Vault’s Verdict

Vault Verdict: Widely considered to be the top investment bank in Canada, RBC Capital Markets is also a growing investment bank in the U.S. and Europe. Ideally, the firm is looking for not just textbook smart candidates, but those who are also very bright, well rounded, honest, and driven. The firm runs a valuable internship programme in which interns receive a good introduction to the type of work a full-time analyst performs. Interns will also receive client exposure and will get to take useful training courses. Full-time employees will also be exposed to plenty of external training sessions, as well the ability to move among various departments at the bank. Insiders are particularly pleased with the bank’s culture, which is described as very friendly, welcoming, and supportive. And relative to other investment banks, the quality of life at RBCCM is said to be significantly better. Although salaries and bonuses are competitive, there are few non-monetary perks, according to insiders. The RBCCM staff is very diverse, and the firm is very active with charities. As for the bank’s business outlook, RBCCM continues to gain market share in and move up the investment banking league tables. As a result, employee morale is strong. 

Hiring Process

“I had two rounds of interviews, first with an employee from the recruitment team, which was generally competency-based. The second involved two sets of interviews with seniors and juniors as well as a group task. We also had to do a case study prior to the assessment centre. The company was very quick to respond after both rounds and had a quick turnaround between the two rounds. They were very keen to get successful candidates to commit within a few days of the offer.”

“I thought the interview and callback process was well handled. I heard the results very quickly. I think they are looking for someone who is bright, well rounded, and honest. The firm has a very strong sense of responsibility and ethics, so they are looking for someone who will uphold the firm’s values. They are looking for someone who will be themself.”

“The firm does not appear to focus on detailed knowledge of every aspect of the financial industry, but rather seeks to ascertain an interest in the industry, backed by sufficient research. More important is a balanced candidate with relevant soft skills who can be expected to develop significantly in the long term, with the recognition that the necessary accounting knowledge will be taught in the training programme.”

“Well-rounded individuals who also have the drive, intelligence, and capabilities to succeed in investment banking. Not just textbook smart.”

Interview Questions

“Questions often involved knowledge of the company and recent deals. They were also interested in our general knowledge of the banking industry and our relevant experience. There were few technical questions. I would note that I was interviewed for an internship so the graduate questions may be different.”

“Questions were geared towards establishing why you want to work in the group you’re applying to and why you want to work at the firm, as well as what experience you have that will aid you in your work. I think they work hard in interviews to establish whether you will fit in in the firm.”

“Why do you want to work for us? What makes you suited to the job?”

“What position do you take in a team and can you give an example?”

Intern Experience

“Everyone in the team, including senior MDs, was very welcoming and genuinely willing to help educate interns in the way the business works. The structure did not feel hierarchical, and the burden of work was shared fairly among employees. Given that a few deals had closed just prior to my internship, quite a high proportion of the work was administrative. However, this provided an opportunity to become familiar with an important aspect of the business.”

“Good introduction to the type of work involved as a first-year analyst, and people were generally welcoming and friendly. On the negative side, staffing was often done by first-year analysts, and often there was little effort made to explain the purpose of the work or its context, which would have contributed to the learning experience.”

“Best: client exposure, responsibility, provided with useful training courses. Worst: relatively narrow industry focus given size of RBC in Europe.”

“Very friendly and helpful colleagues who made sure I was involved in work which had some significance. Generally interesting work and the opportunity to be on some calls with clients. However, there was slightly limited exposure to seniors, and occasionally staffing was slightly disorganised.”

Career Development

“I was able to move across departments completely after my graduate program to a role which the bank thought was more suited to me. There is a great level of care from the graduate recruiting team, and development opportunities are definitely available for all those who want to take them.”

“Very straightforward and clear structure for juniors starting out. No discussions of potential transfer into other areas of firm.”

“Best: Plenty of external training sessions on offer to employees to expand knowledge. A good internal development website with lots of online training available. Since RBC is a smaller company, roles are more cross-functional, providing greater experience across business lines and asset classes, and there’s more opportunity to move around to other areas of the bank. Worst: the training budget for each employee is not that great, so while there are a lot of external sessions on offer, the budget does not allow for an adequate amount of sessions per year to participate in (one to two per year).”

“Opportunities do exist, but once off the graduate scheme itself information around how to progress is less formal and forthcoming.

Quality of Life

“Teams in general are very friendly with each other, and people get along in the office. The office environment is very friendly. There are many activities for employees to all get involved in, many of which have strong ties to charities. There is not a long-hour culture; you are not expected to work long hours as long as you get the work done.”

“Relative to other investment banks, the quality of life is significantly better, and most seniors try to avoid having staff work weekends where possible. Relative to other finance jobs with more regular hours, the quality of life is poor, as it is almost impossible to make any plans outside work midweek and weekend plans will occasionally have to be cancelled.”

“Firm promotes work-life balance and support for major life events. My manager offers me flexibility and trust, which I repay with my work.”

“The firm tries to instill a friendly and welcoming culture, which I believe on the whole it does—and it certainly has in the teams I have been in. It is generally easy to get along with my junior and senior colleagues. It is fairly rare that seniors give work that results in working very late for an extended period of time or much of the weekend. The hours seem to be better than those at other investment banks, but I do find in equity capital markets that I spend my Friday nights or at least a few hours of my weekends doing fairly mundane tasks.”

Salary and Benefits

“Best: great salaries and bonuses which are a direct reflection of effort expended in your role. Worst: very few non-monetary perks; would appreciate gym subsidies, other company discounts, more comprehensive benefit packages (dental, eye care, etc.)”.

“Excellent compensation. Dinner allowance is good but, given the hours worked, it could also be higher.”

“Very few non-monetary perks. In fact, the only one I can think of is the ‘bike2work’ scheme, which I would expect pretty much all employers to be a part of! Salary is good; bonus was okay. It was disappointing as there was no differentiation between buckets, and we had been told that there would be differentiation.”

“Excellent pension scheme; company contributes strongly to the monthly pot. Excellent share scheme. The bonuses maybe slightly lower than other firms.”

Diversity, Philanthropy, and Green Initiatives

“Extensive charity work; many events are held to raise money for charity where all employees can get involved. Recycling bins are available. There is a specific initiative to improve cleanliness of water resources available to us. Compared to other firms, we have a good diversity of employees.”

“Very active with charities; lots of fundraising done for Great Ormond Street Hospital. They talk a lot about green policies; not seen much benefit. Nowhere near enough support for cyclists for a bank that promotes green policies. Took nearly two years to get a bike rack space.”

“The company is very committed to diversity, green initiatives, and charity work. Regional charity and volunteering committees exist, and management support for spending some work time on these projects is consistent from the CEO down to managers on the ground.”

“A well-diversified group of employees in my department. RBC also does a huge amount for charity, notably the Race for the Kids.”

Business Outlook

“Our firm has a good pipeline of deals coming up. I think that as the economy improves and M&A activity picks up we will see even more deals coming through. However, as a relatively new investment bank in the U.K., we do seem to struggle to get on some of the bigger deals.”

“Good morale amongst employees; not working in constant fear of cutbacks. As the platform is still being built out, there is a sense of being part of something new. However, this also means that the firm has to fight extremely hard to win new mandates.”

“Very strong bank that has continued to gain market share in recent years and moved up the investment banking league tables to become a major global player.”

“The firm is a well-respected and safe bank, which puts the company in good stead going forward.”