins expected to know valuation already; the project makes the learning practical from the start.

This department suits people with a genuine interest in companies and financial markets, whether they already follow them or simply want to understand how they work. No finance experience or particular degree is required. We value motivation, critical thinking, attention to detail, teamwork and a commitment to rigorous work; the technical knowledge is learned along the way.

The difference is depth and range. We study a small number of assets until we understand the business, its industry, competitors, risks and sources of value, then turn that work into a thesis supported by a model. A member can move from valuing a listed company through DCF to assessing a full acquisition through an LBO, crossing public and private markets without specialising too early.

vs Macro →

Macro researches an economy, a region or a market and defends that reading. We do the same work on a single company, and on the deal or the position that follows from it.

The department keeps no fixed teams. Each project gets a project manager and a selection of analysts picked for that brief, the way a consultancy staffs an engagement. It means nobody is locked into one kind of work: the same person can run an LBO on one project and build an equity thesis on the next, and a new member is not choosing a track for good when they join.

It is not enough to reach a conclusion. Every recommendation has to explain why the team reached it and withstand questions from the department, competition juries or professional investment teams. The CFA Institute Research Challenge applies the same standard: analyse a listed company, defend the recommendation and respond to an industry jury.